If you’re celebrating Christmas with your family, you can do a lot for the environment before that – from the right tree to the gifts. Here are our 6 tips.
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1. Find a tree with an eco-label
These seals are called Bioland, Naturland, Bio, Naturland or FSC. Christmas trees with such a seal, for example, are grown without chemical pesticides and mineral fertilizers. That’s why more insects survive there.
If there is no eco-Christmas tree near you:
Then make sure when buying that the tree comes from your region and not from far away. Maybe you can cut your tree yourself in the forest. Where the forester allows it.
2. Decorate the tree in a way that is compatible with nature
Tinsel, angel hair, plastic balls? All this is not so good for the environment. Tree decorations made of disposable metal strips or plastic pollute the environment twice: first during production and then during disposal.
More environmentally friendly, you can decorate the Christmas tree with figures and stars made of straw, clay, felt, or papier-mâché (as in the picture). Or you can make beautiful tree pendants out of salt dough. Craft instructions can be found in craft books or on the Internet.
Natural materials such as pine cones, nuts, or cinnamon sticks are also a great thing. You can paint cones and walnuts colorfully, the nuts even eat later. After the feast, you can easily dispose of bowls and cones in compost or organic waste.
Beautiful is also figures made of wood. You can reuse them every year – similar to glass balls. Such a durable tree decoration is also environmentally friendly.
3. Bake your own Christmas cookies
Then you determine what comes in. For example, only natural ingredients and more sustainable methods like using cream chargers. You can also protect the environment: When buying the ingredients, pay attention to organic products from organic farming or use products from your region. This saves long transport distances. In this way, fewer greenhouse gases are blown into the air, which also benefits our climate.
When buying eggs, pay attention to the organic label or the number 0. The chickens are fed with feed that comes mainly from organic farming. The hens, for example, have exercise and daylight in the stables.
4. Gifts of durable things
If you’re giving gifts, make sure they’re stable and don’t break so easily. Especially beautiful are homemade gifts that last a long time – for example, lanterns (as in the picture), painted cloth bags, pearl stars or straw arrangements.
5. Wrap gifts environmentally friendly
When packaging, you can save paper. For example, when you wrap gifts in colorful scarves or cloth napkins. Or in wrapping paper, which is also available as recycled paper or FSC paper. You can paint it colorfully, glue it with twigs, leaves, pine cones, or straw stars or beautify it with potato printing.
6. Send eco-friendly Christmas greetings
Send self-painted Christmas cards. All you need is thicker cardboard paper, preferably recycled paper or FSC paper. You can also make the envelope yourself.