Sustainable Bourgeois Holiday Decorating

 

Our Bourgeois Xmas Tree

It's a little weird to be a radical atheist and still celebrate Xmas, I'll grant. But family traditions are a lot of fun. In this case bringing a pretty tree into the house and adding a bunch of kitschy cornball ornaments to it and exchanging gifts with family & friends. 

For years we had a plastic monstrosity that stood about 7' tall, had been inherited after more than a decade of use by Kiki's parents, and used by us for another 7 years. At last the "pre-lit" aspect of it completely died last year. We considered what to do. 

What is the least environmentally horrible way to stick this bizarre fetish in your living room? 

So we did some research. What we settled on was the Bourgeois Tree Experience offered by this nearby Xmas tree farm, Kruger's Christmas Trees. They have a nice statement on sustainability: 

As local farmers we have developed a close connection with our land.  As global citizens we remain conscious of the earth’s health.

The actions (or inaction) we take and the decisions we make each day have a direct or indirect effect on our environment.  We believe in the importance of “thinking globally and acting locally." 

At our farm, this means being aware of the benefits and consequences of our farming processes.  We choose to use sustainable and environmentally-friendly practices whenever possible.  To us this is an investment in the future. 

A few of the ways in which we promote sustainability is through planting trees, recycling our harvested trees, supporting earth-friendly organizations, and educating our youth. 

Good enough for us. It was very bourgeois. We made an appointment. We drove out spend 20 minutes in heavy suburban an countryside traffic. We deployed the Saris roof-rails on the car. We arrived and gazed upon the not inexpensive inventory which was also being inspected by a lot of families with small children. There was a fire. It was a real nice place. We settled on a tree, they tossed it on top of the car, and off we went, not unlike the Griswalds in the classic film, "Christmas Vacation." 

Importantly, when we're done with it, we'll take it back and they'll compost it for nothing. It won't be sitting on our porch for months creating a fire hazard, and it won't need to cost us a dime in getting our recycler to take it. 

Next up, gift giving and wrapping. I got a link to this article from Greenpeace. It's got some great ideas that we'll need to use this year. 

To summarize, because (according to Earth911) about 4.6 million pounds of wrapping paper are produced each year with about half of that ending up in landfills, it just might be a good idea to try to reduce that number. 

Ideas in the Greenpeace article include wrapping gifts in cloth (that is in the house already), not using tape (try string instead), use natural greenery & foraged springs instead of bows (I'm thinking a few branches we cut off the tree to make it fit in the stand will make a nice start), and using old maps. That's an interesting one, as I've got a sun bleached road atlas from 2000 sitting in the car that's probably due for replacement.