The holiday season can be a time of joy and giving. However, it’s often not the most sustainable time of year. Greenfleet has compiled a list of ways to have a more sustainable Christmas by gifting things that are gentle on the environment and can grow climate hope.
You can make a genuine difference by choosing to gift experiences rather than objects, supporting sustainable brands, and planting trees for your loved ones. We’ve also included some Greenfleet supporters that can help take your sustainable gifting to the next level!
7 Eco-Friendly Ways To Give
1. Gift An Experience
By opting for experiences instead of material gifts, you can significantly reduce your impact on resources while supporting local businesses and organisations. Not only are experiences often the most memorable gifts, but they can also contribute to a positive cause.
Consider supporting destinations that offer experiences with strong sustainability goals. You could share these with your loved ones, or just treat yourself! The Sydney Opera House and Thredbo Resort are just two organisations offering experiences year-round to visitors while maintaining sustainable practices.
2. Services Over Goods
While we are constantly bombarded by marketing for products at this time of year, the reality is that many of us don’t need more ‘stuff'. Sadly, many gifts given throughout Christmas may end up as landfill.
Consider offering your loved ones an experience like a massage treatment or a rejuvenating yoga class. You could even give the gift of learning, like music lessons, cooking classes, or sharing a skill such as artisan bread-making.
For a gift that will last the entire year, opt for a subscription to an online magazine or a car or bike share organisation membership.
3. Choose Local
Shopping locally this holiday season for all your festive ingredients is one of the most practical ways we can reduce our carbon footprint.
When it comes to planning your holiday meals, supporting farmers at your local farmers’ or slow-food markets can minimise energy emissions associated with store-bought produce and can encourage regenerative agricultural practices.
If you’re looking to have the hard work taken off your hands, organisations like Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses are committed to sustainability and can provide delicious baked goods for any occasion.
4. Homemade & Pre-Loved Gifts
Homemade festive edible gifts, such as plum puddings, gingerbread, shortbread, cranberry jam, or herb seedlings to plant in the garden are a sustainable and heartfelt way to gift. Moreover, you can wrap your delicious treats in a clean tea towel, a recycled jam jar, or a charming retro biscuit tin for a waste-free option.
Pre-loved items can be the kindest choice for the environment as no energy or resources are required at all. Spend some time looking in thrift shops, marketplaces and antique stores - you may be surprised by the treasures you find.
5. Travel Sustainably
After a busy year, and often months apart from family, travel is a big part of Christmas for many of us. If you’re planning on travelling over the holiday break, there are things you can do to make your travel more sustainable.
If you’re looking to get away, travelling to destinations or with travel companies that prioritise sustainability can help make your trip that little bit greener. Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort on the Great Barrier Reef has environmental consciousness built into everything they do or if you’re looking to travel with a group, organisations like Fun Over Fifty Holidays make sure they’re making a difference every step of the way.
If you need to hire a car over the Christmas break, you can do choose a company like Europcar. A long-standing partner of Greenfleet, when you hire with Europcar you can opt in to offset the emissions of your travel.
Finally, if you’re flying this Christmas, you could offset your emissions with Greenfleet and know that you’re contributing to the restoration of native forests that will grow to remove your emissions. For the cost of a cup of coffee, you could offset a return flight from Melbourne to Sydney!
6. Go Digital
Give a digital gift that's eco-friendly, cost-effective, and easy to share. Consider e-books, restaurant vouchers, digital newspapers or digital magazine subscriptions. Alternatively, choose digital gift cards over single-use plastic cards for in-store or online shopping. Digital gifts reduce waste and retain the same thoughtfulness while being less likely to get lost.
By choosing to donate to Greenfleet, you'll not only positively impact the environment but also receive a personalised digital gift certificate. This certificate can be customised with a heartfelt message to your loved one and can be gifted at any time, ensuring a truly meaningful gift.
7. Buy From Sustainable Brands
The truth is, sometimes you will still want to buy new gifts for the people in your life. When this is the case, choosing brands that have sustainability built into their business practices means you can still make a difference throughout the festive season.
Greenfleet partners with various brands that are taking climate action by helping restore native forests. Here's a selection of great gift options for the special people, and pets, in your life:
Lyka: Produced in a solar powered kitchen, Lyka makes human grade pet food and considers the total emissions generated during manufacturing. Any emissions they cannot reduce they offset with Greenfleet making them Australia’s only carbon negative dog food provider.
KEVIN.MURPHY: Combining hi-tech scientific knowledge with the best natural ingredients available, KEVIN.MURPHY products provide the tools to recreate high-fashion runway looks in the salon or at-home, while always remaining kind to the environment.
Jurlique: Inspired by a vision to create high-performing, pure and natural skincare, Jurlique’s natural skincare is created using sustainably planting and harvesting powerful farm-grown botanicals from their unique biodynamic farm in the pristine Adelaide Hills, South Australia.
Flow Hive: Flow Hive is a revolutionary beehive invention, allowing honey harvesting without opening the hive and with minimal disturbance to the bees. This means harvesting is gentler and easier on bees, plus no more heavy lifting and expensive processing equipment.
Greenfleet: You can give the gift of climate hope by planting trees on someone’s behalf this Christmas, or offsetting their carbon footprint for them. As a special Christmas gift, you can give a Milestone Forest, which can grow more meaningful every day or give to the special furry member of your family and take out an offset for your pet.
Sustainable gifting is an opportunity to show we care for others and our environment. Best of all, sustainable gifts ensure we can keep the tradition of gift-giving alive. Take the opportunity and give sustainably this Christmas.
Together, we can grow climate hope.