December/January Environmental Agenda

[b]These are things to consider, not commands![/b]


[b][u]December:[/u][/b]

Please reuse gift bags and bows from previous years. If you purchase new wrapping paper, please seek out some made with recycled material. Also, please use cards made with recycled materials and/or plantable ones for your holiday correspondence. If you celebrate Christmas and have not set up a tree yet, please consider choosing a natural plantation-grown tree (unless you or another member of your household has allergy issues), then please recycle it after your festivities have concluded (where I live, recycled Christmas trees are used to create reefs in lakes to provide habitats for fish). Please consider buying local foods for your holiday feasts. Additionally, please consider using LED holiday lights if you are not already doing so because they use far less power than incandescent ones. Finally, please avoid giving gifts that are packaged in or made from petroplastics.

[b][u]January:[/u][/b]

Please consider making a New Year's resolution to reduce your environmental footprint. You could continue to or begin to minimize your use of palm oil and its derivatives. You could continue to or begin to minimize your consumption of animal products. You could continue to or begin to minimize your use of plastics. You could do something obvious (hopefully) that has not been covered in this series of dispatches

[b][u]Winter in general:[/u][/b]

To quote Jimmy Carter: “Turn down the thermostat, and put on a sweater.” Energy production of all types tends to expand environmental footprints by a large extent. If you do not want to dress warmly indoors, please consider putting space heaters in rooms that you use frequently rather than cranking up your central heating. Also, speaking from experience I can say that electric blankets and/or heating pads are very nice ways to stay cozy during the chilly months! Doing everything you can to localize your domicile’s heating will minimize the amount of energy you need to coinsume for heating.

I apologize for the lateness of this dispatch. One of [nation]Turbeaux[/nation]'s New Year's resolutions is to post these [b]before[/b] the months arrive! :)