Christmas gifts that won’t cost the Earth
The coronavirus pandemic has led a lot of us to consider how we live in the world around us. Many of us are finding ways to live more sustainably and making an effort to go green at Christmas, a time when there can be so much waste. With just a few weeks to go, Becky Such, CAFOD’s World Gifts Coordinator, talks about our virtual gifts and how you can choose ethical Christmas presents.
This Christmas is still full of uncertainty, but we can make sure of one thing, and that’s that we avoid waste. Be that because we’ve bought too much food, or because we chose gifts that are left unused all year.
Here at CAFOD we have come up with the waste-free answer with our World Gifts! They are life-changing gifts that help people living in poverty across the world, and don’t leave your loved one with yet another pair of socks, or some bubble bath when they don’t even have a bath.
Green Christmas gifts
We have a selection of gifts which are particularly green – so for your particularly climate-change-savvy loved ones, have a look at these:
Weatherproof crops
Whether you’re buying for the climate-hero in your life, or you want to go green yourself, World Gifts is the option for you.
We have lots of other gifts based around farming, perfect for going green this year.
Wonderful worms
Worms wriggling through the soil naturally turns barren land into nourishing compost! This helps families to grow enough food to feed to their families and even sell, without relying on chemical pesticides or fertilisers which can damage the environment and ultimately leave the soil less nourishing than before.
A perfect gift for a gardener or lover of creepy crawlies.
Super lamp
These solar lamps provide clean light sources for people living in remote areas who might not have access to electricity. This means that life can carry on after dark, without filling their homes with fumes from kerosene lamps and candles.
If you want an eco-friendly gift to fundraise for as a group, check out the Super solar street light for £335.
Waste, what waste?
In the UK alone, 1 billion cards go in the bin when they could be recycled, and that’s just over the Christmas period.
If you do receive a World Gift, we hope you recycle the card! But you can go completely waste-free by choosing our eCard option. It looks just the same as our printed cards, and is animated to open the card and reveal a case study, explanation of the gift you’ve chosen and your personalised message inside.
Cards can always be recycled, but an astonishing 227,000 miles of wrapping paper are thrown away each year in the UK – that’s from here to the Moon!
We also have a new “post direct” option when you buy online. You can type in your personalised message and we’ll send your card directly to your loved one. That means the card only needs posting once, it’s a small step, but every little helps!
Whether you choose one of the gifts here that highlight some of our eco-friendly work, or just choose to buy a charity gift rather than another box of chocolates, you’ll be helping to have a waste-free Christmas!