This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
The holiday season is notorious for exacerbating overconsumption and waste. It’s true, we want to spoil our children and grandchildren while feasting around a well-stocked table. After all, it only happens once a year! How can we still reduce our carbon footprint? Here are some suggestions for a Christmas decor that is as green as it is festive.
1. A natural or artificial tree?
Year after year, this question comes up: should we get a natural tree or prefer an artificial tree, which we will keep for a long time? If the two options are defensible, the International Reference Center for Life Cycle Analysis and Sustainable Transition (CIRAIG) has decided: “it is best to buy an artificial tree only if you plan to use it for more of 16 Christmases,” reads its website. The David Suzuki Foundation recommends avoiding PVC or, at least, keeping it for a minimum of 20 years. We don’t have the space to store it or we already know that we will want to change it after a few years? We then choose a local tree grown without herbicide or, why not, a rosemary plant cut in the shape of a conifer if we live in an apartment.
2. Plant decor
For the same reasons, it is better to opt for 100% vegetable decorations, unless we make sure to keep our garlands and plastic wreaths for twenty years. Several local florists and merchants also offer wreaths made from fir branches and other local plants. Even better: we make it ourselves from a wreath of wicker or branches that we garnish with greens of our choice. This is a good way to give a second life to the scraps of our cedar hedge! When the holidays are over, the crown base is kept for the following year.
3. The carbon footprint of fairy lights
We do not necessarily think about it, but we should also take into account the type of light garlands that we install. According to CIRAIG, LED bulbs would increase the carbon footprint of our tree by 2%, compared to a 15% increase for good old incandescent bulbs, which consume more energy and are less durable.
4. Offsets in the form of trees
And if, despite all our efforts, our environmental conscience is not at ease, we can always afford carbon offsetting. One example among others? Certificates from Carbone Boréal, a project affiliated with the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, which uses the funds raised to reforest bare land in the boreal forest north of Lac-Saint-Jean or agricultural land that can no longer be exploited . On the Compensation CO website2 Quebec, an initiative of owners of private forests located in the south of the province, we can not only buy compensation — we will even receive a map that will allow us to geolocate our trees — but also calculate, in tonnes, the total of our greenhouse gas emissions.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.