To spend the Holidays sweeter for the planet, it is possible to revisit the traditions without sulking your pleasure and keep the festive spirit. Bulk ideas for a creative, waste-free and greener Christmas.
Save your transport
With the “go” given to the holidays of 20 people doubly vaccinated, we bet that many will do without a dematerialized Christmas this year on Zoom or FaceTime. Finally a reunion in the flesh! For many, Christmas will rhyme with the return of long road trips to the four corners of Quebec. Happy expeditions which, however, add to the carbon footprint linked to the festivities. If the idea of swapping the car for the bus or the train is not possible and you are traveling by autosolo, it is possible to accommodate a passenger on board, by subscribing to a carpooling service, to reduce your carbon footprint. . Is the car already crowded with your jubilant kids? Know that you can assess your emissions (0.10 to 0.40 tonnes of CO2 per 500 km traveled depending on the vehicle) and offset them by purchasing them from various carbon offset sites. The round trip Montreal Quebec? A trifle of about $ 4 which will be used to plant a tree. A micro-gift for your children and the planet, moreover geolocatable on a map of Quebec! For a few dollars more, you can contribute to a reforestation project or to the development of green energies elsewhere in the world. Planning your purchases also makes it possible to limit traffic jams around shopping centers, responsible for high CO emissions.2 associated with the frantic shopping that punctuates the last weekends before Christmas.
Isabelle Paré
Packaging packaging
Our homes already abound in materials to wrap more than one present with humor and creativity. Of the lot, magazines full of superb photo reports (National Geographic), newspaper, old road maps, sheet music or even kraft paper, to brighten up with children’s drawings. Pages of comics, manga or comics, whose unsold items can be bought for a few pennies in specialized stores, will make children jubilant. Why add to the 540,000 tonnes of wrapping paper and gift bags thrown away year after year in the garbage in Canada? Challenging relatives to find the most original zero waste packaging is sure to spice up traditional gift exchanges. In the “home-made” department, curl bags – made from scraps of fabric, scarves or sleeves recovered from shirts that lie dormant in the wardrobe – will be a hit. The furoshiki, a Japanese-style knotted fabric, also avoids adding to the six million rolls of adhesive tape bought each year in the country. The packaging is also a gift: pretty socks, a pretty jar, a toque, a mug, a case of wine, a teapot, lark! will welcome small and medium-sized people. If the thought of ditching Christmas paper gets you down, choose those made from recycled papers, no aluminum, no gold, textured or shiny surface that cannot be recycled. For the ribbon, opt for string, raffia, jute cord or wool, instead of plastic ribbons.
Isabelle Paré
Agape reinvented
A quarter of the carbon footprint of Quebec families comes from what they eat, and meat and dairy products account for more than half of this figure. God damn it! How to feast on Christmas while pampering the planet? Eating local is a first step. Swap foie gras for smoked fish, poultry, oysters, fine mushrooms, cheeses, wines and spirits from Quebec, able to beat the pawn, carbon side, with any meat pie. An all-local menu will only reduce your GHG emissions by 9%, but will make local producers profitable. Eliminating meat and cheese will halve the carbon weight of your feasts. The Internet abounds in vegan or meatless dishes, apt to convert the most die-hard carnivore. But if a 100% vegetarian Christmas table cuts your appetite, chickens, ducks and other organic birds from here will fill your plate. with a low ecological footprint. In the sweets department, recipes without dairy products are legion online and several local brands brilliantly handle the art of vegan dessert, including Sophie sucrée, the Zébulon and Le Marquis pastry shops in Montreal, and Hansel and Gretel in Quebec. Ultimately, the greenest meal is one that doesn’t end up in the trash, like a third of the food produced on the planet. Forget the collective dips – not great in COVID times – often wasted after hanging out on tables, and offer your leftovers to guests. Do the dishes weigh you down? Rather than stocking up on disposable plates, set your sights on appetizers and canapes, to devour with your fingers! Kampai!
Isabelle Paré
Take the gift out of the box
Zero inspiration? Basta of the obstacle course to find the perfect object? It is estimated at 25 billion the world sums swallowed up each year at Christmas in the useless gifts. A waste, both financial and ecological, because one in six people (50% of those under 25!) Quickly return their New Year’s gifts after Christmas to receive a refund or a loan. All that for this. Why not give something more real and greener, by offering an “intangible” and local gift, a sweet break in a busy schedule? For the curious: a course in cooking, music, dance, oenology, foreign languages or a workshop of handmade objects. Thirsty for culture? Think of a ticket to a show, a cinema, a trip to the museum, a guided tour through the city, a subscription to a superb magazine or to a film distribution platform. Athletes will fall for the ski ticket, the adventure in the SEPAQ network, the sailing course, the gym membership or the parachute jump! For those close to them on the verge of their nervous breakdown: massage, outing to the spa and escape to an unusual lodging are essential. Time is running out, and exhaustion and loneliness too prevalent. Offering to babysit, simmer a meal or go out with a lonely person will be a hit. For toddlers, rather than toys imported from Asia (90% plastic), try out a theater or magazine subscription. Durable wooden toys, Lego blocks, and other timeless figurines can also be found new or second-hand, on the many online bazaars and retail sites. Give your toys from generation to generation, why not?
Isabelle Paré
Decorate without wasting
Natural tree or artificial tree? The question is thorny. The natural tree – especially if you cut it yourself – wins the prize for the best option. Carbon sequestration during tree growth, then its decomposition at the end of its life, make it an ecological choice. Some fir forests even offer organic trees or the hobby of pick-your-own, so many ways to reduce your environmental footprint. If you’re leaning towards the plastic tree instead, consider getting one that will last a long time. Life cycle analyzes show that an artificial tree that is reused for several years can be less polluting than the repeated Christmas after Christmas purchase of natural trees. No consensus exists on the temporal threshold beyond which the artificial takes precedence over the natural. American studies carried out on behalf of manufacturers of artificial trees estimate that they become more ecological than their living equivalent after five years of use. A Quebec firm has evaluated that the artificial tree becomes a better choice if it is kept for more than twenty years. The same rule applies for ornaments. Better to opt for garlands, baubles and other decorations that are homemade or from organic materials, unless you keep them for a long time. Especially since “no more than 9% of plastics are recycled across Canada,” according to responsible consumption specialist at UQAC, Myriam Ertz.
Jean-Louis Bordeleau