Is an eco-responsible Christmas possible?
After difficult months under the sign of distancing and common worries, the time for celebration and reunion has arrived! Just a few days before the start of the festivities, are you ready for your Christmas shopping?
Did you know that most of our preparatory shopping is far from being eco-responsible? However, there are plenty of possibilities thanks to our resourceful and imaginative little creators!
For a responsible Christmas, we’ve made a selection of designers that will allow you to have fun without feeling guilty 🙂
The Decorations
Every year it’s the same debate: what about the Christmas tree? Controversial because it is part of a model of « deforestation » and therefore of environmental impact, is it really the number one enemy of Christmas? What alternatives are possible?
1 – The synthetic tree
It is one of the little inventions that are now well known and widespread! Both ecological and economical, it avoids the over-consumption of Christmas trees in December and lasts for life! What’s more, it doesn’t lose its thorns, so it requires less maintenance at home… the best!
Finally, it is easy to fold and store. At the end of the winter, all you have to do is put it in the back of the cupboard until the next Christmas.
For small budgets
For originals
For generous budgets
2 – The Christmas tree in a pot
This is the symbolic and revolutionary alternative! And what if instead of uprooting the tree from its roots, you took its cabin home? You’ve understood it, it’s a question of buying a pot and growing your little tree in it!
What are the advantages?
– A 100% homemade tree: participation in an eco-responsible act,
– You ink-in the Christmas spirit in the foyer before the festivities even begin.
– A great DIY activity under the theme of the magic of nature and working hand in hand!
NB: for the most impatient among you, it is possible to buy it already big in a jar 🙂
3 – The traditional Christmas tree
The natural Christmas tree is the traditional choice for Christmas celebrations. Cut at the base of the trunk, it is ephemeral. Like cut flowers, it eventually dies and usually does not last very long after the holidays.
Even though the cutting of natural Christmas trees is controversial, it is still quite ecological.
In fact, the amount of energy consumed during the production period is almost identical to that used to make its synthetic double. Unlike the synthetic fir, it contains no paint, plastic, aluminium or lead particles in the artificial thorns.
The icing on the cake?
Most natural trees are Made in France. Also the CO2 emission linked to transport is rather less. Finally, it is not thrown in the dustbin and must either be recycled or composted. If you have a garden, it can be interesting to compost it to feed your vegetable garden and your plants.
4 – WHAT about bright decorations and garlands of all kinds?
As far as garlands are concerned, there are plenty of possibilities: in bread apples, dried oranges… and you can even make your own candles out of soy wax!
But for lights it’s a bit more complicated? Yes, you can’t create light from scratch, but in this case you can use second-hand objects to find your rare pearl (ball)!
For this, Leboncoin will be your best friend.
Want to know more about the slowDeco?
Go to: https://www.greenmoods.com/decodenoel-ecoresponsable
The Meal
Foie gras, salmon, turkey with chestnuts, all these delicious dishes make your mouth water, don’t they? But the more the years go by, the more the light that has been shed on the breeding conditions of these industries dulls the festivities?
So what can we do to enjoy these traditional dishes in a more responsible way?
1 – Vegetable foie gras
Are you a gourmet but participating in the massive force-feeding of geese is unthinkable for you?
Discover the alternative to traditional, gourmet and healthy foie gras: the FAUX GRAS.
As its name suggests, it does not contain foie gras as such, but only vegetable foods and numerous spices to bring it as close as possible to this essential Christmas dish.
Faux Gras by GAIA is available in organic specialist shops such as Naturalia.
Some of the organic ingredients you can find there:
Organic yeast, coconut oil, potato starch, organic champagne pulp (2%), truffle, cinnamon and cloves…
Easily available at Carrefour, Monoprix, or Leclerc in the organic section, Bjorg’s forest terrine will make you appreciate vegetable foie gras without a hint of guilt! Accompanied by a fig or onion chutney and small toasts, you won’t be able to resist for long !
https://www.tout-mon-bio.com/alternatives-a-la-viande/231-terrine-forestiere-bio.html
Le Joie gras de chez Jay&Joy is available directly from the shop, online or from their distributors (https://www.jay-joy.com/pages/points-de-vente).
Its particularity? It is organic, vegan and soy-free! Made from cashew nuts, it achieves a real gustative and environmental feat, so feel like trying it?
The vegetable option is not 100% suitable for you?
Little by little, 100% organic foie gras is being created, but these new ways of producing responsibly have not yet been approved or labelled.
What are the differences? Gentle « force-feeding », geese in the open air, and a healthier diet for the goose, which gains weight naturally and regularly over time… In the meantime, the few producers who are beginning to use this form of committed farming are marketing their foies gras at nearly 1000€ per kilo, i.e. 125€ / 125g… Much too expensive to satisfy all the aficionados who would like to be tempted.
Salmon: Which labels can you rely on?
World consumption of salmon has tripled since the 1980s, leading to significant overfishing. WWF has warned of the gradual disappearance of wild salmon populations. In 20 years, the Atlantic salmon population has been estimated to have halved.
Fortunately, trustworthy labels can ensure respectful farming of these species, which have so far been too badly damaged.
The organic label?
Wrongly used, this label has very quickly moved to the dark side of eco-responsibility: greenwashing (bouhh). Last year, the Yuka application, whose purpose is to sift through the composition of all our everyday food, revealed the deception: most of the salmon labelled organic have a higher content of heavy metals and pesticides than those from « traditional » farming. This is due to the fact that organic salmon are fed with fish oils and fishmeal (contaminated by the oceans). Organic is therefore not sufficient to certify the quality of a salmon.
ASC is an eco-label in many ways. The label prohibits farmed fish from protected natural areas and requires only local species to be farmed. It indicates that the products come from a 100% sustainable production process.
Sustainable Fishing
This French label was launched by the Ministry of Ecological Transition in 2017. Labelled fisheries must minimise their impact on fish stocks and limit their use of fossil fuels. It will be displayed in fish shops from summer 2019.
Similarly, smoked trout is a more interesting alternative to smoked salmon. Although the problem of salt and smoking remains the same as for salmon, it is less fatty and therefore less polluted with heavy metals.
Gifts
Finally, as far as gifts are concerned, these little gifts that make the magic of Christmas but not necessarily the environment (CO2 emissions linked to transport, materials used, not to mention the tons of gift wrap paper used…) are still synonymous with a lot of economic and ecological spending, with frenzied shopping in all the department stores to please young and old alike.
What are the solutions to offer ethical and sustainable gifts for men, women and children?
Buying from small designers
As you know, the world health crisis has greatly affected small creators who lived mainly thanks to a clientele of regulars but also a lot of tourism for the most part. At the heart of this situation, it is the small shopkeepers who need our support the most! If we want these unique, innovative projects to continue, then let’s support French designers.
Many sites list the creators who stand to gain from being known!
Here are several of them:
https://simon-simone.fr/brands,
https://www.lesraffineurs.com/
https://fr.petitsfrenchies.com/
or
http://lescreatifsparisiens.fr/
Testing toy rental sites
It’s the same thing every year… nearly 40 million toys are thrown away every year… that’s 75,000 tons of waste. Dolls, small cars or puzzles end up in the dumpster after a few years of use by your children. To combat this waste, a sustainable toy rental service, Petite Marelle, a Bordeaux startup, was set up last year!
How does it work?
Petite Marelle now has more than 800 customers and operates on a quarterly, renewable subscription system. In concrete terms, the offer is aimed at both early childhood professionals and parents. The service offers boxes of 5, 10 or 15 toys without batteries or plastic.
What games are available?
Mainly active learning pedagogy games: Montessori, musical and sensory stimulation as well as imitation toys (wooden camera, telephone, detective case…).
Finally, the company also collaborates with the medical-social establishment ESAT Jean Jacquemart, which promotes the social and professional reintegration of people with disabilities, what more could you ask for?
Use recyclable packaging / O waste
In France, Christmas represents nearly 20,000 tonnes of gift wrap paper that is bought and then thrown away for the festive season. This represents 2kg per day…
Here again, there are many alternatives.
Fabric gift wrap paper
Present on the market for a few months now, tissue gift wrap paper has already managed to win over a large proportion of its users. Responsible, economical and aesthetic, it will easily win the hearts of gift wrap lovers!
This new trend has a name: Furoshiki. Straight from Japan, furoshiki is a traditional Japanese method of wrapping objects of all kinds in fabric squares for transport or as gifts.
2 favourite brands for this article :
Manamani : https://www.manamani.com/produit/furoshiki/
Kazidomi: https://www.kazidomi.com/fr/textiles/6984-furoshiki-emballage-cadeau-pois-bio.html
DIY gift wrap paper
Pretty fine napkins, newspaper or kraft paper are also ideal for wrapping the beautiful gifts you will give to your family and friends!
Economical and from second hand, this is what we call pure upcycling 🙂
You see, it’s satisfying to make something new out of something old?
No gift wrap
We don’t think about it enough, but the magic of Christmas is mainly based on enchantment but above all on sharing! So yes for the children, colours and glitter count. But for older children, it is in the head that the magic takes place, the imagination goes beyond the gifts, sharing a meal together, music, cries of joy and Christmas carols, isn’t that what is essential in the end?
Isn’t a responsible Christmas fun?