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Well, how about it? Christmas is a great time for us, right? Well, it\u2019s not so great for our planet and environment. Christmas can be wasteful and not the best time for the environment, because of all the extra plastic gifts, glitter and extra lights. However, this is not an unfixable problem, and there are a few easy steps that don\u2019t require much time, energy or money.<\/p>\n
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Firstly, you could consider a meat-free or less meat Christmas dinner. This has many benefits for the environment, such as the obvious, less animals will be killed, but also that raising animals for meat often involves feeding them soya, which can be grown on land which has contributed to deforestation .<\/p>\n
However, this might not be what everyone would want, and most people would like to have a traditional Christmas dinner. If this is the case, you might want to buy organic\/locally grown vegetables or free range turkey\/chicken. This would benefit the environment as pesticides are used on non organic crops, and they can kill small animals and bugs. Also, free range chickens have a nicer life and are not caged, which helps them have a more natural lifestyle, therefore contributing to what these animals would be doing if not being reared for meat. You could suggest a compromise of a smaller free range turkey (which would probably cost the same as a usual turkey) and a vegetarian option too.<\/p>\n
Another way to give the planet a \u2018merry Christmas\u2019 is to use brown paper. A report in the BBC news said that \u2018we throw away an estimated 227,000 miles of wrapping paper each year at Christmas in the UK.\u2019 That\u2019s nearly the distance to the moon! This is not good for our planet as wrapping paper is often dyed, laminated and\/or contains things that can\u2019t be recycled, such as glitter and plastics. Glitter and plastics are then put into landfill, but don\u2019t biodegrade, so can be eaten by birds or fish. Micro plastics are an extreme danger to fish, and then to us if we eat them. The bigger plastics can be swallowed by other animals that then may die, throwing ecosystems off balance. Brown paper doesn\u2019t have to be boring or plain, there are many ways to decorate it which make it more personalised and environmentally friendly, like drawing pictures on it.<\/p>\n
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The third way to make your Christmas eco is to use solar powered outdoor lighting. If you burn fossil fuels to fuel the lights, they can\u2019t be recycled. Products from burning the fossil fuels go up to the ozone layer and stay there, heating the planet until the end of time, unless we capture them again. So, to save our planet, you can use solar powered lights, which capture the sun in the day and light up in the night, and because the sun is nearly always there, you don\u2019t have to pay electric bills on the fuel because it\u2019s free! This idea might not be for everyone, especially if you have the same set of lights you always use. If you do, then maybe you could ask the adults in your house to consider switching to a non-fossil fuel energy supplier.<\/p>\n
The environment can be safer this Christmas with these simple steps. And also please note that only a few of the many suggestions that exist are here, and there are also many other ways to help the environment this Christmas and in general. If you would like to read more about this topic- there some links below.<\/p>\n
Merry Christmas!Check out these links\u2026<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.wwf.org.uk\/top-tips-sustainable-christmas<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/bitesize\/articles\/z2sjkty<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.zerowastescotland.org.uk\/content\/top-10-tips-waste-free-christmas<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.wildlifetrusts.org\/actions\/how-have-eco-christmas<\/a><\/p>\n