Christmas Gifts with a Conscience: The Green Gift Guide

“Live responsibly, shop sustainably” is the motto of the Green Gift Guide website (http://www.greengiftguide.com/). You can act on the Catholic Social Doctrine of caring for God’s creation as you Christmas shop.

This website has ideas for buying gifts made of recycled materials, ways to trim your tree and wrap your gifts that do not lead more junk in our landfills -- plan ahead now and have a wonderful, meaningful and socially responsible holiday season!

“He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.” --Psalm 146:7

Care for God’s Creation by Reducing Holiday Waste

As the holiday season approaches, plan ahead to reduce your waste. Be creative and do not add to our landfills. By some very simple methods, you can act on at least two Catholic Social Doctrines: caring for God's creation and living in solidarity with others who must share the world's resources ("living more simply so that others can simply live")

The bad news: An estimated 2.6 billion holiday cards are sold each year in the United States, enough to fill a football field 10 stories high. 38,000 miles of ribbon is thrown out each year--enough to tie a bow around the Earth.

The good news: The California Integrated Waste Management Board has a great website with many practical ideas to help you care for God’s creation this holiday season by reducing your own waste: http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/PublicEd/Holidays/ .

For example,

1. Buy rechargeable batteries,
2. Wrap jewelry in a scarf,
3. Wrap a kitchen gift in a new dish towel,
4. Use gift bags and save them for next year,
5. Give movie tickets, ball game tickets or other non-material gifts,
6. Give homemade cookies,
7. Use the Sunday comics as wrapping paper,
8. Make gift tags from last year’s Christmas cards, and
9. Always reuse packing peanuts.

For years, my mother-in-law has wrapped our gifts in the comics or old maps or old scraps of wall paper. For the last few years, my sister and I have put our gifts into those reusable gift sacks loosely wrapped in tissue paper. We easily reuse the bags and the tissue paper.

Socially Just Christmas Shopping Ideas

You can act on the Catholic Social Doctrine of solidarity with people around the planet by making purchases direct from farmers and artisans, ensuring that they receive a living wage from the sale of their products. Fair Trade programs also help farmers with sustainable farming methods, so you are also contributing to the Catholic Social Doctrine of caring for God's creation, too! And the Catholic Social Doctrines of the workers' rights and support of families also apply. You are really following in the footsteps of Jesus with your purchases. For the past two years, I have bought all gifts for out of state relatives from fair trade agencies -- the quality is very good. The "Divine" chocolate brand is superb.

Equal Exchange (http://www.equalexchange.coop/) offers fairly traded coffee, tea, chocolate and snacks, supporting small farmer co-ops using sustainable farming methods.

Oxfam America Unwrapped (www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com) makes it easy to give a donation in someone’s name; let’s face it, our adult relatives don’t need another fruitcake and this way we do not generate a lot of wrapping paper for landfills.

Ten Thousand Villages (www.tenthousandvillages.com) offers delightful, handcrafted products from artisans around the world (jewelry, journals, soaps, toys).

Alter Eco Fair Trade (www.altereco-usa.com) offers fair trade and organic foods (coffee, grains, teas, olive oils, chocolate) while supporting small farmers who are preserving local agricultural biodiversity.

-- Courtesy of the Diocese of Oakland, Social Justice Resources webpage