I won’t have time to post tomorrow since I’ll be enjoying Thanksgiving with my family but I wanted to give you some tips for how to Green your Black Friday shopping! The first time I experienced Black Friday was several years ago while I was working in the retail industry. I had to arrive at work at 4:30 in the morning to see hundreds of crazy shoppers looking for the bargins. After 3 yrs of being behind the counter I decided to actually try this one year…as a shopper. Everyone is in a good mood first thing in the morning, it’s not until later in the day that all the grumps come out. Anyways…this year I wanted to give you some ideas on how to buy environmentally responsible gifts for your loved ones.
1. Consider buying gifts that are made of renewable resources or made from recycled materials. For the chef in your family consider a new set of bamboo cutting boards.
2. Remember when buying those electronics to look for Energy Star products.
3. Look for gifts that will get used many times, stay away from disposable gifts and cheap gifts that will break quickly. What about the gift of nature? Buy a bird lover a new bird feeder. Buy the gardener some new garden tools or some seeds for their garden. Think outside of the box this year.
4. Give a gift to a State Park, theme park, zoo or aquarium this year. Not only can they use it over and over again, but in most cases the money is going towards conservation.
5. Give a gift certificate this year for hard to buy for individuals. This will eliminate the item from being discarded after the holidays if they don’t like it.
Here are some great links to more ideas for everyone on your list:
www.green.yahoo.com
www.treehugger.com
www.earth911.org
And my personal favorite goes to the people over at www.poopoopaper.com. That’s right The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper store has the most environmentally friendly gift of all for the journalist on your list. You have to read it for yourself…I’m not sure my rendition would do it justice. I’m considering this as a gift for a good friend of mine who enjoys journaling; I know she can hardly wait for me to give her poo!
Later in the week, I’m going to give you some ideas on how to wrap these gifts while reducing waste. Remember last year, how much trash did you throw out the next day? I hope you have a wonder, safe and GREEN Thanksgiving! Enjoy your GREEN Friday! Thanks for reading!
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