{"id":899550,"date":"2022-12-15T03:21:53","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T00:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=899550"},"modified":"2022-12-15T03:21:53","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T00:21:53","slug":"6-ways-to-give-more-eco-friendly-gifts-this-holiday-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=899550","title":{"rendered":"6 Ways to Give More Eco-Friendly Gifts This Holiday Season"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Living<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

6 Ways to Give More Eco-Friendly Gifts This Holiday Season<\/h1>\n
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By <\/span>Emily Chan<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Photographed by Susanna Howe, Vogue,<\/em> May 2007<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
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Christmas is, of course, a time for giving\u2014but it is also unfortunately a time of enormous waste. In fact, an estimated $101 billion worth of Christmas presents are returned each year in the U.S. alone, with some of them eventually ending up in landfill.<\/p>\n

Given that many of us are becoming increasingly eco-conscious, it makes sense that people are being more thoughtful about the presents they buy. \u201cWe really need to start thinking about the deeper impact of the items we choose to gift and the footprint they have on this Earth,\u201d Cora Hilts, founder of sustainable e-tailer R\u00eave En Vert, tells\u00a0Vogue<\/em>. \u201cI am a big believer that there can be positive footprints through meaningful gifting, but also very large negative ones when we shop mindlessly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Below, see six expert-approved tips for how to give more consciously this Christmas.<\/p>\n

Put some extra thought into it\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Instead of panic buying something at the last minute, leave yourself some time to think about what each person might actually want. \u201cIt\u2019s tempting to shower our loved ones with gifts during the holiday season, but this often leads us to buy items that are quickly forgotten or tossed out,\u201d Rebecca van Bergen, the founder and executive director of Nest, a non-profit that supports artisans around the world, says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThoughtfulness is more important than cost,\u201d stylist Amy Bannerman adds. \u201cA friend of mine had a classic Ralph Lauren knit that she had saved all her money for as a teen; she wore it until it fell apart. I sourced exactly the same one for her and she burst into tears when she opened it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go for an experience gift\u00a0<\/h2>\n

One way to stop products from ending up in landfill is to go for an experience gift\u2014whether that be a voucher for a loved one\u2019s favorite restaurant or tickets to a concert or the theater. \u201cThese are one of my favorite types of presents and what my husband and I normally commit to,\u201d Hilts explains. \u201cI have always made sure these experiences would be as sustainable as possible. For instance, in London, we used to book a dinner at Spring by Skye Gyngell, which is a seasonal, organic, and plastic-free restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shop second-hand\u00a0<\/h2>\n

With second-hand shopping growing in popularity, the stigma around giving preloved presents is also beginning to drop away. \u201cIf you feel someone may be more on the fence about something preloved, giving an antique might be a safer place to start, as somehow this seems less stigmatized and more luxury,\u201d Bannerman, a second-hand obsessive, suggests. \u201cFor home lovers, you can get amazing pieces on eBay\u2014I just got a ceramic palm tree table lamp for \u00a320 which I am eagerly awaiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Invest in sustainably minded brands\u00a0<\/h2>\n

If you are buying new, look for brands that are doing their best to reduce their environmental footprint. \u201cIt can be so much easier to do conscious gifting by simply supporting small, independent, and ethical businesses as these people have so often done all the work for you,\u201d Hilts comments. \u201cTheir packaging is already minimal and as sustainable as possible, they are producing items of quality and longevity, and they are deeply considering their impact on the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support craftspeople\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Considering the social impact of your gifts is important, too\u2014the festive season can be a great time to support local businesses and craftspeople. \u201cHandcraft is one of the largest employers of women around the world, often enabling them to work from home and care for their families while earning an income,\u201d says van Bergen. While online marketplaces allow you to access pieces by craftspeople from around the world, you can also look closer to home via local crafts markets and boutiques.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Opt for a donation to charity\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Perhaps in the spirit of giving, you could make a donation to your loved one\u2019s favorite charity or local food bank this Christmas\u2014rather than buying something that might end up being thrown out anyway. \u201cI think that a lot of us have lost [the sense of] what Christmas is supposed to be about in the madness of consumption that now swirls around the holidays,\u201d Hilts concludes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

Source URL: https:\/\/www.vogue.com\/article\/eco-friendly-gifts-holidays<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Living 6 Ways to Give More Eco-Friendly Gifts This Holiday Season By Emily Chan December 14, 2022 Photographed by Susanna Howe, Vogue, May 2007 Christmas is, of course, a time for giving\u2014but it is also unfortunately a time of enormous waste. In fact, an estimated $101 billion worth of Christmas presents are returned each year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":899551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-899550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-vogue-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=899550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/899551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=899550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=899550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=899550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}