Throw Your Arms Around The World At Christmas Time
Whilst it wasn’t Band Aid’s original inspiration for their huge festive hit single, it’s become all too obvious over the past few decades that our planet needs a plaster. It’s feeling a little bit poorly. It’s not getting enough greens or fresh water. Sometimes it’s feeling worryingly warm and sometimes uncomfortably cold. Really it needs a big cuddle and a spot of TLC.
In our ‘world of plenty’, we’re simply creating too much waste and we’re already in danger of one day reaching a point where ‘nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow’.
If you’ve caught even a glimpse of the Netflix documentary ‘Our Planet’, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, you may have witnessed some of the (literally) eye-watering effects of climate change. Perhaps the most poignant and much covered in the press is the story of walruses being forced to swim miles out of their way to find land where they can gather and rest, due to less sea ice being available. The devastating scenes show several walruses tumbling off a cliff face in an attempt to return to sea, but instead plunging to their death.
Now, we’re not here to propose that we cancel Christmas, nor do we want to turn the season of goodwill into one of doom and gloom. Perhaps just consider us a tiny team of Future Fairies, here to remind you that a little bit of planet kindness can go a long way (all the way to Brazil in fact). For instance, did you know that simple steps like cutting down on palm oil products or cycling to work a couple of days a week to reduce your carbon footprint are great little ways to make a big difference? Plus, it might help to trim off a couple of extra pounds in the run up to the big day!
And speaking of the size of our waist…Christmas creates a truly whopping about of rubbish. Instead of being recycled, one billion Christmas cards are put in the bin and 300,000 tonnes of card packaging is said to be used during the festive season, which is enough to cover Big Ben almost 260,000 times. So please try to dispose of mindfully or consider if you really need to send them at all (bah Humbug!).
Equally, could you make a sustainable switch on wrapping paper? The super shiny foil and glitter types are oh so pretty under the tree but oh so ugly for the environment afterwards. As a general rule, any paper that can be scrunched into a ball and retain that shape is usually recyclable.
Look for paper made from recycled materials or beautiful handmade Lokta paper. Or try wrapping in scarves and scraps of material, paper the children have decorated or old magazines.
Team paper with some plastic free Washi tape in a huge variety of patterns and colours and you’ve got an entirely biodegradable, recyclable planet friendly parcel.
So as we all skip towards the 25th, we’ll leave you with the wise words of Sir David, ‘The natural world is the greatest source of excitement. The greatest source of visual beauty. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living’.
Let’s look after it. Throw your arms around the world. Finish 2019 as a changemaker.
Happy Christmas. Happy Planet. Happy You.