By the Green Queen
When you’re invited to a wedding, birthday, or whatever for your eco-minded friends, a great way to show that you care about them is by keeping their environmental interests at heart when selecting a gift. This can be a bit intimidating for some people, for whom the phrase “eco-friendly” conjures images of underwear woven by hand entirely from the fibers of some moss that grows only under a specific rock in Peru. Breathe. Buying eco-friendly doesn’t need to be complicated. Consider some of the following ideas.
1.) Reclaimed or re purposed furniture, or other home accessories. “Reclaimed” (also sometimes called “salvaged”) means that the materials used to make it (usually wood) were part of something else that was taken apart and reassembled into something new. “Repurposed” usually means that the original item wasn’t completely taken apart; it was just adapted to be used for a new purpose. (Like using a giant old steamer trunk for a coffee table, or a stepladder for a bookshelf.) This conserves natural resources so it’s like recycling, but more fun because you can still see the history behind it. Consider saying, “I got this wardrobe for my wedding,” versus “I got this wardrobe for my wedding. It’s made from the planks of an old ship.” Seriously, that second one is a lot cooler. Plus, it’s a great way to give your friends the gorgeous look and feel of real wood, (which many “green” people adore,) without furthering deforestation or waste (which “green” people do NOT adore).
Sideboard from Woodland Creek Furniture
2.) Food machines, like bread machines or ice cream makers. Many (but not all) people who choose to go green do so for health reasons as well as environmental reasons. They may be very interested in organic foods, or just foods that aren’t full of preservatives, dyes, and six-syllable words that sound more like Star Trek aliens than ingredients. You’d be amazed how difficult it can be to shop for groceries when you’re trying to avoid certain chemicals. Many times, the healthiest and most cost-effective way to get a certain food is just to make it yourself. But sometimes this is easier said than done. Bread machines, ice cream makers, food processors, and the like can be really helpful in maintaining a steadily healthy, chemical-free diet. Just make sure to include a gift receipt, because as great as these machines can be, they sometimes end up unused because people a.) intend to use them but keep forgetting to, or b.) somehow collect two or three of them by accident. (If this possibility really bothers you, see #4.)
3.) Eco-friendly jewelry. (Seriously, you had to know this one would be on the list.) The key thing to remember about a “green” lifestyle is that it doesn’t have to be about giving up the things you like; it’s about embracing your sense of style but being mindful of how things were made. This is one area where Diamond Nexus comes in really handy. Diamond Nexus jewelry has the look of popular mined gemstone jewelry, but with its lab-created diamond simulants and recycled gold, it’s an Earth-safe alternative that can be enjoyed without guilt or sacrifice. And another bonus of lab-created gemstones: they’re all conflict-free.
4.) Carbon offsets. How these work is you take the estimated carbon footprint of an average household, dorm, car, or whatever for a given period, and you pay a set amount to basically cancel out that footprint by funding clean renewable energy projects. It’s pretty cool; you reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support jobs in the renewable energy industry, and you don’t have to worry about whether somebody else already got your friend the same thing because they could always use another one and never have to worry about where to store it. If you’re interested in this idea, check out TerraPass, voted best carbon offset provider for two years running.
0 comments:
Post a Comment