What does christmas really cost us? I ask my family not to buy me Christmas gifts. In the beginning it was to make a stance against Christmas saying “I’m not Christian, so it’s not my holiday and these traditions are silly.” But as I grow older and care less and less about putting effort into making rebellious statements against my family, my request for no gifts has not changed. Except now it’s becoming more and more an environmental/social issue. I don’t like supporting consumerism and our dog-eat-dog economy. I like hurting the environment even less, so you can imagine my dismay after coming across this pdf report on the real cost of Christmas in Australia.
Let me sum it up:
Cost of Christmas Spending:..(numbers from 2004)
Household Appliances
- $1 500 million on household electrical goods
- Before ever being plugged in, 780 000 tonnes of pollution
- 1 155 000 megatonnes of material used to produce them
- 10 000 megaliters of water used
- Taking up a grand total of 52 000 hectares of land
Clothes
- Every dollar that an australian spends on clothes is on average 0.4 kilograms of material, 1/2 a kilo of greenhouse pollution, 20 liters of water and 3.4 square metres of land disturbed
- $1 565 million spent on clothes
- 600 000 tonnes of material flow
- 720 000 tones of greenhouse pollutions
- 38 000 megalitres of water
- Coming to a total of 500 000 hectares of disturbed land…
Alcohol!
- $900 million spent on alcohol
- 600 000 tonnes of material flow
- 290 000 tonnes of greehouse pollution
- 42 000 magalitres of water, or 42 gigalitres, enought to fill 42 000 Olympic pools
- With a land impact of 88 000 hectares
Confectionary
- Every dollar spent on junk food is apx 0.5 kg of pollution, 30 litres of water, 1.0 square metre of land distruption and 0.7kg of material
- $123 million spent on confectionaries
- 90 000 tonnes of material flow
- 65 000 tonnes of greehouse pollutions
- 4 000 megalitres of water
- 10 000 hectars of disturbed land
- Spending $30 on confectionary is consuming 20 kg of materials, 940 litres of water, 26 squared metres of land and creates 16kg of greenhouse gasses!
Books and Magazines
- $612 spent on books and mags
- 430 000 tonnes of greenhouse pollutions - equivalent of a year’s pollution from 85 000 cars
- 416 000 tonnes of materials
- 40 000 hectares of land is disturbed for this conusumtion
- 6 000 megalitres of water
What counts as those environmental impacts? Water usage is based on the water extracted from rivers, lakes and aquifers - mostly for irrigation purposes. Land disturbance is the degree and amount that is altered from its natural state. Greenhouse pollutions measure the C02 and other GHGs that are emitted into the atmosphere and material flow is the measures of all masses extracted from the earth including timber and livestock.
Reading this makes me feel even less guilty about not getting anyone anything for christmas. I was planning on going shopping today and buying a shirt for myself from H&M because I’m pretty much addicted, but I’ll be rethinking that game. Clothes and alcohol are my two weaknesses on this list - but I can certainly stop with the alcohol… Clothes will be a bit tougher, but I’m sure I can manage.
I’ll continue to urge people to try not to give into the consumerist based patterns of the season. …If celebrating christmas is a must for you and your family - do it wisely. Kids don’t need iPods when they’re 10. They don’t need them when they’re 19 either (guilty as charged, I have one)… what they need is some family time and love. I also urge everyone to check out all the posts that the other girls have made on organic shopping and the links at the side. Also, Grist Magazine has a really great eco-shoppers guide.
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Ugh, I actually did my Christmas shopping this year, which is a big change for me since I usually ignore that aspect of the holidays. Will keep this report in mind when the holidays roll around next year!
December 20th, 2006 at 9:01 amJust came back from the shopping mall (I work in Montreal downtown) to buy a gift card for my brother (one of the three gifts i’ll buy, the others I makd), and i just told my coworkers how it made me sick and nauseous to see people buy like there’s no tomorrow..and all those plastic bags….eurk!
December 20th, 2006 at 11:06 amthanks, i’m relieved i’m not the only one to think christmas time is pollution time (a big mess really). My wish for Christmas is for every person to understand the impact they have on earth when they act like this…i’m not christian though…Sadly, I know it won’t come true…
Tre cool
December 20th, 2006 at 1:03 pmI’m just as liberal as the next Eco-Chick reader, but instead of rallying around hating consumerism, why not encourage careful consumption, and giving those things that do create a sense of love, community and family? Giving/accepting handmade gifts only, organically/locally procured and cooked feasts, etc.?
Yes, there are a mass of Americans who will just consume to consume and not give a thought to 1. the gift itself or 2. the environmental impacts of the gift. But there is nothing that we are ever going to be able to do about that, other than by helping manufacturers improve the sustainability of their supply chains - and take the choice of impact out of consumer’s hands.
It is important for us who KNOW better, to lead by example, rather than preaching, which rarely works. And besides, why be such judgers? You especially can’t advise people not to have iPods when you yourself have one.
Lastly, gift giving has and always will be an important part of our culture, from birthdays, to weddings, to the winter holidays. People WANT to give gifts. When does the counting of impacts stop, especially when the collective impact of all the birthdays in the world, or all the weddings of the world, contribute just as much so-called-terrible-consumerism as Christmas and Hannukah? Will you boycott birthday and wedding presents too?
Please, can we just stop being Grinches and start living a life of careful consumption and careful giving instead?
December 20th, 2006 at 1:04 pmMichelle I’m not attemptint to rally anyone - you can clearly see this site is not against consumption. I for one don’t purchase gifts - I’m not telling or asking anyone to do this. This is why at the end of my post I suggested looking at organic/eco-friendly gifts and even provided a link with a lot of gift ideas.
Just because gift giving is a part of our culture doesn’t mean we need to maintain that - there were a lot of things in the past that were a part of the American culture that we abolished because it was bad for the society and our rights as people - why not try to abolish or at least limit something that is bad for the earth?
And actually - I do “boycott” birthdays and weddings. I don’t buy gifts for people, and people know that. Sometimes I will get someone something if I know they need it and they’ll appreciate it.
My post was to open people’s eyes to the fact that christmas time is associated with mass consumerism and the effects that it has are huge. …I’m not saying STOP celebrating christmas. (Although…) Ideally if we as a country have to continue to celebrate christmas it should be centred around togetherness and family - not giving and consuming.
You’re telling someone who doesn’t celebrate christmas or hannukah to stop being a grinch… I think the entire ordeal is over done and that any sort of real purpose or meaning has been lost.
December 20th, 2006 at 2:10 pmBesides the environmental aspects, if you look around in the shopping mall at people’s faces, a lot of people aren’t really enjoying themselves. Many people feel obligated to do “Christmas shopping.” It’s lost a lot of meaning. In the past, people didn’t have as much money as they do now, they couldn’t buy virtually everything they wanted, so there was a lot more gratitude involved in gift-giving, and it probably made more sense than it does now. Now, it’s so bad where I live, people so rushed to get to events and buy this and that, that the police in my city are literally telling drivers to calm down, so they don’t cause accidents.
It’d be nice if our culture could change so that people don’t feel obligated to give everyone gifts, and the receivers don’t feel slighted if they get nothing. We could use this time of year to give to those who really need it, or to express extra gratitude for those who’ve really gone the extra mile to help us out during the year, and as for the rest, spend time with them and catch up. To me that’s worth more than another doo-dad clogging up my closet anyways.
December 20th, 2006 at 2:39 pmI think these are all really thoughtful opinions. I agree with Michelle- I LOVE celebrating Christmas (even though I’m an agnostic/pagan/kitty worshipper) and I LOVE giving and receiving gifts. I love making Christmas cookies, taking my ornaments out every year, seeing family members I choose to see, and throwing parties (where yes, we drink lots of alcohol). I think it’s really important to celebrate friends, family and light in the darkest part of the year, and I look forward to December every year because of it. BUT even I get carried away (oy with the drinking especially!) and it’s good to have lots of reminders to remember what’s really important and where our money is going. Reducing consumerism is good, but I don’t think that eliminating gift-giving is really going to get us where we want to go. I mean, what are all the cool creative chicks who design ecofashions going to do if we don’t buy their stuff? I for one do not have time to run a blog, work, go to school, grow organic food, cook as many meals from scratch as I can, AND make my own clothes.
But I’ll admit, even the Eco Chick goes a little nuts with the gifts, but when my friend Pauline showed up to give me my present early (a Gorgeous handmade apron that matched my kitchen colors) I was so touched- she had obviously spent time and effort really thinking about what I could use and had made something for me with her own hands (and time, which she has less of than anyone I can think of)). THAT is what Christmas is about. But Kian, we all need to be reminded, again and again, that what we buy so easily has real impacts. So keep doing it! And keep getting that message out there. I don’t think we can hear it too much, especially with all the competing messages telling us to buy crap.
And as far as the iPod debate, god knows I don’t think I’ve EVER used an electronic gadget so much (even more than my cell phone!) I love technology (duh) and so I vote for pressuring the computer companies to make the stuff greener than green instead of eliminating it from our lives.
December 20th, 2006 at 3:09 pmHi,
I just want to thank you all for this forum and you presence; the fact that you are on this site at all says a lot. Having studied anthropology and marketing, I want to say a couple of things: gift giving has been apart of humanity acrossed cultures since our beginnings, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes as a way of establishing hierarchy (those that can give more show prosperity and power over the enemy tribe…etc. I was a way to avoid war) But today’s Christmas customs that are being discussed here are primarily US based and are a product of marketing PR. We can all thank company’s like Macy’s along with corporate and PR run news stations as well as television networks for today’s burden on society; credit cards and now tax refund advances are all part of the exploitation. The good news is, people are getting tired of the ordeal and more people are actually in church on christmas these days, that is actuall christians are in church…food for thought on that one!
December 20th, 2006 at 3:27 pmI can relate on so many levels. I am a stay at home mom making a consious choice to teach my children about thoughtful giving. I also give many gifts of time and order healthy products form daisy blue naturals as a consultant as gifts. http://www.3623.daisybluenatuals.com when you purchase form someone like me you also help supprt the environment ans small business around the world as well as keep familes budgets in line with their ethics of less is more. Please consider checking my website out…I am would really appreciate it!
December 22nd, 2006 at 10:57 am