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The articles on this site are the work of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of any Green Party organization
Published by Roger Snyder
Roger's Rumblings

Dec

9

If you gotta give (or get) gifts, give the gifts that give on many levels

[From Jen's Journal]

(This is part one of a multi-part series that I’ll be doing for the next couple of weeks.)

As I’ve mentioned here before, Buy Nothing Day will be celebrated the day after Thanksgiving. Buy Nothing Day brings some awareness to our holiday shopping orgy. It’s all too easy to ignore where the gifts we buy come from, who makes them under what conditions, and what the manufacture of the gifts do to the planet.

I’ve been doing some research to find alternatives or alternative gifts that give on multiple levels, and I thought it would be great to fun to share what I’ve found. Most of the gift ideas I will post here will cost $15 or less.

One of my gifts this year will be non-toxic cleaning supplies. This gift gives on multiple levels because I will be giving this type of gift to someone who usually buys cleaning products with synthetic chemicals that aren’t so good for the planet. So I will reduce the amount of the bad stuff they buy replacing it with the good stuff. Begley’s Best cleaner (yes, that’s actor Ed Begley) is made with all natural stuff, like “citrus fruit, pine extract, olive seeds, maize root, fermented sugar cane and palm”. To make this gift idea even better, 100% of the profits are donated to non-profits. You can get a spray bottle for $6 and the concentrate refill (that should last nearly forever) that you dillute with water for $16 from REAL GOODS.

I hate the expense and toxic waste of batteries. The REAL GOODS catalog has lots of battery chargers (even one that’s solar) and rechargeable batteries. They can get a bit pricey, and since I’m on a budget, I love the idea of this clock and calculator that are water powered . You just refill the little vials with water once every two months. The clock is $12 and the calculator is $14. You can reduce the amount of polluting batteries someone uses, and give them a practical gift that will save them money. The downside to this gift is that it’s made in China which generally means that it’s not fair trade and there’s not any information as to the treatment and wages of the workers that manufacture it.

For the last few years I’ve given Equal Exchange coffee, tea, and hot chocolate as holiday gifts. You can buy from their website, but they do require a minimum order amount, so unless you are buying this for a lot of people, I recommend trying retail. I’ve found the coffee at Wild Oats, and the hot chocolate and tea at Ten Thousand Villages (which is a non-profit store dedicated to fair trade items). I also bought a box of Equal Exchange Earl Grey tea last year for our family and I can say that it was the best Earl Grey I’ve ever tasted.

For a humorous and yet still practical gift, CODE PINK is offering Karl Rove NeoCondoms in their online store. These bright pink condoms have a picture of Karl Rove on the wrapping with the text “Some things should never leak”. Encourage safe sex, help support a great cause and and give someone a good laugh all at the same time. A package of 12 cost $12. I haven’t yet found any information on where they are manufactured.