Green Blog Tour: Holiday Consumerism
If you've been out shopping lately, you've seen the loads and loads of, er, stuff, out there for Halloween. I know I sound like an old fogey when I write this, but seriously, was Halloween always this complicated and laden with stuff? In this Green Blog Tour, we take a spin through a few posts from the Green Mom Carnival, Commercialization of the Holidays Edition:Ending Holiday Consumerism
At Tiny Choices, Karina offers up some great tips and links to help beat it back including tips from the Dollar Stretcher and some food for thought at Conscious Choice.
Help Stop the Commercialization of Christmas
Nimic at The Green Routine talks about how we can tamper down on the commercialization of the holidays along with an interesting history lesson. The Santa Claus that we know and love, well, he was first painted on a commission from Coca-Cola.
Fake Plastic Holidays
Beth at Fake Plastic Fish laments on the "Fake Plastic" everything related to the the holidays. And she questions whether its enough to replace the Fake Plastic with all things organic and homemade, or is it better to question the "compulsive gift-giving" instead.
It's Energy Independence Day! 
Green Your 4th of July Celebration
The Importance of Pollination - It's Not Just Bee Sex
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-16-2008 @ 10:39AM
Chris Carpenter said...
Yes (x10). There are lots of reasons that I would like to see Christmas de-commercialized. One practical way to maintain the spirit of giving in the season without falling into the typical marketing / consumerism traps is to give gifts in honor of someone. I have made contributions to organizations in someone's name and had people do the same for me in those awkward $20 exchanges. Making a donation to a charitable foundation in someone's name is thoughtful, sustainable, and helps spread out the joys of a season of giving beyond just those who can afford to participate.
Once you fully understand the whole supply chain of the goods you consume, it becomes less and less possible to be both a good consumer (as defined by our culture) and a good neighbor.
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