Holiday Season 2023: Buy Less, Love More
My main message in this blog: Make the 2023 holiday season one in which you buy less and focus on your mental health and relationships with your family.
Why it matters: Not only is this good for you and your loved ones, it’s also good for the planet.
Many of us are well-acquainted with the stress of the holiday season. We understand that a lot of that stress has to do with the frenzy around gift-giving. Most of us are limited by budgets and may feel like what we can afford doesn’t convey our love enough. So, we end up buying what we can’t afford, and the stress levels up as we spend more and more. By the time it’s all over, we feel guilty both about what we have spent and what we haven’t.
Ironically, the sad fact is, after it’s all over, many of us, including the people you’ve given gifts to, are left feeling empty…which is the opposite of our intention!
We know this and we may even be resolved not to do it again this year… and, yet…we find ourselves buying, almost mindlessly, which is not surprising given that this behavior is strongly encouraged by all kinds of things that we expose ourselves to: Black Friday, social media, sales, advertising….and, not least, that nagging sense that we will be judged as ‘less than’ if we don’t buy more.
Limiting your spending is also good for the planet
It doesn’t have to be this way, and I’m guessing most of us have thought about how a simpler holiday season can be better for both our mental health and our relationships with others.
To give you some additional resolve for ‘buying less and loving more’ this holiday season, I want to give you a few statistics that encourage more simplicity for the sake of the planet.
Packaging and Shopping
Global consumerism has the single-largest environmental impact of any human activity. If everyone on earth lived like the average American we would need 5.1 planets to support us. (Source: Earth Overshoot Day: How many earths? How many countries?)
Cardboard boxes accounted for some of the largest carbon pollutants….Removing layers of packaging, changing boxes or even removing them altogether could slash carbon emissions by up to 36 percent. (Source: Retail Carbon Footprints (pdf))
Household waste increases by more than 25% from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. The additional waste -- in the form of food, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons -- contributes to an additional 1 million tons of trash entering landfills each week during that time frame. (Source: Hidden ways the holidays harm the environment and how you can reduce the waste)
About 4.6 million pounds of wrapping paper is used each year in the United States. Each pound of paper creates 3.6 pounds of CO2 when made. (Source: Unwrapping Your Impact)
Electronics
The production of smartphones produces carbon pollution equivalent to the Philippines, a country with a population of 100 million people. Roughly 90% of the total climate pollution from phones comes from their production and distribution. (Source: Environment America)
Smartphones contribute to 10% of global e-waste. Roughly 80% of this waste is burnt or dumped in landfills. (Source: Environment America)
Half of the carbon emissions from the digital sector (making up 4% of global emissions) come from the production of computers, smartphones, and other electronics. (Source: Backmarket.com) I have bought items from Backmarket and have been extremely satisfied. Buy refurbished!
Clothing
Fashion is responsible for 10 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and 20 percent of global wastewater. (Source: Why Fashion Needs to be More Sustainable)
Global fashion consumes 93 billion metric tons of clean water each year, about half of what Americans drink annually. (Source: Why Fashion Needs to be More Sustainable)
The dyeing process for fabrics, which uses toxic chemicals, is responsible for 17 to 20 percent of global industrial water pollution. (Source: Why Fashion Needs to be More Sustainable)
Sixty percent of clothing is made of plastic, e.g. polyester, acrylic, and nylon. Every time these clothes are washed, they shed tiny plastic microfibers. Each year, our laundry releases around half a million tonnes of microplastics into the ocean. (Source: Fashion’s Tiny Hidden Secret)
Buying less and loving more
You’ve heard before how being intentional about gift giving, staying within a budget, being creative, and focusing on experiences rather than things can yield a more meaningful and fulfilling holiday season. This blog offers those hints and more, such as “keeping the main thing the main thing,” meaning,
…take a moment to define what the holiday season most means to you and your family. Whether it’s about faith, gratitude, family, or celebration, let this purpose guide your decisions and help you stay focused on what truly matters.
It’s hard because you’re getting signals from everywhere that being a good person, parent, or friend means buying stuff. If you were constantly getting the message that YOU are enough, you wouldn’t do that. So let me tell you (and I’ll also keep reminding myself) WE are enough!
If you focus on your relationships, you may feel tired once this holiday season has wrapped up, but you’re more likely to feel fulfilled and happy.
