A cleaner, greener Christmas

[YankeyMCC]

(snip)
Americans are fed up with the seasonal consumerism; according to a 2005 Center for a New American Dream poll, nearly 80 percent of us wish the holidays were less materialistic. However, the cultural critique also needs to consider this season's eco-impact.
(snip)

(snip)
While a lot of the holiday angst has focused on useless ties and battery-operated play-with-them-once toys, the real carbon culprits are eating and traveling. Together they account for roughly half of our total ecological impact, compared with 13 percent for products. This year, an estimated 63.5 million of us will be traveling more than 50 miles from home, and chances are we'll be eating a lot when we get there.
(snip)

(snip)
So just how much carbon does the holiday spending spree generate? The experts haven't yet come up with a holiday-specific measure, according to Audrey Peller of the San Francisco-based Global Footprint Network. But we can work backward to come up with an estimate. The United States emits about 5.6 billion tons of carbon a year, or 19 tons per person. Another way to think about this is in terms of the acres of forest that are necessary to absorb or "sequester" all the carbon that we're putting into the atmosphere. That's called the carbon footprint, and it's currently running at 4.1 billion acres, or just under 14 acres per American. That's a shame, because the United States has only 11.7 acres per person of biologically productive land and shallow sea. The result is carbon buildup in the atmosphere.
(snip)

(snip)
Must an eco-friendly holiday be lonely or hungry? Of course not. Good food and strong community are at the core of most visions of sustainability. The question is how we do things. For example, a Canadian newspaper enlisted two gourmet chefs to produce both a holiday meal with locally produced food and a table laden with imports. The latter had 43 times the carbon impact; transporting food -- and people -- long distances typically means burning a lot of fossil fuels. So when you travel, consider participating in one of the increasingly popular "carbon offset" programs on the Web. These calculate the carbon released on your trip, translate it into dollar terms, and allow you to pay for a carbon-reducing action, such as forest protection or windmill construction. Right now, offsetting a ton of carbon costs from $5 to $25. (To give it a try before you head to the airport, visit Conservation International at conservation.org. )
(snip)


http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/12/10/a_cleaner_greener_christmas/

Ecological Footprint analysis generally gives a number of 4 or 5 Earths (that's right 4 or 5 Planets when we only have 1) needed to support everyone living at the average standard of living of US citizens. And it only gets more pronounced at xmas time.

I wish I could post the whole piece, it's not just hum-bug on xmas, it's just about living our lives and conducting ourselves in a better way.