How to Have a Green Christmas

too much food, too much drink, too much spending, and too much
waste.

Environmentalists advocate an "eco-friendly" holiday season that
will result in a "green Christmas" that will put less strain on Mother
Earth, but some of the same choices they suggest can produce a more
people-friendly holiday as well, leading to better health for all. While a
truly organic Christmas in this day and age may be hard to imagine, it may be
possible to take some steps in that direction.

(What do you do for a more environmentally-friendly
holiday ?  Share your stories and ideas on WebMD's Health Café
board.)

Green Christmas Gifts: Healthier for You and the Environment

Consider gift giving, a major feature of the modern-day Christmas
celebration. Manufacturing gifts requires consuming resources in the form of
raw materials and energy. Shopping for them uses gasoline, and once given, the
gifts generate mountains of wrapping paper, ribbons, and cards. Then there are
all those trips back to the store to exchange unwanted items, which require
more gasoline. All this generates plenty of emotional and financial stress for
humans, as well.

The solution?

"I counsel people that there are two types of gifts -- material gifts
and experiential gifts," Robert Lilienfeld, author of Use Less Stuff:
Environmental Solutions for Who We Really Are, tells WebMD. "The kinds
of gifts that have the most positive emotional value -- the healthiest gifts --
are those that provide us with experiences. You can help people travel, you can
give them tickets to concerts, museums, sporting events. For teenagers, an
iTunes card is always welcome. From a use-less-stuff standpoint, this is very
positive because you're giving an experience, not a thing, and those kinds of
experiences stay with us longer anyway."

This type of gift giving also would help reduce the amount of holiday
wrapping paper and packaging destined for our landfills. But even traditional
gifts can be given in a way that minimizes waste.

"You probably have a lot of things you can use to wrap gifts that are
recyclable, such as old subway maps, magazines, and so on," says
Lilienfeld, who also publishes the ULS (Use Less Stuff) Report. "If
you give a CD, the odds are good that a newspaper or magazine will have an ad
for that group. That way the wrapping is related to the gift you're giving, and
it's something you're going to recycle anyway."

Fresh vs. Artificial Christmas Trees

Christmas trees pose a dilemma because fresh trees as well as artificial
trees have their advantages and drawbacks.

An artificial tree will last for years, thereby avoiding annual trips to buy
a fresh tree. Fresh trees may also carry mold and spores that can aggravate
allergies. Connecticut researchers recently found that the mold count from a
live Christmas tree rose to more than six times the original level after two
weeks indoors. According to the authors, the study "demonstrates that
mold-sensitive patients may experience allergic symptoms due to an increasing
mold spore exposure from having a live Christmas tree in the home."

No live tree is hypoallergenic, and the Christmas decorations you put on
them, especially heirlooms that have been used for many years, may be covered
with dust, which also can irritate people with allergies.

On the other hand, Lilienfeld says, artificial trees are made with petroleum
-- a nonrenewable resource -- and the manufacturing process often involves
dioxins, a highly toxic, cancer-causing chemical that accumulates in the fatty
tissues of humans and other animals.

They also lack the evergreen fragrance that signifies Christmas for many
people. Buying a fresh tree may eliminate the need for scented candles,
incense, and other overpowering fragrances that can bother people with
allergies -- as well as those without. And because most Christmas trees re
grown on farms, harvesting them does not disturb forests.

As for disposing of the trees, the National Christmas Tree Association and
Earth 911 operate a web
site that directs you to the nearest of nearly 4,000 locations nationwide
that will accept your tree.

A Green Christmas Feast: Moderation Is Merrier

The choice between a fresh or a frozen turkey poses a similar dilemma. Fresh
turkeys have no added hormones, but neither do frozen turkeys because the
federal government prohibits administering growth hormones to poultry.
Free-range turkeys may be raised without antibiotics, but the U.S. Food Safety
and Inspection Service requires that all turkeys given antibiotics be kept
alive long enough for the drugs to pass completely out of the bird's
system.

If you want to make your meal more organic, you might be better off choosing
lots of organic vegetables.

When it comes to holiday meals, what's most important for your health is
moderation. If you don't eat too much turkey -- or anything else, for that
matter -- you'll probably do more for your health than any free-range or
organic bird ever could.

"Most people gain about a pound or more this time of year because of all
the holiday food and cheer," says Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD, WebMD's
director of nutrition. "If you don't want to gain another notch on your
belt, try shaving a few calories wherever you can without denying yourself the
joy of holiday food and festivities. Moderation is the key. Be picky at the
buffet table, forget about second helpings, and when it comes to those decadent
desserts, eat only a sliver or share with a friend.  Do everything you can
to stay active and keep up your exercise to thwart those extra pounds."

Greener Holiday Decorations: Lighten Your Carbon Footprint

Christmas lights can consume an alarming amount of electricity, as
homeowners who lavishly decorate their house and yard discover when inspecting
their electric bill for the holiday season. You can lighten your "carbon
footprint" -- and the burden on your pocketbook -- by using light-emitting
diodes, or LED lights, instead of conventional holiday lights. LEDs use far
less electricity -- sometimes up to 90% less -- and remain cool to the
touch.

The Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center this season is ablaze with 30,000
LED lights, which will cut electric consumption from 3,510 to 1,297 kilowatt
hours -- an amount of electricity equal to what a typical 2,000-square-foot
house would use in a month, the Associated Press reports.

Some LED lights for outdoor use also come with solar panels, which reduce
the cost of electricity to zero.

Green Christmas: Less Is More

The bottom line, for minimizing stress on the environment and on yourself
during the holiday season, is simple -- use less stuff, as Lilienfeld's book
advises. Buy fewer gifts, and get by with fewer decorations and smaller meals.
That will contribute more than anything to the health of the planet, the health
of your body, and the health of your budget.

By Tom Valeo
Reviewed by Louise Chang
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