About a year ago, I posted a piece with tips, ideas, and considerations for selecting green gifts. Here’s a summary recap of the 7 types of gifts I suggested in that post:
- Non-“stuff” (e.g., activities, services, or donations, rather than products)
- Homemade, handmade, or homegrown stuff
- Locally made or Fair Trade goods
- Products with green attributes or purposes
- Re-gifted items or lightly used finds
- Eminently useful things
- Small stuff
Take a look at last year’s post to see the specific ideas that I suggested within each of those categories. This year, I’d like to supplement those suggestions with a few more. In addition to the criteria listed above, you also might want to consider choosing the following types of gifts:
Products (or services) made and sold by small, independent (and ideally local) businesses, rather than national chains or multi-national corporations. Or at least try to buy things that were Made in the USA (or whichever country you live in) to help boost the domestic economy.- Goods made or sold by companies that are members of the 1% for the Planet campaign: “a growing global movement of 1,395 companies [as of Nov. 2011] that donate 1% of their sales to a network of 2,691 environmental organizations worldwide.”
Goods made or sold by Certified B Corporations (or Benefit Corporations), which “are a new type of corporation which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.” As of Nov. 7, 2011, there are 451 Certified B Corporations. That number will be growing, as more companies achieve this certification and as more states pass laws establishing the legitimacy of Benefit Corporations. One of the Founding B Corporations is BetterWorldBooks.
Speaking of books, here are a few green-themed books that might interest some of the people on your gift list:
- Beautiful and Abundant: Building the World We Want, by Bryan Welch (2010)
- Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era, by Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute (2011)
- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver (2007)
Also, I might as well mention a few green product brands that are personal favorites of mine: Newman’s Own Organics; Seeds of Change; Sustainable Seed Co.; Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds; and Patagonia. I am not getting paid to recommend any of these companies.
Lastly, here are some online resources for additional information on green products and reducing wasteful consumption:
- Green America: click on the Green Gift Guide, Responsible Shopper, and Fair Trade links
- TisBest Charity Gift Cards
- SoKind Registry (or online, non-materialistic Wish Lists)
- Good Guide: ratings of safe, green, healthy, and ethical products
- Center for a New American Dream
Related posts:
Greener, More Gratifying Gifts (added November 2015)
Green Goods: Beneficial Products and Gifts (added November 2012)
Good Duds: Sustainable and Responsible Clothing (added October 2013)
Benefit Corporations and B Corps: Businesses for the Common Good (added July 2013)
Lesser-Known Organizations that are Worthy of Support (added December 2012)
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Another gift idea: give adventures. Instead of giving my grandchildren toys that will collect dust or get broken each of them get a day to go and learn about their world. They’ve gone to several farms, Museum of Science, the Aquarium, the Butterfly Museum, on a Whale Watch, Plimoth Plantation and Mayflower, on the Duck Boats and all around Boston, Newport to the mansions and kite flying at Breton Point. All 4 get to go on each birthday trip together and it makes for a great family day.