Here’s how you can celebrate the upcoming holidays the Earth-friendly way
Surely, holidays are fun. Now that it’s December, it’s only a matter of a few nights before the best occasion of the year comes. And by that, we mean the Christmas and New Year happening one after another!
Probably at this time, most of us are gearing to enjoy the special days as splendidly as possible. To add, celebrations are essential considering what we went through the past two years under the landscape of the pandemic.
However grand your holiday plans could be, have you considered the dire consequences it has for the environment?
CHOOSE TO GO ECO!
It is no news how the media reports the increase in plastic waste as an aftermath of every holiday. To be specific, the consistent factors behind the hard to reverse repercussions shouldered by our ecosystem is every after Christmas and New Year celebrations.
We should feel bad for having fun in exchange for the Earth’s torment, so it’s only right we act sensitive. With little effort, we can impact a big change!
Let’s have an Earth-friendly celebration through these tips:
Avoid the use of polystyrene foams
Expanded polystyrene foams (EPS) are more commonly known as ‘styrofoams.’ Due to good thermal insulation qualities, it is manufactured as disposable food containers.
Multiple types of research proved it as among the very few materials that take at least 500 years to decompose. Other studies even say that it never gives in to the elements of nature. Hence, it stays forever non-biodegradable and non-recyclable.
Not to mention, styrofoams contain cancer-causing chemicals that are harmful to humans. So if you want to save both yourself and the environment, avoid using it!
Refrain from too much plastic usage
Advocates have long petitioned against the use of plastic material as it continuously harms the place we live in. While it requires the world’s participation and a dramatic living adjustment to rid of plastics, it should not stop there.
Plastic takes thousands of times more than our lifeline to decompose. So if we must, for special occasions, boycott buying of utensils and kitchen wares that are made out of it.
Instead, try paper plates or use washable containers. It’s about time we become sensible enough to compromise as it is for our own good.
Reuse Christmas decorations
Christmas is every Filipinos’ most favorite event. If you can’t believe it yet, let me remind you again of how we celebrate it the longest as early as ‘Ber’ months kicks in.
Part of this culture is every household’s tradition to decorate their homes. Christmas lights, artificial pine trees, colorful Belens, and flashy synthetic parols are a must. And sadly, almost all of these ornaments are made up of non-biodegradable materials.
Rather than buy yearly, recycle your decorations until you can. Not only it saves your time, effort, and money, but it saves our environment from risk as well.
No firecrackers for the New Year
It was in 2017 when the government banned the individual use of firecrackers or fireworks displays. However, it does not stop others to misbehave from its implementation, especially now that it’s pandemic.
Firecrackers should not only be stopped to lower the accident rate every start of the year but to eliminate their harmful effects on our nature. Fireworks and firecrackers emit chemicals that increase pollution in the air. To add, it also disturbs the animals.
Instead of greeting the New Year with potential harm, choose to welcome it with alternatives. That way, it benefits us and all of the living things on Earth.
Lastly, do not waste food
Some may think of wasting food as a humanitarian concern, but it is also a matter involving our environment. By the act itself of wasting food, we give no importance to the energy and water spent to produce it.
Moreover, when we let food waste rot in our landfills, it produces greenhouse gas methane that is damaging the ecosystem. In return, we contribute to the worsening state of climate change.
Our special days should not be measured by how grand we arrange them, but by how happy we have become. Think about what you sacrifice in exchange for overpreparing food.
Let us echo our being eco-friendly
As humans of this age, we should be accountable for making the future world for the next generations. What we do today defines our tomorrow.
And when talking about our environment, every step is a matter of helping ourselves, or numbering the days of our comfort.
By more careful consideration of things at the expense of our guilt, we can do so much to help. This coming holidays, and for all our lifetime’s occasion, may we put first the important consequences above the fun we wanted.
After all, what is there to celebrate if we did nothing worth celebrating?
