holidays

Here in my sphere, we’re trying to wrap up the Christmas shopping. It’s always a challenge to do that sanely and sustainably. This crazy world of ours, with its vast overabundance of fairly disposable made-in-Asia plastic yuck, does not make it easy to engineer that kind of holiday celebration. I find it takes a fair amount of extra effort, but I also find that it’s well worth it in the end.

I attempt to stay away from stuff from malls and factories as a general rule. I figure if I don’t do the mass-produced thing, I’m less likely to encounter hazardous toys and other unfortunate items, and more likely to give gifts that mean something special, which is the point, right? So I do a lot of shopping on e-Bay for collectibles and other one-of-kind items that are handmade or antique-oriented (and so haven’t consumed any new resources to make). There’s always some stuff from local artists under our tree. Books are a big favorite. And this year I’ll probably give a few of those funky gift bag household kits from our new online store to friends and family that aren’t quite clued into the importance of keeping it green when you clean.

But things get tricky when it’s time to shop for my nine tear-old daughter. It’s tough to find decent toys that aren’t completely cheesy and cheap and, frankly, more than a little suspect safety-wise. There’s no TV watching in the house where she’s concerned so we’ve isolated her from all the screaming toy marketing. That helps a lot. And there are a couple of quality mail-order catalogs we like. (Magic Cabin is a real favorite that seems to have a lot of stuff from Europe, where the toy-making foxes have been locked out of the regulatory henhouse). Between that and a handful of local toy shops, we piece it together.

We got this guest post in this morning from our friend John Heckinger at Global Giving. They’ve got a cool new idea brewing over there, and I think it’s an inspired way to start the week and to celebrate the season.

Last week, GlobalGiving introduced a whole new way to give others a whole new way to give – GlobalGiving Gift Cards. They’re the size and shape of a normal credit or gift card, but they’re 100% biodegradable. These little pieces of wallet candy are made out of corn and can be used exactly like the gift cards you purchase from a retail store, but with much greater benefits:

• Performance art education for street kids in Rio
• Vaccines for kids in Cambodia
• Pedal-powered light for families in Nepal
• Solar energy for low income families in the US

GlobalGiving Gift Cards make it easy, and maybe even stylish, to help others close to home or in remote parts of the developing world, in a direct and real way. When you give a GlobalGiving Gift Card, you’re giving someone the ability to give someone else in the world something extremely meaningful– an education, a livelihood, clean water, or a safe place away from conflict.

Many of us are fortunate that we can worry about installing high-efficiency light bulbs, choosing renewable energy, and buying hybrid cars. Many others around the world deal with much more immediate problems, and giving a GlobalGiving Gift Card is a way to engage others is solving them.

This says it all: WR