O Christmas green

Gift givers can keep ecology in mind when shopping this year

By KATHY FLANIGAN
kflanigan@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Dec. 14, 2007

This season's favorite color isn't black or red or even white for Christmas.

Green Gifts

Illustration/ Kristin Pelisek

Avoid The Wrap Trap

Naturally, if you go to all the trouble to craft an earth-safe gift, you don't want to wrap it in wrapping paper and ribbon that will just end up in a landfill. Here are some tips from Riverwest resident and green-gifter Robin Van Valin: Re-use gift bags that you get from others. Wrap soap or massage oil in tissue paper and place it in a natural basket. Give bath salts in Chinese takeout containers, usually made of a natural cardboard. Simply tie a ribbon around the bottle when giving wine. Tips from www.eartheasy.com: Use the newspaper comics section as gift wrap, or make gift bags out of fabric that can be reused. Last year's calendar or an old map can be recycled into lively wrapping paper. Use a photograph instead of name tags on gifts so they'll be preserved instead of thrown away.

It's green.

Eco-friendly gifts, from energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs to an eco-adventure trading card game for the kids ($29.99 at www.xeko.com) are thoughtful gift ideas - although, on the surface, they may sound about as exciting as receiving a fruitcake.

But as consumers have become more environmentally receptive, choices become more interesting.

Somewhere, Al Gore is smiling.

Robin Van Valin likes to give, and get, homemade gifts. The 36-year-old Riverwest resident and her husband often give wines they've made from the grapes or the apples in their yard.

Then Van Valin got into making soaps, bath salts and massage oils from the herbs that she grows.

She sells the bath products at the Riverwest Co-op, 733 E. Clarke St., and at Yama Yoga, 231 E. Buffalo St., but she also gives them as gifts.

"If I walk over to my neighbor and hand her a handmade smudge stick, massage oil or tea, I like to see the look on her face," said Van Valin, who works as a cashier at Beans & Barley.

One way to get someone started down Van Valin's path is to give them a gift from www.begreennow.com. The Oregon-based Web site offers plantable ornaments made of cilantro or serrano chile pepper-seed paper.

Use it as part of your holiday decorating, then plant the paper, water it and, well, eventually eat the results.

For each Gift of Green (anything bought on the Web site) one tree is planted in Oregon on behalf of the recipient. Gifts are packaged with a card printed on 100% recycled paper.

The tree planted absorbs as much carbon dioxide over its lifetime as not driving your car an estimated 740 miles, according to the Web site. And the peppers are delicious. The gift is $9.95.

Here are a few more ideas for gifts that don't detract from the environment:

• "When Santa Turned Green," by Victoria Perla. This story for kids age 5 to 11 is about an environmentalist Santa who discovers that his home, the North Pole, is melting. It's printed with soy-based inks on recycled paper and costs $15.95 at www.mygreensanta.com.

• Green can be more than an eye shadow color. Ecotools cosmetic collection features animal-free bristles, a metallic tip made from recycled aluminum cans and handles fashioned from bamboo. Prices range from $3.99 to $10.99 for a five-piece set. They're available at Walgreens, Kmart and Ulta stores.

• For the person addicted to drinking from a plastic water bottle, consider getting them a bottle they re-use without fear. Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Bottles are dishwasher safe. REI, 13100 W. Capitol Drive, Brookfield, has two sizes of the canteens for $26.95 and $19.95.