Countryside Topics of Interest > Traditions > Green Christmas

It's the season to be jolly, but if you have an environmental conscience it isn't so easy in the face of a mountain of discarded packaging, a forest of uprooted trees, and the picked-over carcasses of several million intensively-reared turkeys

The good tidings are that it's possible to make a difference, without turning into a Scrooge to do so. So, forget dreaming of a white Christmas (and let's face it, with global warming that's becoming an increasingly unlikely event) and this year let Ann and Steve Toon show you how to enjoy a guilt-free, very happy Christmas.Christmas is for kids
It's never too soon to pass on the environmental message, and getting children or grandchildren involved in preparing for a greener Christmas can be fun. Why not get them recycling old cards and wrapping paper to make gift tags or tree decorations? Christmas gifts needn't be material, and encouraging kids to think of 'experience' presents for their family and friends is a great idea - they can make vouchers out of old Christmas cards offering to wash mum or dad's car, clean the dishes or walk the dog, for example.
With a little imagination you can even involve children in the unglamorous business of reducing your household's Christmas rubbish. Make it a challenge to see just how little landfill rubbish your household can produce over the Christmas week, letting the kids help sort out all the things that can be recycled.

Counting the cost of Christmas
Our annual festive orgy of over-indulgence comes at a staggering cost to the environment:

• 200,000 trees are felled to produce 1.7 billion Christmas cards.
• 50,000 trees are felled to produce 8,000 tons of wrapping paper.
• 750 million extra bottles and glass containers are used.
• 500 million extra drinks cans are used.
• 125,000 tons of plastic packaging are thrown away.
• 4,200 tonnes of aluminium foil are used.
• Six million Christmas trees are sold, most to be thrown out in January.
• Three million tons of rubbish are generated. Watch your wasteline

Rubbish isn't really what most people want to be thinking about in the run-up to the festive season, but when you consider that we generate three million tons of landfill rubbish over the Christmas period, it's worth making an extra effort to reduce your contribution to the pile. Glass bottles, cans, newspapers and magazines, and aluminium foil can all be recycled, but you can also make a difference by shopping wisely. Simple things such as buying vegetables loose rather than pre-packed, and buying large bottles of soft drinks instead of lots of small ones, all help. Try to buy gifts that don't come with excessive packaging, and look for electrical goods that run off mains electricity rather than batteries. If you do buy batteries, make them rechargeable.

If Santa is bringing you some new clothes you may think of clearing out your wardrobe. You won't be alone. More than 80,000 tonnes of old clothes are thrown away over Christmas. Unwanted clothes in good condition will find a welcome home in charity shops, as will unwanted presents and children's toys - or you could try local play centres, schools, or hospitals.

Send a green greeting
Around 200,000 trees are felled each year to produce all the Christmas cards that we send. High street retailers have been slow to stock recycled cards, but you can order them from the Woodland Trust (www.woodland-trust.org.uk). The Trust also organises card collection points in Tesco and WH Smith after Christmas, so you can ensure the cards you receive are recycled in a good cause. Visit the Woodland Trust website, and while you are there consider the perfect gift for a nature-loving friend or family member, dedicating a tree in their name in one of 20 British woodlands, starting at only £10.

If you really want to display your green credentials, give old cards a new lease of life and re-use them with inexpensive labels from Friends of the Earth (www.foe.co.uk). For tech-savvy family and friends you can even do away with paper cards altogether and send e-cards instead. These are images sent over the Internet, with a message attached, sometimes with animation or music. Lots of organisations and charities offer free e-cards - try the BBC (www.bbc.co.uk/lifestyle/? christmas/card_index) or World Land Trust (www.world landtrust.org/ecards/christmas) for examples.

Great eco-friendly gifts
These days green gifts have well and truly lost their 'socks and sandals' image. There is a huge range of luxurious, indulgent, interesting and unusual present ideas to choose from and plenty of suppliers. Even the most mundane of gift ideas takes on new life when it is eco-friendly, especially when it's recycled. How about a memo book made from Sri Lankan elephant dung (£10.28). Or, for the technophobe with a sense of humour, try a selection of pencils in a case made from circuit boards extracted from dead computers (£9.99), both from Ecomani (www.ecomania.com).

Pampering products are always popular, of course. Dr Hauschka holistic skin care products became all the rage after glowing endorsements from the likes of Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Julia Roberts. Trendy tins containing a selection of trial-size products are perfect for travellers, and start at £12 (www.drhauschka.co.uk).

Alternatively, you can find the first Soil Association-approved organic hair shampoo at Essential Care (£7.95, www.essential-care.co.uk), a wide range of natural aromatherapy, skin and body care products at Think Natural (www.thinknatural.com), and a range of luxurious organic clothes at Natural Collection (www.naturalcollection.com), including a women's dressing gown made with unbleached organic cotton at £48.

Pampering isn't only for the fairer sex, of course. The 'Pamper Him' gift set at £35 is just one of a range of organic beauty and grooming products available from SoOrganic (www.soorganic.com).

You can be sure to avoid any of the nasty pollution problems associated with cotton growing by buying from the Hemp Shop (www.thehempshop.co.uk), which stocks foods, cosmetics, clothes, luggage, and much more, all made from one of the planet's most versatile natural products. You can even buy a biodegradable didgeridoo (£160) made from hempstone, a mixture of hemp and water.
Energy-saving presents are a great idea for gadget freaks, and there are plenty to choose from. Online retailers such as Ecomania and the Greenshop (www.greenshop.co.uk) will sell you anything from a Freeplay solar-powered and wind-up radio (£39.99) to a water-powered alarm clock (£9.99), or a solar-powered mobile phone charger (£35).

If you are still stuck for gift ideas, then why not opt for a charitable adoption? Depending on the recipient's interests, you could on their behalf 'adopt' a child in the developing world (£15 per month through Save the Children, tel. 0800 8148 148), a giant panda (£29.99 per year, WWF, www.wwf.org.uk/shop), or even a rare and threatened variety of garden vegetable (from £12 per year, Henry Doubleday Research Association 024 7630 3517).

Where to buy a 'green' Christmas tree
The Christmas tree producers listed in this panel are either Soil Association or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. FSC certification means that trees are grown in eco-friendly forests with social and environmental values safeguarded.

Church Farm Organics, Thurstaston, Wirral.
Tel: 0151 648 7838, www.churchfarm.org.uk
Elveden Farms, Thetford, Norfolk.
Tel: 01842 890 223, www.christmastrees.co.uk
Hulvertree Farm, Badingham Road, Laxfield, Woodbridge, Suffolk. Tel: 01728 638721.
Manor Organic Farm, Long Whatton, Leicestershire. Tel: 01509 646413,
www.manororganicfarm.co.uk
West Midlands Forest District - Birches Valley. Tel: 01889 586 593, www.forestry.gov.uk
Westonbirt Arboretum, Tetbury, Gloucestershire. Tel: 01666 880 220, www.forestry.gov.uk/westonbirt

Eat your greens
Making your festive meals a little greener doesn't just mean piling people's plates with extra portions of Brussels. Place your order early for an organic turkey or goose and watch the family tucking into the flavour of Christmas past. Bear in mind that with small, local producers struggling to meet the huge rise in demand for organic meat you'll need to act fast and, of course, it will cost that bit extra.

Other green foods are easier to come by, with most supermarkets stocking a range of organic and fair-trade groceries, including everything from coffee, tea and chocolate to fair trade wines. Cut those food miles by shopping at local farm shops and farmers' markets.
Organic and fair-trade foods also make great Christmas presents. How about giving a box of chilli and lime organic chocolate truffles from the Chocolate Alchemist (£7.50 to £20, www.thechocolatealchemist.co.uk), or an organic hamper with chocolates, cheese, biscuits and wine, from eChocs.com (from £28.50).

For an unusual twist, send a bag of champagne truffles from ChocAid (£4.95, www.chocaid.com). Part of the cost of ChocAid's fair trade chocolates goes to a hunger relief project, and it's the person who receives the chocolates who can visit the company's website to nominate a project, which can be anything from community bee-keeping in Kenya to cows for Ethiopian widows.

If you are particularly keen on sourcing fairly-traded food, visit the Fairtrade Foundation's website at www.fairtrade.org.uk, for links to suppliers of Fairtrade products. You can also find an extensive selection of fair trade products (including Christmas cards, crackers and decorations, as well as foods) at the Traidcraft site, www.traidcraftshop.co.uk

Being a green Christmas goddess doesn't stop at the dinner table. Pretty much everything can be eco-friendly these days - even the tree. Most of the six million real Christmas trees we buy each year in the UK are intensively farmed using man-made fertilisers and harmful pesticides, and many are flown in from Scandinavia. But hunt around and you can find Soil Association or Forest Stewardship Council-approved, organically-grown Christmas trees.

Ideally, buy a container-grown living tree that can be potted on or planted out after Christmas. If you can't keep the tree, make sure it is recycled after use.

Organic turkey and goose suppliers
Turkeys:
Abel & Cole, London SE24
Tel: 08452 62 62 62,
www.abel-cole.co.uk
Bath Organic Farms, Bath
Tel: 01225 421507, www.bathorganicfarms.co.uk
Cefn Goleu Organic Turkeys, Pont Robert, Meifod
Tel: 01938 500128
Cefn Maen, Raglan, Monmouthshire
Tel: 01291 690 428
Graig Farm Organics, Llandrindod Wells
Tel: 01597 851 655, www.graigfarm.co.uk
Higher Hacknell Organic Meat, Umberleigh, Devon
Tel: 01769 560909, www.higherhacknell.co.uk
Hook House Farm Turkeys, Northallerton, North Yorkshire
Tel: 01609 748977
Howbarrow Farm, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria
Tel: 01539 536330, www.howbarroworganic.demon.co.uk
John Bryan Organic Meats, Biggar, Scotland
Tel: 01899 221747, www.scottishorganicmeats.com
Longwood Farm, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Tel: 01638 717120
Manor Organic Farm, Long Whatton, Leicestershire
Tel: 01509 646413, www.manororganicfarm.co.uk
Meynell Langley, Kirk Langley, Derbyshire
Tel: 01332 824815
Red Poll Meats, Woodbridge, Suffolk
Tel: 01728 748 444, www.redpollmeats.co.uk
Rhug Organic Farm, Corwen, Denbighshire
Tel: 01490 413000, www.rhugorganic.com
Sheepdrove Organic Farm Shop, Redland, Bristol
Tel: 0117 973 4643, www.sheepdrove.com
Springfield Poultry,
Nr Leominster, Herefordshire
Tel: 01568 760270
Stonebow Farm, Lympsham,
Weston-super-Mare, Somerset
Tel 01934 750373
Swaddles Organic,
Chard, Somerset
Tel: 0845 4561768, www.swaddles.co.uk
Well Hung Meat Co, Tordean Farm, Devon TQ11 OLY
Tel: 0845 230 3131, www.wellhungmeat.com
Wonnacott Farm, Lewdown, Okehampton, Devon
Tel: 01837 871238
Woodlands Farm, Boston, Lincolnshire
Tel: 01205 722491, www.woodlandsfarm.co.uk
Daylesford Organic, Oakmoor, Staffordshire
Tel: 0800 083 1233

Geese
Ballylagan Organic Farm, Ballyclare, Co. Antrim
Tel: 028 9332 2867
John Burns, Burrington, Umberleigh, Devon
Tel: 01769 520 506
Rosuick Organic Farm, Helston, Cornwall
Tel: 01326 231302, www.oatesorganic.co.uk
Turkeys and geese
Eastbrook Farms Organic Meat Home Delivery, Swindon, Wiltshire
Tel: 01793 790460, www.helenbrowningorganics.co.uk
Grange Farm, Saxilby, Lincolnshire
Tel: 01522 704212
Providence Farm Organic Meats. Holsworthy, Devon
Tel: 01409 254421, www.providencefarm.co.uk