W2B-022 Health - Environment-2.txt
DREAMING OF A GREEN CHRISTMAS

Be kind to planet earth and save on festive resources
INSTEAD of dreaming of a white Christmas this year, why not think about the environment and do your bit to create a green one?
In the run-up to Christmas last year sale of food in December increased 16pc on the rest of the year, sales of non-food goods by over 40pc.

More goods means more packaging and more waste. On top of this many manufacturers garnish their products with extra festive packing in order to tempt the season's shopper.

Scrooge

Environmental groups stress that thinking green is easy. It doesn't mean turning to a Scrooge or losing out on the fun.

Break traditional family rituals and think of imaginative ways of saving resources. Finding new and more careful ways of indulging can be fun.

Their message is to think before you buy that over-packaged gimmicky gift, pick the usual spruce for the front room or switch on the fairy lights.

Roger Mortlock of UK 2000, a national environmental group linked with the Department of the Environment, believes people might not automatically think of the environment at Christmas, yet it is an ideal time to do so.
"Christmas seems a really good opportunity to start thinking about the environment because most people divide their waste automatically.
"All the paper and packaging ends up together and provides an easy opportunity to take it for recycling."
UK 2000 has launched Action Earth, a seasonal campaign to get people to think of the environment this Christmas.
As well as producing a Green Guide to Christmas containing a range of ideas to make the festivities more environmentally friendly but no less fun, it is urging people across the country to volunteer for one of a range of green activities.

John Barwise, head of environmental policy at The Robens Institute Surrey University, stresses the onus is on the individual.

"Christmas is a time of mass conspicuous consumption. Clearly there will be a need for people to consume more than they usually do, but whatever we can do to minimise the amount of materials we use the better it will be for the environment."

Message

As a first step, shoppers could look carefully at the way goods are presented and, when producing over-packaged goods, to ask the retailer to remove unnecessary layers of wrapping in the shop.

This, he says, will send a clear message back to the manufacturer.

"That message," he says, "has got to come from the consumer."

For copies of the Action Earth Green Guide to Christmas write to UK 2000, PO Box 2000, London N1 9NJ.

Friends of the Earth, 26-28 Underwood Street, London N1 7JQ.
