by Barbara Allen

CARD SENSE

Our mailboxes burst this season with membership offerings and fundraising appeals, presents, gift catalogues and cards. What to do...

This week we put together some environmentally friendly ideas for the holiday card scene:

Did you know...the 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high? If we each sent one card less, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.

This month, send a free holiday e-card and help save a tree

Holiday and birthday cards can be very special things and can mean a lot to the receiver. When we add a thoughtful note, they keep us in touch with distant friends and relatives and let people know how we feel about them. But, as with other aspects of our lifestyle, cards can have unintended environmental and financial consequences.

Green Fact #1 – Between 1980 and 1995 the world lost 350 million acres of forest, due in part to population and ranching pressures but also because of an unsustainable demand for paper and wood products. Millions of acres of natural forests have been converted to monoculture tree farms.

Green Fact #2 - Paper consumption globally has increased 74% since 1980.

Green Fact #3 - Greeting card consumption is exploding. Since 1993, retail card sales have increased almost 20%. We now consume over 6 billion greeting cards per year, or over 60 cards per household. Over the next three months, we will consume more than 750 million Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa cards, about 450 million birthday cards and close to half a billion Valentine's Day cards.

Green Fact #4 - Producing a ton of virgin paper requires 17 trees and 7000 more gallons of water than a ton of 100% recycled paper. Furthermore, chlorine is generally used in the bleaching process, releasing the carcinogenic chemical dioxin and other toxins.

*Source of these facts is http://www.newdream.org/greeting/servlet/cardCreation

What you can do:

· Send e-greetings to family, friends and business associates who are on-line. You can create your own e-mail greeting card by adding a colored background (look under Format > Background). Make sure the color of your text is readable. White is good with a darker colored background. Then add a Christmas picture you scan or find on the internet. You can go to www.google.com and in their special Images section do a search for “Christmas cards”. Copy and Paste one you like into your e-mail and then add your own special greeting. You can save the card as a Draft and use it over and over with personalized greetings to each recipient or send one copy to many names on your e-list. Or go online to one of the many E-greeting card sites and use their service.

· Only send paper cards to those you will not see during the holidays. Wish the rest a happy holiday in person. Update and pare down your mailing list. And ask your friends to join you in this.

E-cards save the most energy and material resources, but we understand that paper and ink cards have their place. We all have friends and relatives who aren’t online (amazing but true!). Sometimes there's just no substitute for a thoughtful hand-written letter tucked inside a personal paper card. But, as with all other expenditures, you can make the most of your paper card purchases by opting for:

· cards with 100% post-consumer recycled, processed chlorine free content,

· tree-free cards made from kenaf, hemp, coffee, and tea leaf waste (eco-friendly and a nice texture),

· cards designed by local artists,

· homemade cards that offer the warmth of an additional personal touch from you or your kids (made on recycled paper, of course!),

· cards that avoid non-recyclable glossy layers and plastic attachments.
 

More gift ideas:

Kid Stuff

· Help your children prepare gift boxes for the homeless (each box filled with food, treats, and personal toiletries). This can be done jointly with a few families and is a gentle way to teach them to appreciate their own good fortune and to instill in them the values of community service and kindness to others.

· Bird feeders can be made by children from all sorts of recycled "junk." Check out your library for easy how-to instruction books. Bird feeders, bird books, and bird food all make wonderful gifts to another person and to the world.

· Give a child a tree to plant. Find a picture of what the tree will look like when they are grown, or find one in your neighborhood to show them.

Next week we will explore ideas for earth-friendly gift wrapping and holiday parties - for a more loving and natural holiday season.
 

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This column comes to you courtesy of the Environmental Concerns Group of the DeFuniak Springs Garden Club.