A holiday post.
As it's the holiday season, I thought it might be fun to send some ideas about alternative gifts.... gifts that, as the reputable yet out-of-the-box nonprofit Oxfam puts it, "won't end up in a landfill".... gifts that don't only put a smile on the face of the recipient, they also benefit people around the world and are soft on the environment.... gifts that literally keep on giving. So often in our culture, this season is a time of consumerism where we run around buying lots and lots of things that come in plastic things and we wrap in paper things and then we throw out half of it all.... The wrappings things come in is a bit of a problem environmentally (maybe we can wrap creatively where possible, even just using recycled or recycle-able paper!), and the gifts themselves can be a problem socially.
So here's a few ideas. If none of them appeal to you, don't worry about it.
First, an explanation: There is more than one kind of "alternative gift" that is ethically and environmentally responsible. There's the kind where you give money to a cause in the name of someone else (the email from Oxfam attached at the bottom is an example of this). This way you show your recipient that you care about them and thought of them while doing something great, and your money goes directly to the cause you choose to make a little difference in someone else's life somewhere around the world. You can either choose yourself where the money will go, or you can buy a "gift certificate" and let your recipient pick out their own projects. Some more organizations that do this:
The grand-daddy of them all, Alternative Gifts, International: http://alternativegifts.org/ Here's a clip from their website:
For the cost of baseball cap:
Pay for monthly food & vitamin supplements for 4 People Living with AIDS. More...
For the cost of a Barbie doll:
Train one family in solar cooking. More...
For the cost of 30 minutes massage:
Nurture, plant and protect 60 trees for reforestation. More...
For the cost of one month cable bill:
Provide the average first loan to a Malawi woman
Pretty exciting, right??
Another well-known and worthwhile organization: World Wildlife Fund. Renowned for their conservation efforts, their program is almost too cute to resist -- Adopt an Animal. You choose the endangered animal (panda? meerkat? penguin? blue whale? you got it!) and then your donation is used for protection of that animal's natural habitat. (As a perk, if you give $50 or $100, your recipient gets a little plush representation of the animal you've adopted for them -- no matter how much you give, your recipient gets a little adoption certificate).
https://secure.worldwildlife.org/ogc/
Another favorite of the alternative gifts world: Heifer International. This is the famous one where you can buy someone a water buffalo.... Or at least, a share in a water buffalo! The Heifer Project looks for people in developing countries whose livelihoods would be significantly and sustainably improved with something small -- like a water buffalo for Filipino families, because a "water buffalo from Heifer provide draft power for planting rice and potatoes, milk for protein and manure for fertilizer and fuel. A farmer can plant four times more rice with a buffalo than by hand." There you go. (Also, you can buy llamas.) http://www.heifer.org/site/?c=edJRKQNiFiG&b=204586&msource=07hb1
And a personal favorite: Agros, International....where hopefully I will be working when I'm done with California!! Agros' work is absolutely beautiful: give land to the landless, give hope to the hopeless, and give life that doesn't end with death. I just discovered on their website that they have started an alternative gifts program for the holiday, which includes planting trees, giving worms (for compost!! you can give a can of worms!!), and flocks of chickens -- among others. http://oneseed.agros.org/ (Incidentally, this is my top pick of all the alternative gifts, because I believe strongly in the mission of Agros and because it's a small enough organization that small gifts can make profound impacts...... but I leave it to you to decide.)
If you'd like to give something concrete (rather than in spirit), PLEASE consider getting fair trade gifts!! :) Some ways you can do this: anything food-related (which makes great stocking stuffers/little things, OR makes great gifts for those people you think you should give to but don't really want to spend much or know what to get.... people like professors you want to sweet-talk, co-workers you really appreciate, church friends... you know who they are... Look for the Fair Trade Certified logo on these food items:
Coffee (I recommend the brand Equal Exchange -- they're one of the first fair trade coffee companies, and they're incredibly transparent and ethical at all levels. http://www.equalexchange.com/)
Tea (I highly recommend Choice, which is a brand made in Seattle, and all their tea is sourced organically, some of it Fair Trade -- look for the little black and white logo on the front and side of the box -- and all of it produced in a consciously environmentally friendly way)
Chocolate (my ALL-TIME favorite fair trade chocolate is the aptly-named Divine Chocolate... It looks like a store in Shoreline carries Divine: BrownsCoffee.com, 19042 15th Ave. NE, Shoreline, Washington 98155 -- this is from the Divine website: http://www.divinechocolateusa.com/buy)
Sugar, Rice, some spices, flowers (yes! fair trade certified flowers!!)..... Use the TransFair (where I work) website to figure out where to buy these: http://transfairusa.org/content/WhereToBuy/
If you want non-food ethically produced goods (like clothes, blankets, cute things, sculptures/art....) here are a couple good ones:
http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/catalog/shop.php (one of the first of all the fair trade endeavors, a really beautiful company that I recommend highly. And there is an actual store in Seattle for those interested in shopping the old-fashioned way: Roosevelt Court , 6417 Roosevelt Way N.E., Suite 101 , Seattle, WA 98115)
http://www.worldofgood.com/catalog/index.php (I don't know as much about World of Good, but I do know TransFair partners with and loves World of Good.... which speaks highly for the ethical value of any goods purchased here.)
As always, you can make a donation to basically any good nonprofit organization in honor of somebody you love. Right now TransFair has a pretty basic but fabulous system set up (I say fabulous because, yes, I designed it!) that allows you to donate in honor of someone and they receive a thank you card. Any other nonprofit that you're interested in would LOVE to receive a phone call from you asking if you can donate in honor of someone else. Trust me. Nonprofits will bend over backwards through a hoop if they can help you give to a person you care about while supporting work that is impossible without donations.
And absolutely finally, if all of this was inspiring but just-not-quite-right, here is a list of even more ideas on a cool little website called "Buy Nothing Christmas." http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/alternatives/index.html ...I take it back... SOME ideas are cool, and some are not so cool. But there's lots of room for inspiration here.
Love love love love.
Merry Christmas.
mk
From: action@oxfamamerica.org [mailto:action@oxfamamerica.org]
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2007 9:37 AM
Subject: Green gifts from Unwrapped
unwrapped
Looking for a holiday gift that won't end up in a landfill?
A quick visit to Oxfam America Unwrapped will turn your shopping blues to green.
Pick up unexpected, eco-friendly gifts at: www.OxfamAmericaUnwrapped.com
We've got plenty to choose from:
For the nature-lover, plant 50 trees. They prevent erosion. They provide shade for staple crops. They're a key to economic growth and a greener world. Two green thumbs up!
For the chef, how about a portable, fuel-efficient cooking stove? It lessens the need to search for scarce firewood, keeping displaced women safer, and reduces deforestation.
For the athlete, make tracks with a bicycle. It's a sturdy, nonpolluting form of transportation and, for many, the only way of getting their goods to market and putting food on the table.
The icing on the cake? Nothing to wrap. You'll save time and save the Earth!
Can of Worms
Help a farmer.
Open up a can of worms.
Browse our online catalog now.
www.OxfamAmericaUnwrapped.com
How It Works
oneYou purchase an item.
twoYou personalize a gift card.
threeThe card goes to your friend or loved one.
fourYour donation goes to those who need it most.
Oxfam America Unwrapped makes the hard work of doing good a little bit easier - and a lot more fun.
Hurry! Order by midnight, December 12th if you'd like your gift card delivered by December 24th.
Oxfam America Unwrapped: Unexpected gifts that do good.
Finish your holiday shopping, and change the world.
Sincerely,
Tim Fullerton
Oxfam America
If you'd like to unsubscribe from Oxfam America's eCommunity, please click here or respond to this email with "REMOVE" as the subject line.
So here's a few ideas. If none of them appeal to you, don't worry about it.
First, an explanation: There is more than one kind of "alternative gift" that is ethically and environmentally responsible. There's the kind where you give money to a cause in the name of someone else (the email from Oxfam attached at the bottom is an example of this). This way you show your recipient that you care about them and thought of them while doing something great, and your money goes directly to the cause you choose to make a little difference in someone else's life somewhere around the world. You can either choose yourself where the money will go, or you can buy a "gift certificate" and let your recipient pick out their own projects. Some more organizations that do this:
The grand-daddy of them all, Alternative Gifts, International: http://alternativegifts.org/ Here's a clip from their website:
For the cost of baseball cap:
Pay for monthly food & vitamin supplements for 4 People Living with AIDS. More...
For the cost of a Barbie doll:
Train one family in solar cooking. More...
For the cost of 30 minutes massage:
Nurture, plant and protect 60 trees for reforestation. More...
For the cost of one month cable bill:
Provide the average first loan to a Malawi woman
Pretty exciting, right??
Another well-known and worthwhile organization: World Wildlife Fund. Renowned for their conservation efforts, their program is almost too cute to resist -- Adopt an Animal. You choose the endangered animal (panda? meerkat? penguin? blue whale? you got it!) and then your donation is used for protection of that animal's natural habitat. (As a perk, if you give $50 or $100, your recipient gets a little plush representation of the animal you've adopted for them -- no matter how much you give, your recipient gets a little adoption certificate).
https://secure.worldwildlife.org/ogc/
Another favorite of the alternative gifts world: Heifer International. This is the famous one where you can buy someone a water buffalo.... Or at least, a share in a water buffalo! The Heifer Project looks for people in developing countries whose livelihoods would be significantly and sustainably improved with something small -- like a water buffalo for Filipino families, because a "water buffalo from Heifer provide draft power for planting rice and potatoes, milk for protein and manure for fertilizer and fuel. A farmer can plant four times more rice with a buffalo than by hand." There you go. (Also, you can buy llamas.) http://www.heifer.org/site/?c=edJRKQNiFiG&b=204586&msource=07hb1
And a personal favorite: Agros, International....where hopefully I will be working when I'm done with California!! Agros' work is absolutely beautiful: give land to the landless, give hope to the hopeless, and give life that doesn't end with death. I just discovered on their website that they have started an alternative gifts program for the holiday, which includes planting trees, giving worms (for compost!! you can give a can of worms!!), and flocks of chickens -- among others. http://oneseed.agros.org/ (Incidentally, this is my top pick of all the alternative gifts, because I believe strongly in the mission of Agros and because it's a small enough organization that small gifts can make profound impacts...... but I leave it to you to decide.)
If you'd like to give something concrete (rather than in spirit), PLEASE consider getting fair trade gifts!! :) Some ways you can do this: anything food-related (which makes great stocking stuffers/little things, OR makes great gifts for those people you think you should give to but don't really want to spend much or know what to get.... people like professors you want to sweet-talk, co-workers you really appreciate, church friends... you know who they are... Look for the Fair Trade Certified logo on these food items:
Coffee (I recommend the brand Equal Exchange -- they're one of the first fair trade coffee companies, and they're incredibly transparent and ethical at all levels. http://www.equalexchange.com/)
Tea (I highly recommend Choice, which is a brand made in Seattle, and all their tea is sourced organically, some of it Fair Trade -- look for the little black and white logo on the front and side of the box -- and all of it produced in a consciously environmentally friendly way)
Chocolate (my ALL-TIME favorite fair trade chocolate is the aptly-named Divine Chocolate... It looks like a store in Shoreline carries Divine: BrownsCoffee.com, 19042 15th Ave. NE, Shoreline, Washington 98155 -- this is from the Divine website: http://www.divinechocolateusa.com/buy)
Sugar, Rice, some spices, flowers (yes! fair trade certified flowers!!)..... Use the TransFair (where I work) website to figure out where to buy these: http://transfairusa.org/content/WhereToBuy/
If you want non-food ethically produced goods (like clothes, blankets, cute things, sculptures/art....) here are a couple good ones:
http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/catalog/shop.php (one of the first of all the fair trade endeavors, a really beautiful company that I recommend highly. And there is an actual store in Seattle for those interested in shopping the old-fashioned way: Roosevelt Court , 6417 Roosevelt Way N.E., Suite 101 , Seattle, WA 98115)
http://www.worldofgood.com/catalog/index.php (I don't know as much about World of Good, but I do know TransFair partners with and loves World of Good.... which speaks highly for the ethical value of any goods purchased here.)
As always, you can make a donation to basically any good nonprofit organization in honor of somebody you love. Right now TransFair has a pretty basic but fabulous system set up (I say fabulous because, yes, I designed it!) that allows you to donate in honor of someone and they receive a thank you card. Any other nonprofit that you're interested in would LOVE to receive a phone call from you asking if you can donate in honor of someone else. Trust me. Nonprofits will bend over backwards through a hoop if they can help you give to a person you care about while supporting work that is impossible without donations.
And absolutely finally, if all of this was inspiring but just-not-quite-right, here is a list of even more ideas on a cool little website called "Buy Nothing Christmas." http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/alternatives/index.html ...I take it back... SOME ideas are cool, and some are not so cool. But there's lots of room for inspiration here.
Love love love love.
Merry Christmas.
mk
From: action@oxfamamerica.org [mailto:action@oxfamamerica.org]
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2007 9:37 AM
Subject: Green gifts from Unwrapped
unwrapped
Looking for a holiday gift that won't end up in a landfill?
A quick visit to Oxfam America Unwrapped will turn your shopping blues to green.
Pick up unexpected, eco-friendly gifts at: www.OxfamAmericaUnwrapped.com
We've got plenty to choose from:
For the nature-lover, plant 50 trees. They prevent erosion. They provide shade for staple crops. They're a key to economic growth and a greener world. Two green thumbs up!
For the chef, how about a portable, fuel-efficient cooking stove? It lessens the need to search for scarce firewood, keeping displaced women safer, and reduces deforestation.
For the athlete, make tracks with a bicycle. It's a sturdy, nonpolluting form of transportation and, for many, the only way of getting their goods to market and putting food on the table.
The icing on the cake? Nothing to wrap. You'll save time and save the Earth!
Can of Worms
Help a farmer.
Open up a can of worms.
Browse our online catalog now.
www.OxfamAmericaUnwrapped.com
How It Works
oneYou purchase an item.
twoYou personalize a gift card.
threeThe card goes to your friend or loved one.
fourYour donation goes to those who need it most.
Oxfam America Unwrapped makes the hard work of doing good a little bit easier - and a lot more fun.
Hurry! Order by midnight, December 12th if you'd like your gift card delivered by December 24th.
Oxfam America Unwrapped: Unexpected gifts that do good.
Finish your holiday shopping, and change the world.
Sincerely,
Tim Fullerton
Oxfam America
If you'd like to unsubscribe from Oxfam America's eCommunity, please click here or respond to this email with "REMOVE" as the subject line.