Green Holidays: Going Green and Fair this Holiday Season & Beyond

By Alisa Gravitz and Amanda Johnson

The holiday season is the best time to go green. You can satisfy all your gift-giving needs by turning to companies that uphold high social and environmental standards – from holiday ornaments to toys, jewelry and food baskets. When you purchase gifts from responsible companies you not only provide revenues to help them thrive and grow, you introduce people on your gift giving list to these companies in a way that demonstrates that going green means beautiful, high-quality goods.

Here at Co-op America, we encourage American consumers to commit to shifting 10 percent of their purchases to green and fair businesses. We call it “10 percent for sustainability.” According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, American families spend about $17,000 a year after taxes and housing on household goods and services like food, clothing, home improvement and entertainment. If each of America’s 100 million households switched just 10 percent of their spending to green businesses it would produce $170 billion in social change capital for growing the green economy. According to a Purdue University study, the average American family spends $1,161 each year on holiday gifts.

How to Go Green
Sustainability and profitability go hand in hand in an increasing number of fields. The green business movement is expanding markets for organic food and clothing; developing green cleaning products and wet cleaner stores to replace toxic cleaning products and processes; expanding the market for fair trade goods and fair labor practices; developing alternative energy sources; and reducing waste through the use of recycled papers, metals and plastics in a wide range of products. Through this expansion they are increasingly creating meaningful jobs; shortening transportation routes; keeping dollars in their communities; and enriching community life. As the green market expands it is easier to shop with your values because you don’t have to go far. Green businesses are popping up in communities across the country.

Co-op America’s 2004 National Green Pages can help you find green and fair trade businesses for everyone on your list. This directory leads to thousands of products and services that solve, rather than cause, environmental and social problems. These businesses are screened with social and environmental criteria, so you can be confident that purchasing from them will support the green market place and your values.

Committing to Fair Trade
By giving the gift of fair trade products your holiday gift-giving can also support low-income farmers and crafts people in developing countries, as you to purchase high quality products at competitive prices while making a real difference in the world’s poorest communities.

Fair trade eliminates the middleman and actually reduces the cost of doing business. Without a high markup from intervening parties, producers can afford to pay workers a livable wage and provide an affordable product. It is setting new social and environmental standards for international companies, making trade a vehicle for sustainable development.

The Fair Trade Federation (FTF) is the U.S. trade association that screens companies for fair trade standards. FTF members are dedicated to fair wages, cooperative work places, consumer education, environmental sustainability, financial and technical support, respect for cultural identity, and public accountability.

Purchasing fair trade products from FTF members this holiday will raise awareness around trade issues and gain support for the Fair Trade industry. Fair Trade items range from coffee, chocolate, tea, handmade clothing, and more.

What’s the Impact?
Economists John Cavanagh and Frederick Clairmonte have calculated that just over a quarter of the world’s production comes from 200 of the world’s largest firms. One out of ten American food dollars goes to Phillip Morris-owned companies. These firms are the primary beneficiaries of the world’s rapidly growing trade. As they compete with one another to capture global markets, their primary mode of reducing costs has been through cutting jobs, wages, and benefits. Between 1979 and 1992, for example, the Fortune 500 largest firms in the U.S. cut 4.4 million workers from their payrolls to keep profits high. The giants are also shifting production to markets where they can pay the lowest wage, thus contributing to the growth of worldwide poverty and increasing the gap between the rich and the poor.

Fair trade shoppers support the micro-businesses working to close this gap as people and communities around the world benefit. The Association of Craft Producers (ACP) in Nepal works with nearly 800 women, many widowed or abandoned, who create a wide variety of quality handcrafts including table linens, felted slippers, hand-painted wood trays, dolls, ceramics, and more. ACP provides a much-needed earning opportunity for women, raising their
confidence, self-esteem, and communication skills.

Reducing Holiday Stress on You and the Planet
Follow these five steps to reduce holiday stress for you, the planet and its people!

#1 Seek out Small Businesses!
Smaller businesses usually have a more personalized touch, helping relieve the stresses of fighting holiday crowds. These smaller, community businesses help keep the local economy running, providing local jobs and contracts.

#2 Turn to the Internet!
The Internet can take hours off your shopping time and lower your stress level. Many gifts from green businesses can be purchased on the Internet and shipped to you, or directly to the recipient, saving time, packaging, and postage.

#3 Give the gift of YOU!
The holidays are a great time to tap into your creative side. Handmade gifts show the thought and love that is really behind the holiday season. If you’re not the craftiest family member, services are also a great present. Offering to baby-sit or help redecorate a room is more memorable than a store-bought item. Or buy tickets for a show, concert or sporting event where you can all go together or give a certificate for an evening out at your favorite restaurant together.

#4 Skip the wrapping paper!
Instead of giving into the holiday gift-giving trap, do some good by donating to your favorite charity in the name of your friends and family. A great resource for finding charitable organizations is www.networkforgood.org which allows you to donate online, send a gift note to your friend of family member, and gives you tax receipts for your donations.

National Green Pages: [sorry this link is no longer available]

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