Being a Conscientious Consumer this Christmas

2018 has seen a significant rise in consumers and brands recognising the vital role that they are playing in helping to combat climate change. Christmas is a great time for people to start looking at how they can make a difference and start adopting a new way of thinking around the choices they make and how changes to their consumption (food and products) can have a positive impact.

Here are a few tips for having a #ChristmasConscience, which can be taken into 2019…and remember, it’s not size of the gesture that matters, it’s the impact that it has!

1. Invite as many friends and family members as possible to share Christmas with you. It is more energy efficient to cook one meal and heat one home rather than three or four.
2. It’s better to ask someone what type of gift they’d like, rather than have it sitting in a draw never to be used. Don’t buy things unless you’re sure they’ll get used.
3. A real Christmas tree has a lower carbon footprint than an artificial one, especially if it is disposed of properly.
4. If you do decide on, or have an artificial Christmas tree, then you will need to use it for around 10 years for its environmental impact to be lower than real Christmas trees. When my wife and I moved into our current house 10 years ago, we found a really good quality artificial Christmas tree left by the former owners. We have been using it every year since and it still looks great. Proves that buying quality may cost more initially, but it will last and is better for the environment.
5. If buying electrical goods, such as TVs, lamps and fridges, then consider the energy use across their life span. More efficient equipment may cost more, but it will save money on energy bills in the long run.
6. Consider buying refurbished goods, as they are often in excellent condition and come with a guarantee. This means a products lifecycle is extended and takes away the need for a new product being built, which uses materials and creates a carbon footprint (e.g. buying a refurbished laptop saves 1,500 litres of water, 3,000kWh of electricity, 22kg of chemicals and 700kg of CO2).
7. Reuse wrapping paper where possible, or make your own using newspaper or magazines. My wife and mother-in-law have re-used wrapping paper for years and I can’t remember the last time we bought a new roll! Remember, if you scrunch wrapping paper and it opens back up, it’s not recyclable. Only wrapping paper that stays in a ball can be recycled.
8. Shopping online can save time and stress, as well as avoiding the emissions from travel.
9. Unsurprisingly, gifts that don’t consume electricity, such as toys and books, tend to have a lower carbon footprint than those that do. A gift that I would love to give this year is the Turing Tumble - a marble powered computer that teaches kids and adults how to do binary code, and program a computer from the ground up.
10. Good quality toys tend to have a longer lifecycle and can be passed on to friends, family and charity shops.
11. Consider buying Christmas crackers that only have jokes and hats, and make sure to recycle the paper and cardboard afterwards. The gifts inside tend to get forgotten about and thrown away.

Blog written by Leon Lindblad, Founder of CFA Trading