When I was little I used to think Christmas was all about Santa Claus bringing me presents through the chimney, and I am sure this is still the thought shared by a lot of children today. At least that's what my 6yr old daughter thinks and it would be so unfair to burst her bubble. So on that thought I am caught in between leaving the word sustainable out of Christmas and contemplating it.That said though, I am sure there is a lot we can do as far as being sustainable is concerned. For example, we can spend less and more importantly spend what we have. This might mean that we buy less presents which most people end up throwing in the bin anyway.I took the trouble of going to my local 'tip' or the waste recyclable sites as they are called this week, just to find out how much waste of good things they get after Christmas, and was amazed at the things that end up there according to the guys. People throw away unopened items something I cannot understand at all, why not even give it to charity? The amount of wrapping paper used is over the board as well, wrapping a present does not mean that someone will not throw it away at your expense, so I am sure this is something we can use less of or none at all if we are brave. Another thing that I never get is all those Christmas lights that some people seem to cover their houses with, I admit it looks smashing, and I am not an expert but I am sure if we flip the coin they do a fair damage to the environment or even economically, the amount of power they use. I know some people will argue that its only for one month in a year and rightly so, but surely we can minimise it.
Over the month of December the UK has spent a staggering 4.67 billion pounds online shopping and the month is not over yet. (www.silicon.com)
This seems to me too excessive given the current economic climate, but I am guessing most people have been over come by the rampant commercialisation that takes place at this period and hence ends up spending money that belongs to banks and credit cards. This is all good (spending I mean) for lifting businesses out of the recession but I think it only deepens the crisis with the national debt.This kind of spending is not socially or economically sustainable because the definition of sustainable living according to UN is meeting your needs without comprising the ability of the future generation to meet their needs (www.un.org/esa/dsd). The future generation has to continue paying the debts that the present generation will leave which is hugely unfair and will limit their capability to meet their needs.
Devoted Christians will tell us that Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ even though there is no evidence to suggest that He was born on that day. They will also tell us that the meaning has been taken out of it because of the commercialisation aspect of it. But if Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ, and given the fact that He is the Almighty power in Christianity, I think its only fair that we all 'do-gooders' leave everyone to celebrate the way they feel comfortable, and concentrate more on been sustainable and saving the planet the rest of the year. But according to some people Christmas has nothing to do with Christianity but rather was a pagan festival adopted by christian settlers so that they would convert pagan people in the early years and celebrate winter solstice.(www.bbc.co.uk).This seems to me a more credible explanation since no one seems to know when Jesus was born.
I think Christmas should be nothing to do with presents, lights and fireworks, over spending, over eating or even embarrassing self indulgence. It should be, given the changed and groomy world that we live in today, a time for reflection on the whole year, a time for families to get together and share their joys, hope and happiness and a time to do something meaningful eg helping someone in need. This is how it would work in my changed world. It makes no sense having a kind of a firework competition around the world and what nation has the best display and spending millions of pounds on it. How about we use that money to display who has the best renewable energy sources eg windmills, solar power on the first of January instead of fireworks, that would be great!! But I guess I am just going to have to carry on dreaming looking at what is going on in Copenhagen right now. They all need a reality check don't they? And they call themselves leaders, how about leading from the front and not the fence or the back? And all that CO2 emissions that they have contributed to the environment to get to Copenhagen? The whole thing is not economically, socially or environmentally sustainable, very annoying.
