Great Green Gifts

This holiday season give gifts that your friends and family will love while still caring about the environment?

World Wildlife Fund, National Wildlife Federation, Nature Conservancy, The Sierra Club and many more will allow you to adopt an animal or buy gifts that benefit the organization and its conservation work.

Give experiences like a wine tasting, bike tour, pottery class, cooking class, movie tickets or show tickets. A lot of people (not just minimalists) prefer these to physical gifts.

If you’re going to buy something, see if there is an upcycled or recycled version of it.Flattened wine bottle trays, bottle glasses or vases, upcycled clothes turned into bags or other clothes, reused fabrics, fleeces and jewelry are all options. Etsy is a good store for such products.

Give gifts that can help people cut down on using single-use containers or food waste.You can give bento boxes, salad containers or reusable snack bags for lunch, along with a bamboo utensil set or nice chopsticks. For the kitchen, a sleek compost pail, nice cloth dish towels or a water filter are all good ideas. And everyone can always use a reusable water bottle or a good coffee thermos.

You can give all kinds of water- or energy-saving tech that's fun to use and green.

Learning thermostats or smart light switches can be a good choice for gadget freaks.

Get crafty with homemade candles, paper, lip balms, jewelry, photo prints or hand-knitted scarves. personal touch gifts are best appreciated.

There are endless ways you can give edible gifts around the holidays. Homemade jams or preserves, syrups, infused liquors or homemade extracts are all good. gifts, especially for the culinary minded. You can also make baking jars or homemade candy. If you know the person likes to cook, a subscription to a local meat or cheese club or CSA can also be fun.

Even during the winter, giving plants can be fun. Seedlings, herb plants, tree planting kit or seed paper are all cool ideas. Remember to include instructions on how to keep the gift alive!