Today is National Christmas Card day!

The history of the Christmas card tradition can be traced back to Victorian England in 1843 when Henry Cole (a patron of the arts who would later help found the Victoria and Albert Museum) commissioned an artist to design and replicate a card that he could send to all of his correspondents (at the time, it was considered rude not to reply to a letter, but he was very busy). For more details on how the tradition has developed since then, read this piece from the Smithsonian.

Today, generic greeting cards are typically made with chemically processed and dyed paper, and if they contain glitter, foil, or bows, are made from photo/glossy laminated paper, or are the “musical cards” that play a song when you open, they can’t be recycled.

If you send cards around the holidays, consider making your own this year instead of buying them. It makes a great activity to do with kids or you can make it a social event with friends (and perhaps with something festive like hot cocoa, eggnog, or cookies!). Lastly, handmade cards add a special personalized touch for the recipient.

Below are some ideas for reduced-waste DIY cards.

Happy crafting!  

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~~The paper~~

If you’re going to be adding/gluing items onto your cards, you probably want to use something a little heavier than traditional computer paper, like cardstock or blank pre-cut cards. If you can find this heavier paper made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper, even better!

• Want to repurpose those recyclables you’ve probably got at home? Consider cutting boxboard or cardboard to card-size, painting it white (or whichever color you like) or wrapping it in computer paper, and decorating from there. Keep in mind that cardboard might require additional stamps if you’re mailing it
• Want to make a completely compostable card to brighten up the recipient’s home come spring? Consider plant-able seed paper. Search online for “seed paper” and tons of options will come up for purchasing or, if you’re feeling really crafty, check out How to Make Plantable Seed Paper

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~~The envelope~~

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~~Paint chip card trees~~

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~~Handprint Christmas trees~~

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~~Garlands~~

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~~Bakers Twine Cards~~

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~~Fabric Scraps Ugly Christmas Sweater~~

Today is World Soil Day! Since 2014, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has hosted this international day celebrating soil. This year’s theme is “Soils: Where Food Begins,” highlighting the connection between healthy ecosystems and human well-being. Today, World Soil Day brings awareness to the growing challenges in soil management and encouraging societies to improve soil health.

Click through to learn more about how important healthy soil is for our food system, our own health, and our survival. For a quick infographic on the importance of balanced nutrients in soil, see here.

How can we support soil fertility to ensure healthy food for ourselves and future generations?

Here at LRSWMD we’re proud to turn your food scraps into nutrient dense, soil-building compost.

Food scraps represent a valuable resource that can be used to restore vitamins and minerals to the soil and to support future harvests. When they’re thrown away, those nutrients are lost.

Compost helps rebuilds soil, including by restoring micronutrients, preventing soil erosion, and suppressing disease. The micronutrients provided by the organic matter in compost are critical for the health of the billions of organisms in the soil who help produce strong and nutritious plants.

Thank you for composting! Not only does keeping your food scraps out of the landfill prevent climate-changing methane emissions, but if you compost at home or bring them to a composter, it keeps resources available to grow nutritious food to keep ourselves and future generations healthy.

As you’ve probably seen on your social media pages and in your inbox, today is Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday reimagines a world built upon shared humanity and generosity.

If you are able to donate financially to your favorite causes today, that’s great! Non-profits and charities are critical to our society’s infrastructure and need all the support that they can get.

But if your budget is maxed out, there are still ways to make an impact in your community and to support the environment. Giving Tuesday has some great ideas here for other ways to help. And check out VTShare’s list of great local organizations serving our communities here in Lamoille County.

If you can’t do something today, make a commitment to do so in the coming weeks – we need a world built upon shared humanity and generosity every day, not just today.

One way we can acknowledge our shared humanity and express generosity toward our fellow creatures and the earth is by being mindful of some of our daily choices.

Sometimes it can feel like, as individuals, we can’t make much of a difference in the world, especially in the face of climate change, environmental disasters, and other systemic issues. After all, we’re all just “one person.” But everything we do – even the small things in our daily lives like carrying reusable water bottles and not regularly buying plastic water bottles, choosing which toilet paper to buy**, and diverting our food scraps from the landfill – does have an impact, especially when added up over time and when we take into consideration our influence on our friends and families.

Of course, nothing is 100% good, nothing is black and white, no one is perfect, and nothing needs to be 100% all the time.

But every small step takes us forward.

This Giving Tuesday, we encourage you to be mindful of the impact of your consumption choices and how you can give back to your community, the world, and future generations by shopping consciously, reducing, reusing, and – as a last resort – recycling. Click through for some ways to give back to the earth in your daily life.

Want to take it a step further to quantify your individual swaps while contributing to good causes every time you make the choice not to use a single-use item like a bag or water bottle? Check out what Fill it Forward is up to.

**Check out NRDC’s latest The Issue with Tissue scorecard to see how your toilet paper, paper towels and tissues measure up in terms of environmental impact. Got a failing grade? Try out one of their superstar brands. In addition to helping save virgin forests, when you buy paper products made from recycled paper, you’re also supporting the recycling industry.

Or cut out paper towels altogether by switching to reusable Swedish dishcloths made of cellulose – they’re more absorbent, washable in the washing machine or dishwasher, and will ultimately save you money.

~Neither websites nor products sold on them are in any way endorsed or supported by the LRSWMD and are provided for informational purposes only

Holiday Food Waste Reduction Tips:

Before the meal

• Calculate how much food to buy based on the number of expected guests with the Guest-imator
• Create and stick to shopping lists
• “Shop” your refrigerator and pantry first
• Try not to overprepare food if you know you aren’t going to enjoy the leftovers

During the meal

• Serve food on smaller plates
  • Research shows that just by using smaller plates, we serve ourselves smaller portions. Since our eyes can tend to be bigger than our stomachs, this is a great trick for reducing food waste. People can always go back for seconds if they want more!

After the meal

• Encourage guests to take leftovers home
  • To prevent plastic waste, encourage your guests ahead of time to bring their own reusable containers with them
• Store leftovers in the freezer to enjoy later
• Consider safely sharing extra food with family and donating unopened, non-perishable food items to a local charity (Always contact food rescue organizations in advance of a drop off)
• Get creative by sprucing up leftovers with the recipe ideas below or search online for others!

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Today is National Take a Hike Day. Here is Vermont we have endless options for leisurely or strenuous hikes, and no shortage of beautiful scenery (even during stick season!). Hiking — or even just walking — has tons of benefits for our mental and physical health.

And while you don’t always need a ton of gear or special clothing to go on a hike, there’s no denying that outdoor gear and specialized clothing (hello water-proof boots and convertible pants!) can play a large role in helping us enjoy earth’s beauty and bounty — from day-long hikes to overnight camping trips.

But what is all this gear made from and where does it go when we are done with it? Many items — like tents and tarps — are almost (but not entirely!) impossible to recycle. Although almost 100% of clothing and other textiles (towels, sheets, etc.) are technically recyclable, only about 14% are. An estimated 92 million tons of textile waste goes into landfills worldwide each year (and 11 million tons in the US alone that’s the weight of about 5.5 million cars!).

This is a waste not only of the valuable recyclable material these items contain, but also of all the energy and resources that went into making them. To give just one example of many, the fashion industry is the one of world’s largest sources of freshwater pollution, and it is the world’s second largest consumer of water (after fruit and vegetable farming).

These alarming and disheartening stats don’t need to keep us from enjoying the outdoors in comfort and style. For example, buying used is a great way to reduce our clothing footprint while ensuring that we have the gear we might need to protect ourselves on our outdoor adventures. Buying used extends a garment’s life by about two years, which drastically reduces both our reliance on virgin resources and our generation of waste. It’s also a great way to save money!

See below for links to buy used outdoor gear online or check out local thrift shops. A lot of the companies listed below take trade-ins, so if you don’t want to use your gear/clothes until the end of their life, you can trade them in for credit and buy (used if possible!).

And remember, if you do buy new, wear the items for as long as possible! The average garment in the US is worn fewer than 7 times.

And don’t forget, you can always bring your used clothes, shoes, and other textiles to us at Johnson, Stowe, or Worcester sites through our partnership with Helpsy, who will sort, donate, and recycle them as appropriate.

Want to learn more about the environmental impacts of textiles?

Read it:
Saturday Evening Post: Ready-to-Waste: America’s Clothing Crisis
Waste 360: Shining a Light on Retail’s Say-Do Gap
Why Fashion Needs to Be More Sustainable
10 Stunning Fast Fashion Waste Statistics
Textiles: Material-Specific Data

Watch it:
Confronting Shoppers with a Shocking Truth
The Fast Fashion Problem
The High Cost of Our Cheap Fashion
6 Companies Turning Clothing Waste Into Businesses
The Future of Fashion – Made from Mushrooms