By Vasiliki Theodosiou,
The season when every day feels like a Black Friday, when “busy” cannot even begin to describe the amount of orders being processed per minute and when significant amounts of food and energy are spent, is almost here.
Hearing Andy Williams singing that Christmas is “the most wonderful time of the year” can potentially make one question the positivity and happiness that is directly related to Christmas and take a look at some of the negative implications that the celebration of this event might have.
Many argue that the true meaning of this celebration has been lost in an endless consumerism and Christmas are nowadays nothing more than an excuse to create commercials and increase the annual sales numbers. It is all about buying things, it is all about cooking excessive amounts of food that will most probably end up in the bin, it is all about putting up lights that take double the amount of the power that one would normally use. Therefore, it could be all about putting an extra burden to the environment. And if anyone dares to say that this is the case, you are probably running the risk of being labelled as a “Christmas hater” or alternatively the impersonation of “the Grinch”.
It goes without saying that as it is with anything in this world, Christmas has a negative as well as a positive side. And by negative, I definitely do not mean hating on the 30th time that you listened to that “old but gold” Christmas song, but the question of the event being overly commercialised, losing its true meaning along with not being very environmentally friendly. Thinking about other seasons, for example the summer season, advertisements that are based on this concept are there and always will be. The fact that we get surrounded by ads, commercials and sales about Christmas is simply a normal thing to occur. Whether you choose to remain on that commercial side of the season and ignore the whole “caring about others” and “spending time with the ones you love” concept is entirely up to you.
Moving on to the environmental side of things, sure wrapping gifts and lighting up the tree and everything is cool but it might be a good idea to use, for example, recycling paper to do so. It might also be a good idea to rent a real Christmas tree rather than buying a plastic one. Plastic trees might last longer but real trees can be recycled and turned into a useful material for local parks. You could, also, get a reusable calendar and you could, also, make sure to cook the amount of food needed for your Christmas dinner without feeling the need to go over the top.
The need for a sustainable Christmas in a world where the environment is at stake is rather real. What is more by fulfilling this need you maintain the Christmas spirit of “helping each other” by protecting the environment in which we all live in. To cut a long story short, Christmas can be “the most wonderful time of the year” just like any other season. Choosing to look over the commercialised side of this season and practically engaging with its so-called spirit by thinking about others, you might make it even more wonderful and even more memorable.
