3 ways to stay green this holiday!

Hey, everybody! Merry Christmas! Er... wait. Sorry, I didn't mean to be culturally insensitive or to imply or assume that you celebrate a certain holiday. Let's start over again. Happy Christmas or Hanukah everybody! Or, Chanukah, if you swing that way. Oh, what the heck, let's go ahead and complete the trifecta: Have a great Kwanzaa, too!

And for anyone who has slipped through the cracks, let's toss in a happy Festivus, a swell Decemberween, and a furry Life Day. And if you're really obscure, happy Refrigerator Day.

You know what? I give up. There are too many holidays all crammed together at the end of the year. I say we simplify the season and just agree that every day is Earth Day. December 22? Earth Day. December 25? Earth Day. December 26? Boxing Earth Day. There, isn't that a lot simpler? You can give your friends the memo and simplify your holiday shopping all in one fell swoop when you give everyone on your gift list a 100% natural "Every Day is Earth Day" tee. (http://www.teehugger.com/product_p/thjs1012.htm) There, now your holiday dates and gift giving are all consolidated into one neat package. You're welcome.

Okay, I admit, this "Every Day is Earth Day" idea may take some time to catch on. In the meantime, there are steps you can take to make your existing religious or pop-culture-based holiday celebration greener. Why? Because, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day an extra million tons of waste are generated nationwide each week. Even Scrooge wouldn't give the Earth a gift that crappy.

Here are some things you can do to make every day Earth Day this holiday season:

- Don't give lousy gifts. - This one may seem self-evident, but be honest, how many of you have given someone a Clapper or a Chia Pet? Sure those things are fun for a week, but you know they're ending up in the landfill before the Super Bowl. This year try, giving gifts that are actually reduce waste, such as battery chargers, perpetual calendars, or erasable message boards.

- Save a tree, forever. - According to the National Christmas Tree Association, 25-30 million real Christmas trees are sold every year. Yes, most of these are farm-grown specifically for this purpose, but it is still a huge use of water and land resources that mankind could put to better use than seasonal decorating. Break the cycle of planned deforestation by picking up an artificial tree and keeping it year after year. As an added bonus, never again will you end up with a scratched car roof and a carpet full of pine needles.

- Wrap it up in junk mail. - According to the Recycler's Handbook, half the paper America consumes every year is used for gift wrap. Half! That's an insane amount of resources committed to temporary consumer product obfuscation. This year, let's all agree to refrain from buying rolls of shiny virgin paper impregnated with toxic metallic dyes and instead reuse something that's free and delivered daily to your front door: junk mail. If your household is like mine, every day you open the mailbox to find it chock full of large sheets of holiday sale flyers printed in festive reds and greens. Don't just toss that stuff in the recycle bin, put it into service as gift wrap for a few weeks, and then toss it in the recycle bin. That way everybody wins, especially the Earth.

For more tips on how you can have a green holiday season, check out the California Integrated Waste Management Board's holiday waste reduction page at http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/publiced/Holidays/

Happy holidays, Tee Huggers!