Tag Archives: celebrations

Have a Green Christmas

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Christmas has traditionally been an important time in the life of many families. But it is also an environmental nightmare of commercial hype leading to consumer over-indulgence, throwaway gifts and decorations, and excess packaging. And that’s not to mention the unhealthy eating and drinking, and the stress of trying to live up to unrealistic expectations and unnecessary entertaining and socializing.

If your extended family and friends aren’t as environmentally or socially aware as you are, it can be tempting to forsake your green values and eco-ethics and go along with the crowd. But that’s not necessary; it is possible to create an enjoyable but green Christmas, and Natural Life Magazine can tell you how.

We have gathered together just a few of the articles featured over the years in Natural Life Magazine that will help you green your holiday celebrations. So sit back, relax, save money, and protect the planet while planning to spread some natural Christmas cheer.

Have a Healthy, Green, Frugal Halloween

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pumpkinIn North America, Halloween is traditionally an important time in the life of many families, not to mention one of our kids’ favorite occasions. Celebrations like Halloween are great opportunities for having some fun as a family and for sharing the principles behind our green lifestyles and principles with young children.

But if your extended families and friends aren’t as environmentally or socially aware as you are, the commercial hype can be troublesome. For many, Halloween is just another commercial opportunity, benefiting greeting card and candy manufacturers, and often becomes an orgy of excess packaging (all those little candies in separate wrappers); expensive, plastic single-use costumes; and unhealthy eating. It’s enough to spook a green thinker into ignoring the occasion altogether.

But there are ways to enjoy Halloween with our children without forsaking our eco-ethics. And we’ve put some ideas together in this article. We hope your little green ghosts and ghoulies have a healthy, green, and safe Halloween.

No Cause for Celebration

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A lot of people have wished me “Happy Earth Day™” today. But I’m not feeling like it’s an occasion for celebration. Back in the early days – in the 1970s when we started publishing Natural Life Magazine – there was a heady sense of power to make change, and to set aside one day a year to remind ourselves to work on solving ecological problems.

But now, the problems loom much larger. And they’re global in scope. While we used to think in terms of saving some lakes, cleaning up a river, conserving a specific species of animal, banning a pesticide, we now have a full-blown biodiversity crisis, global climate change and many other issues that have become apparent as a result of having stretched ecological systems to the breaking point. However, politicians and corporate leaders alike are not coming up with real solutions. In fact, instead of solving the problems, in many cases, we’re continuing the behavior that has caused the problems. And that means we’re falling behind, in spite of taking a day each year for the past forty years to plant some trees and wish each other “Happy Earth Day™.” The leader of the band, in Canada at least, has brought along a motley crew of corporate sponsors, including car manufacturers, energy producers, insurance companies, electronics manufacturers and grocery stores. 

I do believe we can change the course of events, although some things are already too far gone and life undoubtedly will be different for our children and grandchildren. If we are to save this planet for human life, governments and corporations will have to act quickly and decisively. And individuals like you and I will have to push them to act. While we’re doing that, we’ll need to be sure our own lifestyle is sustainable (and doesn’t include buying all the so-called green living trinkets I’ve had pitched to me in honor of the day.) As Gandhi said, we must be the change we want to see in the world.

So if you’re marking Earth Day™ in any way, please include some time for sober thought about how we can dig ourselves out of the monstrous mess we’ve created. And then, let’s get started.