Way 1 : Buy Local

It's almost Christmas, and Christmas means countdowns!

From now until December 5th I will be writing about a single simple way that you can reduce or improve your environmental impact before the huge rush of the winter holidays start. From there I will refrain from updating until after the winter holidays, as I have the pressures of finals, graduating, and moving out of my current location.

As I've said before, one of the biggest ways to do better by the earth and your community is to buy local. If local is not possible (as defined in the past here on Growing out of the Box) buy organic or "fair trade." There's a better chance the food was grown in an more considerate way.

Try eating at restaurants that serve locally produced or seasonal foods.
Buy gifts from local vendors or the starving artist down the street.
Try to cook a holiday meal by only using ingredients bought from a local market.