In one way, Postconsumers isn’t any different from any media channel that deals with consumerism. The holiday season is one of the most important seasons of the year for us. The difference is that instead of talking about consumerism in a way that encourages you to buy more this holiday season, we like to talk about it in terms of making more informed decisions about how you approach society’s addiction and its overall impact on the planet and its environment. While much of our content is useful all year long, there are certain pieces that are the most useful during the holiday season. This year, we’ve compiled them all in one place for easy reference. Of course, if you’re looking for all of our holiday advice (including other holidays throughout the year), we have an entire section for that, too.
First, something fun!
While most of our holiday content is aimed at helping you make more informed decisions, sometimes we like to get playful here! Get ready and inspired for the holiday season with our very own take on “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
Second, something comprehensive.
If you’re really ready to take a postconsumer journey this holiday season, consider skipping the individual articles and simply downloading our free guide to A Very Postconsumer Holiday. It will walk you step-by-step through taking control of your holiday consumer habits.
Shopping, Shopping, Shopping.
Chances are that you’re going to be doing at least some shopping this holiday season. After all, being a postconsumer doesn’t mean that you have to give up retail cold turkey or even altogether. It just means that you need to find your spot on the consumer spectrum and be comfortable in the satisfaction of enough. We think that these holiday shopping articles can help guide you to that point.
50 Things to Do Other Than Shop on Black Friday: Our staple holiday celebration piece updated and fresh. If there’s one consumer tradition that we’re just going to come out and say has gone horribly wrong, it’s this one. Let this article inspire you to avoid the day of shopping and find satisfaction elsewhere.
Five Holiday Budget Tips: One way to keep your holiday consumerism under control is to contextualize it in sticking to a budget. We think these are the five best tips to help you.
Shop Local Inspirations: Few things can have a bigger impact on the consumer machine than when you choose to shop local. We’ve got inspirations and facts to encourage and motivate you to do just that.
Give the Gift Of…
A large part of what drives consumerism during the holiday season is gift-giving, and we have to admit that we’re pro gift-giving in general. But you can still make decisions that are fairly healing for the consumer cycle as well as for the planet. Here are our favorite tips for doing that.
Five Gifts to Help Your Friends and Family Save Energy: Any time we can avoid big box retailers while also helping to conserve energy and reduce fossil fuel emissions, it’s a good thing. So here are five gifts that are good things!
Sustainable Holiday Gifts: The Gift of a Living Plant: Plants aren’t just good for the health of the planet, they’re good for the health of people. And more often than not you can purchase them in ethical ways. These plants in particular make great holiday gifts.
Sustainable Ideas for Holiday Wrapping Paper – Creative and Personal: Skip the aisle of fancy wrapping paper and bags and upcycle some of these cool ideas for holiday gifts.
General Eco-Friendly Tips
The holidays are typically a time when eco-friendly goes out of the door. Between tight schedules, holiday stress, traditions and social programming, we all could be better at making earth-conscious decisions during the holidays. Here are our favorite ideas on how to do that.
Eco-Friendly Facts About Christmas Trees – Go Real or Artificial? Believe it or not, there are some pros and cons to consider about either decision. And while we have a firm stand on which is preferred, we’re giving you all of the facts to make your own decision.
Keeping Your Office Party Eco-Friendly: Almost every office will have an office party at some time during the holiday season (unless your boss is Scrooge). If you’re in charge of yours, use these tips to make it less wasteful.
Energy Saving Tips for the Holiday Season: Holiday lights, holiday parties, heat turned up, more travel … the ways in which we use more energy during the holidays are countless. We’ve compiled our easiest and quickest tips for reducing the burn.
The Carbon Footprint of Your Christmas Goose (or Turkey as it May Be): Chances are also high that at some point you’ll be making a traditional holiday meal (though we applaud nontraditional ones!). Just make sure you go into it understanding where the carbon footprint adds up and what you can do to reduce it.
Emotions and Your Holiday Kitsch: This article is more about consumerism than eco-concerns, but we had a hard time categorizing it! We strongly think it’s worth a read to consider how much “stuff” and “clutter” is unreasonably tied to emotions that aren’t actually contained in the “stuff” itself.
Postconsumer Personal Stories
Over the years, we’ve been lucky enough to have a few Postconsumers share their personal holiday stories. We hope that they inspire you!
Travels on Turkey Day – The Road to Enough: Katherine Hauswirth, one of the authors of Postconsumers’ book, Get Satisfied: How Twenty People Like You Found the Satisfaction of Enough, shares the story of a Thanksgiving when she truly did understand the idea of “enough.”
Waste Not. But “Want” Isn’t a Dirty Word. Olivia Knight, founder of Patchwork Present, talks about finding a line between wasteful consumerism and the joy of holiday gifts.
And New Year’s is Here, Too!
New Year’s is an important part of the holiday mix, both in that it can be an eco-trap and in that it gives you an opportunity to set goals. Here are two articles to help you with both elements.
How to Have an Eco-Friendly New Year’s Party: Are you hosting the big bash this year? If so, we’ve got easy-to-follow tips on making it a little more friendly to the planet on its annual birthday.
Twenty Postconsumer New Year’s Resolutions: Not sure where to start in the New Year to change habits and be more consumer-conscious and eco-friendly? Here are our top twenty picks.
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