Wilderness-Friendly Holidays: Great Tips for Enriching the Season
As you ponder the stresses of another frenzied holiday shopping season, consider this: The time you spend at the mall could be used instead to create wilderness-friendly holiday traditions that are both kind to Mother Nature and enriching to your family.
Giving the gift of quality time in nature and creating family traditions that focus on preservation of our earth can be as lovely a present as anything out of a box. Better yet, such gifts last for life when you consider the long-lasting memories they create.
During the holidays, many of our staff members at The Wilderness Society naturally gravitate toward such wilderness-centered traditions. With that in mind, we’ve whipped up a few tips we'd like to share with your family.
Enjoy the list. Take what you like and discard the rest. But whatever you do, have a joyous holiday season filled with warmth, love and a connection to wild places!
Tips for putting wilderness into the holidays:
- Give the gift of time together in nature: Resolving to spend just a little less time shopping for material gifts and more time together with family or friends can help free up time for outdoor rituals that can be cherished for years to come. An annual winter hike or visiting a national forest to select a Christmas tree is a perfect tradition.
- Take in the quiet beauty of winter: Tired of the crowds? Give the gift of a cross-country skiing trip, a day of snowshoeing, or ice-skating at a local pond. Many national parks offer ranger-led snowshoe and cross-country ski tours. Reservations are required but costs are next to nothing.
- A lifelong gift for children: What could be better than a gift that teaches an appreciation of nature? If you have children, grandchildren or nieces or nephews, take them on a magical winter outing to your favorite wild place. To add to the fun, bring thermoses filled with hot chocolate, or with younger children, hold a winter scavenger hunt, giving each child a list of plants, winter animals or fun geologic features to locate. Or, turn the trip into an educational day by pointing out the changes to the land and wildlife behavior in wintertime.
- Give a gift to Mother Earth: Save some of her resources by buying gifts and cards made from organic or recycled materials, or make and bake your own gifts.
- Create fun while decreasing holiday waste: Instead of buying holiday decorations, have a family popcorn-stringing night or create decorations from old holiday cards. Or throw a green, gift-wrapping night, using crayons to draw your own designs on newspaper that can be reused as gift wrap.
- Get quirky: Start a family gift-making contest that decreases the resources used during the holidays. Have every member of the family make one gift for another family member – from items already around the home. Then give prizes for the most creative, innovative or funniest present.
- Reuse your trees: If you buy a Christmas tree, recycle it after the holidays or consider purchasing a live tree with root bulb intact from a tree farm. After the holidays, plant the tree in the yard to soak up carbon and provide enjoyment year-round.
- Give a gift that makes a difference: Consider giving a donation to conservation in your loved one’s name. The Wilderness Society offers honor gifts here.
- Give the gift of enduring wilderness: You can do this through a membership gift in The Wilderness Society. Membership includes our gorgeous Wilderness magazine, a small portfolio of Ansel Adams work and regular newsletters.
Got your own wilderness or green holiday tips? Share them with our online community by clicking the “add new comment” button.
About Laura Bailey
Before joining us in 2008, Laura worked as an editor, writer and reporter for a variety of print and online media, including the Gannett-owned Army Times newspapers, Military Times national news Web sites, and the Fort Collins Coloradoan... More about Laura Bailey
Legacy Comments
Tips for Enriching the 4 Seasons
My nieces are now 26 and 21.
Since they were babies, I tell them that I celebrate the spirit,joy,peace,gifts,sharing and love of Christmas everyday except when I can be "Scrooge" on Dec 25th.
It save me, my nieces ,my family and my friends the anguish,money and time in the exchange of harpooned gifts.
And it can be fun.
Make bags out of colorful
Make bags out of colorful fabric with ribbon as drawstrings. Gifts are very easy to wrap, very colorful, and the bags can reused each year.
helpful gift ideas
Hi,
I would like to add giving gifts of land and animals to families in third world countries so that they can be self sufficient. Barbara
"Clean is Serene" (Litter isn't Pretty)
Recently, I spent time on Cape Cod and enjoyed taking long walks along the Atlantic Ocean in the Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS). The amount of litter on the beach washed in by the tide or left by beach goers seems to be increasing dramatically. I usually take along my 'shell collecting' bag and pick up the unwanted refuse. This year I filled my bag, found another, filled that, and still there was too much to carry. Returning down the beach, I also towed behind me a collection of plastic jugs (bleach, laundry, & oil containers), bouys, & floats ( one of which was two feet across) using found poly cord wrapped around my waist.
As I hauled and dragged the accumulated litter, the Gray Seals feeding just 70 to 100 feet offshore came to the surface, turned their heads in my direction, and followed me with their gaze as I proceeded past them with my unlikely train. The jugs & bouys scraping on the sand of the beach was quite loud, and I think it created vibrations they could hear underwater. Some were more curious than others and swam parallel to me for a brief time.
A beachgoing couple, who turned out to be first time visitors to the area from Connecticut, caught up with me and after introductions and an explanation of my activity, were converted to fellow 'litter warriors.' They split the burden of beach refuse (only 20% is marine flotsam and jetsom with 80% coming from land*) and pitched in and picked up even more as we hauled it all to the parking lot over a mile away where I thanked them for helping me. Exhausted but satisfied, they thanked me ... feeling good about making a difference helping to maintain the area's natural beauty and protect its wildlife.
Even the Park Ranger I spoke with when I phoned the local CCNS office was grateful for our efforts. He said he would take care of the trash when he made his rounds that evening. He even volunteered to haul the bouys and large float back to a recycling lot available to fishermen of the area when I inquired if there was anyway to return those to their owners.
So, my message is: Want to help the environment, get some exercise, make new friends, commune with nature, learn something new, and feel good about yourself? Start small, do what you can ... pick up litter. Clean is Serene.
On the subject of preventing litter: Jean-Michel Cousteau had this to say, "Litter is not an issue of type of debris, but one of personal responsibility. We ALL share in the responsibility to prevent litter-- stopping debris before it reaches our stormwater drains where it can drift to our oceans. Protect our oceans and we protect ourselves."*
Note: The National Park Service's webpage for the Cape Cod National Seashore (http://www.nps.gov/caco) is not currently working.
* http://www.dartcontainer.com/web/environ.nsf/pages/enlitter.html
thank you
I've done that same kind of thing here in Florida and used to keep bags and gloves in my car for just that purpose. Thank you for what you do and for reminding me that I should do more.
Each year for the holidays I
Each year for the holidays I pick up fallen pine cones from the ground and attach fishing line to one end to use as a hanger. I then spread peanut butter over the pine cones and roll them in wild bird seed. I hang all the pine cones along with apples from all the surrounding trees in my front yard. The birds and squirrels flock to these treats and I get a front row seat. This is the best gift of the season.
Each year for the holidays I
Each year for the holidays I pick up fallen pine cones from the ground and attach fishing line to one end to use as a hanger. I then spread peanut butter over the pine cones and roll them in wild bird seed. I hang all the pine cones along with apples from all the surrounding trees in my front yard. The birds and squirrels flock to these treats and I get a front row seat. This is the best gift of the season.
Christmas trees from national forests? Really?
Wow, I didn't know that you _could_ pick out a Christmas tree in a national forest. How does one go about finding which national forests allow this?
Amy G.
Amy, Several national forests
Amy,
Several national forests allow you to cut your own christmas tree although everyone I know of does require an inexpensive permit. Check out www.fs.fed.us and look up national forests in your area. Most forests have information about it on their main page.
Erin
Thanks, Erin!
Thanks, Erin!
A Wild Christmas Gift for Children
Starting in early December, I spend a few minutes before filling my birdfeeders tempting the Chickadees and Tufted Titmice to land and feed from my hand. With seed in my palm, hand held flat, and arm extended, the birds take time assessing the situation and then begin to land briefly to steal a seed. I keep my eyes averted or closed to avoid looking like a predator. On Christmas morning, when the grandchildren come to visit, one of their favorite presents is to feed the birds from their hands. Of course, if the feeder has seed in it, they will ignore the little hands, so make sure you have emptied it before the children arrive and be sure to refill it immediately after the Christmas morning feeding.
Long after the toys are broken and the clothes outgrown, the memory of prickley little bird feet gripping their finger for a chance to grab a bit of seed will remain in their memories of the holidays. For some, it may awaken a lifelong interest in the creatures just outside our doors.
What a WONDERFUL idea...how
What a WONDERFUL idea...how very very precious. Best Holiday wishes to you and yours!