Selling Christmas Consumption Already!

There's still a month to go until our annual Santa Parade for Buy Nothing Day, yet already we're seeing horrific amounts of advertising pushing the message of what we need to make us happy.

This advert by Littlewoods really does take the biscuit:

It reminds us that we should be promoting videos like this one from FoE International, which gives a much more realistic translation of what we're being told :

We have been out on the streets of Birmingham doing the Santa Parade for over a decade now and our picture from last year's Buy Nothing Day won us our first ever Earthmover's Award at Friends of the Earth's local groups conference:

As you can see, we have some tried and tested slogans for our placards, but it has been suggested we could crowd-source some more for this year. So if you have any ideas to add to the likes of:
"Money Can Buy You Love"
"Debt; it's what Christmas is all about"
"Buy More Be Happy"
"Work! Spend! Don't Think!"

please add them in the comments or email them to us campaigns@birminghamfoe.org.uk and if you'd like to join us this year, we have loads of Santa outfits, so the more, the merrier!

Joe Peacock

Ding Dong Definitely Don't Buy

Well, the holiday season is almost upon us. It's nearly time to drag the tree (complete with a bonus 12 months-worth of dust) out of the loft and to listen to the delightful chorus of... your significant other and your dad cursing between one another, as they search in vain for the faulty bulb in the fairy lights which is preventing them from switching on. I suspect that the cynics amongst you will say 'But Erica, there's another month to go until we can experience those simple joys!' On the contrary my friends; now is precisely the time to start thinking creatively about Christmas.

Did you know that every single Boxing Day, us Brits throw away an estimated 83 square kilometres of wrapping paper, and that 1 billion of those cards that you carefully picked out and hand-wrote end up in the bin? Yes, that's right. Your auntie Sue threw away your carefully chosen holographic, so-shiny-its-seizure-inducing Christmas card practically as soon as it came through her letterbox. Collectively, we produce an estimated 3 million tonnes of waste over the holidays. But there is a better way! There are a number of ways you can keep Christmas fun (in fact, make it even more fun) and make it healthier for the environment (as well as your pocket). All it requires is a bit of creativity. So, here are three fun, eco-friendly solutions to your Christmas woes.

1. Handmade Christmas
The Objective: Make your Christmas presents from scratch. You could paint a picture for a friend who's just moved house, or knit an iPod cozy for your significant other. If you think creatively about what your loved ones might want, you can get their present just right. You can also make your gifts out of recycled materials, such as a patchwork quilt constructed from much-loved but now too-worn to wear t-shirts. Handmade Christmas is the best way to give your friends and family something unique, personal and made just for them! What could be more heart-warming and Christmassy than that?

Pros: Making things is fun and the gift you give will be totally one-of-a-kind.
Cons: It takes TIME, so start thinking and then get crafty ASAP!

2. Charity Christmas
The Objective: All gifts bought must come from a charity shop. Ideally there should be some sort of price limit set (£5 per gift is usually about right), but how you set that is up to you. In my family, my mom gives a prize-present for the best (most funny, perfect or unique) gift given. When she let slip that this year's prize was going to be a goat I dimly asked “Ooh, could we have chickens instead? Free free-range eggs!”. It turns out that she meant a goat to be given to an African family, which is much more fitting for Christmas which is, after all, about caring for each other.

Pros: The money you spend will go to charity, it will cost you less and requires ingenuity.
Cons: Charity Christmas is becoming more and more popular, so make sure you start browsing early. You don't want to start looking on Christmas Eve when all of the good stuff will already be sitting, wrapped, under someone else's tree.

3. Recycled Christmas
The Objective: All gift-wrapping must be done with creatively collected recycled (and preferably recyclable) materials. I don't mean buying new rolls of paper made from recycled material, I mean ribbon made from pairs of laddered tights or newspaper upon which you've stamped, drawn or painted a pretty, festive design. It doesn't matter if the wrapping doesn't sit flush or isn't immaculately folded; you can really get creative with wrapping presents this way and your household clutter will be getting a final hurrah. All in all, you will lose far less waste and gain a free-reign to get creative this Christmas.

Pros: You're creating less rubbish and having more fun with your gift-wrapping (and opening)!
Cons: Make sure you don't go cutting up your mom's curtains for ribbon; she won't thank you for that.

It seems that every year there is an increasing number of people bemoaning the degeneration of Christmas. Along with the festive joy there is a feeling of sadness, that it has become something only worthy of celebration for those in the retail industry. Richard Wilkinson, co-author of the book 'The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better' thinks that materialism is not about the gifts that we buy and give, but more about what those things say about us to the person receiving. Wilkinson explains that “It's not material self-interest, it's that we're so sensitive. We experience ourselves through each other's eyes - and that's the reason for the labels and the clothes and the cars”. The fact is that those who love you don't care how much money you have to spend on their gift; what matters to them is what that gift means. Handmade, Charity and Recycled Christmas are all things which bring Christmas back to the people; where we can stop frivolously spending and consuming (often beyond our means) and really show our loved-ones how much they mean to us.

References:

“Cutting Down on Christmas Waste”:

http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/ChristmasRecycling.htm

“Throwing Away Christmas Rubbish will cost 78m”:
http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=6946019

“Equality and the Good Life: Interview with Richard Wilkinson”

http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/want-the-good-life-your-neighbors-need-it-too

Take Action! (Here's some inspiration to get you started):
“A Community for Crafts and DIY Projects”
http://www.craftster.org/

“Sew, cast, carve, solder, sketch, cut, go!”

http://www.folksy.com/making

“Recycle Now: Furoshiki Japanese Wrapping”

http://www.recyclenow.com/what_can_i_do_today/furoshiki_japanese_w.html

Erica Bromage

Green Christmas Fair 2009

The Birmingham Friends of the Earth Christmas Fair is being held on 19 December at Moseley CDT. It will be open to the public from 10am to 4pm and promises a great mix of festive activities. Come along for some excellent ethical present ideas and a chance to escape the horror of the shops the last Saturday before Christmas. There will be hand-crafted, recycled items on sale that show Christmas doesn't have to be about excessive waste and rampant consumerism. Warm up from the cold with delicious home-made soups, cakes and hot drinks and relax amongst like-minded people. Bring along any unwanted bits and bobs to leave at our freecycle table and help yourself to things other people have donated - absolutely free! You might also have the pleasure of running into our legendary Green Santa...

If you are involved with an ethical business or a charity and you are interested in hosting a stall on the day get in touch for further details.

HO HO HO and a Merry Green Christmas!

Roxanne Green

Contact us on 0121 632 6909 or write to campaigns@birminghamfoe.org.uk for more details.

Its a wrap: Knot just for Christmas

Another fun night was had at our second It’s a wrap crafting night on the 23rd November. We were a little squashed in the front resourses room at the Warehouse, but managed to move around the tables to make everyone comfortable.

We had less sewing machines than we had at our last group so some made bags on the machines, whilst others made reusable gift tags made with recycled felt made from plastic bottles. Roger, our token man, but willing crafter made bottle bags out of the sleeves of donated shirts.

A lot of chat and discussion was shared over the sewing, with Denise from COW (Creative Open workshops) talking about how she finger crochets with plarn, yarn made out of plastic bags, while Beth showed us a bag she had crocheted out of plastic barrier tape she collected together.

I also mentioned what I had spotted that week when walking past Lush I was surprised to discover this window display. Had they heard about Its a wrap and taken, but no, after looking in their promotional paper its a national Lush offering: Knot just for Christmas, Go Lush!

Knot for Christmas is a gift wrap service using vintage scarves to wrap their products in, more info is on their web page about this knot wrapping service. I have also seen this furoshiki wrapping and have got some lovely furoshiki Christmas and other wraps from my favourite folksy seller myfuroshiki which will be for sale at our Friends of the Earth Green Christmas Fair in Moseley on the 19th December, so come along and see what we have on offer.

Its a wrap had another productive night and here are some of the great bags and recycled gift tags that were made on the night. All of these will be available at the Green Fair in Moseley on the 19th December. If you want to come along and join in the fun, the next session is on the 14th December, hopefully see you there.

Buy Nothing Day - Santa Parade Take 8!

This Saturday, 28th November, we'll be doing our 8th annual Santa Parade for Buy Nothing Day in Birmingham. The pictures below are from last year's event, which as ever was a light-hearted affair with a serious message.


This year, as well as the parade for Buy Nothing Day, the Santas will also be taking part in a special Guitar Wave at midday on St Phillips Square along with members of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition to raise awareness of The Wave which is taking place in London the following Saturday and should be the biggest Climate Change march ever seen in this country with coaches galore going down there from Birmingham and other parts of the country. Ours is sold out, but look here for details of others.

Buy Nothing Day is all about thinking about your consumer behaviour and the planet as a whole. The following questions should be ones you consider before making purchases:

• Do I need it?
• How many do I already have?
• How much will I use it?
• How long will it last?
• Could I borrow it from a friend or family member?
• Am I able to clean and/or maintain it myself?
• Will I be able to repair it?
• Am I willing to?
• Have I researched it to get the best quality for the best price?
• How will I dispose of it when I'm done using it?
• Are the resources that went into it renewable or nonrenewable?
• Is it made from recycled materials, and is it recyclable?

If at the end of that list, you still think you're doing the right thing, then go ahead and make your purchase. If not, think of a better way of spending your hard-earned cash or not don't spend it until you can think of something that satisfies the criteria for doing so.

Spending time with the ones you love is far more valuable than any material object and there are certainly plenty of things you can do together without spending money. Follow @buynothingday on twitter for suggestions on that, or just use your imagination - that doesn't cost anything or have a carbon footprint.

Join us on Saturday for a day of spending nothing and having fun!

Its a wrap, 9th November

Thanks for all the people that came along to the first It's a wrap crafting group, here is a selection of what was created:

Lots of people turned up with their sewing machines, including the C.O.W. Girls. I brought along a few items we could make including wine bag, draw string bags, a CD/DVD wrap and a furoshiki wraps.

My friend had donated some fascinators, which distracted the everyone at first, as you can see!

I then demonstrated the different wraps (did feel a bit like a person on QVC or one of those stalls at the market that demonstrate the veg cutting devices and someone did shout out "Do we get a free knife if we watch it all the way through!)

And then we all dived in to chose our material and get going.



We also had some lovely cakes and flapjacks to help us along the way.

So please come along to our next It's a wrap group, which will be a drop in from 6.00 pm onwards:

• 23rd November
  
• 14th December
  

And at the Christmas Market in Moseley CDT on 19th December all you lovely peeps will be able to buy the "It's a wrap" produce.

Hopefully see you soon!

Its a wrap: Birmingham Friends of the Earth get stitched up

Lets be honest, wrapping gifts in paper, it’s all about the eye candy and not much about the environment. In the UK, we waste stacks of trees and resources with glitzy paper for a 20 second fix. It is estimated by Waste online that over Christmas as much as 83 square km of wrapping paper will end up in UK rubbish bins, enough to cover an area larger than Guernsey and the total waste wrapping paper the UK produces over Christmas could stretch to the moon if each sheet was laid end to end.

And part of the problem is the most popular wrapping paper cannot be recycled and ends up in landfill is often dyed, laminated and contains non-paper additives such as gold and silver coloured shapes or glitter which cannot be recycled. This means paper is either dumped in the bin or, worse, put in the recycling bin, which will mean the whole lot is contaminated and has to go to landfill.

So whats this got to do with Birmingham Friends of the Earth?
We want to promote the alternative wrapping that is available, and on the 9th of November will be having its first group of crafters coming together to make creative wrappings to get people to think differently about wrapping paper and also make items that will be showcased and available for sale at our Christmas fare on the 19th December and hopefully will raise some money to get allow great campaigning around the city. Contact Joe Peacock on 0121 632 6909 or email http://www.blogger.com/campaigns@birminghamfoe.org.uk.

So here are some of the things the crafters will be making for alternative wrapping paper, (if you have other ideas, please share them as comments):

Furoshiki, which is a Eastern tradition of wrapping using material, which I discovered after watching recycle now. See myfuroshiki for the real thing, photographed is one of her great prints and will have some of their great products available on the stall on the 19th December. Also I square scarves from charity shops can do the job as well.

Material gift bags that can be used and used again, which can be made over from left over material.


CD/DVD material present bags. This one is from Thailand and can be used again and again.

Use newspaper or magazines for wrapping. Recently I have had lots of success with using adverts in womens magazines, they spend so much on the creative, such as the perfume adverts, its always nice to show them off. Use string or ribbon to wrap them up and you can use them again.

If you cant make it on the 9th November, you can still help out by contributing:

• Any scrap, Christmassy, material we can use. Anything from old curtains, to off cuts, nice duvet covers or pillow cases picked up at a charity shop.
• Scarves that are square shape or can be altered to fit.
• Thread, ribbon and sew on decorations.

Please drop these off at the Warehouse and we will see what our creative people can do.

And start thinking about how you can reduce, reuse and recycle at Christmas!