A dilemma...
Hmm I'm having a mini battle in my head. Do I send out Christmas cards or do I not? I'm torn.
On the one hand I love Christmas and all the traditions it entails. I love sending cards so people know I'm thinking about them no matter where they are or how long it is since I've seen them; I love shopping for presents and that buzz you get when you find something you know that person will love; I love wrapping the presents up all pretty; I love giving presents to the people I love and seeing their faces when they unwrap them; I love eating pretty much an entire box of after eights after my Christmas dinner (don't know how that tradition came about - pig!) etc etc.
BUT on the other hand I'm becoming ever more aware of how wasteful we are. We're bad enough most of the year but at Christmas we're most excessively wasteful. Approximately 3 million tonnes of household rubbish will be generated by households in Britain this Christmas, including 83 square kilometres of wrapping paper, 150 million Christmas cards and an extra 75 million bottles and glass containers (not forgetting the additional 15 tonnes of waste created through manufacturing the goods and extracting the raw materials) It's pretty shocking really. And yeah 60% of it can be recycled but is that really the point? Will people bother to recycle what can be recycled? The local authorities only accept some of the many items that can be recycled. And even that which is recycled requires more energy for the recycling process! Where does it all end...waste, waste and more waste!
So do I make a stand (only a little one but it's better than nothing) or do I carry on regardless and let my sentimentality win out. It's a toughie. And am I being a bit hypocritical just leaving out the cards when I've no intention of missing out the wrapping...or is it better to at least take one small step even though it's clearly by no measure enough...
These are th ekinds of things that occupy your mind when you're marking 300 Psychology essays...did you know I am marking 300 Psychology essays...I feel it defines me at present! How dull - I am much more than an essay marker I promise...!
On the one hand I love Christmas and all the traditions it entails. I love sending cards so people know I'm thinking about them no matter where they are or how long it is since I've seen them; I love shopping for presents and that buzz you get when you find something you know that person will love; I love wrapping the presents up all pretty; I love giving presents to the people I love and seeing their faces when they unwrap them; I love eating pretty much an entire box of after eights after my Christmas dinner (don't know how that tradition came about - pig!) etc etc.
BUT on the other hand I'm becoming ever more aware of how wasteful we are. We're bad enough most of the year but at Christmas we're most excessively wasteful. Approximately 3 million tonnes of household rubbish will be generated by households in Britain this Christmas, including 83 square kilometres of wrapping paper, 150 million Christmas cards and an extra 75 million bottles and glass containers (not forgetting the additional 15 tonnes of waste created through manufacturing the goods and extracting the raw materials) It's pretty shocking really. And yeah 60% of it can be recycled but is that really the point? Will people bother to recycle what can be recycled? The local authorities only accept some of the many items that can be recycled. And even that which is recycled requires more energy for the recycling process! Where does it all end...waste, waste and more waste!
So do I make a stand (only a little one but it's better than nothing) or do I carry on regardless and let my sentimentality win out. It's a toughie. And am I being a bit hypocritical just leaving out the cards when I've no intention of missing out the wrapping...or is it better to at least take one small step even though it's clearly by no measure enough...
These are th ekinds of things that occupy your mind when you're marking 300 Psychology essays...did you know I am marking 300 Psychology essays...I feel it defines me at present! How dull - I am much more than an essay marker I promise...!
posted by Sarah @ Monday, December 04, 2006
3 Comments:
At Monday, December 04, 2006,
Mike said…
The French only send them to people that they won't see at Christmas. I'd go a step further and only send them to people I won't see and who don't have email. Which is nobody. I think I'll be overruled though.
From a CO2 point of view, we should take all the wrapping paper and cards and bury them deep underground, trapping all the carbon. Provided we could do that without generating more CO2, of course.
And, of course, you're doing massive damage every time you get into a car or eat a kiwi fruit...
At Tuesday, December 05, 2006,
Chris said…
I won't be sending xmas cards, but that's cos I'm tighter than I am environmentally friendly.
At Tuesday, December 05, 2006,
Sarah said…
I think by the time I've decided I'll probably have missed the last post...!
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