Want to get through Christmas with the minimum environmental impact ? You can do so without going full Scrooge , says Kerry MacKay
Sea-sonal Gifting
Want to get through Christmas with the minimum environmental impact ? You can do so without going full Scrooge , says Kerry MacKay
That time of year is upon us . Hopefully , the weather is being kind to you and you ’ re still getting some good dives in the short days . During the long dark evenings , many of us will be browsing the internet on the hunt for the perfect gifts for our loved ones .
You ’ d likely hate me if I was to preach , “ Don ’ t buy anything !” So I won ’ t say it quite like that . I will give you some ideas for waste-less gifting though , and throw in a couple of handy dive gift item recommendations .
You should all be familiar with the mantra , ‘ Reduce , Reuse , Recycle ’. Let ’ s see how that applies to Christmas .
First up , ‘ Reduce ’. Try to reduce how much ‘ stuff ’ you use and buy . This can take a bit of a shift in mindset but it ’ s actually not that hard for gifting . Gift experiences and memories instead of physical stuff . This could be a gift voucher for an activity like a try dive or dive holiday .
Maybe make some vouchers for a loved one for things such as ‘ One day of diving together at [ insert favourite dive site ]’, or
You ’ d likely hate me if I was to preach , “ Don ’ t buy anything !”
‘ One fish supper after diving ( even if you had one last night too )’, or if your partner isn ’ t a diver and complains you go off diving too often ‘ One day together when I could have been diving ’. The possibilities are endless .
Now , for the consumers among you who still want a physical something . You ’ ll be relieved to hear that ‘ Reuse ’ includes buying second-hand . There are some fantastic bargains out there for second-hand dive kit , so you can still shop guilt-free .
Here are a couple of recommendations for items that I ’ ve found handy for my diving . I stand to gain nothing by recommending these companies – even writing these articles is done voluntarily . I simply think these are good products that you might enjoy on the dive site too .
First up , no fully kitted diver should be without a handy goodie bag . Mine is used often for dive site and underwater litter picks . I love that mine is a manageable size and rolls up securely and small . I recommend the Fourth Element Ocean Debris Bag . Fourth Element in general do a pretty
good job on the Eco front with their recycled material products and plastic-free packaging .
Next , I dive all year in Scotland , so it gets pretty chilly at times . Nothing beats a hot drink after a dive , so a good flask is essential . I particularly like my flask ( Camelback MultiBev™ ) which has a cup integrated into its body . I use this flask everywhere , mostly as a water bottle in my handbag , but I know wherever I go with it , I ’ ll have a reusable cup for any takeaway drinks I want , without having to remember my bottle AND a cup .
Finally , what fun is a gift if you don ’ t wrap it ? The suspense and mystery of guessing what ’ s in the package is all part of the fun . Sadly , that paper lives a short life and the shiny / glittery stuff can ’ t even be recycled .
Did you know that every year the UK throws away 227,000 miles of wrapping paper ? That ’ s enough to wrap around the planet nine times , or to almost reach the moon ! That ’ s also a lot of trees being cut and processed , every year ; Christmas alone accounts for 50,000 trees !
Try making the wrapping part of the gift . Tote bags , tea towels and scarves are ideal as useful bonus gifts that you can use as wrapping . Re-useable gift bags are a great idea too . Keep any you are given and simply re-use next year .
You can make some lovely wrapping using newspaper . Get arty and paint the newspaper first ( at work we do awesome potato-printed wrapping paper workshops with the kids ), or keep it simple and top with a ribbon . I highly recommend plasticfree sticky tape too . Magazines also make great wrapping paper with their colourful pictures . I had one friend use a page of this magazine that was an advert for a snazzy new dive computer to cunningly wrap an appropriately sized box .
Finally , the last of our R ’ s is ‘ Recycle ’. You know the drill . If you or someone else can ’ t Reuse it , make sure you Recycle everything you can .
I hope I ’ ve given you some awesome dive gift inspiration and that you have much fun wrapping it all up . Wishing you all a fantastic festive season and sending warm thoughts to your winter dive sites . �
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