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Looking for Christmas gifts but don’t want to send the receiver on a guilt trip? If you’re buying for the environmentally aware, here are 10 suggestions you can choose from with a clear conscience.
• Electric car. Treat that super special someone to a plug-in vehicle and you’ll ensure their daily commute is free of polluting fossil-fuel emissions. Per mile, new
electric cars
are also cheaper to power than petrol models – producing savings the lucky owner can spend on more green products and initiatives.
• Carbon offsets . Fund the conservation or replanting of forests to counteract your loved ones’ carbon footprints. Helping to protect natural habitats, many schemes are available, charging around $15 per metric ton of CO2 offset.
• Adopt a coral reef . Without urgent action, it’s reckoned we’ll lose 70% of these wondrous marine resources by 2050. Give friends or family an adoption (typically, you choose the contribution’s size) and they receive an attractive pack and certificate detailing the reef’s location.
• Organic bed linen. Enable them to sleep easy knowing even the sheets and covers they’re nestled between are made from fabrics produced free of polluting chemicals or processes.
• Sponsor an acre . If your gift’s target has a special concern for the Amazonian rainforest, adopt a plot on their behalf. You’ll be promoting sustainable farming, and helping boost the benefits of traditional activities like rubber tapping. Look out for schemes where corporate backers will match your spend £ for £.
• Water-powered shower radio. Now they can tune into their favourite channels while washing – and without using potentially polluting batteries or mains power. Sporty design connects easily to the shower faucet, and converts the pressure of moving water into the electricity needed to operate.
• Fair-trade chocolate Christmas-tree decorations . These little foiled baubles delight the eye and contain ingredients that are sustainably farmed and processed – making a green badge of honour for any eco-lover’s festive foliage.
• Adopt an animal. Penguin, lion, leopard, turtle, elephant, panda, polar bear, dolphin? Whichever endangered animal they adore can be adopted for just a low monthly subscription. Proceeds help protect habitats, curb poaching and combat illegal trading.
• Eco-friendly kettle . Be thought of every time they have a hot drink. Water and energy-saving design ensures the volume boiled each time is exactly right for the number of cups to be filled.
• Organic mouthwash . Alcoholic drinks and spicy festive food can be a recipe for bad breath. So what better gift than mouth freshener made of pure and organic herbal ingredients like calendula, echinacea and aloe vera? Guarantees them more Christmas kisses under the mistletoe!
