Bringing Nature into the Makerspace During the Holiday Season

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The holidays are upon us, and that means the potential for increased waste. Whether you are celebrating the winter solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or any other holiday falling in and around December, you may find yourself tossing out much more trash as compared to any other time of year. This could come from eating more food, doing more shopping, wrapping more presents, buying decorations, or increasing your traveling. 

Photography of Green Pine Tree [Photograph], by I Iriser, 2017, Pexels (https://www.pexels.com/photo/photography-of-green-pine-tree-943898). CC0 1.0.

Holiday Waste:

As an interesting research-based side note, I spent an inordinate amount of time tracking down an often repeated claim that we (in the U.S.) produce 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and New Years. Sites like ABC News, Architectural Digest, Earth911, Fox News, and WBUR Boston have all recently referred to this statistic, which some claim comes from the EPA, and others from Stanford. I even found a blog post from just last week on the Columbus (Ohio) Zoo and Aquarium website that refers to it. Yet the EPA page is archived, and makes no connection to any studies verifying this claim, and the link to the Stanford webpage merely redirects users to their main sustainability website. 

This called for a search in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, which finally led me to the original Stanford webpage making the claim, which hasn't been live since somewhere between June and July of this year (2023), which references another defunct webpage at Use-Less-Stuff.com, which was run by what is now known as Robert Lilienfeld Consulting, and which *run-on sentence sigh* actually just makes this claim with no evidence to support it. *whew*

Later, I actually found an undated post by Stephen Dworkin (n.d.) at Environmental Magazine that discusses the origins of this statement. According to this article, the person who made the original claim, Robert (Bob) Lilienfeld, got the figure from the Garbage Project at the University of Arizona and data from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And the number itself comes from the 1990s (I think this 1998 article from the Oklahoman may confirm this timeframe). Now, this doesn't mean that we don't produce more waste in December. Lilienfeld and Dworkin both seem to think the number has most likely increased since its origination, and a poll from 2021 (as reported by Chris Melore) found that people estimate they average about 43% more waste during the holidays. I think this definitely requires some further study! And it definitely points out the need to follow through on sources to actually confirm the validity/accuracy/currency of popular claims. 

However, whether we produce 25% more waste during the holidays or not, I think we can all agree that practicing greener holiday traditions can, at the very least, make us all more aware of the impact we have on our planet. We can all afford to make small changes that will not only lessen our carbon footprint, but may even help us save money during a season when we typically spend crazy amounts of money (Jim Probasco and D. Tighe have interesting numbers regarding this trend).

A few ways we can look at reducing our carbon footprint is by looking at three common holiday traditions: the tree, gift wrap, and decorations.

The Tree

At first glance, one might think that buying an artificial tree would be better for the environment. After all, you aren't responsible for another tree being cut down every year! But if you do choose to go this route, know that it could take anywhere from 5 to 20 years for the associated ecological footprint caused by the production of that tree to make the purchase more sustainable than a real one (Yale Office of Sustainability, 2020; Zraick, 2018). The variation in this time estimate reflects the different sources I've looked to to find this number. This is another issue that I think might take a bit more research. But the point is that manufacturing a plastic tree in China, then shipping it over to the United States, brings up reasonable concerns about the carbon footprint generated by artificial trees (Chiu, 2022). Ultimately, it looks like the most sustainable option might be to buy a potted (live) tree that you can keep after the season is over (McAllister, 2023). Just some food for thought when weighing the advantages and disadvantages of live vs real (cut) vs fake trees. Honestly, I think it comes down to whatever is the best option for your lifestyle.

Wrapping Paper

As you may know, not all gift wrap is recyclable. Any wrapping paper that is shiny, metallic, glittery, or coated in plastic should probably go to a landfill instead of a recycling center (Arcuni, 2019). And blindly tossing all your gift wrap into the recycle bin in the hopes that the recycling center will just figure it out themselves isn't useful either, as this "wishcycling" ends up contaminating recyclable material, makes it harder for workers to do their job, and may even damage machinery (Hunn, 2021; New Haven Solid Waste & Recycling Authority, 2021). So if you do find yourself dealing with traditional gift wrap, Recycle Now suggests conducting a "scrunch test" to see if it is indeed recyclable. Otherwise, the EPA suggests wrapping gifts in recycled paper and trying to focus on giving gifts that don't require as much wrapping or packaging in the first place, like gift certificates or concert tickets (2023). 

Decorations

Lastly, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation suggests finding more sustainable options for decorations. One suggestion is to use Energy Star qualified LED lights, which are not only 90% more efficient than traditional lights, they even last longer. Another suggestion is to avoid tinsel and plastic decorations (n.d.). This brings me to the point of this blog post, which is the creation of more natural holiday decorations. If you've stuck with me this far, you will soon be rewarded!

Nature-based Makerspace Ideas for the Holidays:

Now that we've established that the holidays are an excellent time to consider practicing more eco-friendly traditions, let us move on to how you can use your makerspace as a way to encourage further conscientious holiday practices amongst your patrons. To support an environmentally friendly holiday season, use your makerspace to share ideas and materials that will encourage the adoption of sustainable decor practices. One way to do this is to bring in natural elements from the outdoors. Not only are found materials going to be much less expensive to gather (i.e., free), depending on how you use them in your crafting processes, when the holidays are over you can either save them for future years or return them back to where they came from!

1. Pine Cones

Pine cones are certainly a natural, eco-friendly alternative to purchasing plastic decorations, and they can be dressed up in so many different ways! (Note that it might be a good idea to bake pine cones in the oven at about 200 degrees for 2-3 hours to make sure bugs and other living organisms are no longer thriving inside of them!) Here are a few ideas that would be easy to bring into the makerspace:

This tutorial from Clean & Scentsible incorporates bleached pinecones, jute/string, cranberries, and felt. Other tools required include a large eye needle and hot glue. 


Make It and Love It outlines this super simple craft that only requires pinecones, jute, and a little bit of ribbon. 


The tutorial for this pretty decoration come from the Magic Onions, and just needs some pine cones, white paint, floral wire, hemp string, and a paint brush. 

2. Greenery

It could be a bit messier, but if you have enough space to spread out it could be worth it! Gather fallen greenery from public locations or trim it from existing plants (ideally those on one's own property).

To make the garland in this tutorial from Fresh Exchange, gather some greenery (they suggest about 1-3 different types), 22-gauge floral wire, and some heavy duty scissors. 


This pine wreath from Little Yellow Wheelbarrow only requires some large evergreen branches, small evergreen tips, and some floral wire (or twine). I'm guessing some cutting tools would also come in handy. 


Rosemary Wreaths
This tutorial from Spoon Fork Bacon is technically for making little place cards, but I think they would be cute hung up just about anywhere! You just need some sprigs of rosemary, scissors, ribbon or twine, and floral wire! Plus, I bet this craft smells amazing.

3. Sticks and Wood

Sticks are another natural element that can be found through simple foraging, and they can be used for such a great variety of crafts!

This tutorial from Sustain My Craft Habit uses driftwood, elastic stretch thread, and decorative beads for a nautical theme. Tools needed would be scissors and a drill with a 1/8" bit. 


In addition to a nice collection of twigs and branches, this craft from the DIY Dreamer only requires branch cutters, jute twine, and a hot glue gun.


Wreath Frame
Make this wreath frame out of branches to provide a foundation for other wreath crafts! Just follow the directions on A Traditional Life. Collect branches from boughs with pruning shears and use floral wire to connect them. 

Other Sustainable Makerspace Ideas for the Holidays:

There are certainly limits to how much nature you can bring inside for the holidays, so at some point other materials will need to be used. But that doesn't mean giving up on a greener holiday season entirely! Try incorporating some of these sustainable ideas into your makerspace.

1. Host a Greener Gift Wrapping Party 

Prepare for this event by reaching out to patrons for donations of scrap fabric, old newspapers, maps, or previously used gift wrap. This page at Treehugger has other alternative wrapping paper ideas. Gather all of the supplies and invite patrons to bring their gifts to wrap! I would highly suggest including some refreshments in the form of hot cocoa and cookies while you're at it, but that's just me. :-)

2. Handmade Paper Holiday Cards

This might be a multiple step process. First, teach your patrons how to make handmade paper from recycled scrap paper with this tutorial from My Journey to Green. Second, refer to their other tutorial for making holiday cards with the paper they have made! 

3. Upcycled Gifts

Give patrons a place to make presents that are made from recycled/upcycled materials! Hint: I have another blog post that talks about upcycled craft projects to which you might refer.

And there you have it! I hope this post has helped inspire you to use your makerspace to promote a more sustainable holiday season. Have a happy holiday!

- Rachelle

References:

Arcuni, P. (2019). Can you recycle your wrapping paper? Here's how to tell. KQED. https://www.kqed.org/science/1951672/can-you-recycle-wrapping-paper-heres-how-to-tell

Chiu, A. (2022, November 25). Are real or artificial Christmas trees better for the environment? Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/11/25/artificial-tree-real-christmas-environment

Dworkin, S. (n.d.). By the numbers: Holiday waste. The Environmental Magazine. Retrieved November 30, 2023, from https://emagazine.com/holiday-waste

Hunn, K. (2021). Are you a wishcycler? Environmental Center, University of Colorado Boulder. https://www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2021/04/01/are-you-wishcycler

Iriser, I. (2017). Photography of Green Pine Tree [Photograph]. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/photography-of-green-pine-tree-943898

McAllister, S. (2023). Real vs. artificial: What is the most sustainable type of Christmas tree? Zurich. https://www.zurich.com/en/media/magazine/2022/real-vs-artificial-what-is-the-most-sustainable-type-of-christmas-tree

Melore, C. (2021). Americans pile up nearly 30 pounds of extra trash per week during the holidays. StudyFinds. https://studyfinds.org/extra-waste-garbage-during-the-holidays

New Haven Solid Waste & Recycling Authority. (2021, January). Recycling awareness: Aspirational (wishful) recycling. Recycle News Haven. https://www.nhswra.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Recycle-News-Haven-issue-2-1-2021-1.pdf

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. (n.d.). Sustainable holidays. Retrieved November 30, 2023, from https://www.dec.ny.gov/environmental-protection/recycling-composting/waste-reduction/sustainable-holidays

Probasco, J. (2023). Average cost of American holiday spending. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/1112/average-cost-of-an-american-christmas.aspx

Tighe, D. (2023). Roughly how much money do you think you personally will spend on Christmas gifts this year? Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/246963/christmas-spending-in-the-us-during-november

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2023). Reducing waste: What you can do. https://www.epa.gov/recycle/reducing-waste-what-you-can-do

Yale Office of Sustainability. (2020, December 11). Where did your Christmas tree come from? Yale University. https://sustainability.yale.edu/blog/where-did-your-christmas-tree-come

Zraick, K. (2018, November 26). Real vs. artificial Christmas trees: Which is the greener choice? New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/26/business/energy-environment/fake-christmas-tree-vs-real-tree.html

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