The amount of waste we create during Christmas, the amount of energy we spend to heat up our apartments, the amount of fuel we use to get to our closest - Christmas is far from being green - but there are many things you can do to make it a bit more energy efficient (in Finnish: energiatehokkuus). If you have to travel by car, plan it well ahead. Make sure you create a well planned and organized shopping list and then do it all at once instead of driving into a different shop every day. When you cook - think local. By buying local food and making as much as you can yourself, you make a big difference. Making the food yourself can also act as a great stress relief. People can really taste if the food is home-made or not.
Remember that public transportation is also on a schedule during Christmas time. You can use public transportation for small shopping trips and then leave bigger ones for the car.
You can also visit K-Rauta and consult the staff there. They are very well-trained on energy efficiency and they do also have a lot to say on cost saving. You can even get some Christmas presents from there - and they usually end up in use, unlike some useless gadgets.
Remember that Christmas is most of all a celebration of being together and being well. It is celebration of birth - not the one of doom. Let’s make sure that we have this planet for the future generations to celebrate on as well. By making all of our Christmases more green and energy efficient is at least one step closer to securing it. Merry Christmas everyone - remember to turn off your lights in an empty room even during Christmas time. Santa can see in the dark.