The holidays are known to be the best time of year, but what about the unspoken negative effects they bring to the environment?
According to the Stockholm Environment Institute, holidays leave a big carbon footprint, and individuals on average create up to 1,400 lbs of CO2 emissions during the season.
Traveling for the holidays makes up a big chunk of that pollution.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), transportation makes up for 28 percent of Earth’s carbon. The other main sources are electric power (25 percent) such as Christmas lights and light bulbs.
The twinkling lights can be festive, but they also can be harmful in many ways. According to Utah State University, in total they produce up to 50 percent more light pollution than usual.
Also, in the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, household garbage in the U.S. may increase by 25 percent, creating 1 million tons of waste, according to the EPA.
This can include food waste, cards, boxes, and packaging.
According to Environmental science teacher Sharla Van Pelt, the biggest cause of holiday waste is “the overconsumption . . . so many resources. The energy and cost of making something, just for someone to enjoy it for 10 minutes, then never to be used again.”
To help the packaging issue,“some propose a kind of fabric bag which can be reused to cut down waste,” Van Pelt said.
Many products contain materials that are hard to decompose, so this holiday season, to preserve the environment, consumers should buy and act wisely, to produce less waste.
