The Nature Conservancy Announces Green Gift Options and Tips for Sustainable Holiday Celebrations

Give the gift of a greener tomorrow this holiday season

Atlanta — December 6, 2008—With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season upon us, it’s easy to overlook the most meaningful gift you can give your friends, family and yourself—the promise of a greener tomorrow.

This year, The Nature Conservancy is encouraging Georgians to incorporate green thinking into their holiday traditions, from gift giving to decorating to preparing holiday meals.

“With some creative thinking, Georgians can stretch their holiday dollars this year while helping safeguard nature’s most precious gifts—clean air, fresh water, healthy forests and teeming oceans,” said Shelly Lakly, Ph.D., director of The Nature Conservancy in Georgia.

Gifts for a Greener Planet
For 2008, The Nature Conservancy is offering a variety of gift-giving options, from merchandise to memberships to worthwhile causes. Visit the Conservancy’s new holiday gift site at nature.org/giftguide to view the full range of gift-giving opportunities. Below are just a few:

Nature Conservancy Gift Membership: Give the gift of nature. Recipients will receive all of the Conservancy’s exclusive membership benefits, including a one-year subscription to its award-winning magazine.
Adopt-an-Acre Program: An Adopt-an-Acre gift directly contributes to efforts to protect and restore extraordinary—and threatened—places around the globe. Choose to adopt-an-acre close to home in the Southern Coastal Plain Forest or abroad with in the United States, Africa, Australia, Brazil or Costa Rica, among others.
Plant a Billion Trees Campaign: Donors can plant a tree for only $1 in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, one of the most critically threatened ecosystems on Earth.
The Nature Conservancy Marketplace: For those who prefer to give a gift they can wrap, visit the Conservancy's online marketplace—http://shop.nature.org. The site offers a number of unique items at a variety of prices, from high-style birdhouses to handmade Bolivian hammocks, as well as Nature Conservancy apparel for the whole family.
Carbon Offsets: Help reduce the impacts of climate change and restore critical wildlife habitat by giving a gift through the Conservancy’s voluntary carbon offset program. Also, use the Conservancy’s online Carbon Footprint Calculator to see how you can help reduce carbon emissions.

Go Native
Invasive species damage the lands and waters that native plants and animals need to survive. They hurt economies and threaten human well-being. The estimated damage from invasive species worldwide totals more than $1.4 trillion – five percent of the global economy.

This holiday season do your part in helping to control the spread of invasives in Georgia.

Deck the Halls Green: Those rustic wreaths of brown vines and red berries may be made with Oriental bittersweet, an invasive from Asia. Bittersweet spreads when wreaths are discarded outdoors or the berries are eaten by birds while the wreaths are hung outside. Stick with evergreen wreaths or ones you make from local plants.
Plant Your Tree: A potted or balled tree (be sure the roots are still attached) can be planted post-holiday, reducing your holiday carbon footprint. Or make a tradition of decorating one that grows in your backyard.
Recycle: Many cities offer tree-recycling programs, turning this holiday’s tree into next spring’s garden-boosting mulch.

Eat Green
Eating green doesn’t necessarily mean adding more broccoli and peas to your meals, but rather making conscious decisions about what foods you buy and how you prepare your holiday meals.

Think Global, Eat Local: Shop at a local farmers’ market for local produce and pay attention to the food you buy in the supermarket. If you can choose between onions from Peru or Texas, always choose the closer location because less fuel was used to transport it.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: Try not to purchase more than you need. If you have leftovers, reheat them. And keep in mind that table scraps from holiday meals are a perfect start for a compost bin.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have protected nearly 120 million acres worldwide, including more than 272,000 acres in Georgia.