By Melissa Zietz, with Kaeri Zandate, Carol Gruba, Laura Gavins, and Heather Gates.

Are you dreaming of a greener holiday season? One where all of the toys are handmade from recycled materials found in your home, and your carbon footprint is actually a negative number? I am, too, but since I have an artificial tree from the 90s and more plastic toys than you can shake a stick at, I’m not exactly winning awards. Still, there’s always hope! Even if it doesn’t feel like Christmas unless your home’s external lighting display can be seen from outer space, there are still other ways to lessen your impact on the earth. Here are some great ways to green up your holidays, and choosing even one will make a difference. Most important, enjoy the season!

Buy Close By.

The holidays can be stressful, with much running around. Lower your blood pressure by keeping errands close by, and give yourself time to have more fun! In turn, you will reduce your carbon output, save money on gas and bolster our local economy. You can accomplish most, if not all, of your holiday shopping without leaving Cottage Grove and Monona. There are amazing gift items to be found at Plum Crazy Art Lounge Bar and Gifts (plus, you can rest your weary feet and relax with a beverage!). Spend quality time with a friend or family member while creating ceramic gifts at Fired Up Pottery. Gift certificates to local businesses are very green: Consider a membership to the YMCA or other area health clubs, the Aldo Leopold Nature Center or Olbrich Botanical Gardens. How about a class from Rutabaga Paddlesports or a spa treatment from the Ultimate Spa and Salon? Warm up the teachers on your list with gift cards to area coffee shops, like the Olde Towne Coffee House, Crema Café or Java Cat. Fraboni’s Italian Deli is bursting with yummy things to make a wonderful, gourmet Italian gift basket. The possibilities are endless!

Give green gifts.

A great way to spread the green is to buy long-lasting and energy-saving gifts, many of which can be found at your local Ace Hardware. Think about compact fluorescent bulbs, mesh or canvas shopping bags, a programmable thermostat, a hand-cranked flashlight, a window insulating kit, a push mower, or a home water filter along with some reusable water bottles. You can even help trim someone’s energy bill by giving a gift certificate to MG&E. Start your loved ones down the road to becoming more self-sufficient individuals or families by giving things such as an organic vegetable-seed-starting kit or window herb garden, a yogurt-maker, a retractable laundry line, a rain barrel, or a whole-house energy monitor. These items will help the recipients make fewer trips to the grocery store, eat healthier food, buy fewer packaged goods, and reduce water and energy consumption. Way to go green!

Unwrap your holidays and save a ton.

After you have purchased your fabulous green gifts, don’t forget to go sustainable with the wrapping! Americans throw away 25 percent more trash during the holiday season, adding almost five million extra tons of waste to our landfills each year! If every household wrapped just three presents in reusable materials, we would save enough paper to cover 15,000 football fields. AND if everyone would reuse just two feet of ribbon, we would save 38,000 miles of the shiny stuff-enough to tie a bow around the planet!

Consider wrapping gifts with used ribbons, yarn, or shoelaces; buying cloth ribbons to reuse year after year; topping a box with dried flowers; or drawing bows on your packages. Or use cotton dish cloths, napkins, or scarves not only as gift wrap, but as part of the present. Check out this website to see how to make your own fabric gift bags: www.craftandfabriclinks.com/ezgiftbags/easy_giftbag_pattern.html  They’re beautiful and can be reused for decades!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

After we were married, my husband and I bought an artificial tree, thinking that it was cruel to cut down a live tree each year. It was a nice thought, but we were wrong! Almost all artificial trees are made with PVC, an environmentally-bad, non-renewable plastic. Eighty-five percent of these trees are made in China, where labor standards don’t adequately protect workers from these dangerous chemicals. Plus, they are shipped halfway around the world to get to us. If you have an artificial tree, continue to use it so it doesn’t end up in a landfill. Ideally, we would have a Christmas tree that can be planted in the ground, is pesticide-free, and has been grown sustainably. A fresh tree, even a cut one, is better for the planet than an artificial one. For some added fun and extra green points, you may want to decorate an existing outdoor tree, an indoor house plant, or create your own artistic tree as a craft project instead of going with a cut or potted tree. As for me, I will be keeping our lovely, plastic tree forever, gingerly re-attaching its faded limbs with bubble gum and duct tape…

Smile, and send an e-greeting.

This year consider sending e-cards or making phone calls to your friends and loved ones instead of sending holiday cards. The 2.65 billion holiday cards sold each year in the United States would fill a football field ten stories high. If each of us sent just one fewer card, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper. Check out smilebox.com to make fun and creative electronic greetings with digital photos and music. If you feel you can’t do without paper cards, try for those made of recycled or cotton-blend paper. Check out Door Creek Pharmacy for their selection!

Think outside the box.

Finally, here are some gifts that require no box at all. With no size or color to worry about, they won’t be returned. And you won’t use up valuable resources by driving around to find them, either!

Select a local environmental or humanitarian non-profit – one you know your loved one supports – and make a donation in his or her name.

In impoverished areas of the world a little goes a long way. Groups such as Save the Children allow you to spend very little, yet give life-altering gifts of basic necessities, such as medicines, education, and fruit tree seedlings. With groups like Heifer International you can buy a goat, flock of chicks, or a cow for a struggling family in the name of your loved one.

If you or your family loves animals, consider donating food, toys, bedding, collars, or cash to the Dane County Humane Society.

Instead of giving gifts within your family, “adopt” a needy family and give them sustainable, necessary things, such as a basket of local food from a winter farmers’ market, or seeds and tools to start a new garden in the spring. Donate food or money to a local food pantry to help support area residents who are struggling during these tough economic times.

“Think Outside of the Box” with gifts that need no box at all. Celebrate with less impact on the planet and more warmth in your heart. From all of us at The Natural Step Monona, have a wonderful holiday season!

(To see The Natural Step Monona’s “Green Holiday” videos, click http://www.youtube.com/user/tnsmonona  for our YouTube page.)