“A woman should wear fragrance wherever she expects to be kissed”-Coco Chanel
Laura Reynolds looks at some of the cheapest beauty products available
A few hours later, we successfully managed to get back home through the snow with decorations and a tree in tow. Unfortunately though, unlike our decision between red baubles and purple ones, not everything is quite so clear cut in the world of Christmas decoration.
The Christmas tree itself is the first thing up for debate: is it more eco-friendly to have a real tree, or an artificial one? You might think that getting an artificial tree saves real trees from being cut down, but what’s often ignored is that at the same time, artificial trees have a massive carbon footprint of their own. They’re commonly shipped from China, stacking up distinctly unfestive air-miles, and they’re usually made from PVC, making them non-biodegradable. So what about real ones? Well, as I’ve just mentioned, there’s the obvious fact that you’re cutting down a tree to put it up in your house. However, they’re farmed so that new ones are planted every year: the National Christmas Tree Association – yes, really, I’m not kidding – estimates that 40 to 45 million trees were planted in North America in 2008. In fact, it’s even possible to grow your own tree. It’ll take a few years to reach full height, but it means that you can replant it in the garden after Christmas, and reuse it next year, just like you would an artificial one. Natural trees - 1: fake trees - 0.
Christmas lights are another obvious issue – Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without the sparkling fairy lights all over ever possible surface, but the electricity they use up is spectacular. Each set of Christmas lights, left on for ten hours a day over the twelve days of Christmas, produces enough carbon dioxide to inflate twelve balloons. That’s assuming, of course, that you only have the lights on for ten hours. You could always opt just not to have any at all, but that’s a bit of a depressing thought for me, if no-one else. Don’t despair though if you are like me; there are eco-friendly options out there, like the solar-powered lights offered at Nigel's Eco Store.
Finally, there are various ways of decorating with hand-made crafts, which you can recycle afterwards. Two personal favourites of mine are paper chains made from coloured magazine pages, and chains of origami stars - both of which brighten up your tree and can go in your normal paper recycling bag on January 6th. You might even want to keep them for next year, if you’re particularly proud of yourself. I’m warning you now though; the stars are addictive once you get the hang of it.
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