Worldwide, many people claim to follow a “sustainable lifestyle.” These people describe themselves as more vigilant about their actions and choices they make and how these choices may impact our environment. However, how sustainable can a person be?
Many people do not constantly follow a sustainable lifestyle; however, it is still possible to incorporate many sustainable practices into everyday life.
Sustainable practices can be used when choosing what products to buy during such a consumer-heavy holiday season. This can start with making informed decisions about what food will lead to less waste. According to ReFED, a national nonprofit dedicated to ending food waste, “Americans [have wasted] 312 million pounds of food this past Thanksgiving alone.”
Stoughton High School’s Environmental Club, led by president Samantha Weber and vice-president Chalee Pinnow, aims to educate SHS students about how they can improve their sustainability practices and the environment as a whole.
Holidays can have a large impact on the environment, according to Weber, who has some tips on what to avoid along with some sustainable practices anyone can live by.
“A lot of people during the holiday season prep too much food, and a lot of that [food] is going to go to waste whether you have leftovers or not. A lot of the leftovers will get wasted because they only last about a week,” Weber said.
Making simple changes in food proportions and how we choose to decorate our homes are huge steps toward a more sustainable lifestyle, but sustainable changes shouldn’t end here. They can also come in the form of gifts we buy for loved ones. Choosing products from stores with similar values to our own is an essential step in making this time of year easier on the environment.
Stoughton-born boutique Dune Gift and Home opened in November 2018 and has been on an initiative to sell sustainable goods to its customers ever since.
Cire Alexandria, Dune’s owner and store curator, says, “We source makers who have sustainable practices with their small batch and eco-friendly packaging that can be recycled or composted.”
Alexandria also keeps sustainability in mind when choosing what products to order and the lengths they are coming from.
“We do have some European makers, but we don’t order a ton because the carbon footprint for having something shipped from Europe is way larger than having something shipped from Minnesota,” Alexandria said, “We do also try to [source products in] the United States or Midwest when we can.”
Weber views carbon emissions similarly, acknowledging that increasing environmental emissions and choosing to shop at large chain businesses are anything but beneficial.
“I think shopping locally is the most important part [of practicing sustainability]. Handmade products [made locally] are produced in smaller quantities and amounts. Amazon and Walmart have big factories that produce a lot of products, which creates a lot of carbon emissions. Whereas if you shop local, you’re not going to have that,” Weber said.
Dune is just one local option for sustainable gift-giving. Stoughton has a myriad of businesses that are sustainable alternatives to large corporations. While buying products locally can be a better option than supporting large businesses, creating gifts from old materials is often an even better option for the environment.
SHS’s environmental club is working on plantable cards to give to senior citizens at Kettle Park Senior Living this holiday season, with members creating cards from old paper brought in by teachers and students.
“We’re doing plantable Christmas cards for the senior home. It’s a better way to give back to our community and also reuse things that we have already,” Weber said about the project.
When residents no longer want to display their holiday cards, instead of throwing them away, they can plant them in a pot with dirt and water, and the seeds in the paper will begin to bloom before this oncoming spring. Members of the group are hopeful that residents will enjoy this environmentally friendly gift and become more educated about the positive effects of sustainability.
Alexandria hopes all her customers will continue to support Dune not only for its original products but also for the store’s sustainability initiatives and simple product swaps.
“I think sometimes greenwashing and sustainable stuff can have a bad name, and it also can look a certain way that people don’t like…I’m just trying to educate that you can have a beautiful product in beautiful packaging, but it can be good for Mother Earth, too,” Alexandria said.