Stewardship Tip 5th, Dec 2008 – Reduced Paper Holiday
Rather than giving elaborately wrapped, overly packaged gifts this year, consider low-impact alternatives. Here are three tips to help you reduce your paper output during the holiday season.
Give useful gifts that have no packaging and no wrapping: We recently purchased some nice, stainless-steel water bottles to give as gifts. They had no packaging; we will hand them out as is! You can find many items on an angler’s list that are useful and have little or no packaging: polarized sunglasses, bulk fish hooks, and jackets are but a few examples. The usefulness of the gift will far outweigh the fact that it isn’t wrapped and packed!
Give gifts that require very little wrapping: Give tickets to movies. Give tickets to the Outdoor and Boat Shows. Give gift certificates. Such small items require little or no wrapping paper.
Give the ultimate gift certificate: Give the gift of your time. As the years pass, we don’t remember the store-bought treasures. We do remember fishing trips with a son, daughter, father, or mother. Give a “gift certificate” that entitles the bearer to a fishing trip with you to a new stream or body of water. You might have an extra seat on your boat or have a spare kayak sitting around to use for just such a purpose (you could even used the Recycled Fish Gear Program to outfit your day on the water). Do it up like a guide! Rig your guest’s lures or flies, spot fish for him or her and point out where to cast, serve lunch. The possibilities are endless. You’ll save some paper and packaging. You’ll probably have a grand time. Your guest will too!
Why it is important to the fish: While generosity is not, usually, misguided, our paper, sometimes, is. According to the EPA, more household waste is produced between Thanksgiving and New Year’s than any other time of the year – as much as six million additional tons. The pretty paper is forgotten as soon as it was torn from the package and, unfortunately, much of it ends up in our land fills. In addition, the production of cards, packaging, cardboard, and wrapping paper taxes our forests. When little thought is given to harvesting trees for pulp, the exposed land erodes into our waterways. Moreover, the effluents from paper manufacturing introduce toxins into our streams such as chlorine and chlorine-based materials.
When we reduce our paper waste, we increase the chances of preserving and sustaining our forests. Preservation and sustainment reduces erosion and pollution, increasing the health of the microorganisms, insects, and, ultimately, the fish in our streams, rivers, and lakes.
This week’s sponsor-partner:Redwood Creek
Redwood Creek 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon won the Gold Medal at the 2007 Critics Challenge International Wine Competition. Satisfy your taste for adventure with Redwood Creek wines and let the flavor carry you away!
In addition to producing award winning wines, Redwood Creek sponsors
the Greater Outdoors Project to help preserve, protect, and provide access to the great American outdoors.
We salute and thank Redwood Creek for making this week’s “Stewardship Tip” possible.
Rising demand for our weekly Stewardship Tip and a new partnership with Fly Cast America now makes the Stewardship Tip available in Spanish. Ahora, reciba el Stewardship Tip en español. Gentileza de Fly Cast America.
To read the weekly Stewardship Tip in Spanish, click here Simplemente haga click aquí si desea recibir el Stewardship tip en Español.
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