December's Sustainable Living Tip: Gift Ideas

Still looking for the perfect gift? Sustain your relationships, your community, and your planet with these ideas for the holidays or any occasion.

1. Help make the world a better place by making a gift of a charitable donation. Changing The Present is one organization that makes it easy to find the perfect charity and personalize your gift with a greeting card. You can even create a wishlist or a gift registry to help your friends and family give you the perfect gift in return.
2. Share your love of our country by giving a National Park annual pass. This $80 pass is the ticket to more than 2,000 federal recreation sites: national parks, wildlife refuges, forests, and grasslands. Maine State park passes are also available online.
3. Support your local businesses with a gift certificate to your local downtown merchants. For example, the city of Bath, Maine, offers the "Gift of Bath Certificates" accepted at over 70 local restaurants, shops & entertainment venues. If your downtown doesn't offer a similar option, put them in touch with Main Street Bath to learn how to make it happen in your community.
4. Help bring an end to world hunger with a gift from Heifer international. A child or family will receive training and an animal to help them become self-reliant, and your loved one will receive a personalized card in honor of your gift.
5. Adopt a sea creature through Oceana.org. Your donation will support marine conservation, and you can choose to send a plush animal toy or cookie cutter that represents your favorite creature.
6. Support your local farmers with a farmers market gift certificate. For a list of winter farmers markets in Maine, see this article from last year's MOFGA newsletter or search LocalHarvest.org for farms and markets in your area.
7. Give a free lunch (or dinner). Buy the ingredients for a healthy, organic meal, and give them along with directions to your loved one. For some ideas of good meals to give, check out the Make-Ahead Meals blog.
8. For close friends or family, offer to give a cooking class. This might be the year to share the secret recipe from your Aunt Marge. Or maybe it's time to try some new recipes on your own and share what works best. For some ideas, visit the world's largest collection of vegetarian recipes.
9. Ever commiserated about the time it takes to clean house? That's a perfect excuse to give a green house cleaning without casting aspersions. Who wouldn't appreciate a "One Time Deep Clean" from a company like Green Clean Maine?
10. Give a guided walking tour to a place you love. Whether you call it a date or a micro-vacation, your gift will be memorable and unique.
11. Spend some time to consider an important person in your life and write a poem just for them. To help get you started, read these tidbits of advice on writing poetry from poet Charles Simic.
12. Share the Earth's bounty by sharing seeds. When you include stories from your own experience gardening, or even a small sample of preserves, you make your gift extra meaningful.
13. Give an empty mailbox with the gift of less junk mail from 41pounds.org.

Environmental Organizations

Here are more gift ideas for you. How about a gift membership to one of the following environmental organizations?

• The Appalachian Mountain Club works to promote the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the mountains, forests, waters, and trails of the Appalachian region.
• The Bicycle Coalition of Maine works to make Maine a better place to bicycle. By joining, you can help improve bicycle safety, create more bicycle-friendly communities, and advocate for better laws affecting bicyclists.
• The Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust works to conserve the remarkable diversity of the natural heritage of Brunswick, Topsham and Bowdoin. The Land Trust has conserved hundreds of acres of critical open space through easements, gifts, and purchase.
• The Cathance River Education Alliance works to use the natural resources of the Cathance River Preserve to promote ecological awareness and nature-based learning among students, educators, and the public.
• Chewonki works to help people grow by providing educational experiences that foster an understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of the natural world and that emphasize the power of focused, collective effort.
• The Environmental Health Strategy Center works to promote human health and safer chemicals in a sustainable economy.
• The Friends of Casco Bay work to improve and protect the environmental health of Casco Bay. By joining, you help monitor water quality, organizate coastal cleanups, and collaborate with partners to protect the Bay from pollution.
• The Friends of Merrymeeting Bay work to preserve, protect, and improve the unique ecosystems of Merrymeeting Bay through advocacy, education, conservation and research.
• The Island Institute works to support the island and coastal communities of the Gulf of Maine: recognizing that everything in the region – human and environmental – is connected.
• The Maine Appalachian Trail Club works to manage, maintain and protect of the Appalachian Trail in Maine. It is responsible for all Trail structure design, construction, and maintenance; for monitoring activities in the AT corridor; and for basic public information and education regarding the Trail in Maine.
• Maine Audubon works to conserve Maine’s wildlife and wildlife habitat by engaging people of all ages in education, conservation and action. Maine Audubon connects people with nature.
• The Maine Coast Heritage Trust works to conserve and steward Maine’s coastal lands and islands for their renowned scenic beauty, outdoor recreational opportunities, ecological diversity and working landscapes.
• Maine Conservation Voters works to ensure that the protection of our water, air, forests, wildlife, landscapes and natural heritage is a political priority in Maine.
• The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association works to help farmers and gardeners: grow organic food, fiber and other crops; protect the environment; recycle natural resources; increase local food production; support rural communities; and illuminate for consumers the connection between healthful food and environmentally sound farming practices.
• Maine Rivers works to protect, restore and enhance the ecological health of Maine's river systems.
• The Maine Solar Energy Association works to promote public awareness and use of solar energy and other renewable and nonpolluting energy sources, energy conservation, and green building practices.
• The Natural Resources Council of Maine works to improve the quality of Maine's rivers; to reduce toxic chemicals threatening the health of Maine families and wildlife; to decrease air and global warming pollution, and to conserve Maine lands.
• The Nature Conservancy works to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Nature Conservancy protects more than 119 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers worldwide -- and operates more than 100 marine conservation projects globally.
• Physicians for Social Responsibility work to build a healthy environment and promote sensible security policies.
• The Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club works to protect Maine’s wilderness heritage, fight global warming & promote smart growth, safeguard Maine’s clean water and coastline, promote clean air and energy efficiency, hold public officials accountable, and support pro-environment candidates for public office.
• Wolfe's Neck Farm works to continue and improve Wolfe's Neck Farm's long tradition of sustainable agriculture, recreation and education while preserving its open space.
• The Center for Biological Diversity works to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. They do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
• The Conservation Law Foundation works to protect all parts of New England’s environment, using the law, science, and the market to develop innovative, pragmatic solutions.
• Greenpeace International works to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.
• LightHawk works to provide donated flights to conservation groups as a tool to accelerate conservation efforts.
• The Natural Resources Defense Council works to use law, science and the support of 1.3 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things.
• The Ocean Conservancy works to create concrete solutions that lead to lasting change -- so we can all experience a healthy ocean for generations to come.
• The Toxics Action Center works to clean up hazardous waste sites, reduce industrial pollution, curb pesticide use, ensure healthy land use, replace dangerous chemicals with safer alternatives, and oppose dangerous waste, energy, and industrial facilities.
• The Union of Concerned Scientists works to combine independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.
• The Wilderness Society works to protect our nation’s public lands, the 635 million acres collectively owned by the American people and managed by our government.
• The Worldwatch Institute works to deliver the insights and ideas that empower decision makers to create an environmentally sustainable society that meets human needs.