Posted by Graham Simmonds, MD and Founder of Green Rewards

I have just come from an excellent WRAP conference at which Jonathon Porritt challenged us all to accept that less consumption is the only way forward faced with the Earth’s finite resources.  This reminded me of Charles Handy’s lecture at the RSA some 20 years ago when he compellingly urged us to recognise when enough is enough. In the 20 years since Mr Handy’s lecture clearly mankind hasn’t learnt to recognise when enough is enough, however I sense that our increased awareness of finite resources combined with the harsh lessons of financial debt we are all having to adjust to in the current economic crisis could just usher in a new era of sensible frugality. 

So how should we approach Christmas in the light of Jonathon Porritt’s challenge to accept that less consumption is inevitable?  Much as WRAP, with its current focus on re-use, would no doubt like to see me giving my youngest daughter’s dresses she’s grown out of to her younger cousin, I don’t think that will go down too well with my brother and his wife – she can have the dresses anyway, but not as a Christmas present!

For me the answer this Christmas lies in charity Christmas presents. We’ve got some great ‘good gifts’ in our green shop from giving someone a school orchard in Peru where the children learn how to plant and care for the native huarango trees through the charity I chair, Trees for Cities, to adopting a free-ranging reindeer in the Scottish Cairngorms through the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre. The current harsh economic climate means that all charities are facing difficult times and giving a charity gift provides them with some useful income as well as giving me and my relatives a feel-good glow on Christmas Day. And there’s no harmful impact of consumption so the environment wins too!

Another way to give to charity this Christmas is to donate your Green Points. We’ve now got two ways you can do this through Green Rewards; if you go to our London Green Points – Bexley page you’ll see three excellent local charity projects that you can donate points to.  Or alternatively through our Group Accounts scheme for charities and schools, you can now automatically set your points account to donate points to your chosen charity or school every time you buy something in our green shop.  Please click here for further information on this and the charities and schools already signed up with Group Accounts.