“Another thing I don’t need”
During the holiday season, and all year round, try to avoid unnecessary stuff
When my youngest brother Cooper was a toddler, he said something while opening his Christmas stocking that always stuck with me. He tore off the wrapping paper, looked at whatever trinket Santa had left for him, sighed and said: “Another thing I don’t need.” My dad happened to catch it on film, and we bring it up frequently at family gatherings.
That quote has stuck with me ever since for a couple of reasons. Number one, it’s just hilarious to hear such on-the-nose insight coming from a toddler. But more importantly, even though in that moment Cooper probably meant that he just didn’t like his present, my brother perfectly summarized the excesses of gift-giving during the holiday season.
When I think back to all of the toys I received over the years, I cringe. That’s because I know that for the vast majority of them, I probably played with the thing a handful of times, and then it ultimately ended up in the garbage can. It can be said now that I certainly didn’t “need” any of those toys.
While the waste crisis is a problem all year round, it’s especially bad during the holiday season. According to one estimate, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, Americans throw away 25 million tons of extra garbage. Think about all the wrapping paper, all the packaging, and all the unwanted toys that end up being thrown away. It’s madness.
Now, I don’t want to ruin the magic of the holiday season for everyone. Admittedly, I have received some fantastic gifts over the years, from the card shuffler my middle brother Sam and I got as toddlers to the yearly installment of winter socks I get now. I’m not saying you should only get people gifts that they truly need — it’s important to indulge and, yes, kids like toys.
But as much as possible, if you’re buying a physical product, it’s better to choose gifts that you know will be used and that will last a long time. Even better, and this probably applies more to the adults in your life, you can get a gift card to a favorite restaurant or a ticket to a concert or some kind of activity. Personally, I enjoy getting those types of gifts more than an item I may or may not like. For more environmentally friendly gift-giving ideas, check out this guide from Environment Colorado’s own Adair Andre.
This year, for example, I got my parents a gift card to a fancy Portland, Maine seafood restaurant, and my brothers tickets to a Celtics game in Boston. Besides the paper used for the cards, no other waste resulted from buying the gifts. And I think my family members will have more fun using the gift cards than they would with any item I’d think to get them.
While the holiday season is an obvious example of our overconsumption, these same lessons are important to remember when purchasing any item throughout the year. It’s getting harder and harder to ignore the terrible impact that all the waste we produce has on our planet. Many of us have seen the vivid images of a straw being removed from a sea turtle’s nose, and dozens of pounds of plastic being removed from the stomachs of whales. As we look to the new year, let’s all try to do all we can to act accordingly by reducing our own personal waste.
But at the same time, let’s also focus our attention on the large-scale policy changes that will not only make an even bigger difference but also address the root causes of our plastic pollution and waste crisis. Whether it’s calling on our local, state and federal elected officials to ban various types of single-use plastics, fighting for increased producer responsibility when it comes to dealing with the waste they produce, or pushing companies like Apple to give us the necessary information to fix our own electronics, there’s a lot we can do.
Cooper has become somewhat of an “over-consumer” since his famous Christmas video more than a decade ago. He’s always requesting or buying the latest iPhone, iPad or various other electronic devices — you name it. But what toddler Cooper said then still rings true today. We’d all be better off if we avoided “things we don’t need.”
