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Green Holidays: Chatting with David Suzuki’s Queen of Green

Green Holidays: Chatting with David Suzuki’s Queen of Green

Here in Vancouver, we’re working hard to make our city green, even during the holiday season. That’s why it feels natural to so many of us to take steps to make Christmas just a little bit easier on the earth. Who better to give us some tips for reducing the environmental impact of our celebrations than David Suzuki’s Queen of Green, Tovah Paglaro? A Vancouver mom of three young children, she knows how make the holidays festive, fun, and light on the planet. We were thrilled to have the chance to connect with her for a chat about green holidays.

We Are All Queens of Green

green holidays david suzuki queen of greenTovah is quick to point out that we can all make greener choices in our own lives. “I like to say that we can all be Queens of Green in our own right. Everybody can be the Queen of Green in their own house and in their own community. It’s a great way to live your life – it’s a really healthy, wholesome way, and it feels really good.” Whether you’re working to create green holidays for your family, picking up trash, composting or reusing things you already own, you deserve a crown.

Tovah believes that the way we celebrate the holiday season has changed over the years. She shares a story about her second-grade son, who was doing a school project that involved asking his parents and grandparents what Christmas was like when they were children. His great grandmother told him that it was a special time for her. “They talked about the incredible special occurrence of using icing on cookies, because it was such an expensive and rare treat at that time. And she talked about the community coming together.” His grandfather was a minister’s son. “He talked about it being a time to help the homeless, a time to sing in the choir at the church, a time to come together as a community to share in food and fun and festivity, and to support one another and to celebrate.”

From Community to Commercialism

When Tovah’s son talked to his father, however, he got a different picture. “His dad talked about all of the toys, and the big plastic items, and about parents feeling a lot of pressure, and sometimes some sadness, about not being able to afford all of these gifts.” Tovah herself found this very eye-opening. “It was really enlightening for me to see how Christmas has changed, and how quickly it’s changed.” All of the consumption that comes hand-in-hand with the holiday season today isn’t good for the planet. So how can create green holidays?

Tovah takes a balanced approach at Christmas time, in order both to preserve the magic for her kids and keep things eco-friendly. She’s done the math for her large extended family, so that her kids aren’t getting way too many gifts under the tree. But that doesn’t mean the holidays are restrained. “Santa gets a green card in our house. This year my seven-year-old has asked for something that comes in a box and is made of bright coloured plastic, and Santa is going to deliver. But other than that, we won’t be purchasing anything that comes in a box and is made of plastic.”

Experiences Rather Than Stuff for Green Holidays

green holidays david suzuki queen of greenIn order to cut down on consumption, Tovah gives her kids experiences rather than things. “We have chosen this year to give the children tickets to Cirque du Soleil, and we are giving the grandparents tickets to Cirque du Soleil. The grandparents are taking the grandchildren to Cirque du Soleil. Everybody’s getting that experience. I know that the magic is going to jump into their eyes because they really wanted to go to Cirque du Soleil and they weren’t going to go any other way, because it’s crazy expensive.”

Tovah knows that it’s important for kids to feel like they fit in. She doesn’t want her efforts towards creating green holidays and a green life to leave them feeling ostracized. “It’s really important to me that our children don’t feel like they’ve given anything up. They feel like they’ve got a really full life, and I feel like we’ve got a really full life. It’s fun to live this way and we feel really good about ourselves, and I don’t want to flip that around and have our children start to think that maybe other people have it better.” Balance is key in all things.

Setting Green Resolutions

With the New Year rapidly approaching, many of us are starting to think about resolutions. This is a great time to think about how you can reduce your environmental footprint in the year ahead. When it comes to making one change, Tovah recommends meal plans. “My personal passion right now is food waste. Who doesn’t love food? Especially after Christmas and during Christmas, we’re all thinking about food. Canadians produce about 27 million dollars in food waste annually, and half of that is household waste. That means our individual actions can actually reduce that number in a really, really substantial way.”

See Also

“The biggest thing to do in terms of reducing food waste is planning. It’s making a meal plan every week, and then buying the things that you need for that meal plan. Then in that meal plan you’re making plans for how to use leftovers, so you’re reducing food waste. And everyone will love that, because you’ll save a ton of money as well.” Saving money and saving the planet? That idea sounds like a winner, whether for green holidays or anytime.

Resources for Green Holidays

If you’d like more tips for green holidays and a healthier world, stop by queenofgreen.ca. You’ll find lots of resources and ideas to get you moving. And be sure to check Tovah’s FAQs for green holidays, to find out more about how your celebration impacts the planet. And to stay in the loop, check out David Suzuki’s Queen of Green on Facebook. You can also find some great ideas for how to create memories, rather than garbage, on Metro Vancouver’s Christmas page.

What steps do you take for green holidays and a green life? Leave us a reply and share your tips.

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