As the holiday season approaches, everyone is buying gifts last minute with expedited shipping and at the most reasonable prices for their bank account. What everyone is not doing is thinking about how they can shop sustainable, instead of quick and easy. And with all good intentions, the thought process of being a sustainable person is not one that comes with ease and especially not as a college student.

In the midst of finals, getting tickets home, and just trying to not catch the flu, there is more than enough on everyone’s plate coming into winter break. But as the topic of climate change keeps being brought up and our waste keeps compiling, the holidays are just one time out of many during the year when the world is often more wasteful than we think.

One way this can be fixed or at least made a little bit more sustainable is with how the world shops.  

Sustainable shopping can be done at stores that either produce smaller batches of clothes, buying fabric that is natural or deadstock fabric or clothing made to be biodegradable or made out of other items like used water bottles.

Sustainable shopping can also mean buying in store instead of shipping everything in seperate boxes to your home. This will lead to less cardboard and less fuel used to transport your items.

No matter what though, the simple recognition of knowing that behind your gifts of clothes or other items there is energy and waste connected to them will help anyone establish a more conscious mind about their shopping.

Humans often either live in excess or have very little, there has yet to be a happy medium where we take the same amount out of the environment that can be replaced each year.

The holidays are often a time that involves gift giving, which can be stressful both to find the perfect gift as well as one that will not break your bank account. This can mean either buying in excess or buying at places that produce in bulk so the consumer pays less.

Another option, at least for clothes, sometimes accessories, or furniture and knick knacks is thrifting. Thrifting can be lower end, where one can shop for something original and very unique while not spending too much or at a store like Covet in Boston where they resell high end clothing that has been sold to them.

During the holiday season, there are endless options to do your shopping at or to order from, some much easier than others, but as the world keeps compiling trash and our old gifts we no longer fit into or adore anymore, it is on the current population to try at least in one way to bring forth a more sustainable life.

The gifts we give can be the small step into a more sustainable life or donating our old gifts to thrift stores and shelters can be it. Overall, being more conscious of the footprint we leave behind can lead to a world less littered with our remnants.