October 25, 2023

Notes by Om Shreejay

We started with a question: Why do we give gifts?

It feels good to give gifts and to receive them, especially during holidays when we look forward to gifts.

Question: Do we give gifts based on others’ needs? What are our needs?

Needs: Food, being safe, having good health, feeling loved, learning values/knowledge, etc.

Question: Is it bad to give gifts?

No, but It depends on what we are giving and with what intention we are giving. We tend to give material gifts vs. gifts based on others’ needs.

Question: So what is the problem with giving gifts?

·  Americans throw away 25% more trash every year from Thanksgiving to New Year (5 weeks) – this adds up to 25 MILLION tons of trash!

·  2.65 billion holiday cards are sold in the US every year – this corresponds to a football field 10 stories high!

·  8,000 tons of gift wrapping paper is used every year – this comes from 50,000 trees during the holiday season!

·  When we return gifts that we don’t like, stores are not equipped to hold this inventory, so they must throw it away. This adds up to 5.8 billion pounds that goes to landfill/waste.

We gift too often, and too much, and we gift for the sake of gifting because we consume too much. Consumerism is buying more and more because we think it will make us happier, but it doesn’t. Materials only make you happy for a certain amount of time. It only gives us temporary happiness.

We watched a video on consumerism, which shared more data –

·  The average American kid watches 250 hours of commercials a year.

·  Kids between 8-12 years spend $11 billion a year and parents spend an additional $165 billion for children.

·  Americans are 5% of the population and consume 33% of the world’s resources.

·  A lot of what is consumed comes from other countries, where the workers are children.

·  Workers in clothing factories earn less than $1 per hour and work long hours (10 hours a day, 6 days a week)

·  Consumerism results in waste from production, packaging, and transportation.

Questions: What can we do to make a difference?

·  If we consume less, we can use fewer resources and reduce waste.

·  3Rs: We can reduce, reuse, and recycle. 

·  Swap with friends, donate to charity, buy less stuff

·  Before you buy something, ask yourself – do I really need this? Will this last? Is it cheap? Can I recycle it when I am done with it?

It is important that we show our love and appreciation for others we care about, but it is about how we are going to show that we care and appreciate others.

We took a quiz on ideas for gifts that are environmentally sustainable.

·  Food – homemade is better

·  Stuff – buy used books and recycle

·  Gift cards – better to avoid returns. Think about other’s needs.

·  Experiences – spend time with loved ones, do things together  

Activity:

Make a list of ideas to give a good gift.

RAW:

Use an idea from today’s class as a gift for someone this holiday season. 

============================================

Notes by Sahil Bhakta

Things to do during the Holiday Season:

The practice of giving and sharing is very important, but we can be smart about how we do this by: 

• Sharing what we have with others
• Recognizing what other person needs. 

Needs Vs Wants

Some things you need:

• Food
• Safety
• Good health
• Love
• Knowledge

When things are being made because sometimes we want these things, it harms our natural environment and then giving gifts becomes a problem. 

What is the exact problem?

Pollution and Waste. 

Facts: Americans throw away 25% more trash between Thanksgiving/New Year’s. 

• It covers 10 stories of a football field. 
• We use 8,000 tons of wrapping paper which destroys 50,000 trees

When people return things after the holidays because they don’t like them or want them, the store most of the time throws them away which collects 5.8 billion pounds of trash

What did we learn?

Consumerism is when I buy things because I think it will make me happy. But, buying things you want only makes you happy temporarily

So what can we do?

• Reduce things we buy
• Reuse what we have
• Recycle when not needed. 

Best gifts to give: 

• Food
• Used Books
• Homemade things
• Spending time with our family and friends

Raw for the week: Use an idea from today’s class as a gift for someone this holiday season.