October 25, 2023

Notes by Saaya 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.