Every month, Alice Audouin, art & sustainability curator and expert, founder of Art of Change 21 and Impact Art News, explores a new theme and selects the cream of the crop within the art, fashion, and design worlds.
Climate friendly gifts & works of art – the fifth installment of our new series by the wonderful Alice.
Here we are yet again. That time of year has descended upon us and your shopping baskets abound with knickknacks, doodads, and thingamajigs galore.
Unfortunately for the planet, lots of those holiday gifts will end up discarded, forgotten, or worse…in a landfill. So, to stop you from throwing your money down the drain, we’ve assembled this list of the best eco conscious gifts for this holiday season!
1. Volunteer for Wildlife
One of the most precious gifts you can offer: the gift of giving back. Volunteering is a great way to invite the holiday spirit into your own life, so why not share that joy with another species? There are thousands of organizations working hard to protect wildlife, biodiversity, and the futures of species across the planet and volunteering with these organizations is a fantastic first step towards addressing the threats posed by human activity to the natural world. Whether you take care of orphaned elephants, rehabilitate a wounded wombat, or rehome a rescued rhino, there are endless opportunities for you to give back to nature this holiday season. Here’s a few examples to get you started.
Coral Gardener — Revolutionizing ocean conservation and creating a global movement to save the world’s coral reefs. Volunteer on the island of Mo’orea in French polynesia where you can help them tend to coral nurseries, replant coral, and take on the role of a coral gardener. (P.S. Coral are technically animals)
Cheetah Outreach — South African educational and conservation based facility that offers low cost volunteer opportunities for a minimum of six weeks. If you’re looking for a longer term volunteer position and love to work with animals, their program is a perfect opportunity for you.
The Orangutan Project — Promoting the survival of the Sumatran and Bornean orangutan species in their natural habitat by undertaking effective orangutan conservation. You can support their mission by volunteering with a number of organisations in Borneo Indonesia from a couple days, to over a couple weeks!
Best Friends Animal Society — Looking for a budget friendly volunteering opportunity in the US? Then volunteer locally to rescue and shelter homeless dogs, cats, and other pets in your local community. This group operates the nation’s largest sanctuary for homeless animals and provides adoption, spay/neuter, and educational programs.
Price: Varies
2. Get the Passport that Never Declines
The Antarctica World Passport is a singular work of art and testament to global climate solidarity conceived by artist duo Lucy+Jorge Orta. This passport, belonging to the only continent not under the control of any nation-state, allows everyone to become a truly global citizen, committing themselves to the ideals of common good, borderlessness, sustainable development, fighting climate change, and the values of peace & equality. First created in 2012, the World Passport network has already amassed over 46,000 engaged world citizens. You too can purchase one of these passports for yourself or a loved one from their Etsy site or get yourself a free digital copy from their website Antarctica World Passport.
Price: €9-11 (Physical | Digital)
3. Discover the value of Nature with the Lorax
A timeless and iconic children’s book, The Lorax will make the perfect environmental gift for any of you readers out there with young children or relatives (activists in training as we call them). Printed on recycled paper, this cautionary fable recounts the tale of the ‘Once-ler’ & the eponymous ‘speaker for the trees’, the Lorax. Teaching children about the value of nature and the importance of speaking up for our planet, this book will make the perfect holiday surprise for any child—or child at heart—who is interested in recycling, advocacy, and the environment.
Price: $16.99 (Penguin Random House Recycled Paper Hardcover Edition)
4. Save the Planet One Period at a Time
Thinking of picking up a cute pair of holiday socks for someone? Boooring. Instead, buy someone a gift that they’ll actually love and use every single month: period underwear! Period underwear really are just the gift that keeps on giving. In the long run, they’re cost-effective and a reusable alternative to tampons and pads. You can save someone hundreds of dollars in expensive single-use sanitary products over the course of the gift’s lifetime, while simultaneously reducing the creation of unnecessary sanitary waste. Here is a great list of recommendations from New York Magazine.
Price: Varies (The Period Company )
5. A Goat is a perfect way to say “I Love You” this season
Looking for a gift with an impact? Well look no further! The global charity fighting to end poverty and injustice, Oxfam International has just the program for you. Oxfam Unwrapped is the charity’s division of gifts that help support the organization’s numerous funds and initiatives like their Saving Lives, Water for All, or Investing in the Future Funds. Purchasing one of their Animal Gift cards such as the Goat, Cow or Honeybees supports their Supporting Livelihoods Fund which enables Oxfam to work with impoverished communities to improve their livelihoods and make their vision for their futures a reality. Get your card now to put a smile on a loved one’s face while you empower global communities and help lift them out of poverty.
Price: Varies
6. Donate to Nonprofits
The gift of giving. Truly among the most vital and impactful gifts you can give this holiday season. There are thousands of charitable organizations and nonprofits around the world who are putting in the work to reduce inequality, protect the environment, and improve the lives of millions. Whether you are able to give $1 or $1 Million, every gift helps in the fight against climate change.
- Art of Change 21* — At the forefront of the connection between contemporary art and major environmental issues, Art of Change is working to build a sustainable future driven by the imagination and inspiration of art and artists.
- Fashion Revolution — Campaigning passionately for over ten years for a clean, safe, fair, transparent and accountable fashion industry that conserves and restores the environment and values people over growth and profit
- Union of Concerned Scientists — This organization puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.
* Alice Audouin is the founder and director of Art of Change 21.
7. Gift a Parcel from a Community Garden
A parcel within your local community garden will make a great gift for anyone looking to reduce their personal carbon footprint, grow/sell their own locally sourced foods, or even just garden as a hobby. Community gardens are an amazing way to connect with and strengthen your community, give back to nature, and beautify your neighborhood. These small plots of land can typically be purchased for a small fee from your local government, educational institutions, or community group. There may also be federal and state grants allocated to support your local community garden, so make sure to look into the many potential avenues of funding to get involved with your local organization. Here’s a few major cities with local community gardens to help you get started.
Boston | New York | London | Paris | Tokyo | Mexico City
Price: Varies
8. Support Reforestation with NFTs
Irish artist John Gerrard’s performance work Crystalline Work is a fascinating and novel application of virtual art and the blockchain NFT system. In this work, a prismatic virtual robot in the barren Arctic North Pole modulates an ice generation algorithm to create unique crystalline ‘archetypes’. This process creates 24 unique archetypes per day, 168 per week, and 8,760 in the year. Once an archetype is complete, a digital NFT is dropped into the Feral File online gallery and made available for collection. 25% of all revenue is donated to the Hometree charity which aims to reestablish and conserve permanent native woodland in Ireland. The project is based on the Ethereum blockchain which, at the time of publication, has estimated to to reduce its power consumption (which once rivaled the levels of entire nations) by over 99%. This eco-conscious artwork will make the perfect gift for anyone interested in cutting edge forms of contemporary art & forest ecosystem restoration.
Price: $100 | 0.026 ETH
9. Larfeuille Paris Handbag
For our more fashion-oriented readers out there, if you’re looking for a chic little accessory to give to someone special this holiday season, then might we direct your attention to the beautiful, sustainable, hand-crafted leather bags from Larfeuille Paris. By sourcing locally and only using French leather derived from leftover cattle byproducts, they ensure their raw materials travel only the necessary distance to be tanned and stored at their supplier’s facility, just one km from the workshop. Certified with the “Made in Paris” label and fashioned to have as minimal environmental impact as possible, these artisan leather bags will make a perfect addition to anyone’s wardrobe. And just for our incredible readers, we have a special surprise!
Get 10% off of your purchase with our exclusive code WARMINGLAND.
Price: From €149
10. Art Gallery Shopping
This year, skip the ordinary and surprise your loved ones with a truly meaningful gift: a work of art by an This year, skip the ordinary and surprise your loved ones with the gift of a lifetime!This holiday season, go peruse an art gallery; what better moment to explore galleries brimming with pieces that bridge architecture and ecology, perfect for those who love art with a vision.
In Paris, step into the Galerie Maubert to find Sara Favriau’s poetic sculptures that make for thoughtful gifts that celebrate harmony with the environment, or visit mor charpentier to discover Malo Chapuy’s unique blend of mediaeval illuminated manuscripts and environmental concern. Or in Mexico City, head to Kurimanzutto for works by Minerva Cuevas, Dittrich & Schlechtriem for pieces by Julian Charrière or Haley Melin, or the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in NYC & LA showcasing Olafur Eliasson’s climate-inspired installations, with additional treasures in their catalog by Tomás Saraceno and Ernesto Neto, whose creations blend aesthetics with ecological innovation. And even if you don’t end up buying anything, you’ll still enjoy these stunning displays for absolutely free.
Price: From €1,100
Selection & Text by Alice Audouin
