We had a response on our christmas calculator (see below) that depicted a very low carbon festive period. So we reached out to find out if they also had a good time.
Ben is a colleague who works at Founders Factory as an Entrepreneur in Residence. Prior to this he was as a Product Manager. His wife Susie is a Director at a PR and Comms agency and they have two young daughters.
Ben tells me he grew up with ‘full fat Christmases’ - presents for a few feet under the tree, lights and food to the max.
But especially when it comes to presents, as time went on the pressure of getting something new and meaningful each year just made things stressful. Perhaps this is where Ben has beaten the consumerist trap - “there’s just not much I need anymore” he says.
So what about the rest of the family?
Ben’s wife feels the same way as him - that they have most of what they need and buying presents just entails a lot of effort for little incremental gain. So they instead donate to the other’s chosen charity.
If this feels like too much of a sacrifice, they also do the next best thing with the wider family - secret santa. One gift per person, with a maximum spend of £10 each. This was agreed upon last year.
[If you didn’t read the article about your choices around Christmas, it’s a good time to say that the price of the gifts not only means it hurts the wallet more, but it can also be a proxy for the toll it takes on the planet. So cheaper, home made gifts are better; but not in the form of cheaper materials like plastic!]
Their kids of course want more from santa and hence get a present each from both parents. But here too the adult Gelhiers look for locally sourced items which have a lower footprint. And in keeping with the eco-consciousness of the parents, the kids too don’t want too much and prefer ‘pretend play’.
Ben’s and Susie’s family live around London so they don’t have too far to go to spend time with them. Ben says they drive around 50 miles in total over the course of the festive period, and they have a not-so-eco-friendly SUV!
One year Ben’s sister who lives in Portland came over, but as an environmentally responsible citizens of the world, they all agree this should not happen very often.
The Geliher family’s Christmas meal is the usual - turkey with all the trimmings but they ensure there is no wastage. One year they tried Goose instead but the desire to have Turkey sandwiches was too strong and they couldn’t resist cooking up some Turkey!
The Geliher’s use a real tree each year. Charmingly all their decorations have either been collected by them or their friends on travels around the world. Instead of asking for a souvenir that doesn’t mean much, they think long term and now have a lovely tree for it!
A fun and well spent Christmas by their accounts, and yet the Geliher’s footprint is just 121kgs of CO2e. This is just 1.5% of the average UK residents annual footprint of 8000 kgs. If we are to assume this represents a large part of their carbon footprint over approx. 7 days of the festive period, their annual footprint is ~6500 kgs per year. Not bad for an otherwise carbon heavy period but we all need to be doing the same or better to keep our personal footprints at the same level to do our part.
Did something innovative and planet saving this festive period? Please do write in at or Tweet us.
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