Season's Greenings

12 ways to enjoy a lower-impact holiday.

Send a message. Send e-greetings (or cards made from recycled paper) rather than standard cards, and you're also telling the recipients about your choice to live green.

Eat locally. When it comes to food, Thanksgiving and the winter holidays are tailored to New England's bounty. Avoid pollution associated with shipping foods from far away by buying Massachusetts-grown produce, meats, shellfish, and even wines.

Keep it real. Use real dishes, glassware, and silverware instead of disposables.

Glow light. Replace your old incandescent Christmas lights with LED string lights. Light emitting diodes use 90 percent less electricity than standard bulbs.

Curb your chimney. A roaring fire sets a cozy holiday scene, but it can also allow warm air to escape from your home. A chimney-top damper or high-efficiency fireplace insert will cut down on heat loss, explains Charlie Allen, owner of Charlie Allen Restorations in Cambridge. Wood-burning or pellet stoves are more efficient options. And, in case you were wondering, burning wood releases the same amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as wood rotting naturally would, though burning creates more particulate matter. The Java-Log, which is made from coffee grounds and sold in grocery stores, burns cleaner than wood.

Trim your tree's impact. Sure, fake trees are reusable, but they're also typically made from petroleum-based products; if you buy one, make it last. If you want a real tree, choose a live one you can plant later, or make sure a cut tree gets properly recycled - mulched, not tossed whole into a landfill. Most municipalities pick up and recycle trees left curbside after the holidays; log on to your town or city's website for specifics.

Give an ever-green gift. The Grow Boston Greener program (accessible from cityofboston.gov/growbostongreener), which aims to plant 100,000 trees in Boston by 2020, is offering tree sponsorships. Make a gift of a tree to be planted in the city.

Shop smart. Consolidate trips and orders, whether you're driving to the mall or buying gifts online. Carpool with a friend, and you'll have company in the season's heavy shopping traffic.

Present yourself. Decrease your spending - and your stress - by making a date for a special get-together instead of giving a gift. If you want to exchange something, give movie passes or tickets to the symphony - generous gifts that create little waste.

Say no to receipts. Don't need a receipt? Then ask the clerk not to print one when you're shopping. Same goes for the ATM. According to Westwood-based Thomas Kostigien, author of The Green Book, if everyone in the United States refused ATM receipts for a year, the amount of paper saved would make a roll long enough to wrap around the earth's equator 15 times.

Mail small. When shipping gifts, remember that smaller, lighter packages have less ecoimpact.

Skip the wrap. A simple bow can look very elegant. Or reuse a gift bag.