Giving the gift of experience or a gift of necessity is not only more useful than giving a product gift, but both use fewer resources and thus, are eco-friendly.
Gifts of experience:

Tickets to a play, the ballet, a concert, or art show.
Season sports team tickets.
A trip to the zoo, beach, art museum, or national park for a child.
Movie tickets.
Enrollment in a class – places like Michaels and community colleges offer low-cost art, craft, and computer classes that people may enjoy.
iTunes gift certificate.
A gingerbread house making day.

Gifts of necessity:

Pay someone’s cell phone bill for two months.
Offer to change someone’s oil, breaks, …read more

Being that Buy Nothing Day is coming up fast, here are some ideas for gifts of time you can give this holiday season. These are all cost-nothing gifts, or gifts you can provide with what’s on hand already….
Teach a child something or just spend some time: Honestly, I can’t tell you one item my grandma gave me for a holiday. But I think about everything she taught me or did with me all the time. How to sew, cook, play cards, paint, and more. Plus her stories stick with me. These are the things kids remember when they’re older, not …read more

Earlier this week Keep America Beautiful released the 2007 results of their signature event, The Great American Cleanup (GAC) and it looks like the U.S. did a good job this year.
Background:
Keep America Beautiful is older than most people think; established in 1953 it’s the largest non-profit volunteer-based community action and education organization in the U.S. Their main goal is to organize and encourage volunteers to improve the communities they live in. GAC is the largest program on their line up of events.
2007 Statistics:

GAC events were highly successful this year. Data was tabulated from over 30,000 local events held in …read more