With all the world’s eyes on COP26, it's the perfect time to shop more sustainably and raise climate change awareness among our own inner circle of family friends, and the approaching Holiday season provides the perfect opportunity to do so.  Recently, we came across Good Carbon Gifts, a well put together website from the creators of E8, a Seattle-based community whose mission is to accelerate the transition to a prosperous and cleaner world by investing in and fostering emerging cleantech enterprises. They have compiled several categories of items from carbon-zero and negative products, to other types of ‘green gifts’ that will help you ensure your holiday season is a low impact one. We combed through their site and have also added a few of our own favorites, read on to see our picks.

Topping our list for the readers in our lives would be Drawdown, The Book. Since its 2017 publication, this New York Times bestseller has become a seminal text on climate solutions, used by cities, universities, corporations, philanthropies, policymakers, communities, educators, activists and more. It offers insights on emissions sources and natural sinks, and describes solutions arranged by category. Readers are able to find specific ideas under each category, such as transportation or buildings. In addition to the comprehensive list of solutions, the book ranks them by their potential for cutting greenhouse gases, with cost estimates and short descriptions.

Love the kids in your life but hate the plastic toy options found in every toy aisle? Then we think  BiOBUDDI Toy Blocks are a great gift choice this holiday season!  Fun, safe, and educational, playing with these blocks develops creativity, logical thinking, and motor skills.  Available in large Learning to Build sets or themed sets such as Farm, City Life, and Dinosaurs, the blocks are made of sustainable “Green PE,” a byproduct of sugarcane plant production.  Like most oil-based plastic, these blocks are 100% recyclable.  Also, just like other building block toys out there, they are durable and meant to be passed down to others.

And for the creative kids and kids at heart, these Carbon Crayons  are not only attractive and inspiring, they are made with captured carbon.

For your fitness friendly loved-ones, they can enhance their yoga practice with a sustainable Yoga Mat from Carbon Upcycling Technologies that has CO2 embedded in the material itself. 

Since the holiday season revolves around many festivals of light, what better gift is there than these attractive and collapsible outdoor patio and camping LuminAid Multi-Colored Solar Lanterns? 

And if you want to toast the holidays or ring in the New Year with some sustainable wine, try out Hope Well Wines, a Pacific Northwest winery that’s redefining what it means to produce wine sustainably and ecologically.

And finally, our favorite gift might be this ingenious way to offset your holiday carbon use with Carbon Gift Cart which connects carbon credit buyers and sellers to provide an open carbon credit marketplace to offset their carbon and more.  You can find their gift card order form here.

Not seeing the perfect gift here? Head straight over to the Good Carbon Gifts site directly for more categories and gift ideas for a happy and more sustainable holiday season!