Helen Raine demonstrates how to have an eco-friendly Christmas without being a Scrooge. Her guidelines are based on how Jesus came into the world and what he would do if he chose this Christmas to return.

Jesus was born into a waste not, want not kind of a world. His arrival was not heralded with an ark’s worth of fluffy nylon animals, half a dozen overly packaged plastic toys and a bushel of shrink-wrapped, additive-laden, edible treats. Pre-fossil fuels, Mary was probably pretty economical with the candles, given her straightened circumstances, the lack of room at the inn and the fact that her newly born offspring was on a bed of hay. There were no appliances to leave on standby. And the Wise Men arrived by sustainable camel transport rather than a gas-guzzling 4x4.

So given his low carbon footprint, were the Son of God to choose this Christmas to make a return appearance, it’s not unreasonable to think he’d say: “What the heck have you done to the Earth?” And we’d all have to look a bit sheepish, because we’d know exactly what he meant and we’d all have been guilty of participating.

Pollution, urban sprawl, poor waste management, the extinction of species, the fact we destroy natural habitat to produce food that then gets thrown away by wasteful Westerners, while 12 per cent of the world is undernourished; well, it’s hard to imagine trying to justify all that to the Son of God.

And one can only imagine heavenly eyebrows being raised at the fact that our celebration of his birth at Christmas heralds a frenzy of consumer spending and a consequent massive increase in our rubbishoutput.

So this year, as you rush round the shops looking harried while desperately buying throwaway gifts which are already engulfed in plasticand cardboard, it’s time to hit the pause button and think: “What would Jesus do?”

It seems safe to assume that he would not eat until he thought he was going to burst and then throw the leftovers into the bin, bound for the stinking, polluting zone that is Magħtab. Nor would he delight in ripping off wrapping paper that used to be glorious, God-given trees and then shoving it into an already overflowing dustbin, before re-gifting the nasty jumper, produced in a Bangladeshi sweat shop, to his Uncle John next year.

As a people, we’re living beyond our means, consuming more than our planet can support. I doubt Jesus would be philosophically okay with that.

We destroy natural habitat to produce food that then gets thrown away by us wasteful Westerners while 12 per cent of the world is undernourished

However, don’t despair because He was not adverse to a party. He liked a cup of wine as much as the next man and that, in combination with the joy in his heart, is a winning Christmas formula. I’m sure he’d want us to celebrate – only with perhaps just a tiny bit more restraint. If every one of us made a small change this festive season to reduce our Christmas environmental footprint, overall we could make an impact big enough to impress a deity. And if we stopped shopping for a moment, we could focus on the bigger picture; friends, family, the well-being of others and the world we live in.

Going green for Christmas doesn’t mean ditching the fun.

So, for a Save the Planet kind of Noel, try one of these simple tactics. They take a modicum of effort and the odd sacrifice, but you can polish your halo afterwards.

☐ Wrap up the wrapping paper

It’s pretty, it’s shiny and the Christmas tree looks delightful with all those coordinating pressies under it. But we literally rip it off and put it in the bin; it’s hard to think of a more wasteful product. This year, try wrapping presents in newspaper and magazines or save your kids’ drawings and use those.

☐ Buy an ethical present

Celebrate the power of nature this year by buying from The Centre for Alternative Energy (www.cat.org.uk) catalogue. It’s full of fun, imaginative, solar-powered toys that kids can build themselves. For the young at heart, www.amazon.co.uk has a solar shed light or a Colour Changing Solar Filigree Table Light for the garden.

☐ Give a virtual present

Instead of a physical gift, offer up an IOU to babysit someone’s kids, cook them a weekend dinner, take them sailing, or plan a picnic on the beach. Or you could get crafty and make a candle, plant some seeds in a planter for them or print out a photograph you know they would love. Tickets to concerts or a match also generate no waste and lots of excitement.

☐ Make a donation

Think laterally and make a donation to a charity on a loved one’s behalf. Options include www.jrsmalta.org, which helps asylum seekers, who arrive in Malta; www.oxfamunwrapped.com, which works to develop communities sustainably in the Third World; or join www.birdlifemalta.org in its efforts to protect Malta’s natural environment andavifauna (members receive a magazine and access to fieldtrips).

☐ Encourage a hunter to lay down his arms

We all know about the protected species that are illegally shot to smithereens every year by hunters in Malta, who have no regard for the fact that they are pushing some species such as Pallid Harriers to the brink of extinction. On top of that, they shower the countryside with poisonous lead pellets.

Let’s make this Christmas a time when the vast majority of the population, who dislikes illegal hunting, challenges that family member or friend who thinks it fine to kill protected species. And sign the petition for a referendum to end spring hunting so that birds are no longer killed before they can breed.

☐ Eco ornament

With a bit of imagination, you can use recycled materials to make your own decorations. www.allfreechristmascrafts.com has some excellent ideas including a miniature Christmas tree made of wine corks, a wreath out of used coffee filters and button snowflakes. Strands of ivy, pine cones and fruit also make great decorations or you can swap ornaments with friends to ring the changes.

Keep all those Christmas cards and the wrapping paper you receive.The cards will do as present labels next year and you can recycle them into ornaments (www.marthastewart.com).

☐ Have a vegetarian Christmas dinner

Yes, turkey is traditional and a haunch of ham is also a Christmas fixture. But rearing meat uses considerably more resources than growing grains and vegetables, as well as produces more pollution, so consider having a meat-free Christmas. There are plenty of menus online or you can buy Rose Elliots’ book, Vegetarian Christmas. Failing that, buy a local rabbit from someone you know rears them humanely.

☐ Plan what to eat

If you rush around the supermarket on Christmas Eve flinging things into your trolley, with no idea of how to use what and when, then inevitably, the unwanted sprouts will end up rotting at the bottom of the fridge. Instead, buy Delicious magazine and follow its Christmas dinner planner to buy only the ingredients you need. The magazine also has lots of ideas for leftovers, so that no foodgets wasted.

As a people, we’re living beyond our means, consuming more than our planet can support. I doubt that Jesus is philosophically okay with that

☐ Get wasted

A woman in the US recently managed to reduce her annual waste to a single bag. Jen Metz achieved this by making decisions about what to buy, based on packaging; she took her own containers to the deli, bulk bought washing powder, recycled her dental floss and composted everything, using egg cartons to grow seeds from resulting soil. In her blog, www.trashfreeyear.wordpress.com, she says: “Once you figure it out it is not difficult.”

Since household waste is estimated to increase by up to 25 per cent over the festive season, it’s worth taking a leaf out of Metz’s book and considering how to reduce rubbish when you shop. Small changes like buying more from fruit and vegetable vans, using your own bags, or buying in bulk, can make a big difference to reducing packaging waste.