by Caroline Levine

A curated gift guide for fair-trade, environmentally conscious, and socially driven products to vote with your dollars and give with intention. 

Why not shop for items that are mutually beneficial for people and the planet? Holidays should not be defined by mindless material accumulation, but rather by thoughtful giving that has a layer of meaning and positive social and ecological impact. Buying gifts can feel like an obligation, leaving people stuck with things they don’t want or need. This all puts further pressure on the climate and landfill crisis and its undeniable intersection with human rights issues and social inequity. By shopping small, mission-driven companies, you can shop with purpose so the things we consume don’t consume us! Don’t literally let this giving season be a wasted opportunity for good.

Socks that Save LGBTQ Lives 

The quintessential holiday gift with an added social dimension. Socks are typically nondescript, yet these socks are not only highly universal and functional—they are healing. Conscious Step is an environmentally and socially driven sock company, and each pair supports one of their partner organizations and the communities they serve. Conscious Step is also a 1% for the Planet member business, meaning that they give at least 1% of their sales to environmental nonprofits. These high quality, fairtrade certified socks boast both supreme comfort and purpose, making them the perfect gift for virtually everyone.

Show some TLC to people, the planet, and your feet! Each pair of these socks supports The Trevor Project and their work to provide safe spaces for LGBTQ young people. Shop socks that support mental health, fight for equality, protect oceans, and even socks that save cats–– a simple yet profound way to live in alignment with your values. Champion the causes that fire your step!

Bicycle Basket 

Maybe random but nonetheless unique, these bicycle baskets are reminiscent of effortlessly cool bike-riders like Rue and Jules on Euphoria and help support and preserve heritage craft in Bolgatanga, Ghana. Baba Tree is a company whose ethos is grounded in their commitment to the artisan weavers they collaborate with, in addition to poverty reduction and water conservation. Support artisans and enable them to create sustainable livelihoods through their traditional skills all while elevating you or your recipient's bike game. Not a proud bicycle owner? These Hand Woven Bolga Baskets are crafted by children or students and can be used as market or storage baskets, or anything you want, really. Every piece features a photo of the weaver who created it who, with the proceeds from your purchase, will be able to increase their savings and use the money for schooling. The value of this special gift extends far beyond just its recipient.

Bolga Fan

Wall art and a refreshing way to keep cool… or fan off your complexion post-facial spray with this captivating Baba Tree piece that’s hand-woven and hand-dyed with ethically sourced straws.

Sweet Sunflower Candle & Heath Lavender Candle 

Six hours of Zoom in one day? Dispel your woes with the sweet, soothing aroma of sun-drenched blooms. This is the gift that keeps on giving: a portion of Kobo’s sales supports local and global nonprofits and marginalized communities, and the candles’ biodegradable, seed-infused packaging can be planted directly into fresh soil. The candles also have a whopping 60-hour burn time. Responsibly crafted with eco-friendly soybean wax and high-grade oils, these candles are the perfect, much-deserved treat for pretty much everyone right now.

Bloom Porcelain Vase

Spending just a little extra time indoors? Reinvigorate your space or someone else’s with an elegant porcelain vase made by artisans in Asheville, NC. The Bright Angle makes its porcelain mix from scratch with raw, natural materials from the North Carolina mountains and pays its makers a fair and living wage. With our homes being the designated hub for all of life’s activities, it’s worth a little investing.

Upcycled Hoop Earrings

A gift with a regenerative ethos: these earrings are made with up-cycled plastic from discarded plastic bottles, an artistic mode to divert toxic, synthetic waste from infiltrating the environment. Converting similar materials into textiles has a harmful ecological impact throughout their life when washed, so opting to gift jewelry and other wearable or decorative art is ideal for anyone who values craft and our Mother Earth. 

These earrings are handmade in Arlington, Virginia by a women-owned company whose pieces divert at least one plastic bottle from landfill (per piece!), responding to the 79% of our plastic that ends up in landfills and never reaches a recycled state. These lightweight earrings are also made with hardware sourced from recycled sterling silver or 14k gold-filled metals. META regenerates discarded materials deemed as “garbage,” highlighting a natural, circular cycle with each of their pieces crafted with intention.

Vermicomposter 

A treat for yourself, the planet and... wriggler worms? Composting is a habitual and fun, earth-loving practice that deepens are relationships with our natural environments. Diverting your food scraps from landfill significantly reduces the emission of harmful, potent greenhouse gas methane with a concoction of browns (papper, twigs, leaves) greens (grass clippings, food scraps) and good ol’ H2O. Just like us, the microorganisms that break down food scraps need oxygen to live, and tightly-packed landfills just don’t allow for uncompromised, aerated decomposition. So instead of returning back to earth, that apple core releases methane—but it doesn’t have to! 

If you care about the planet and are intrigued by conducting a mini science experiment right in your home (I mean we can all use the excitement), vermicomposting is the perfect gift for you and literally everyone else. Vermicomposting is a popular composting method for small urban spaces, involving a tiered layer system with wiggler worms that speed up the decomposition 

process and produce rich fertilizer. This bin is made from upcycled wood from Colorado Pine Trees (worms not included). With the right mix, your compost should smell earthy at the most!

Zero Waste Starter Kit 

The holy grails of low impact living: this starter kit has it all to kickstart your zero-waste journey. It also just-so-happens to be perfect for takeout! The art of swapping is all about positive incremental change via replacing environmentally harmful products with low-impact, planet-safe options. Equipping yourself or a loved-one with these essentials can allow for habitual, everyday trash-free victories! Just one zero waste swap can collectively generate profound impact—just think about how many utensils just one person uses in their lifetime! Now add in all the other daily household items, and we’re talking big change. The Package Free Shop is a female-owned hub for all things zero-waste, founded right in NYC with the mission to “make the world less trashy” one swap at a time. Swap and feel empowered!

Pollinator Beebom Seedbom 

Help save the bees this holiday! Bees are integral to life on Earth as important pollinators of

crops and help maintain balance in our ecosystems. Without them, the entire food chain is disrupted: imagine all pollinating plants lost due to human interference, the animals that rely on these plants would too be lost and this trend continues up the food chain. 

Support biodiversity and foster a vibrant, nectar-rich habitat for bees with the Beebom that will only leave flowers loved by honeybees and bumblebees (and you too!). It is essentially a mighty little seed mix capsule of Cornflower, Viper Bugloss, Wild Marjoram, Red Clover, Borage, and Pachalia designed to attract bees. The Beebom can be tossed into any area with bare soil and natural lighting and 10% of all profits go to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust! Think of it as a gift for the bees, a thank you and token of gratitude, if you will.

Eco Catty Pillar Cat Toy 

Are your cats bored of you yet? Cats also deserve some wholesome fun and R&R! These wool cat toys are hand-felted by women in both Nepal and Mongolia and help support their families. Honest Pet Products is rooted in pets, the planet, and the people—a truly unparalleled trifecta! 

This undeniably kitschy and cute toy is strung together by sustainable hemp twine, a biodegradable material and renewable resource that aids soil regeneration and sequesters more carbon-dioxide than trees! Yes, a wool-felted caterpillar cat toy that supports social and ecological development. This gift is perfect for cat-lovers, and, obviously, cats.

Eco-conscious Gift Wrapping 

Did you know that about 4 million tons of gift wrap and decorations end up in U.S. landfills annually? Your carefully-selected gifts deserve better. This DIY furoshiki, zero-waste gift wrapping method helps combat the waste and conveniently conforms to virtually every shape and is a great way to upcycle fabric remnants. Try these multi-functional, reusable fabric wraps that can be used for years to come. You can also upcycle newspaper and old paper bags for low-to-zero waste gifting! 

Conscious gift-giving fosters deeper relationships with everything around us. Forgo the excess and bolster social and ecological justice this holiday season. Counter disposable culture and get gifts with meaning and integrity. The things we buy can mutually benefit everyone in the process! At the end of the day, holidays are a time for sharing special moments with loved-ones. Our relationships with people and the planet ultimately boils down to these collective experiences that truly define abundance and these gifts thoughtfully intersect the beauty in meaningful creation and mindful intention.