Kate Hall: How to broach sustainable holiday suggestions with family

The holiday season is often filled with waste, but this year could be different. 

If you’re looking to shift your holiday celebrations towards the sustainable, but aren’t quite sure how to broach it with your family, Kate Hall has a few tips for you. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks that'd be and.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It is time to catch up with our sustainability commentator,
who reckons now is the time to start having the
conversations with the Farno about a more sustainable Christmas. Kate
Hall is with us this morning held a good morning
what in a Jack oh what? We're six weeks away,
which means six weeks away from the big day, which
means that now is the time to get your a

(00:34):
entergy and get your Christmas gifts sorted, especially if you're
looking for something sustainable, because if you're looking for a
sustainable option, December twenty fourth at four point thirty in
the afternoon is probably not the time you want to
be doing it. Now it's the perfect time, right, yes see.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
I think now's the perfect time to start the conversations
with your families. In particular. I think that's a really
big one that we can talk about. You know, all
sorts of sustainable Christmas, like meals and buying local produce
for your food and sustainable gifts. But it's like if
your keene doing it, maybe not everyone in your family is,

(01:09):
and so you need to plant those seeds of discussion early,
and so that's why you know we're chatting out this
in November.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, like you say, it isn't just gifts. It's kind
of everything at Christmas, and given the nature of the celebrations,
there are lots of different areas in which we can
potentially be a bit more sustainable. But you've learned this
presumably the hard way, that there's no point kind of
preaching at everyone, right, Like you have to try and
bring people with you if you know you're trying to

(01:39):
encourage a more sustainable world.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yep, yep, And I think doing different things like you know,
frame it not is hey, guys, like let's all have
a sustainable Christmas. Like you know, your uncle Don is
probably going to go yeah, not not be too keen,
so FRAMI it is like let's plain this together, you know,
like what ask the question, you know, what do you

(02:02):
remember from past Christmases? Like what what does everyone want
to do this year? How would you feel like would
be the best Christmas ever? What are your Christmas ideas?
What do people need? And often I think that comes
down to people go they want it easier, cheaper Christmas,
and generally that is a less based for Christmas. So

(02:23):
frame it and like leading with that curiosity piece of
you know, what do you want and not just coming
in saying this is what we're going to do for Christmas.
I think is really important to start. You know, maybe
that can be something you do right now today and
your group chat, family chat, and throw our ideas that
are sustainable. And I'm sure you know you can't control

(02:43):
everyone's reactions as to what they will do when you
suggest some things that are overtly sustainable, but I think
it's about trying, and maybe this is a good year
to try.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, I see in the past it's not that Christmas
conceeme obscene, but you know, we live in an age
of consumption, right, and so years ago in our family,
we decided to go to a secret scender model for
gifts instead of giving everyone a guest and then and
you end up buying stuff that they don't necessarily want,
and everyone's going to waste money, and you know, you
know what I mean that there are lots of downsides

(03:14):
to it. So we move to a Secret Center model,
fifty dollars limit, you get one person, and I just
think it works so well, yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
That's great that's a really great meason to it. I
do that with housing side of the family every year too,
and yeah, you get something you actually need and so
you're probably smiling a lot more than just oh yeah
and like an air of socks. Another way we do
is like that the Secret Center game, but you only
bring consumables, so it has to be something that you

(03:46):
can eat.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, right, okay, And then.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
That way there's not like any stuff left, but you
know that the food will be circulated and you can
play actually a fun like Secret Center game together and
that can actually be part of the day.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, that's a good idea. Another thing we do now
is because there are increasing numbers of wealth for me,
nieces and nephew use for Mama and dair grandkids. But
what we do is all the aunties and uncles we
kind of agree that instead of us all individually buying
kids gifts because they get showered and so much on
Christmas anyway, we basically have a like a team gift

(04:23):
from the aunties and uncles and we'll often try and
we'll make it like a board game or something like that.
So it's a bit of an experience as well as
opposed to just you know, like just heaps of you know,
just junkie plastic stuff that the kids will play with
for thirty seconds and then move on.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, that's brilliant.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
I love that idea.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah. I don't know, I just think stuff like that
makes kind of sense, right, But the key is to
frame the discussion now.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yes, yep, do it now, and be brave. I know
it can feel like, you know, you expose yourself a bit,
but if you leave with that curiosity piece and lead
with what does everyone need and want, you know, you're
not coming in and preaching, You're being really clear and
you can suggest some good things.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah. And the truth is that people don't remember the
stuff as much as they remember how they feel, right, Like,
they remember just the kind of you know, warm feeling
of sitting around and yarning and you know, playing charades
or whatever it is. You know, it's that stuff I
remember as opposed to stuff.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah. Well, there's one Christmas I remember most vividly. It
was a Christmas that we didn't do any stuff. That
everyone had to bring something to Christmas Day in terms
of like my brother and his girlfriends brought a yoga
at cre yoga class that we ended up doing on
the back lawn, you know, like they took us through
it and I brought I did all the Christmas snacks.

(05:41):
I made all these Zeri Way snacks, you know, and
you remember those experiences talking about on the lawn and
that was just so much fun. Like those memories are
just so altered, just so much more. I can't remember
what you know, I got for Christmas.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Oh so good? All right, thanks Kate, Yeah good. Good
to give us a nice early warning this year to Kate,
all of course, is on social media. You can find
her by searching ethically Kate.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
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