There exists a huge cycle of waste, and this cycle turns at the hand of Santa. With the start of the New Year, there is no time like the present to reflect on the darker parts of winter spirit that nobody likes to talk about. However, it should be a routine part of our society to acknowledge the good with the bad, working on the aspects that do harm. It is important to break the routine of distracting ourselves from the damage that is done during the holidays in favor of focusing on presents, materialistic instant gratification, and overconsumption. 

While most holidays originated with hopeful intentions that embraced community and gratitude, the negative effects have exponentially increased over the generations. Time for friends and family has been infiltrated with spending and shopping. Of course, different winter holidays vary depending on cultural backgrounds, but the main focus of critique here is Christmas, as the United States is essentially one of the world capitals of glorified capitalism.

Christmas has been bleeding earlier and earlier into the year as time goes on, suffocating a whole season of overconsumption, encouraging greed and waste. What should be a time of love and appreciation for friends and family has instead turned into a bout of capitalistic marketing and hyper-consumerism. The main focus is buying, buying, buying; a credit card swipe here, an Amazon order there. It’s indicative of how much importance our current society places on materialism. It breeds a mentality of entitlement, as well as serves as an outlet for people to ignore other emotional or social issues. From flashy gift bags to expensive gifts to huge decorations that will likely all be thrown out or forgotten at the turn of the year, there’s no end to what people spend their money on during the holidays.

This most definitely affects the environment as well. You can almost tangibly grasp the carbon footprint that Christmas leaves on the planet, stomping on the Earth just as it ages another year. It goes without saying that this is terrible for our home, if the recent 70° California days in December hasn’t been enough indication. Landfills overflowed with boxes and bags, massive trucks traveling thousands of miles to deliver holiday season products in bulk, endless amounts of waste; it goes on and on and on.

Of course, nobody wants to talk or even think about this. The enormity of this problem is intimidating, shameful, and terrifying. Yet, this isn’t time to place blame on us, as there is no ethical consumer in our society at this point. Thankfully, more and more people are becoming aware of just how urgent this issue is, both for its environmental damages and sociological influences. As consumers, we are in control of the market. Even something as simple as reusing or making gifts and decorations is a step forward. The holiday spirit is something we all value and cherish, and that’s not something that should be taken away. We need hope and joy right now, more than ever before. But it is with this need for hope that we should look onward and do our best to collectively minimize the harm done to our planet.