If the end goal is magical moments, then the design challenge is this: How do we create magical moments for our children without also creating a pile of rubbish?
Like any good design, this one should be holistic, adaptive and co-operative. It should also dare to think outside of the square. For example, when thinking of things to give a child, one consideration is not a thing at all, but rather the gift of time. Does that sound cliche?
Whether it's cliche or not, mountains of research show that what most children want is more time with their parents. Along the same lines, there are two mountains of research showing that reading to children under the age of 3 is about the best thing parents can ever do. On top of that, it's free. How's that for eco-thrifty?
Other gifts-of-time we can give children include a special day at the beach, a trip to the movies, a boat ride, a treasure hunt, a mystery adventure, or a Neil Diamond greatest hits dance party.
But still most parents want to give their kids stuff. But even from this perspective we can design much more sustainable solutions than the one-way trip to landfill.
In the field of materials cycling, the global leaders are chemist Michael Braungart and architect William McDonough. The pair have been working on what they call cradle-to-cradle design for two decades. Put simply, cradle-to-cradle sets the stage for infinite materials recycling with no such thing as landfill. In fact, the motto of this design methodology is "waste equals food" - in other words, the remnants or leftovers of one process are used to feed another process. This is accomplished by creating two materials metabolisms: biological and industrial.
The biological metabolism can be explained in three words: let it rot. Nature has been doing it for millions of years. Any materials that come from living organisms can be returned to the soil to promote the growth of more living organisms.
An industrial metabolism involves all materials that do not come directly from plants and animals, which includes metals, minerals, plastics and other synthetic materials. The challenge is to make the recovery and remanufacture processes easy and efficient to ensure 100 per cent recycling so that a broken plastic toy would readily be turned into a new plastic toy - over and over. From this perspective, gift-giving could be guilt-free forevermore.
But until that day, another strategy for low-impact holiday giving is to choose durable gifts that will last. Our household does lots of wooden toys, and my parents still have 40-plus-year-old wooden toys that they get out when the grandchildren visit.
For Verti's birthday in August, I used driftwood to build a fairy village for indoor play and a swing set outside. The totara, matai and rimu timbers will last for decades. If I'm still alive when it falls apart, I will remove the treaded rod for reuse or recycling (industrial metabolism) and let the ancient timbers decompose naturally (biological metabolism).
Spoiler alert: Verti's holiday gift from me this year is a strawberry patch outside our front door. Although I bought plastic planters, they will be protected from direct sunlight by a wooden surround made from weathered native timbers. The completed project will be attractive, durable, productive, and provide magical - and tasty - moments for years to come.
-Nelson Lebo is an eco design professional specialising in residential building, renovation, and healthy homes - 022 635 0868; 06 344 5013; theecoschool@gmail.com
