Each year, Calgary Public Library employees round up their white elephants and hold a silent auction whose proceeds are donated to charity. In fact, there’s more to bid on than just white elephants. There are Christmas crafts, hand-knit scarves, baked goods, electronics, and a variety of other items. This year, we collectively raised and donated over $3000 to Calgary's Inn from the Cold.

In a similar vein, the staff in Central Library’s Business, Sciences and Social Sciences department holds an annual white elephant lottery. Staff purchase tickets and place them in envelopes assigned to each elephant. The more tickets you buy, the better your chances of winning the item – but it’s still a draw, so things are tense! As a department, we raised $200 and donated that to Inn from the Cold, too.

Prior to the lottery, as I rooted through my home, searching for perfectly good but unused items, I found myself thinking Who’s going to want my set of only 3, slightly inelegant wineglasses? But sure enough, someone did. And as I lugged my own not-quite-new treasure home, I thought Who would ever part with a totally wicked turtle lamp (with glowing shell!)?

If you don’t use it, need it or love it, then give someone else the chance. White elephant sales are a festive and fun way to support a cause or charity of your choice. They’re also an opportunity to reuse and reduce, and to avoid the chaos of holiday-season shopping malls.

Hope you had a great Christmas holiday!

While I’ve never been one for New Year’s Resolutions, I do resolve to waste less food next year.

Image courtesy FoodandYou flickr photostreamFood waste has always been a hot topic in our household. One might think that my husband and I were raised during the Great Depression based on how we respond when good food is thrown out or wasted in our home (while neither of us lived through the Depression we both come from frugal Saskatchewan stock that valued not wasting food).

Eco etiquette: is wasting food a sin? Huffington Post

Our two sons went to Outdoor School with their classes this semester. One of the many things that left an impression on them was the focus on food and food waste. After each meal, every table group (of several children) would gather together all of the food left uneaten on their plates. The goal by the end of the week was to consistently make sure that there was no food gathered—zero food waste. (All four classes succeeded.)

How do we avoid food waste? For me, the most important step is to avoid purchasing too much to start in the first place. Even the smallest amount of meal planning can help individuals or households with buying only the food they will use in a certain time period. Composting organic waste means that leftover food is at least being put to good use. The City of Calgary’s Green Cart pilot will begin in March 2012 as four neighbourhoods try to collect their compostable food waste (that would otherwise go into the garbage) into green bins.

Simple lifestyle changes can reduce food waste Calgary Herald

In a world of abundance, food waste is a crime USA Today

I just discovered the University of Calgary Waste Management site, which shows an impressive push to work towards being a net zero waste campus. The same site has a wonderful checklist for anyone who wants to hold a waste free event.

Sometimes, of course, food should be thrown out for safety reasons. How can you be sure? You may want to visit the StillTasty: your ultimate shelf life guide site (or download its iPhone App), which lets you know when to keep and when to toss.

	American wasteland: how America throws away nearly half of its food (and what we can do about it) by Jonathan Bloom
	Waste: uncovering the global food scandal by Tristam Stuart

Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.
~Albert Einstein

On November 25 (and beyond) make change by doing nothing.

Apparently Albertans are in a holiday spending mood. This Friday, November 25, I will buy nothing—no gifts, no groceries, not even a coffee—in an effort to change the world.

Friday is Buy Nothing Day (BND) in North America (the rest of the world will celebrate nothing the following day). BND was created to increase awareness of over-consumption of consumer goods.

The Buy Nothing Day movement had its beginnings twenty years ago when Vancouver artist Ted Dave took a look at his own purchasing habits and created a day to bring awareness to over-consumption. Since 1997, Buy Nothing Day has been held on the third Thursday in November, coinciding with “Black Friday,” one of the busiest shopping days in the U.S.

So how about you? In this period of sales and frantic holiday shopping—will you buy nothing? And on that topic, how about choosing a Buy Nothing Christmas this year?