Share the Valentines Love

Love is in the air! Valentine’s Day is around the corner, so this is the perfect time to start planning your expression of appreciation for your loved ones while also being kind to planet Earth.

Our local Chicago candy shops can meet all of your chocolate needs! Or, try your hand at baking adorable Valentines cookies. Avoid the plastic and deliver your home-baked gifts in decorated paper boxes or cute metal tins. And there’s no need to stop at the chocolate: you could also gift someone with a subscription to local farms to receive fresh veggies delivered right to their door!

But not all gifts can fit in a box. A couples experience at the AIRE Ancient Baths, a theater or comedy show, or other experiences are a great way to make memories without accumulating items you don’t need. One romantic eco-friendly idea is to celebrate love by planting a tree. Plus it’s Oscar season—perfect for a movie date night!

Things to skip this February: things nobody needs, like glittery plastic doodads that just get thrown in the garbage. Go for digital over plastic! Send a Valentines e-card, gif, or meme. That goes for gift cards too. Most places offer digital certificates for a spa day or a subscription to a streaming service.

Valentines is also a chance for kids to make charming sustainable crafts! These birdseed hearts are a cute option for anyone with branches outside their windows.

Selecting a gift that attends to both the tastes of the giftee and to the ripple effects we have on our environment is the best way to say we’re grateful to have love in our lives. 

Join the Environmental Action Committee as we work to justly affect climate change with the ultimate goal of preserving democracy by maintaining the health of our one and only planet and all that lives on it. Email us at environment@lwvchicago.org for access to our next meeting.