The holiday season is a joyful time of the year, filled with holidays from varying cultures and religions. Over the years, the Holiday season has begun to be taken over by consumerism, disposable traditions, and many other festivities that harm the environment.

The holiday season lasts from late November, after Thanksgiving, into January. The holiday season is filled with celebrated holidays such as Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s. 

The holiday season causes harm to the environment in many other ways. The Christmas lights that you put up on your house nationally burn 6.6 billion kilowatt-hours per year. That energy can not be recycled; it is emitted into the atmosphere as light pollution, which causes issues to wildlife’s survival instincts.

No matter the holiday, the holiday season is often celebrated by spending time with your family. Many people travel for the Holidays to be with their family, or with their family to celebrate. It is estimated that 122.4 million people will travel for the Holiday season in America. This is broken down into just over 109 million by car, 8 million by air, and the rest in various ways. 

All of this travel results in the release of billions of pounds of CO2 into the environment. On average, each person’s travel during the holidays results in the release of approximately 1,400 pounds of CO2. CO2 release is detrimental to the environment, causing harm to the ozone layer.

In the United States, the holiday season and all it entails began to grow in the late 19th century, with post-Civil War unity and Victorian traditions coming together. People in the United States began to take on German traditions, often related to Christmas, of putting up trees and gift-giving.

This growth in the holiday season and the traditions that entail, began to fuel the consumerism of the holiday we know today. Each holiday has its own traditions that have sparked great consumerism within the holiday season.

Hanukkah falls on a different date each year, but often takes place between the end of November to early January. The Holiday lasts 8 days, and the dates of the Holiday are determined by the Hebrew Lunisolar calendar. 

The Jewish religion celebrates Hanukkah, which is filled with many traditions that have been consumerized. The tradition of lighting candles on the menorah. “A menorah is a type of candelabra. It has nine arms for the candles, four on each side, and then a shamosh in the middle,” said Naomi Lehavot, senior.

Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of the Temple of Lights, which is a festive holiday that has become more mainstream in a consumer sense. “Just like Christmas, they make lots of Hanukkah merch, and a lot of chocolate coins around the holiday,” said Lehavot.

Christmas takes place on December 25 by many who follow the Christian religion. Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, and is honored with many celebrations on Christmas and in the days surrounding it.

“On Christmas Eve, we go to our church service, and then that night we play board games and stuff like that,” said Jack Gotcher, sophomore.

The effects of consumerism can be seen by Leesville students through the overall overconsumption of the holiday.

“You buy wrapping paper to wrap up all your presents and throw away all the wrapping paper, and then, all the gifts you don’t use, a lot of people often throw away gifts that they don’t want,” said Goather.

Celebrating Christmas with family is a large part of the celebration, but so is sharing a meal with those people you care about. Large amounts of food are often wasted on Christmas.

This wasting of food and overconsumerism are only a fraction of the dangers to the environment that are brought by the holiday season.

Overall, the holiday season is affected by consumerism in great ways, and all of this consumerism has negative effects on the environment. The overconsumption of goods surrounding the holidays leads to many items being thrown away and left in landfills.

The Holiday season has many detrimental effects on the environment, but that doesn’t stop the festivities of the season. This season, while celebrating, consider ways you can minimize your consumerism and cut down on the amount of natural resources you use and emit.