By Anders Lorenzen

For the third year running, we are back to assist you with sustainable choices this holiday season.

Owing to the quality of the products, this year’s guide features fresh entries as well as some returning entries from our guides in 2023 and 2024.

The products have all been tested, and sustainability has been vetted by A greener life and a greener world. 

We want to emphasise that less is more, and the most sustainable act you can take is to buy nothing, make your gifts, buy second-hand or gift local experiences.

New to our guide in 2025

Our 2025 Christmas Appeal

If you belong to the group of people who believe there are too many products in the world, and a Christmas full of consumption fills you with dread, then why not support our Christmas Appeal as your Christmas wish?

You can find more info here:

Parenting in a Climate Crisis: A Handbook for Turning Fear Into Action

At a time when an increasing number of older children and young adults are becoming increasingly anxious about their future and a livable climate.

When many families are already overwhelmed and having to worry about the cost of living crisis and the impact of social media on their children, parenting can feel like a forever-daunting challenge.

But Bridget Shirvell’s Parenting in a Climate Crisis offers tangible, practical advice and how communities and slowing down can be one of the solutions that can yield immediate results.

You can read our review of Parenting in a Climate Crisis here and purchase it here.

Read our monthly column by Bridget here.  

Sink or Swim: How the World Needs to Adapt to a Changing Climate

Despite the impacts of climate change already felt, there’s still a far greater focus on climate mitigation over adaptation.

This prompted climate scientist Dr Susannah Fisher to discover this issue further, and resulted in the book Sink or Swim, which was published earlier this year.

You can hear Susannah explain the book in detail in our recent Green Voices interview with her, which you can watch below.

Susannah Fisher speaking with A greener life, a greener world.

The book is available for purchase here.

Fill It Forward – Cupanion Bottle

Reducing our plastic consumption and increasing reusability has only become more urgent as single-use plastic washes up all around us. The Canadian company, Fill it Forward, have innovated a gamifying element of its Cupanion Bottle. 

The just over half a litre reusable water bottle is lightweight, leakproof, and built for life on the go. It is made from BPA-free Tritan Renew, holds carbonation, is dishwasher-safe, and has two flat sides, making it stackable for easy packing or storing in your fridge and comes with a lifetime guarantee. But what sets it apart from other reusable water bottles is the unique Fill it Forward Tag. When scanned via the free downloadable app, each reuse tracks your environmental impact and unlocks a charitable donation to global giving partners supporting clean water, food security, and reforestation projects. Reuse it just twice to offset its production footprint.

It can be purchased here.

We Buy Bricks

It is estimated that there are currently over 400 billion Lego bricks and minifigures in circulation around the world; this is enough to wrap the Earth four times over. This accumulates year-on-year as roughly 36 million new bricks are produced annually. 

While the Lego Group in recent years have made progress in greening its operations and testing non-plastic materials for the production of its iconic bricks and minifigures.

But still, it comes with significant carbon and environmental impacts.

But in recent years, several companies and platforms have made the second-life Lego economy significantly powerful and growing. This is gaining traction as new Lego products can be expensive, and often, second-hand Lego products can be as good as new.

One of those companies is We Buy Bricks.

It has two sides to it: selling and buying products.

People can sell sets they no longer use by following these steps: https://www.webuybricks.co.uk/how-it-works/ 

For products to purchase, there are two options. You can buy a generic Build it Box with a variety of bricks, pieces and minifigures, which comes with a leaflet with suggested builds. They currently offer a huge discount on this product, reduced from £24.99 to just £5.

On its eBaypage, We Buy Bricks offers complete, part-complete sets, bundles, minifigures and books.

Vivobarefoot – Primus Trail Flow Mid

The barefoot trend has taken off in recent years, after the very first shoe was designed in 2001 by Tim Brennan, who then subsequently founded Vivobarefoot.

The products are now wide-ranging, all from running and other exercise-themed footwear, to hiking, holiday and leisure to everyday use.

While many brands today offer barefoot shoes, Vivobarefoot are still the market leader, and a company whose philosophy is rooted in the regenerative movement continue to innovate. 

This is the versatile boot, the Primus Trail Flow Mid boot is a good example of. Described as a fast hiking boot. The versatile water-resistant boot is perfect for running, hiking, everyday walks, or even active family play.

All materials are vegan and consist of recycled polyester and spandex.

It can be purchased here.

Returning to our guide from 2024

Juice – By Tim Winton – while we are awash with non-fiction books on climate change, clean energy and sustainability, the same cannot be said for fiction books. But in recent years, the climate fiction (cli-fi) genre has started to manifest itself and will continue to expand in 2024, with the trend is further growth in this exciting new genre in 2025. Australian author Tim Winton’s Juice was released on the 17th of October this year and is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed cli-fi books of 2024. It tells the tale of decades in the future in a climate-ravaged world a journey through a life where the challenge is not only to survive; it’s keeping your humanity if you do. With Juice, Winton who is active in the Australian environmental movement and a patron of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, has published over twenty books for adults as well as children and is one of many writers who in 2024 use storytelling to advocate for climate and environmental actions.

Juice can be purchased in all large offline and online bookstores, including our personal sustainability favourite, Bookshop.org.

Dubs Flex from Dubs – The marketplace of children’s clothing is gigantic, but because children grow and therefore have to upgrade often, there has not been the same focus on sustainability as with adults. Additionally, science has shown the importance of children having comfortable clothing and footwear to move around it is crucial – and especially in the early years, this is how they learn how to move. As the father of a young and very active girl, I was delighted to learn about Dubs, the British company that launched in 2022 with the objective of designing a shoe for kids that was both planet-friendly and the right fit for growing children. My daughter and I absolutely love these Dubs Flex. we are equally impressed that they have a pre-worn marketplace, too. The shoes can be purchased directly from Dubs here. 

RSPB Coastal Playset from PlayPress Toys – after trying it out with my daughter, it is fair to say we are both impressed with the creative and innovative element of PlayPress Toys. The Sussex-based family company offers affordable cardboard playsets modelled on popular scenarios and children’s books, such as in collaboration with Julia Donaldson. The company puts a strong emphasis on sustainability and takes great care to ensure all the materials they use are sourced responsibly. We love the simplicity of this, the creativity it fosters while training fine motor skills, and the focus on environmental education, such as this coastal wild bird set in collaboration with RSPB. 

It can be purchased directly from the company.

Herb Collection (Set of Five) from Seedball – While grey, rainy, and miserable these months, gardening and wildlife might not be the first things that come to mind. But right now is the perfect time to make preparations for your garden or community growing space. And with the seedballs available in various forms, you can make your bid to support wildlife and biodiversity. If you pick one of the herb tubes, you can even contribute by growing your own food. 

Here’s more about how a seedball works

It can be purchased directly from the company here.

Battle Green Natural Dry Shampoo Powder. Battle Green, a small company based in remote North Wales, was founded in 2018 in response to growing and overwhelming reports on the negative impact that wasteful practices and plastic are having on the natural world. All of its very reasonable-priced products are vegan and cruelty-free and made out of plant-based materials. I, in particular, loved the Natural Dry Shampoo Powder. The award-winning product offers an easy and water-free way to freshen up hair between washes. Handmade in Wales in small batches, the powder can easily be dispensed with plastic-free and refillable cardboard shaker pots. Each pot contains 55g of dry shampoo powder, and refill sachets are available separately.

It can be purchased directly from the company here.

Mushroom Coffee Superfood Blend from More. Longevity and Wellbeing. Our modern food systems have evolved, and lifestyles, nutritional and essential vitamin intake have drastically declined. It is more important than ever to supplement your diet with vitamin enrichment daily. I love this product, which ensures you get the right vitamins and nutrients, a flavourful and tasty experience rather than just another pill you must take from this female-owned and operated wellness company. More. Longevity and Wellbeing is dedicated to delivering lasting health benefits through clean, uncontaminated ingredients. Each product is meticulously crafted to address immediate and long-term wellness needs, providing customers with reliable and effective solutions. The company has declared a strong commitment to high-quality raw materials and transparency and is an established and trusted brand in the wellness industry. They have core sustainability components as they avoid synthetic fillers, chemicals, and unnecessary additives with prioritisation of purity and effectiveness, aligning with the growing demand for natural, unadulterated health solutions. The brand firmly believes that focusing on ingredient integrity and bioavailability ensures that its customers experience meaningful and lasting results.

It can be purchased directly from the company here.

Returning from our 2023 guide:

Plantable Pencils – From SproutWorld – we love this innovative product from this Scandinavian brand – you can read our review here, and it can be purchased via this link.

Vision Be Cups from Be Cups. This innovative and science-backed bee conservation product is fantastic to see, and our review here will give you all the lowdown you need. It can be purchased here.

Dizzy Monster Spinning Top from Kidoki by Kikkerland.For the younger generation and playful adults, this minimalistic spinning top from Kidoki by Kikkerland is engaging and fun and fully produced with FSC-certified wood; you would not be adding to the useless pile of throwaway single-use plastics this festive period. It can be purchased here.

Men’s Bike Commute Jacket from Jack Wolfskin. We love this simplistic cycling commute jacket from Jack Wolfskin. But if you’re not a cyclist, do not let it deter you, as it is a fleece. It is sustainable and produced with 100% recycled polyester by the German outdoor activewear brand. It is perfect for an extra layer when walking off Christmas lunches and dinners. It can be purchased here.

Men’s Montreal Long Sleeve Line Shirt – from Not So Perfect Linen. We are absolutely in love with the small Lithuanian company. When it comes to producing clothing and items that are sustainable, not much can match them. As the name may give away, everything is not only produced from linen, one of the most sustainable fabrics, and is sourced nearby in Europe, but it is also 100% hand-made on-site in Lithuania. We can admit this is not the last you have heard from this family-run company here – so watch this space. The product can be purchased here.   

Nomad Century – By Gaia Vince – This fascinating read was Highly Commended for the Wainwright Prize 2023 and shortlisted for the Zócalo Book Prize and the Christopher Moore Prize For Human Rights Writing. In Nomad Century, Gaia Vince offers us a reminder, at a time when immigration policies are hotly debated, that the impacts of climate change will change the migration and immigration landscape. It is available to buy online and offline at major booksellers – more information here.

Anders Lorenzen is the founding Editor of A greener life, a greener world.