Last Minute Holiday Shopping

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Put an end to the battery buying blues with a water powered clock or calculator from Gaiam ($12 and $14 respectively). As an added bonus, Gaiam packages all items using boxes, envelopes and packing peanuts made from 100-percent recycled materials (www.gaiam.com).

Green Themed Basics

If you're still not sure what to get that special someone in your life, then go back to the basics.

Distance is hard on family and friends, not to mention the wallet. Consider giving the gift of gab with Earth Tones' Pre-Paid Phone Card. Earth Tones donates 100 percent of its profits to environmental groups (www.earthtones.com).

Have a new driver in the family? Or maybe a bicycle enthusiast with a penchant for long treks? The Better World Club provides roadside assistance to both cars and bicycles. They also donate one percent of their annual revenues to environmental advocacy and cleanup, provide discounts on hybrid car rentals and purchases and provide tips and links to cover your eco-travel needs. Memberships start at $53.95/year (www.betterworldclub.com).

Know a movie buff with a soft spot for the environment? Green Planet Films offers a pay-per-rental DVD service that allows viewers to rent nature and environmental movies for 15 days at a time. Rentals start at $7.99 each, and gift vouchers can be purchased for amounts of $15 to $50 (greenplanetfilms.org).

Tips & Alternatives

Online shopping, although convenient, quick and easy, can be a bane for environmentalists when it comes to excessive packaging materials. And while last-minute shopping doesn't always allow for package conservation, here are some ways to be environmentally responsible in future online shopping sprees:

• Buy from companies that use recycled and/or recyclable materials in their packaging.
• Look at the various shipping options available, for instance having all your items packaged together or having them sent as they come available. Always choose the first option, as the second requires new packing materials each time an item is ready for shipment.
• If you're buying a product that isn't currently available, put your other purchases on hold, if possible, until the product becomes available.
• Avoid companies that ship different types of items separately, for example, those that ship books and DVDs separately. This means extra packaging if you're buying a book for one friend and a DVD for another.
• Look for companies that ship large objects in their original packaging.
• From a packaging perspective, clothing is a great environmental option because it requires no additional wrapping outside of being placed in a box for shipment. If a company does place clothing in plastic bags, reuse them as long as they last.

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