Giving a green Christmas - environmental ways to celebrate

Sunset, Dec, 1991

A GREEN CHRISTMAS can be even more satisfying than a white one when it means giving and receiving gifts that can help keep the planet healthy long after your Christmas tree has turned brown. We asked conservation groups and wildlife and park officials for their environmental gift suggestions. Here are some of the best.

ADOPT A REDWOOD . . .

OR AN ELEPHANT

You donate in the name of your gift recipient, who receives a certificate (and sometimes a photograph or book) showing what he or she helped save. To ensure ontime arrival, send your donation by mid-December.

Whales started the trend. Put your money where your bumper sticker is by adopting an orca ($35) through The Whale Museum, (206) 378-4710; a gray ($50) through the Tarlton Foundation, (415) 433-3163; or a humpback ($25) through the Pacific Whale Foundation, (800) 942-5311. How about a dolphin ($35) through Oceanic Society, (415) 441-1106? Or a wolf ($20) through Wolf Haven International, (800) 448-9653?

Adopt a redwood tree ($200) or have one planted ($50) through Save-the-Redwoods League, (415) 362-2352. Adopt an acre of South American rain forest for $30 through The Nature Conservancy, (800) 628-6860; or for $25 through The Rainforest Action Network, (415) 398.4404. Or adopt an American ancient forest grove ($50) through the Audubon Society, (916) 481-5332 or (206) 786-8020.

Animals need supportive parents, too. Almost all zoos have adopt-an-animal programs, from spider ($1) to elephant ($1,500). Call a zoo near you.

GIVE JOHN MUIR

(OR ANOTHER

ENVIRONMENTAL CLASSIC)

New editions of books that sounded early calls for environmentalism make great gifts. A few of our favorites:

Two landmark essays from the mid-1800s join up (with woodcuts) in Nature and Walking, by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau (Beacon Press, Boston, 1991; $15 paper).

Canyon Voyage, by Fredrick S. Dellenbaugh (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1990; $11.95 paper), is a vibrant account of John Wesley Powell's second Grand Canyon expedition.

In the Heart of the Sierras, by James M. Hutchings (Great West Books, Lafayette, Calif., 1990; $44.95, $29.95 paper), was first published in 1886. This brightly written 592-page portrait of early Yosemite has 191 engravings and photographs. To order, call (510) 283-3184.

Sierra Club Books has just reissued six John Muir works, including The Mountains of California. Each paperback costs about $10; look in bookstores, or call (415) 923-5500.

The Land of Little Rain, Mary Austin's first and best book (Penguin Books, New York, 1989; $15.95 paper), is an evocative chronicle of Southern California's high desert (written in 1903).

A NATURE OUTING

SCOUTED AND

PLANNED BY YOU

This gift idea came from Audubon Society members. You pick a nearby park trail, scout it for best views and picnic spots, then bone up on the significant plants, trees, and wildlife by talking to a ranger or checking a field guide. On the gift day, you become the naturalist-guide, responsible for planning and leading the group, and perhaps bringing picnic supplies and binoculars. "It's the best gift--free, nonconsuming, requiring only your time and a bit of planning," says Audubon spokesman Dan Taylor.

On Christmas Day, your own card under the tree can offer the outing in certificate form, redeemable on any convenient day.