13 Eco Friendly Gifts For Her Made Just For The Female Environmentalist

Buying gifts for the environmentally-conscious can sometimes be difficult, but not with these eco-friendly gifts for her.

For someone who has the environment in mind, receiving unnecessary products with unnecessary packaging may not be their top choice. However, there are still sustainable items out there that any environmentalist would like to get their hands on!

These hand-picked gifts for eco-friendly women would make an excellent choice for a birthday, anniversary, or holiday. All of these choices help her be kinder to the planet, and keep an eye out for the ones that do even more…

Many of the items on this list also support the planting of trees and rehabilitation of wildlife through a trusted carbon offset provider!

Read on to find out which ones…

Why Does Being Eco-Friendly Matter?

It’s hard these days to turn on the news without finding something about the current climate crisis. Some people have been working hard to combat this crisis, by making individual decisions to mitigate their impact, as well as making broader change by using their voice for political and social action.

With the most recent report from the United Nations stating that there has been a 2 degree increase in global warming, women climate activists are working fast to help.⁵

The UN report — approved by 195 governments and based on 14,000+ studies — determined that more than a century of destructive human activity has caused an amount of emissions that will cause additional warming over the next three decades, unless something changes immediately.⁵

It stressed that the next few years are our only window of opportunity to fundamentally change our habits as a species, to avoid further environmental destruction.

Moreover, according to a new article released by the New York Times alongside a study from the United Nations, the consequences will affect vulnerable populations more so than other demographics, specifically women and girls.^1,4 So although climate change is a collective, its burdens — including displacement, poverty, and disease — can weigh heavier on women.

For one, men are statistically responsible for a higher percentage of the world’s carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. Men have a 16 percent larger carbon footprint than women,³ and the top 1 percent of income earners globally — who are responsible for far more carbon emissions than the bottom 50 percent of earners — are overwhelmingly male.²

Feminist climate activists have concluded that part of the reason we have such an abundance of emissions, and why they’ve been so hard to reduce, is because the decision-makers in society favor hierarchy and exploitation, and also consist of a very narrow view of the actual world’s demographic… leaving women, people of color, and Indigenous people out of the decision-making process for centuries.¹ That is part of the reason why today, 80 percent of those displaced by climate change have been female.⁶

The world needs everybody to be an equal, fair team in order to truly address climate change causes, and the problems it produces.

All of this said, support the women in your life by supporting their passions… especially when that passion is our Earth.

Keep reading for the best gifts to give the eco-friendly gal in your life…

Eco-Friendly Gifts For Her in 2021

With so many options in the market branded as “eco-friendly” or for the “nature-minded,” some options are actually not as sustainable as they seem… stay safe with your choice by choosing one of the beneficial products from below.

These Minimal-Waste Home Essentials

• Wool Dryer Balls

Save money, time, and energy when you use wool dryer balls to help with laundry. These 100 percent organic dryer balls can reduce your emissions drastically by cutting down the time that you’d need to dry your clothes, using an energy-intensive drying machine.

In fact, dryer balls will cut your drying time by 10-25 percent!⁷

Just pop these eco-friendly tools into the dryer, and they will bounce around and agitate the fabrics, allowing for better air circulation, softer clothes, and a shorter drying time. Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to each dryer ball to leave your fabrics smelling fresh, without the irritating chemicals used in dryer sheets.

These hypoallergenic wool dryer balls come in packs of three, in a handy, eco-friendly bag. They also will plant 6 trees and conserve another 60!

• Reusable Canvas Bag

Let your forward-thinking friend convey their love for the planet anytime they shop with a canvas shopping bag!

American consumers use an average of 365 plastic bags per person per year, so by switching to a reusable option, people can save a lot of waste.⁸ This bag can be used for shopping for bulk groceries, transporting items to a conference, or even as a personal purse.

This 100 percent canvas bag is machine washable, is large enough to hold multiple items, and to top it off… its’ purchase also plants 10 new trees and saves another 100.

• Reusable Ziploc Bags for Food Storage

Sometimes the places we use plastic around the house can stay sneakily hidden. One of those places is in the food storage drawer… Plastic sandwich or gallon freezer bags are handy, but throwing them all away after one use adds up to a lot of unnecessary waste in the landfill.

Plus, food waste is already such an issue, with one-third of the food produced for human consumption being wasted every year… that’s 1.4 billion tons!⁹ So, your eco-friendly friend will be glad to have an environmentally-conscious way to store their leftovers!

Check out this set of reusable storage bags that come in an array of sizes, so you can safely store anything from a jumbo slice of pizza to a few carrots that were left overs from your hummus spree last night. They’re freezer-safe, leak-proof, and made of an eco-friendly PEVA material that is PVC-free, lead-free, chloride-free, and BPA-free.

• Reusable Beeswax Food Wraps

Another commonly-missed plastic use is plastic wrap. People use plastic wrap to cover or store their food, and often use a lot of it at a time. This plastic, however thin, is still plastic and sticks around for upwards of 500 years.¹⁰

As an alternative, using a cotton cloth that’s been dipped in beeswax has been proven as a food and earth-safe method of keeping your food fresh.

These handy wraps are suitable for covering bowls while baking, wrapping bread or a sandwich to keep it from getting stale, covering half a watermelon, or rolling up vegetables to keep them fresh for longer. Try this pack of 5 beeswax wraps, made with cotton and jojoba oil.

Earth and Life-Saving Jewelry

• Rainbow Glass Bead Bracelet

Many eco-conscious women might steer away from jewelry, as it is usually a case of fast fashion or a useless product made from precious natural resources. Some jewelry, though, can make a huge impact on the planet and its wildlife.

For instance, take this beautiful rainbow glass bead bracelet, which helps to save orangutans from being forced from their homes.

Endangered orangutans are being stripped from their children and facing habitat extinction, as deforestation threatens their survival.¹¹ These orange primates do everything from socializing to eating in trees… trees which are being destroyed at a rapid pace in the areas where they live.

By buying an orange orangutan rainbow bracelet, you will protect 100 Dipterocarp trees or native fig trees, and plant another 10. These are the trees that make up the majority of these orangutan’s homes, so this gives these animals another chance at survival.

• Tree of Life Bracelet

There are many other noble causes that buying jewelry can support. With this adjustable tree of life bracelet, which comes in many colors and includes a recycled tree of life charm, you can directly help combat climate change and save wild animals by supporting the efforts to save 100 existing trees and planting another 10.

With this bracelet, you can combat climate change while fighting habitat loss for unique or endangered species, like the lemurs in Madagascar or the sloths in Brazil. Without the funding for these projects, these displaced animals will be unable to survive amidst the current levels of habitat destruction.

• Kenya Bracelet

Help women support women with the purchase of these Kenya bracelets! These beautiful bracelets are handcrafted by a team of women in Kenya who also support the planting and conserving of trees in their community.

Not only do these women plant trees and create these beautiful beaded bracelets, they also work to spread awareness on climate issues, and use these unique bracelets as a way to spread the word.

What’s more, 100 percent of the proceeds from these bracelets will go directly to these women and their communities, and to the planting of more trees!

Outdoor and Workout Gear for the Active Environmentalist

• Stainless Steel Water Bottle

The world knows by now that plastic is bad for the environment. Your environmental warrior knows that too. So recycle those plastic water bottles, and stay hydrated using a reusable stainless steel water bottle instead.

These double insulated steel water bottles keep your favorite beverage icy cold or hot, and come in a variety of colors and sizes. These bottles are useful on hikes, trips, at the gym, or even just lounging at home, and their durable design means they will last for years.

Plus, you guessed it… each bottle bought equates to 10-15 new trees and 100-150 trees conserved around the world!

• Cork Yoga Mat

Chances are, if your loved one has an earth-conscious mind, they may enjoy the conscious act of doing yoga. Unfortunately, a lot of yoga mats are made from harmful plastics and rubbers that you cannot recycle, and don’t break down easily in a landfill.¹²

Help the woman in your life be able to perform yoga, or exercise or meditate, with a clear conscience with a cork yoga mat. These 100% cork yoga mats are eco-friendly, non-toxic, and biodegradable. Its thick, non-slip material makes it perfect for people of any fitness level, but pride in working out while helping the planet is a nice perk, too.

• Organic Bamboo Washcloths

During and after working out, it’s important to keep your skin clean and clear of sweat and dirt from the exercise. Most facial washcloths are made of cotton, which requires hundreds of acres, abhorrent amounts of water, herbicides, and pesticides to grow.¹³

Help your friend keep her face clear — the environmentalist way — with bamboo washcloths. Bamboo is a very sustainable material, as it grows quickly and doesn’t require harmful chemicals like herbicides. Plus, this material is naturally antimicrobial, luxuriously soft, and strong, so they’ll last plenty of washes.

Exfoliate dead skin, remove acne-causing bacteria, and remove excess oils without over-drying with these organic hypoallergenic bamboo washcloths. As with many of the items on this list, these washcloths also reduce emissions by planting 4 new trees and saving an existing 40 trees!

Gift Her a Clean Carbon Footprint with Carbon Offsets

• Happy Birthday Carbon Offset

For any planet and animal loving person, this carbon offset would be an excellent birthday gift… or for a gift at any other time of year!

That’s because this offset package covers enough CO₂ emissions to offset their carbon footprint by an entire year. This is the gift that keeps on giving, because it also provides the gift of fresh air to plants and animals around the world.

The Happy Birthday Offset Package offsets a whopping 12 tons of CO₂ by planting 130 trees and conserving another 1,300! That sounds like a happy day for everyone involved.

• Pet Lovers Carbon Offset

Having pets doesn’t mean you can’t be environmentally conscious, and in fact… Many people who love the Earth also love animals!

Unfortunately, pets do create quite a carbon footprint, mainly from the food they consume.
It’s been estimated that pets in the US — 160 million domestic dogs and cats — were responsible for 25-30 percent of the environmental impact of meat consumption in the country.¹⁴

That’s 70.5 million tons of CO₂, the same as the annual emissions of 13 million petrol or diesel cars.¹⁴

Luckily though, you can gift your friend this special offset designed to erase that footprint, whether it be from a cat, dog, or hamster. This is done through the planting of 100 trees and conservation of 1,000 trees, all in the name of allowing her pets to be carbon-neutral!

• Binge Watching Carbon Offset

Even the most dedicated environmentalists sometimes need a break, and relax while watching their favorite movies or shows. Even though watching an average of 1.5 hours of TV everyday creates nearly 2 tons of CO₂ emissions per year, you can give the gift of guilt-free streaming with this offset package.¹⁵

This specialized package will make sure that 21 trees are planted to completely erase the footprint of binge-watching, and will conserve another 210 existing trees to help even more. Then, the Earth activist in your life can watch her favorite shows while keeping the planet and its animals safe and healthy!

Gifting for a Greener Future

The women who take charge in the fight against climate change need a little gift of appreciation every now and then. Show your support by carefully choosing a gift for the female environmentalist in your life that not only looks nice or does something cool, but makes a difference.

Your Earth-loving friend or family member will be extra appreciative when her gift supports tree-planting, restoring ecosystems, and rehabilitating wildlife, so choose one of these great eco-friendly gifts for her today!