Holiday Shopping Outside the Box (Stores)

According to the National Retail Federation, holiday sales in 2012 will amount to $586.1 billion with online shoppers responsible for spending about half of that sum. We don’t have a statistic to translate those credit card transactions into mouse clicks, but suffice it to say ethernet hubs across the nation will be buzzing for the next four weeks.

We’ve discussed the problems with buying stuff before, but this time of year tends to drive consumerism. So as long as it’s shopping season, here are a few recommendations to guide your holiday purchases:

1. If the people on your list don’t really need a new scarf or book, check out Charity Navigator and donate in their name to a cause they might like. The website works to guide intelligent giving and offers a thorough education of and vetting for many of the big charities in the world.

2. Some of the little guys, organizations set up by many of our Mountainfilm guests, don’t hit the charts on Charity Navigator and a small donation to one of them can go a long way. Some examples include 88 Bikes (Dan and Jared Austin), FilmAid, The Himalayan Cataract Project (Geoffrey Tabin), Paradox Sports (Timmy O’Neill) and Machik.

3. Lastly, if you need something to wrap, we’re offering 20 percent off all merchandise in the online Mountainfilm store, where you can find fleece and down jackets, t-shirts, bamboo eating utensils, sunglasses, goggles and backpacks. Proceeds go directly to Mountainfilm and our efforts to educate and inspire audiences about issues that matter, cultures worth exploring, environments worth preserving and conversations worth sustaining. Use code "20off" at checkout. Our sale ends November 30.

Happy Black Friday.