7 Mother's Day Gifts That Show Love And Protect The Planet
Mother's Day is just days away, and while we scramble for thoughtful ways to show love, we often overlook the hidden environmental costs that come with last-minute gift-buying. While this day is not just for biological mothers, it is a chance to honor anyone who has played a nurturing role in our lives, whether that is a grandma, an auntie, an older sister, or a teacher. These women deserve our appreciation and stemming from that, the planet deserves our mindfulness too.
According to the National Retail Federation, consumers are projected to spend $34.1 billion on Mother's Day in 2025, marking a slight increase from $33.5 billion in 2024 and approaching the record $35.7 billion set in 2023. This enduring commitment to honoring the women who nurture, guide, and uplift us reflects the deep value placed on these relationships. However, amidst this outpouring of affection, it is worth considering how our expressions of love can also honor the planet via embracing sustainable gifting practices that still honor them. You can show deep appreciation to the mothers, aunties, grandmas, and nurturing women in your life without harming the planet, or contributing to the exploitation of workers in underregulated supply chains.
Here are 7 last-minute, sustainable Mother's Day gifts that are easy to pull off and rich in meaning.
Peony boquet
Globally, Mother's Day is among the top gift-giving holidays, with millions purchasing cards, flowers, and novelty items that often end up in landfills. Additionally, Mother's Day often is synonymous with giving flowers, however a single flower imported by air emits up to 3 kg of CO₂ based on a Tree Nation report. Choosing potted plants, such as roses or other native flowering species or locally sourced flowers, offer a sustainable alternative and serves as a lasting reminder of your affection once given the right care. For example, Appleyard London is a sustainable flower brand that sources blooms from British and Kenyan farms, reinvesting in local communities by supporting fair wages, safe working conditions, healthcare, childcare, and education; all while minimizing waste through smart forecasting, using mostly recyclable packaging, and constantly improving their eco-conscious practices. In the USA, brands such as BloomsyBox is a sustainable flower option.
Mother and baby girl watering own organic garden.
Does your mom have a garden or flower beds? Help her conserve water and reduce her utility bill by gifting a rain barrel or a basic irrigation system. In drier regions, outdoor watering can account for up to 60% of household water use, according to the U.S. EPA. A rainwater harvesting setup can save thousands of gallons annually, while also protecting local water tables. Not only is it practical and eco-conscious, but she will think of you every time she waters her plants. Here is a DIY video to get you started if you want to create this thoughtful gift for mom.
herbs growing in kitchen
Start her a kitchen garden with potted herbs like mint, rosemary, basil, and thyme. These are easy to grow on a windowsill or balcony, and perfect for teas, soups, or dinner. You can pick up seedlings from a local plant nursery for a meaningful gift that grows with time.
Every mom has a house project that she has been quietly or loudly wishing would get done. Whether it is fixing the curtain rod, organizing the pantry, or helping her rehang photos, giving your time to check something off her mental to-do list is a love language that all moms understand. The bonus is that it costs nothing, creates zero waste, and means a lot. Schedule some time with mom to be her project support for a day or a few hours.
Vaia Cube amplifies sound from cellphone
Instead of the typical mass-produced body care kits, curate a gift basket from local artisans or farmers' markets. Handmade soaps, soy candles, ceramics, herbal oils, and naturally dyed scarves make for a luxurious and eco-conscious experience. If buying new, prioritize brands committed to ethics and the environment—like Vaia, which creates products made from the wood of the 16 million trees that were destroyed in the Vaia storm in Italy. A recommendation is the Vaia Cube which is a passive sound amplifier that requires no electricity and the added sustainable benefit is that each purchase supports reforestation efforts in the Dolomites, with one tree planted for every unit sold. Another sustainable option, is considering planting a tree in her honor through One Tree Planted—a $1 donation equals one tree, and supports global reforestation.
Studies consistently show that experiences create more lasting joy than material gifts Plan something simple but meaningful: a paint-and-sip session, a movie night, a beach picnic, or even a cozy dinner at home where you do the cooking. Shared time is the gift that mom will talk about for years. If you are apart from mom, a virtual mom date with a surprise food delivery or a personal video message still carries heart and minimal environmental impact.
Shot of a young woman helping her mother to use her cellphone
Let's face it, your mom already thinks that you are a tech guru. It may not sound glamorous, but helping her figure out her TV remote, organize apps on her phone, fix her Wi-Fi, adjust her privacy settings or adjusting her phone volume can be a true act of service. You will save her time, frustration, and maybe a ton of missed calls as well as the temptation to replace her devices prematurely which are 'not working'. This act of service will contribute to reduced e-waste, which is the fastest-growing waste stream globally according to a Word Health Organization 2024 report.
Mother's Day should be about reflection, gratitude, and intentional care, not just spending money. More of us are realizing that. According to a 2018 Accenture report, nearly 60% of consumers are now choosing brands that align with their values, including environmental and social responsibility. This year, skip the plastic-wrapped rush gifts and go for something deeper. Show her that loving her includes honoring the world she helped shape, the one you both live in.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
29 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Unemployed Americans Endure Longer Job Searches in a Cooling Market
Job seekers are out in the cold this summer. Especially the ones who have been hunting for a while. Beyond the headline-grabbing top-line numbers in the jobs report for July was another striking piece of data: The number of people unemployed for at least 27 weeks topped 1.8 million, the highest level since 2017, not counting the pandemic's unemployment surge. The median length of unemployment in the U.S. has also ticked up, from a seasonally adjusted 9.5 weeks in July 2024 to 10.2 weeks last month.
Forbes
29 minutes ago
- Forbes
Trump Says He Will Get Drug Prices Down By 1500%
U.S. President Donald Trump is now promising to get pharmaceutical companies to significantly reduce the drug prices that they are charging Americans. On Thursday, the White House announced that Trump had just sent letters to the heads of 17 major pharmaceutical companies pushing them to cut the prices that Americans have to pay down to the levels that people in other countries pay. It's not clear yet by what amount—if any—this will eventually get pharmaceutical companies to reduce prescription medication prices for those in the U.S. But chances are any price reductions that end up occurring won't be anywhere near the 1500% that Trump has promised. Trump Spoke Of 600%, 1000% And 1500% Reductions in Drug Prices Yep, 1500% is the percentage that Trump mentioned in a July reception with members of Congress. 'This is something that nobody else can do,' Trump emphasized then. "We're gonna get the drug prices down. Not 30 or 40 percent, which would be great, not 50 or 60, no. We're gonna get 'em down 1,000 percent, 600 percent, 500 percent, 1,500 percent.' Here's a video of this posted on what used to be Twitter: Getting the prices of medications—or of anything that's sold by companies for that matter—down by more than 100% is certainly something that no one else has done. It's probably something you have never even dreamed of before, since for-profit companies are usually trying to make, you know, a profit. So, it's kind of true what Trump then subsequently said, 'We will have reduced drug prices by 1,000 percent, by 1,100, 1,200, 1,300, 1,400, 700, 600; not 30 or 40 or 50 percent but numbers the likes of which you've never even dreamed of before.' A video of this was also posted on X: Let's do the math. Say a bottle of a medication currently costs $100. A 25% price reduction would bring this cost down to $75. A 100% price reduction would make the medication completely free. Any reduction greater than 100% would presumably mean that the manufacturer would have to pay you. Thus, a 200% price reduction would result in a $100 payday per bottle for you. Holy, new way to earn money, Batman! If Trump can get you a 1500% reduction, hallelujah, time to replace filming YouTube videos with 'buying' medications as the way to make money. Now, the chances that the Trump administration will achieve a 1500% reduction in drug prices are probably a whole lot less than 100%. Getting pharmaceutical companies who have been enjooying very healthy profits for years to pay customers to take their drugs would be quite a trick. Plus, the pharmaceutical companies would have to change their advertisements so that instead of telling you that you may have a condition that you don't realize you have, the ads might say something like 'You're fine and don't have anything that pharmaceutical interventions can't fix. Please don't use our medications. We can't afford you to do so.' Trump Sent Letters To 17 Pharmaceutical Companies Outlining Steps To Reduce Drug Prices That 1500% number may not have been in the letters that Trump sent on Thursday to pharmaceutical manufacturers. Assuming that the letters had the right postage, they went to the leaders of AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Genentech, Gilead, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Regeneron and Sanofi. According to the White House, the letters listed steps to reduce the prices of prescription drugs in the U.S. 'to match the lowest price offered in other developed nations (known as the most-favored-nation, or MFN, price)' The steps are as follows: The letters asserted that there's been 'global freeloading on American pharmaceutical innovation' and did warn that if the outlined steps were't taken by the pharmaceutical companies the federal government "will deploy every tool in our arsenal to protect American families from continued abusive drug pricing practices." Trump Signed An Executive Order Regarding Drug Prices In May Pharmaceutical companies can now be 1500% sure that the Trump administration has them in its political line-of-sight. Back on May 12, Trump signed an Executive Order that asserted the following: 'The United States has less than five percent of the world's population and yet funds around three quarters of global pharmaceutical profits. This egregious imbalance is orchestrated through a purposeful scheme in which drug manufacturers deeply discount their products to access foreign markets, and subsidize that decrease through enormously high prices in the United States.' That Executive Order indicated that the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, which is currently Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., 'shall facilitate direct-to-consumer purchasing programs for pharmaceutical manufacturers that sell their products to American patients at the most-favored-nation price.' Americans Do Pay Higher Drug Prices Than Those In Other Countries It is true that drug prices are typically significantly higher in the U.S. than in other countries. For example, a June 2024 publication in the RAND Health Quarterly described how drug prices in the U.S. were on average nearly three times higher than those in 33 other high-income countries. Over the past two decades, yearly rises in drug prices have easily outpaced inflation. A 2024 KFF poll showed that the majority of Americans are worried about prescription medication costs being too high. Such worries shouldn't be that surprising. Many prescription medications are not like mullets or fruitcakes. Taking them is often not a choice. Your well-being and even your life could literally depend on being able to afford the medication. And many pharmaceutical companies have shown no qualms about raising the price of medications as soon as they can. For example, even after receiving substantial funding from the U.S. government, Pfizer and Moderna quickly raised the prices of their COVID-19 vaccines as soon as the government wouldn't completely pay for them, as I described in Forbes in 2023. It is also true that talk about drug prices being too high in the U.S. is not new. Yet, none of the Presidential Administrations over the past two decades have done much to significantly alter these trends. I've written about state-wide efforts to reduce drug prices, such as Propostion 61 in California. But there's been a lack of more comprehensive efforts at the federal level to do so. The challenge is that a number of trends in the current U.S. system are contributing to higher drug prices. For example, mergers and acquisitions over the years have led to fewer, larger and more dominant pharmaceutical companies with less competition. Existing cost structures and requirements make it more difficult for new pharmaceutical companies to emerge and provide more competition. Cuts in funding and support for scientific research has made it harder and harder to develop new products. Fewer new products leave patients with fewer alternatives and existing products with less competition. Consumers and different purchasers have lacked negotiating power in general. At the same time, it seems like more and more people have been getting pieces of the drug price pie. This has included various middle people such as pharmacy benefits managers and different administrators. The marketing budgets of pharmaceutical companies have continued to grow as well. On top of that, investors have expected pharmaceutical companies to have ever increasing profitability. All of this means that a single simple intervention probably has a small percentage chance of reducing drug prices in a sustainable manner. Instead, a system approach may be needed, meaning multiple interventions at different points in the system that work together in a coordinated manner. Otherwise, there may be unintended consequences. A sustainable reduction in drug prices means one in which the math works out for all patients. You don't want a situation where the prices of some drugs are reduced while those of others are raised. You also don't want a situation where the costs end up being hidden.
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump fires Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner after weak jobs report
The president fired the commissioner on Friday after a weaker-than-expected July jobs report showed hiring slowed with only 73,000 new jobs created, and revisions revealed hiring in May and June was much less than initially reported.
