The holiday shopping season comes with tons of extra emissions. Here’s how to do it sustainably

By CALEIGH WELLS, Associated Press
We’re in the thick of the holiday shopping season, and U.S. residents are expected to shatter the spending record again this year. The National Retail Federation forecasts that 2025 will be the first time we collectively spend more than $1 trillion on year-end gifts.
A lot of materials, energy, packaging and gasoline have gone into making and moving those gifts. All of those processes release planet-warming gases into the atmosphere.
But a lot of that env