Advice for the Lunar New Year

Red and gold may be the auspicious colors of the Lunar New Year, but you can glean a little green wisdom from some ancient holiday customs.

Obviously, China hasn't set an exemplary environmental model in the last few decades. The country's accelerated growth has blackened its skies, gummed up its waterways, and endangered its food supply.

However, recent changes pushed by coal mine accidents, food safety, and the upcoming Beijing Olympics point to a more environmentally informed policy shift.

Perhaps a better example is to explore the principles behind long-held Chinese traditions and apply these to modern-day scenarios.

Lunar New Year customs differ across regions, countries, and in Diasporas around the world, but let's analyze a few and see how we can use them to celebrate our environment every day.

The vegetarian feast
The family gathers on New Year's eve for a table groaning with dishes, the homonyms of which evoke prosperity, fortune, and fertility. Some families adopt the Buddhist tradition of a meat-free meal to honor the notion of not taking a life on the New Year and cut those animals some slack.

By now it's well-documented that animal agriculture sucks up fossil fuel resources in their care, feeding, and transportation. One United Nations report estimated personal veganism was more emissions-friendly than driving a hybrid. You may not go whole hog (so to speak), but taking one day out of the week to be meat-free could be a good compromise.

Watching the spread
A traditional Chinese diet incorporates soy, greens, fruits, and fungus. It has also long emphasized fresh foods, and the New Year takes that cornucopia to an extreme. Sweets, while important, aren't as prolific either.

For those families who do serve up meat or fish, they are served up whole. Interpretations vary, but many feel that sliced foods present a "broken" dish, while whole foods represent family unity and reinforce notion that an animal's sacrifice deserves to be recognized. In other words, you gotta look that fish or duck in the eye and give thanks.

Pay off your debts
This may be little tough in our credit card culture, but the practice does apply to personal debts as well as business ones. If you knew you had to pay off your debts by the New Year, you'd likely rethink how you spend your money in the first place.

This is another way to assess personal consumption, especially when you throw in the whole newfangled concept of carbon footprints and offsets.

The flow of presents
In American culture, giving cash used to be considered a crass etiquette breach. Gift cards these days have become a suitable next step, but as most cards are unrecyclable plastic, that makes paper money comparatively far less offensive.

Enter the red envelope (called lai see or hong bao) and the tradition of giving crisp bills to all single folk (including children) and employees. The red envelope also gets passed around on birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings.

Eliminating the middle man (i.e., an unwanted gift) could cut down on gas consumption in getting or returning junk to stores and also allows the recipient to direct the cash flow into experiences (a honeymoon, sports tickets) or larger purchases (a house, college savings) rather than a collection of well-meaning but disposable goods (Hula Hands salad scoops). If your upbringing can't embrace giving green, consider other New Year's offerings like fruit and plants as earth-friendly presents.

Other practices stem from folk superstitions that no luck should be accidentally thrown out, so no cleaning that day (sorry, you still have to scrub in the days leading up to New Year), and you shouldn't wash your hair. The daily shower habit really is a 20th-century American luxury, but I'd leave that decision to your personal hygiene -- and to the people who have to put up with you.

Sun neen fai lok (as they say in Cantonese), and happy 4706.