Maybe you’ve had this experience. You’re standing in the store aisle doing some last minute gift shopping and you are getting further and further from making a decision. You’re questioning everything. And everything, the sweaters on the rack, the kitchen gadgets on the shelf all start to look…like a lot of stuff your loved ones don’t really need.

MPR News producer Alanna Elder noticed that feeling recently. And she started really thinking about it. A lot of the gifts we buy this holiday season will probably end up in a landfill eventually, polluting the earth long after we’re gone. And making all of those items releases greenhouse gas emissions that are fueling climate change. At the same time, many small business owners rely on holiday spending. It’s a major part of the economy.

For help thinking of a solution to buy more stuff and contributing to climate change, Alanna talked to Emily Barker. She is the Executive Director of ReUse Minnesota, an organization that works to protect the environment by promoting reuse, repair and borrowing rather than buying new. For the last three years they’ve put out a holiday gift guide.