Two University of Northern Iowa (UNI) staff members want to educate people about how improving their quality of life, particularly during the hectic holiday season, can have environmental benefits, too.

Susan Salterberg and Carole Yates started the program Reclaim Your Holidays in 2010 as a way to encourage people to “rethink their celebrations, to focus more on what is meaningful.” They are program managers with the Center for Energy and Environmental Education at UNI.

“We think when people do that, they will tend to do things that are less hard on the environment. For example, give more meaningful gifts that may be of time/experience, rather than unwanted stuff that uses a lot of...