Another option for symbolic adoptions - some of my favorite places by my favorite environmental organization - the Sierra Club:

Give a Gift That's Truly Wild! Now you can give a green holiday gift and at the same time help protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Yosemite, or another spectacular wild place. A Sierra Club Wild Places sponsorship is a special gift that also helps preserve America's wild legacy.
Sponsorship gifts cost as little as $25 and include a plush puppet and/or rucksack that will delight fledgling environmentalists as well as the grownup tree-huggers in your family -- and shipping is FREE! By giving a symbolic sponsorship gift, you can affirm your environmental values, while sharing those values with a family member or friend in a way they are sure to enjoy.
Give a Wild Places sponsorship today.

That Time of Year

Feeling not-very-consumery and fraught with worry about what we and ours have wrought on this small spaceship Earth of ours? Adopt a cute and furry thing from Defenders of Wildlife. You help the planet and you get something to cling to as you fret over our collective future. The selection is even better this year. I even have a discount code for ya. So cheer the heck up!