Thanksgiving is a great time to gather with family and friends, eat yummy food and watch football. Sustainability is probably not a priority on your list while preparing for this particular holiday. However, there are a ton of creative ways to reduce your impact to help preserve something we are all grateful for, the planet! This Thanksgiving try these tips to make your holiday a little more sustainable.
1. Eat organic.
Eating organic reduces the amount of herbicides and pesticides used that could potentially pollute our land and soil.
2. Eat local.
Buy some of your ingredients for your Thanksgiving meal at your local market. Eating locally sourced foods helps to cut down on carbon emissions from transporting food and often involves fewer chemicals.
3. Skip meat.
I know, I know. What is Thanksgiving without turkey? Animal agriculture is responsible for 1/5 of all greenhouse gas emissions. If you just can't go without turkey on Thanksgiving, try to cut down on meat consumption the rest of the year.
4. Use leftovers.
Leftovers are the best part of Thanksgiving in my opinion. If you can't eat every last scrap, compost what you can. The average America family wastes $600 on food a year.
5. Grow some goods.
You probably won't be able to grow all the produce you'll need to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. You can plant the herbs you'll need, all you have to have is a windowsill!
6. Go reusable.
Don't use any disposable plates, silverware, or napkins. Use things you can wash and reuse (plus it's classier).
7. Drink water.
Don't buy individual soda cans or water bottles for your guests (wine bottles excluded). This will drastically increase the amount of waste from you dinner. You can also brew some tea or mix up lemonade. These are great drinks that don't come individually packaged.
8. Don't forget to give thanks!
Reflect on our world and what you can do to continue living a sustainable lifestyle. This one seems silly but our planet is home to everything else you're thankful for.
