Ahhh, Thanksgiving. A time of large, lavish meals, slothful football-watching that kicks off the traditionally excessive fall/winter holiday season with its gift-giving and feast-eating. Not the most eco-friendly time of the year, at least traditionally, but there are ways you can make Thanksgiving and the post-Turkey Day holiday season a little greener this year.
1. Purchase, cook and serve locally-grown food where possible. Food transported from halfway around the world means more pollution. Whole Foods Market - if you’re lucky enough to have one in your city - carries lots of locally produced foodstuffs. And Use organically-grown products where possible. Again, Whole Foods Market or similar stores is a good source of such things. Organic and local - two of several ways to make your Thanksgiving feast as green as possible.
In regards to organic and local, the carbon calculations are complex, as the Seattle Post-Intelligenger noted in this recent article:
University of Washington researchers have compared greenhouse gas emissions from a plate of wild Alaskan salmon and Washington-grown produce with its imported counterparts. They found that the local plate saves 2 pounds of carbon emissions compared with the same meal made with New Zealand apples, Peruvian asparagus, Idaho potatoes and farm-raised Norwegian salmon. But the study, done last year, also noted that driving a few miles to a farmers market would wipe out the environmental benefits.
From a climate-change perspective, the distance the food traveled was often a less important factor than fuels and fertilizers used on the farm and how productive the land is. Just counting “food miles” — or how far away something is grown — is too simplistic, said Branden Born of the UW Department of Urban Design and Planning, who oversaw the study.
Transportation typically accounts for only about 11 percent of climate-altering emissions associated with food, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison research.
2. If you’re traveling by car, take the one that sips gas the slowest even if it means you’re packed into the Prius instead of sprawled into the Suburban. (You can skip this one if you have loud children who fight alot and need to be separated on different seating rows.)
3. Serve green bean casserole. (We’re not sure if that’s really environmentally friendly, but it’s a traditional Thanksgiving dish that’s easy to make and green if not “green.”)
4. Skip the traditional day-after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” shopping trip to the mall. First of all, it’s the busiest shopping day of the year - do you really want to be in that big, noisy crowd? Of course not. And while we know that driving to the mall creates carbon emissions, circling the parking lot endlessly looking for a spot just increases the environmental damage. If you must go, think about carpooling.
5. Or just shop online.
6. Recycle your Thanksgiving feast cooking oils.
7. Root for the Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers against the Detroit Lions in their Thanksgiving Day clash. Okay, this one’s seemingly got nothing to do with the environment, Until you realize that the Packers are playing Detroit, home of the Big Three automakers, who need to do more to make their cars more fuel-efficient and cleaner. So, root for Favre and the Packers. Plus, you’ll be rooting for a future first-ballot Hall of Famer who is an absolute joy to watch play.
8. Reduce your holiday trash output. The Daily Green offers some good tips on how to do that.
9. Don’t be too quick to throw away the left-overs. But be sure to compost what you can when you do.
10. Don’t leave the holiday lights on 24/7. Turn them off when you go to bed. It’ll save electricity, save you money, and make the neighbors happy.
