Action Tips: Have a Green Thanksgiving Day

Rally the troops

Being eco-aware is everyone’s job, so involve your entire family. A family approach can create good eco-habits and be a lot of fun too.

Go local and orgo

Each ingredient in the average Turkey Day dinner travels 1500 miles to get to your table. Talk about an insane carbon footprint! Organic can get expensive but you don’t have to buy everything organic, just those foods that are loaded with pesticides, chemicals, additives and hormones. Check out our list here.

Skip the gobble gobble

Turkeys are often given hormones to speed up growth and antibiotics to resist disease, and pesticides are used to grow the grain fed to the animals. All these chemical pollute our groundwater and rivers, and aren’t too good for our bodies either. So how about holding off on the turkey this year? Vegetarian meals have a much smaller impact on the planet, and with so many veggie recipe options, you won’t even miss the big bird.

Ban paper and plastic!

If every family in the U.S. bought one less package of paper plates a year, we could save almost half a million trees. Help out by using reusable plates, utensils and cups. If reusables don’t work for you, try cutlery made of 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper, sugarcane, or corn – and all are compostable, to boot. And have reusable containers on hand for the mountain of leftovers.

Scents for your digs

Traditional air fresheners aren’t exactly green, and, believe it or not, green options can actually be cheaper. Boil whole cinnamon sticks and cloves on the stove. To conserve energy, simply place all the items in a bowl of boiling water and let the vapor do the work.

Decorate with nature

Create your own earth-loving decorations to adorn your dinner table and avoid buying products you’ll probably toss at the end of the evening. Go on a treasure hunt for natural materials you can use to bring the harvest feeling inside: try branches, berries, rose hips, leaves, pine cones and gourds.

Remember the three Rs

Keep the “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra in mind even when the fiesta is over. Give new life to things you used: like those spaghetti sauce jars can be used for leftovers, and don’t forget to return your natural décor pinecones back to nature.

Compost the scraps

You can compost anywhere these days. It’s simply allowing organic matter to decay and returning it to the soil instead of tossing it in the garbage.

Collect for others

Keep the cans of green beans, carrots, and other non-perishables that your family doesn't end up using. Encourage everyone to bring it to school so that you can donate the cans to those in need.

Stick to home base

More than 65 million Americans travel away from home for Thanksgiving every year creating a massive amount of air pollution. Consider choosing a central location for your family get together that’s closest to all the revelers. Use public transportation if you can, or if you’re leaving town, travel by train or bus. If your destination is too far-flung, go for an airline with environmental policies in place. And if all else fails, buy carbon offsets.

Skip Black Friday

The busiest shopping day of the year is a waste of gas! And do you really want to spend your day battling crowds when you could spend it relaxing with your fam?

Create a new tradition

Rescue a turkey from a thankless fate at the dinner table by providing one with a safe, loving home. Check out FarmSanctuary.org for details.

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