Thanksgiving is a time for family, friends, and feasting! It's also a great opportunity to get creative with sustainable Thanksgiving ideas. It can be easy to think that the best way to throw an environmentally-friendly Thanksgiving dinner is for everyone to show up at a local farm and harvest their own food together (like the original Thanksgiving meal!). While this is definitely one option— and it's certainly fun —it might not be practical for every family. Check out these fun Thanksgiving ideas and get brainstorming on how you can start a more eco-friendly tradition!
Create new sustainable Thanksgiving traditions.
To create new sustainable Thanksgiving traditions, start by thinking about your family's favorite traditions. What do you love about them? What would you like to change? And what do you want to keep the same? Make a list of new traditions to try!
You can have a delicious holiday dinner without being wasteful.
Here are some easy ways to cut down on waste while still making your meal super special:
Use reusable dishes, cutlery and cups. Reusable kitchen items are available in many materials, including ceramic, plastic and glass. Make sure to prepare some reusable containers for leftovers that family can bring home!
Use recycled paper products if you’re going to use them at all.
Decorate with gourds and pine cones. Gourds and pine cones are a great way to decorate for the holiday. They're a sustainable alternative to plastic ornaments, and can be used for decorations or as table décor. You can find them at local farms that sell pumpkins and the like! Bonus points if you try growing theme yourself for next year.
Start a compost for your leftovers! Composting allows you to convert food waste into useful soil that can be used in home gardens. Composting is easy and can be done at home. There are plenty of resources online to help get you informed and inspired on how to start a home compost! It can also be great for teaching the whole family about sustainability.
Opt for more plant-based dishes.
If we’re being honest, one of the best things about Thanksgiving is how much food you get to eat. But if you’re looking for a way to reduce your impact on the environment this year, opting for more plant-based dishes is a great place to start.
Plant-based dishes are also better for our health and can be just as delicious!
Shop local for produce and other ingredients.
Shopping local is a great way to support your community. You can get to know the farmers and their practices, and often times they are very happy to talk about sustainability issues such as pesticide use and soil health. Local produce tastes better when it's fresh-picked, so it's no surprise that studies show people prefer the taste of foods that are grown locally. Also, since your food was picked when it was ripe (instead of being shipped from afar), you're more likely to get high levels of antioxidants in your produce that keep you healthy.
Additionally, buying local is better for the environment on multiple levels: less fossil fuel is used in transporting products; fewer chemicals are released into the air or water during production; fewer greenhouse gases are emitted during transportation; etc! Plus buying local means supporting small businesses and keeping money in your community—a win-win all around!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We hope you found these holiday ideas easy, enticing, and inspiring! While they don’t require any major lifestyle changes, they can help you make your holiday meal a little less wasteful and more sustainable.
If you have any special Thanksgiving holiday traditions that are especially sustainable year after year, share them with us in the comments! We’d love to hear.
Comentarios