subject: 3 Ways To Have A Green Thanksgiving [print this page] Holidays are always glutinous and expensive times. And times like those always mean pollution through over manufacturing of everything we are pushing through lines at the store to buy. But, if you are green-minded, there are ways to backtrack that carbon footprint.
The main event
You can't have Thanksgiving without a turkey, as they say. That's why families all over the country get into full on brawls over the last turkey in the store, even if they don't like the stuff! Jump to another scene: where that turkey came from, which is an industrial farm that packs those birds in like sardines in a can. And that life is short and sad as the birds have their beaks removed to prevent them from pecking and bred to develop at super fast rates giving them chronic pain. Speaking of that growth, the hormones these birds are given are not digestible and usually come back out in their waste, causing damage to the land. The soil in most of these farms is rapidly deteriorating and soon won't be able to support much. Research online for organic meat producers.com for producers that offer grass-fed meat and dairy products. If a producer gets on one of these lists, they have had to go through a vigorous process to prove they don't have any harmful hormones or antibiotics.
The sides
No turkey dinner is complete without cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and string beans. The problem is that, depending on where you live, these things might not be in season for the holidays. And if you did make the effort to only eat seasonal produce, resources spent transporting produce across the country could be saved and pollution could be reduced. Did you know that that apple sitting in your fruit bowl probably made a 1,500 mile trip to get there? Fruits and veggies actually make up about 5% of greenhouse emissions. My good friend is primarily a voice coach but she also offers bi-yearly trips to apple farms and other produce farms in the area for her young students to learn to appreciate organic and local produce. At singing lessons, parents can sign up for these trips so their kids don't just learn how to sing, but they learn to appreciate their local soil.
And finally dessert
Dessert is a big deal at Thanksgiving feasts. And ice cream compliments every single kind of dessert. However, your most beloved ice cream names typically get their dairy from farms that use hormones linked to breast cancer. Try sites like sustainabletable.org to find places with organic ice cream.
