With Thanksgiving coming up, I was thinking of what I can do to take advantage of the upcoming holiday to try being a bit more sustainable. Here are some of my favorite opportunities for being sustainable at Thanksgiving:
Try and cook less. Think about the amount of leftovers you had last year and try to downsize accordingly (especially if you ended up throwing any leftovers away). Cooking less can help your house stay at a more comfortable temperature. If it gets too hot because of the cooking and extra bodies, open some windows before you turn on your air conditioner. Chances are, it is nice outside. So take advantage of it. You’ll end up saving not only on your cooking energy costs, but cooling energy as well.
I’m not a big one on going all organic with my food. . . maybe later in life. However, looking for food items that have less packaging, or environmentally friendly packaging could help.
Use regular plates and dishes. . . yes, you’ll have to wash them, but there should be plenty of people around to help.
If there aren’t plenty of people to help, think about inviting family, neighbors or friends over. Thanksgiving is a great time for creating and strengthening relationships that increases our social sustainability. It is a good opportunity to think of others and be thankful for what we have been giving by sharing. Willingly sharing what we have been given is much more sustainable than being forced to share through social programs, laws etc. So let’s care for each other as much as we’re trying to care for the planet.
Anyway, I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. I’m always thankful for the big HKS family.
Below is a fun image from the Washington Post. The related article is located here.
