Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which means lots of family time and delicious food. As advocates for sustainability and eco-conscious practices, we always seek new ways to bring these habits into our everyday lives. And holidays are no exception.
Whether you want to add a few eco-friendly touches to your home decor or simply need some tips to help you plan a sustainable Thanksgiving, we’ve got you covered.
- Adopt-a-Turkey: Having turkey on Thanksgiving? Even it you’re not, we encourage you to look into an adopt-a-turkey program. Many turkeys and other lucky farm animals are rescued from inhumane conditions or poorly operated farms via this program. The organization — and the animals — greatly appreciate your support.
- Eat Local: Check out your local farmer’s market for the ingredients for your Thanksgiving meal. Using locally grown produce, turkey, and other items is a great way to be sustainable this holiday season.
- Clean Your Plate: Disturbingly, the average American wastes $600 in food every single year. So instead of tossing all those Thanksgiving leftovers into the trash, try composting them. Composting is super simple and creates all kinds of great and useful organic matter, which will help your garden thrive come spring.
- Skip the Paper Products: It can be attractive to use paper plates and utensils when feeding a large group. But this produces a lot of waste. Instead, look for an option that is better for the environment (such as these Preserve compostable plates) but won’t leave you with a headache and a sink full of dirty dishes.
- Clean Green: When it’s time to clean up after a big Thanksgiving Day celebration, make sure your cleaning products won’t harm the environment. There are plenty of natural cleaning products on the market today (like this Honest company multi-surface cleaner) that will allow you to keep your home super clean after a big celebration — without all those nasty chemicals!
If you have any other tips for a sustainable Thanksgiving Day celebration, we’d love to hear them! We think the holidays are more enjoyable when we take the time to make smart and sustainable choices.
Feature image courtesy of JD Hancock
This article was updated in December 2019.