5 Tips for a Sustainable Thanksgiving

Is it your turn to host Thanksgiving this year? Family and friends are trickling into town, which means you may be rushing around trying to finish everything you set out to do. While you are doing this, you may not be thinking about what steps you can take to have an eco-friendly holiday season to improve your life, the lives of your family members, and the environment.

Here are five tips you can implement to not only have a fun time during Thanksgiving but a sustainable time as well:

1. This Thanksgiving, think about serving less food, making/buying foods that can be composted, and/or donating leftover food to organizations to benefit people who need assistance. This way you are helping improve air quality by decreasing leftovers that may go un-eaten and thrown in the garbage while possibly helping someone in need.

2. If you are the one hosting your friends and family at your house, plan on staying at home and spending some quality time there on the holiday instead of driving to the mall to shop or whatever else you plan to do after eating. If you are the one commuting to a family member or friend’s home, consider taking alternate transportation such as DART, Trinity Metro, or DCTA.

3. You are likely beginning to think about or even purchase gifts for friends and family members for either Christmas, Kwanzaa, or Hanukah. As you do, choose quality over quantity. Give gifts that have meaning and/or purpose behind them. Consider giving the gift of experiences that you can purchase through websites such as Groupon rather than simply giving items. This can help you minimize giving gifts for the sake of giving them and possibly save you some time and money. Most importantly, it can help reduce the buying and selling of goods that contribute to waste, which leads to air pollution. Click here for more ideas on how to give gifts sustainably.

4. Find those meaningful gifts by shopping online. You can find some great deals during Black Friday and Cyber Monday that occur after Thanksgiving. Every time you drive to the store, you are affecting the environment in a negative way with gas emissions. Shopping online will help you save time and gas money while reducing the amount of cars on the road, bettering travel conditions. Click here for more information on why shopping online is a better choice for you and the environment.

5. Before the 2019 year begins, think about what you are thankful for and what you can do to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Make gradual changes such as reducing your use of straws and using reusable cups and bags. These changes may later become habits that can benefit yourself, your family, and the world we live in.