Alice Dehghanzadeh
Senior Staff Writer
With Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s important to take into account effective ways to celebrate the holiday sustainably. After all, since it’s a time to be thankful, surely that translates to gratitude for our environment and our planet? A few mindful choices go a long way in the world of sustainability, and, with some creativity, we can create a memorable and kind Thanksgiving. Let’s celebrate with purpose and compassion!
One of the best ways to celebrate sustainably is by carefully planning to avoid food waste. According to ReFED, a non-profit organization working to end food loss, about 305 million pounds of food was wasted in 2021’s Thanksgiving — a stupendous amount. Be realistic about how much food you and your family will eat, and encourage guests to take leftovers.
Speaking of leftovers, 2024 is the year to get creative! Leftovers can often last for days, and, with a little originality, they can be transformed into new meals. Food Network offers inspiring ideas, and includes dishes like stuffing waffles, turkey dumpling stew, and Thanksgiving nachos. This extends the usage of your Thanksgiving food by adding more variety, and it helps reduce food waste too.
Another way to celebrate sustainably is to support local farmers by using local ingredients. Try sourcing your produce from local markets and grocery stores who commit to sustainability. Websites like LocalHarvest, based in Los Angeles, and nationwide resource The Good Meat Project help point you in the right direction to said markets and stores. Additionally, organic ingredients and pasture-raised turkeys make a grand difference. Not only does this reduce your carbon footprint, but it also boosts the local economy and aids small businesses!
After your grand meal, composting can do a great deal of good for the environment. Composting vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, and other biodegradable materials is a fantastic way to give back to the earth. This habit helps create nutrient-rich soil that enables plants and flowers to grow faster and stronger, adding more carbon-consuming flora into the environment and slowing down climate change. According to Olus Environmental, an organization working towards a greener planet, composting also reduces methane emissions from food waste in landfills and creates nutrient-rich soil.
Since ovens and stoves use a lot of energy, cooking large meals only increases the impact. To minimize energy consumption, cooking several dishes at once and planning your time accordingly can help reduce energy usage. Additionally, one can opt for more cold side dishes or ones that don’t require cooking/baking. Finally, using smaller appliances like your crockpots, pressure cookers, and air fryers can aid energy conservation, making your kitchen more efficient and sustainable.
Thanksgiving travel also takes a toll on the environment, especially considering the carbon emissions created by vehicles of transportation. At the same time, seeing family members is often unavoidable during a holiday that celebrates them. There are ways to reduce carbon emissions: carpooling when local enough and, if family gatherings are far from home, booking direct flights or using public transportation when possible. If we all took this individual responsibility to lessen our unique carbon footprints, there would be an extremely noticeable change.
As for those decorations, think about DIY projects that use natural materials (dried flowers, leaves, pumpkins, etc) which are both festive and compostable. Using real dishware and silverware instead of single-use plastic can also reduce the impact on the environment. If this isn’t feasible, you can rent reusable dinnerware or encourage guests to bring their own.
Thanksgiving is undoubtedly about gratitude; one of the best ways to celebrate this gratitude is by giving back to the community. Volunteering at a local food bank, soup kitchen, or shelter can help support those in need. Sustainability is about looking forward to a future we can all live comfortably in, and thus, by extending the kindness beyond our dinner tables, we embrace the spirit of Thanksgiving itself.
This year, consider commemorating Thanksgiving more sustainably by reducing food waste, using sustainable ingredients, finding eco-friendly ways to travel, taking part in creative ways to decorate and cook, and volunteering. We can make the holiday that much more meaningful. A sustainable Thanksgiving embodies the epitome of the holiday itself — that is, that our planet is crucial to look after since we are so grateful for it.