THANKSGIVING WITH A MEANING
THANKSGIVING WITH A MEANING
Instead of using imported flowers or plants for your table centerpieces, bring the outdoors in by using twigs, bright orange and red leaves, berries, pine cones, and branches found in your own yard to create a visually stunning, seasonal, and of course eco-friendly centerpiece. Use items you can find in your yard to create an interesting, eco-friendly centerpieces reminding us that seasonal changes are critical to the environment and global warming is dangerously close to preventing natural changes to occur.
Try to cut back on ingredients you cannot find locally as much as possible, including coffee, salt, and other spices. You may even substitute traditional Thanksgiving dishes for those that can be made entirely from ingredients found locally. If you live in a warmer climate, take advantage of the local farmers’ and produce markets in your area. Google https://www.localharvest.org to find your closest market. This can lead you to a local food co-op, which helps not only the organic farmers, but greatly decreases your carbon footprint. If you have family members who are traveling, encourage them to coordinate and carpool with other nearby relatives. Try mass transit as an option. I stopped driving into NYC and now take the train. No more tolls, gasoline bills and parking costs for me.
After the meal it pretty traditional that everyone chips in to clean. Believe it or not, sometimes washing dishes by hand uses more water than the dishwasher.
There are other things to do to make Thanksgiving more meaningful than a huge meal followed by snoozing on the couch waiting for football games on TV (High Def of course). After the game and a rest, head back to the kitchen and eat a mini-version of the main course. Did you know The average American will consume more than 4,500 calories and 229 grams of fat on Thanksgiving Day alone. Surprisingly, most of these calories come from the all-day snacking in front of the TV while watching parades and sporting events. Did you know it takes 1 mile of walking to burn 100 calories? Do the math!
Start a family tradition. Get a scrap book or journal and ask each guest and family member to bring a leaf from their yard. Glue the leaf on a page and have each person write what they are most grateful for that year. Bring it out each year.
Other thoughts on the subject such as: donating food to a Soup Kitchen, using potato “paper” plates and utensils, storing left overs,
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