Home
»
Tagged: "
mother nature
"
Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday for many. It's a time to eat, indulge and spend uninterrupted time with family. It's also a time for reflection. A time to think about what we're thankful for and a time to think about how the choices we make impact our families and the planet.
Although every day provides an opportunity for reflection and change, Thanksgiving stands out as the perfect day to kick off a few new habits that will effect the longevity of our planet. If each of us revamped our consumption and waste habits by slightly adjusting what's already in place, the overall impact could be huge.
Here are a few tips for the Thanksgiving holiday that will reduce our carbon footprint and help keep the planet healthy for generations to come.
1. Shop Local
Shop locally this Thanksgiving and lend your support to the little local business rather than the big box stores. Go for holiday supplies that don't need to travel far to get to your Thanksgiving table.
2. Buy Organic
Organic food typically requires 30-50 percent less energy during production than its conventional counterpart. Make the shift this Thanksgiving to a table with more organic food choices. Knowing that your food isn't sprayed with pesticides, chemicals or GMOs is enough reason to incorporate organic foods into your menu.
3. Turn the Heat Down
Watch your home heat up on its own as your Thanksgiving guests arrive and as the oven is turned on to warm the food. Rather than opening windows to cool off the space, remember to set the thermostat a few degrees lower before the celebration begins.
4. Don't Use Disposables
Make the switch to reusable napkins, skip the paper towels and pull out the good dishes this Thanksgiving. It's a bit more effort at the end of the evening, but it's worth it. Each person in the United States uses 749 pounds (340kg) of paper every year. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the pulp and paper industry may contribute to more global and local environmental problems than any other industry in the world. The industry is the third largest industrial emitter of global warming pollution.
5. Reduce the Amount You Buy
Reducing is the first of the 3 Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. When planning your Thanksgiving celebration, try making some slight alterations to your shopping list. Give some extra thought as to whether or not you truly need those items on your list and reduce the amount of food and decorations if possible.
6. Compost Table Scraps
Did you know that a typical household throws away an estimated 474 pounds of food waste each year? That means about 1.5 lbs. per person a day in the United States. Food scraps generated by all households in the U.S. could be piled on a football field more than five miles (26,400 feet) high. Compost those vegetable scraps and watch your garden thrive.
7. Fill Your Dishwasher Before Running
Fill your dishwasher to capacity before running a cycle. You'll end up saving water, energy and detergent.
8. Green Your Turkey
A Cornell study shows it takes 14 units of fossil fuel to produce a serving of turkey. If you're planning to have turkey, try to make it a little greener by purchasing it from a local market or farm. If the turkey is traveling a long distance to get to your table, that's adding to your carbon footprint. Best option -- skip the turkey!
9. Clean with Non-Toxic Cleaners
Make the switch to non-toxic cleaning products. When making the switch to green cleaning products, replace products you're currently using as they run out with a safer version. Take the time to research safer, non-toxic products and then make the switch.
10. Stay Local
According to USA Today, it's predicted that 24.6 million passengers will fly on U.S. airlines domestically and internationally between November 21 and December 2 this year. That's a 1.5 percent increase from last year, or 31,000 more passengers on average a day. For many of us, traveling is a long-standing tradition and needed to visit with our family. Use this handy calculator from The Nature Conservancy to help you calculate the amount of carbon you emit and offer ways of offsetting those emissions.
If your plan is to drive, make sure your tires are fully inflated and your car has been properly serviced. This will help reduce your carbon emissions and improve your gas mileage.
Mother’s Day is less than a week away, which means there are only a few days to buy the “perfect” gift for mom. According to statisticbrain.com, $14.6 billion will be spent on Mother’s Day, with the average person spending around $126 on mom for her special day.
While flowers and diamonds are beautiful, and everyone loves a card and a day at the spa, these practices are not sustainable. Cutting flowers, mining diamonds, purchasing cards made of paper resources and wasting water at the spa are all the opposite of living green on Mother’s Day. Mom loves the sentiment of these things, but imagine how much more she would love sustainable gifts which are Mother Nature approved. Pair these gift ideas with a homemade card made with recycled paper and a meal of ethically sourced food for an awesome, green Mother’s Day this year.
Organic Tea, Wine and Chocolate
Moms love tea, wine and chocolate. Why not take the extra step to make these gifts organic and better yet, locally sourced, too? Organic tea is much better for you because it is processed with fewer chemicals, and the tea bags are also free of chemicals. Organic and ethically sourced chocolates and wines are also good for you, and your mom can rest easy knowing that she’s consuming these indulgences that are good for the environment as well as good for her body. If you don’t have a store near you where you can go purchase these items in person, try some great companies that ship from the web. For organic, fair trade tea, click here. For wine, click here. For delicious chocolates, click here.
Provide a Service
What mother doesn’t need something done for her around the house? Does she need her house cleaned from top to bottom, spring cleaning style? Does she need her yard cleaned up to get ready for the summer? Providing a service uses almost no resources, and if you do it yourself, you can make sure to do it in an eco-friendly way. For cleaning, use green cleaning products with no chemicals. You can find them in stores or make your own. For yard work, use chemical-free weed killers and fertilizers and plant an extra tree or bush.
Plan an Eco-Friendly Spa Day
Many spas and salons offer eco-friendly spa services. It might take a little extra work, but call around to salons and spas near you to see if you can find one that provides these services at reasonable prices. If you can’t find one near you, try buying your mom some eco-friendly spa products she can use at home. An added benefit to this is that it isn’t a one-time spay day; she can use the products you buy her whenever she needs a little bit of relaxation.
Plant Flowers Instead of Picking Them
I love the idea of planting a few rose bushes in lieu of a bouquet of flowers. Roses are easy to plant and hearty flowers that don’t take a whole lot of maintenance. Once they start blooming, it’s easy to pick flowers to make your own bouquet as you prune the bushes. If the mom in your life is an avid gardener, she will love the opportunity to plant more. If she’s not, consider planting the flowers for her. Then, she’s sure to enjoy their blooms all summer long.
Create Recycled Jewelry
If your mom is a lover of all things sparkling and shiny, consider recycling jewelry to create something new for her. Try raiding your own jewelry box or another family members for old pieces that are rarely worn. An experienced jeweler can melt these pieces down and create something entirely new and beautiful. This is also a wonderful thing to do because the piece you end up with will be especially unique for your mom while requiring no new resources to create. If you don’t have jewelry you’re willing to melt down, look for pieces that are made from recycled products. A simple search on Etsy will yeild many beautiful pieces out there made from recycled glass and metals that your mom will love.
When the work day is done and it’s time for laughter on the porch with friends, there’s no better accessory than a glass of good wine in your hand. Unfortunately, in these days of rapid climate change, conservation and the wine industry are increasingly at odds. Every time we buy a bottle now, there are lots of questions riddled with eco-guilt: Is it better to buy a glass bottle or paper box? Cork or no cork? Organic or biodynamic? Did this glass of wine displace precious wildlife?
“Viticulture has traditionally been concentrated in places with a Mediterranean climate, in countries such as Italy and Greece and in regions including California’s Napa and Sonoma valleys,” wrote Care2′s Kristina Chew. “As temperatures have risen and rainfall fluctuated and even lessened, growers in search of a suitable climate for their grapes have been moving to other areas, with huge implications for ‘habitat quality.’”
As I reported earlier this year, demand for cooler climate wines, like pinot noir, has grown over the past decade. As climate change causes California’s interior valleys to heat up, vineyards have begun to eyeball the cooler regions of Northern California and Southern Oregon–coincidentally the same limited regions where redwoods flourish. Putting wine lovers in the position of deciding whether their favorite beverage is more important than age-old trees.
Luckily, there are some wine makers that realize the importance of working in harmony with the planet, rather than in opposition to it. Recently, I had the opportunity to taste test some wines from just such an eco-conscious wine maker: Concha y Toro. What I found most impressive about these wines (besides the delicious taste) is the creative ways they’re working to preserve the land in and around their wineries.
The Wine
Gran Reserva Serie Riberas Chardonnay – I typically do not like chardonnay. I find it bitter and dry in the worst ways. But this chardonnay was a pleasant departure. Although the acid was still there, it was muted and palatable. The stronger flavor was of tropical fruit with a soft, clean mineral notes beneath. We enjoyed it with some grilled halibut and greens, and it was delicious.
Casillero Del Diablo Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon – While I love all red wine, I’m typically a pinot noir kind of girl. I like my fruity wines, what can I say? This wine gave me another reason to consider Cabernet Sauvignon with dinner, however. The flavor was rich, but those fruity notes–cherry, black currant and dark plum–were still there to balance out the dryness. We enjoyed it with steak tips with a horseradish dipping sauce and sweet potato mash.
The Conservation
Wine production carries a significant water footprint, but with strong mitigation strategies in place, Concha y Toro uses 25 percent less water to produce a glass or wind than the estimated global average for the wine industry.
As the climate changes, Concha y Toro has chosen to place their newest vineyards in places that are naturally resistant to temperature changes. The “Riberas” or “riverbank” series is cultivated in areas with lower temperatures moderated by natural elements, like nearby rivers, elevation, and ocean breezes.
Like many wineries, Concha Y Toro is responsible for both cultivated and unplanted lands and forests. Rather than clearing these areas, the winery again seeks balance. Concha y Toro is committed to the conservation of 8,000 acres of Chilean native forest planted in harmony with their vines.
Lastly, the bottle. As of 2014, Concha y Toro has been able to reduce its carbon emissions by 3.3 tons, just by using lighter weight glass bottles.
