This year’s Thanksgiving holiday is likely to be one to be remembered for my fiance and I. Not only will it be our first Thanksgiving in our new home, but we are hosting my future in-laws for a family dinner. Both my fiancé and I are self-proclaimed professional environmentalists, so it seems only fitting that for this holiday we make the extra effort to find new ways to green our celebration. Since I’ve been spending some time thinking about how to turn a yellow and orange holiday green, I thought I would share a few tips over the next few days as you prepare for your family’s holiday.

Shop Strategically

Before you leave the house to gather all of the groceries and other necessary items you will need to host your Thanksgiving dinner, take a moment to plan your trip. Deciding what you need and where you plan to get those items will help you map out the most efficient route to take and reduce the number of stops you make – all aiding in reducing the amount of gas you use. One method I have found to reduce the amount of miles I drive is to use my GPS which helps me order stops in the most efficient way and, of course, ensures I don’t waste gas on a wrong turn or by sitting in traffic.

Better yet, go dark green on this step by taking public transportation and walking for errands that are less than two miles away. Every little bit counts so do the best you can.

Buy Local and Learn When Organics Are Worth the Expense

Buying products produced locally not only supports your community’s local economy (something all of our communities could use) but it also helps reduce your carbon footprint. Locally made products are not shipped thousands of miles to get to you – a major reduction in the amount of fossil fuels used. Further, locally grown produce from your farmers market just tastes so much better than that out of season fruit in the grocery store. Search for your closest farmers market or other local harvest. Not all organic foods are equal in their bang (benefit) for the buck (cost). For produce, the Environmental Working Group is there to help. They have created a pocket shoppers guide to help you decide based on which fruits and vegetables are found to be most highly contaminated with pesticides. To be fair, it’s also important to think more broadly about the use of pesticides by taking into account the workers who are exposed to the chemicals in the fields. This is a time of year for us to be thankful for all of the people who help us bring safe, healthy food to our tables, the least we can do is work to protect their health and safety too.

Conventional, Organic, Free-Range, To-fur-Key – What to Choose? Stay Tuned for the next post.

Image by Flickr user Lordog used under a Creative Commons License.