Live a Lush Life and Leave a Lush Legacy!
Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for the harvest. Shopping and eating with respect and thanks will enrich your holiday. Here are a few tips.
- Buy local food – directly from the farmers, if you can. This ensures fair standards and reduces the amount of fuel required to get your food to you. The average supermarket item has been transported at least 1300 miles, according to the National Sustainable Agriculture Association. In addition, diverse, free-range, small-scale farms even if they’re not organic, generally use fewer pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics and hormones.
- Vegetables grown organically taste better, and are higher in antioxidants and other nutrients. Organic farming uses less energy (on average, about 30 percent less), is beneficial to soil, water and local habitat, and is safer for the people who harvest it. Plus, you don’t ingest the herbicide, pesticide, fungicide, and fertilizer residue (and reduce demand for that stuff, which is made with fossil fuels).
- If you’re not ready to skip the turkey, buy a small pastured or free-range turkey, and make lots of veggies instead of tons of turkey. Organic turkeys are free of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and antibiotics.
- Eating to excess is bad for you and the planet.
- If you are travelling, do so in the most eco-friendly fashion you can.
- If you decorate, use local gourds, vs. cut flowers that are transported from warmer climates, and are treated with pesticides, fungicides, and fumigants.
- Consider celebrating “Buy Nothing Day” on Friday, instead of “Black Friday.”
- Whether or not you believe in a higher power, bow your head and give thanks for your food. Pause for a moment to appreciate that you are high on the food chain. Be grateful for what you have, and reach out to those who could use some cheer.
May you enjoy a healthy and happy Thanksgiving.