We are in a climate crisis, a waste crisis, and a plastic crisis. The last thing we need is for people to purchase more landfill junk. Everyone has a right to clean water and clean air. Buying less stuff, and producing less waste helps keep our water and air clean.
Purchase items of quality and things you really need this holiday. Also, become aware of the plastic that you send to the landfill.
Zero Waste is moving from our throw-away and overconsumption culture to a more sustainable way of reusing and refusing.
Food waste in landfills produces harmful methane gas.
The EPA reports that garbage increases 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Here are new ways to reduce your waste.
Buy Nothing! It isn’t hard to get caught up in the hectic holidays and craze of overconsumption. Shopping til you drop is not what this time of year is really about.
We have a worldwide trash crisis, and we don’t need to be purchasing more junk to end up in landfills or garbage burners. All this consumption contributes to our climate crisis, more air pollution and more water pollution. When you shop purchase quality items that will last, always bring your own reusable shopping bags, and reduce your plastic packaging.
Bring your reusable bags and reduce your plastic packaging.
Below is from the Story of Stuff Team:
Black Friday is an annual heavily-advertised mega shopping day with the goal of convincing you to buy as much as possible. But every product you buy has an environmental and labor cost, from long before it hits store shelves to long after you toss it in the bin.
Shopping til you drop is not what this time of year is really about. This holiday season, we’re encouraging everyone to buy less, buy better or buy nothing. Let’s focus less on stuff and more on joy!
Handy tip: unsubscribe from brand emails to simplify your life. And use Catalog Choice to opt-out of junk mail and unwanted catalogs.
We want to get back to the original joy of the season. Here are some meaningful things we can spend our time and money on:
Do something you have been meaning to do for a long time, and have fun!
Go for a walk or read that book you’ve been meaning to start
Write personalized holiday messages for those closest to you
If you are buying gifts, shop secondhand or support small businesses
Invite loved ones over for a home-cooked meal and games
Try an experience: check out a new restaurant, movie or concert with friends
Donate to or volunteer for a cause you care about
Participate in a community exchange like your local Buy Nothing Group
Write a thank you note or a note of gratitude to someone.
Six ideas to help you reduce your plastic this Thanksgiving from my friends at Beyond Plastic
1. Choose Scratch Over Store-Bought
Most store-bought dishes from supermarkets and restaurants will be packaged in plastic containers. To avoid the unnecessary plastic, focus on cooking from scratch. Ingredients like vegetables, flour, butter, and nuts can be commonly found in non-plastic packaging. For items like nuts and dried fruits, see if your local market, co-op or health food store has a bulk section and bring your own bags to fill up! When faced with a choice of packaging, choose glass or paper over plastic. If you’re looking for inspiration, see our (newly expanded) recipe suggestions below.
2. Shop Local
Shopping locally not only reduces your meal’s carbon footprint, but you can bring your own bags and containers and you’re less likely to encounter plastic packaging than at your grocery store. Small businesses also need our support more than ever during the pandemic. Give your community your thanks by supporting each other!
If you don’t have the time or inclination to make pumpkin, pecan, or apple pie from scratch, check your local bakery. While you’re there, pick up the bread you’ll need to make your stuffing and bring it all home in your reusable bags. Visit your local farmers market to pick up potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, greens, and more. If your farmers market is closed for the season, many CSAs (community supported agriculture) also offer a special one-time Thanksgiving share of goodies to anyone, even if you’re not a subscriber.
3. Use Sustainable Decor
Forget the dollar store, make the perfect fall decor for your table setting with things from your backyard and local farm stand. Pressed leaves and pumpkins make for great wall and table adornments! Check out some DIY ideas here. And don’t forget to get the kids involved!
4. Serve on Reusable Dishes & Dinnerware
Plastic utensils and cups end up in landfills, incinerators, or waterways where they can pose a threat to wildlife. Set your table with a beautiful tablecloth, ceramic or metal plates, cups, serving platters, metal utensils (got a set of silverware from your parents or grandparents you can bust out?), and cloth napkins. This can also include glass pitchers or bottles for drinks. If your family enjoys seltzer, consider investing in a SodaStream or other carbonation machine (tip: choose the model that comes with glass bottles over plastic). If you have kids, assign them the task of polishing silver—they may find it deeply satisfying. Sticking to reusables only will not only reduce your waste but also save you money. Get family or friends to help wash anything delicate that can’t go in the dishwasher and toss all your cloth items in the washing machine afterwards. No muss, no fuss, and, more importantly, no WASTE.
5. Provide or Bring Reusable Containers for Leftovers
Going to family or friend’s home for dinner? Bring your own glass or metal containers to cart home some delicious leftovers. There are also some great beeswax-coated fabric wraps out there these days that can take the place of plastic wrap or tinfoil. If you are hosting the dinner, remind guests to bring reusable containers with them. If you have extras to spare (say from all those take-out containers you saved during COVID lockdown), you can offer them to guests who’ve forgotten to bring their own. If you haven’t yet invested in glass or metal containers, don’t let that stop you – just bring plastic tupperware or clean yogurt containers, etc., but make sure not to heat anything up in those containers later to avoid the chemical leaching that occurs when hot food comes into contact with plastic. If you do use aluminum foil, when you’re done, don’t forget to gently clean and dry it and save it to use again.
6. Compost!
Compost any scraps from cooking or leftovers that aren’t being saved, as well as any compostable decor you’ve put up or used on the table once you tire of it. Reminder, if your Thanksgiving dinner includes a turkey, make stock out of the carcass before you compost it—you can make an excellent, very flavorful turkey soup or freeze it for months. If you’re not sure what can and can’t be composted, check out this helpful list. If you don’t have a backyard compost, see if your city or town has a local composting system. If they don’t, look into how to start one. HINT: This could be a great project for a Beyond Plastics Local Group or Affiliate to take on.
From November 13 to November 19 world meetings in Kenya are being held to try to stop the spread of plastic pollution. Plastic is a serious health problem, polluting our bodies and our environment. Made of fossil fuels plastic contains thousands of toxic materials and breaks down into to tiny microfibers that are found in every organ of our bodies. Recycling plastic intensifies the toxicity. Sign the Greenpeace petition below to help reduce plastic!
Make a concentrated effort to reduce your plastic exposure
A new study led by scientists from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden has found that recycled plastics contain hundreds of toxic chemical compounds, including pharmaceutical drugs, pesticides and industrial compounds.
The scientists say this means plastics are not fit for most purposes
The fourth Saturday in October is a day to make a difference.
Today on Make a Difference Day spread kindness and compassion. Take time to smile and be friendly to everyone you have contact with. Kindness creates a ripple that keeps on multiplying! Smile, listen and radiate kindness!
Also, be kind to the Earth. This letter to the editor might give you some ideas:
Thrown away but still there
As a kindred spirit in garbage collection, I both share Ron Currie Jr.’s small sense of accomplishment and often much greater sense of frustration with the vast amounts of garbage we continue to produce and casually discard (“The soothing futility of picking up trash,”StarTribune.com, Oct. 25).
“Out of sight, out of mind” keeps us oblivious to the waste we produce. As someone once encouraged me to question, when I throw something away, where is away? If we all had to dispose of our trash in our yards, might we become more conscientious of our purchasing decisions?
PFAS is widely used though out the world. It is used in food packaging, fire-fighting foam, waterproof items like jackets and carpeting, and non-stick items like frying pans. The particles don’t biodegrade which means they can accumulate in the environment, animals, human bodies, and drinking water. A 2015 study by the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found PFASs in 97 per cent of humans.
In our hands now lies not only our own future but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the earth.” — Sir David Attenborough
Peace not War! President Biden, Secretaries Blinken and Austin need to immediately be working on a cease fire. the loss of civilian lives is not acceptable. A ceasefire is the way to release hostages!
Working together we can make the world safer and more peaceful. Let’s work for compassion and understanding. Civilians always bear the brunt of these conflicts, and should never be targeted in war!
What does war accomplish but more suffering, lots of death, environmental destruction, and more anger. The people who suffer have very little to do with the actual conflict, and most are children and their mothers. Healthy and sane people talk and compromise. They do not make fun of other people, rape, bully or kill. They work for healthy communities even if they don’t always get their way. Peace Not War!
An Ode to Peace
Last night I had the strangest dream I ever dreamed before I dreamed the world had all agreed To put an end to war I dreamed I saw a mighty room The room was filled with men And the paper they were signing said They’d never fight again
And when the papers were all signed And a million copies made They all joined hands end bowed their heeds And grateful prayers were prayed And the people in the streets below Were dancing round and round Well swords and gun and uniforms Were scattered on the ground
Last night I had the strangest dream I ever dreamed before I dreamed the world had all agreed To put an end to war by Ed Mccurdy.
“It’s time we prioritize empathy and compassion. It’s time to recognize the individual suffering of those who have lost so much on all warring sides. It’s time to ponder how we can comprehend and stand by those who bear the weight of suffering. Let’s step into their shoes, endeavor to see the world through their eyes, and acknowledge that empathy doesn’t equate to endorsing violence or choosing sides.
Empathy signifies recognizing the real people obscured behind the headlines, people grappling with unfathomable pain and despair. It’s an acknowledgment that there are no victors but only losers in conflict.” The Planet
Optimistic? We have been through a record-breaking hot summer, the climate crisis looms everywhere, we are in a world waste crisis and are being poisoned by plastic, Ukraine is still being attacked, and American democracy is being threatened. Instead of worrying about the past and what should have been done we need to move forward with hope. We must be hopeful about our futures, the futures of our children, and the positive difference we can all make. We all make a difference, and let’s make it a positive difference.
October is a beautiful month. Enjoy!
Look for the good in your day, find beauty in your day, and remind yourself that things can change for the better!
Health4earth 