There are some easy ways to stay green over the holidays without having to ruin your traditional Turkey Day.  Take charge of your family’s eco-responsibility and convince your family green up their holiday.  Hey, you may even get Grandma Doris talking about something other than the fact that you “still” don’t have a boyfriend.

Getting home
If you drive: Carpool with friends to save on gas money and minimize pollution.  Be sure you all time your travels so that you don’t hit traffic and waste unnecessary gas in gridlock.  Leave with plenty of time so you or the driver doesn’t have to speed down the freeway.  Reducing your speed from just 70 to 60 MPH can severely reduce the amount of money and gas your trip guzzles.

If you fly:  Pay the extra money for a direct flight, as takeoff and landing require the most fuel of any other part of the flight.  If you have the resources, buy carbon offset credits along with your flight in order to reduce your footprint.  Many companies, such as Continental, allow you to easily purchase carbon offset credits online before your flight.

Eating Dinner
Buying the bird:  If you just can’t bear a tofurky, you can still buy a real turkey that is relatively environmentally friendly.  All you have to do is buy from a local farmer.  Go to this site to find a turkey farmer in your area.  If for some reason local just doesn’t work for you, look for the labels mentioned in my last post such as grass-fed, cage free, or free range to slightly improve your turkey decision.

Hosting the dinner: Invite as many people over as you can!  More is not just merrier – it also reduces the work and money spent by your parents for a nice meal.  Plus, combining resources and energy can really decrease your environmental impact.

Dealing with the leftovers:  To reduce food waste and possible turkey overdose, give your guests some of the leftovers to take home.  Also, be sure to store your own leftovers in a reusable container like Tupperware so that you don’t waste plastic bags on one use.  If you don’t think you’ll be eating another bite of turkey for a while, you can also store it in the freezer along with your vegetables to use on a later occasion.

These are just a few examples of the many ways you can green up your Thanksgiving. There are always opportunities to be eco-friendly – get creative with your own traditions!  And of course, let us know what you do at home so we can all test it out this holiday season.

Whenever I go to the grocery store, I always try my best to load my cart with socially responsible products.  Cage free eggs?  Uh, yeah why not?  Organic lettuce? Sure, throw that on in there.

The truth is, though, up until recently, I didn’t really know what these things meant.  They’ve just been over-marketed so that I think I’m doing good when really I may just be wasting money.  That’s why I formulated a mini label guide for all of your shopping needs.

Hint:  don’t waste your money on the “organic” Oreos!

“Organic”: Now these babies can be tricky.  In order to determine exactly what you’re eating, you have to read the package carefully.  There are 3 basic types of organic labeling that you may see in your local grocery store.
1. 100% organic:  This one is pretty straight forward.  If it says the product is 100% organic, then all of the ingredients, except water and salt, are grown and processed organically.
2. Organic:  Organic is simply the weak-sauce version of 100% organic products.  These products must contain 95% organic ingredients in order to obtain an organic label.  According to the USDA, all other ingredients must be on “the list” of foods that are unavailable in an organic form at the present time.
3. Made with organic ingredients:  This label is just a fancy way of saying “we’re just putting this on our label so you’ll buy it and think you’re doing something good for the environment.”  Under this labeling, 70% of ingredients must be made with organic ingredients, but the law leaves much for interpretation in how the product may advertise its organic-ness.  My advice? Go for the other two if you really want to make a difference.

Fair trade:  Fair trade is built on the principles of respect in trading partnerships, usually through higher wages and economic self-sufficiency for overseas workers.  However, there are no set guidelines for fair trade labeling like there are for organic products.  A fair trade inspection committee, known as FLO-CERT, inspects companies to make sure they have “a quality management system, transparency in all processes, and independence in certification decision making” before giving out a certification.  Although these are vague terms, free trade can be worth it if it has the official sticker on it.  If not, there really is no way to tell whether or not fair practices are in place.

Free range: In theory, “free range” indicates that livestock are allowed to roam freely instead of being in cages before slaughtering.  The USDA, however, does not have a set definition or any sort of regulation for free-range animals and for egg production.  Thus, free range labeling is entirely unregulated and really doesn’t mean much when it comes to your food.  Save your money on these are look for more meaningful labels, such as “grass fed” (see below).

Grass fed: Unlike free range, the USDA has actually formulated a substantial definition of what constitutes “grass fed.”  According to this definition, livestock must be grass fed for their entire lives – pasture included! That means there are no scary antibiotics or other chemicals in the food you’re about to put in your body.  Although some argue that there are loopholes in grass fed labeling, it sure is a heck of a lot better than free range!

So yeah, this is a lot of great information, but how does it relate to the environment?  It actually has everything to do with the environment!  As a rule of thumb, you can consider everything that takes a step back from our highly industrialized economy a step forward for the good of the environment.  In other words, the more natural our food production processes are and the less harmful chemicals, pesticides, and pollution are used, the happier our planet is!

People are allowed to eat whatever they want. But when they make it my problem—or kill their baby—I get pissed.

Every once in a while, a vegetarian will lean over and politely explain why their salad and cheese dinner is better than my cheeseburger, and usually I agree with them. Honestly, if I could become a vegetarian, I would. But I’m Italian. I was eating meatballs before I could walk. Take away my meat and carbs and I will fall into depression faster than Lindsay Blohan without her coke.

But vegans. Vegans are another story. You might get mad at me, the real vegans reading this, but I’m not your biggest fan. I have never met a vegan who didn’t feel like serving up a sermon.

Real Life Example:

Vegan: Hey. Whatcha eating?

Me: Hardboiled eggs.

Vegan: (quiet) Oh.

Me: Something wrong?

Vegan: No.

Me: It sounds like something’s wrong.

Vegan: No!

Me: …

Vegan: It’s just…you know you’re basically eating a chick embryo, right?

It’s my personal belief that humans would not have been given the brains to make spears and fire without the intention that we would one day realize killing an animal and roasting it was damn tasty. I’m all for Organic and Free Range, in fact, that’s all I buy when I buy meat. But what I’m not for is Fakon and Vegenaise. That shit tastes horrible. I’ve tried it. I’m also not for someone in clogs leaning over my plate in an already crowded dining hall, trying their darndest to guilt me out of my ice cream sundae.

A third thing I’m not for? Vegan extremists killing their baby.

Apparently, 27 year old Jade Sanders and 31 year old Lamont Thomas were too stupid to realize they had starved their baby son to death. The little boy was only 3 ½ pounds the night he died, having been fed a diet almost completely comprised of apple juice and soy milk.

Sanders and Thomas adamantly deny killing their son, for which they were both sentenced to life in prison this week, and claim their lifestyle made it difficult to find things to feed the baby.

Yeah. Right. I believe that.

Just like I believe Tofurkey tastes like anything other than chopped up tofu lamely peppered with spices. And the consistancy? Puke.

(No, seriously. The consistancy resembles puke.)