5 Tips for a Greener Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, give thanks to nature. Here are some tips to make your holiday season more environmentally friendly.

1. Buy local

Buying local is better for the environment, better for local economies, and better for you. Smaller scale businesses and farms are people-sized—they consume less land, are closer to you, and create less traffic and air pollution than the big guys. Not to mention, buying local helps develop strong economies and communities. Win-wins all around. While this route can be more expensive, even just opting for a few dishes to be locally sourced can go a long way.

You can use LocalHarvest to find local farms, farmers markets, CSAs or grocery stores that carry local produce. Or better yet, visit any of these LocalHarvest Hipcamps where you can either help out with farm chores, pick your own veggies and produce, or buy straight from the source.

• Four Springs Farm, South Royalton, VT
• Free Verse Farm, Chelsea, VT
• Stony Creek Farmstead, Walton, NY
• Lakeview Sunrise, Sayre, PA
• Too Far Out Farm, Wilson Mills, PA
• Organic Apple Orchard and Farm, Berrien Center, MI
• Buttermilk Falls, Osceola, WI
• Gosherd Valley Cottage, Morrison, MO
• Provision Family Farms, White Cloud, MI
• Coldwater Gardens, Milton, FL
• Spring Hill Farm, Beaverdam, VA
• River Garden Farm, Dunnellon, FL
• Walker Honey Farm and Dancing Bee Winery, Temple, TX

Thinking past Thanksgiving to the winter holidays, support your local mom-and-pop gear shop, your favorite home goods store in town, and your neighbor’s daughter’s jewelry business. This has a way better impact than buying from large retailers or ordering mass amounts of goods online.

2. Decorate with nature

Leaves, acorns, gourds—they all make beautiful table arrangements. We’ll leave it to Pinterest to go nuts on this one.

3. Limit your food waste

Start with buying less. But, if you love leftovers as much as we do, here are some few tips to spread the (cranberry) sauce. Put out smaller plates—this will be a safeguard when eyes are inevitable bigger than stomachs, limiting the amount of food wasted on plates. Clean plate club = more leftovers for later.

In the coming weeks before the big feast, clear out your freezer to make room for turkey, turkey, and more turkey. Martha Stewart put together a “freeze vs eat” list for all your Thanksgiving dishes, plus ideas for what to do with them. Thanks, Martha.

You can also donate your leftovers to local food drives. Which brings us to our next tip…

4. Give back to your community

Sign up for a cleanup or restoration project in your community—or plan one yourself. Volunteer at a local food kitchen. Support hurricane and wildfire relief organizations. Donate gently used clothes. Adopt a sheltered animal. Catch up with your neighbors.

5. Make Thanksgiving a Campsgiving

If you’re feeling up for it, we have all the tools to help you take your Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, Vansgiving, Cabinsgiving—whatever you want to call it—outside.

• 9 Recipes and Tips for Hosting Thanksgiving While Camping
• A Thanksgiving Dinner in the Wild
• See all camping recipes

While your in-laws may be not be privy to eating Thanksgiving dinner by the campfire, we can assure you that leftovers taste better in the wild. Get outside this Thanksgiving weekend—even just for a short hike or walk around the neighborhood.