These are healthy, environmentally friendly things that can be done every day, not just on Thanksgiving.

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What, no calls to ban/boycott Thanksgiving this year? Has Alternet's seemingly bottomless well of White Male Guilt finally run dry? Well, I guess it isn't quite Thanksgiving yet, so I suppose we'll see... Perhaps the forces are being reserved for a long anticipated assault on Christmas?

Overall, I much prefer this approach of finding small ways to make a traditionally celebratory time (if one tainted by family stresses &, yes, guilt) even more celebratory & reflective of our Progressive values. I'm in agreement with many of the suggestions found here, but I do have a quibble regarding the author's assertions about turkey.

Honestly, I find it odd that someone who clearly knows about Slow Food & local food sourcing would be unaware that there are many good options for turkeys that are not the product of inhumane Industrial Agriculture. Right now, I'm in the middle of selling tons (literally) of locally-raised free-range & organic birds at the natural foods Co-op that employs me. This year, we're even offering "heritage" turkeys, which fall under the author's category of "endangered" foods worthy of propagation & preservation. In any case, these turkeys are grown in much better conditions & with more care than whatever you are going to find at your average Safeway, Cub or Kroger store (or probably, for that matter, Whole Foods).

Just sayin'.

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You'll probably get bashed for it, if nothing else by those who will see nothing but the "skip turkey" suggestion, and interpret it as an attempt to "ban" the sale and consumption of turkey.
So I just wanted to say that I for one appreciated it, including all the informative links.

Yes, I will eat (free-range organic) turkey with the family, my somewhat hypocritical compromise. But at least feeling good about the fact that I'm the one who started the free-range organic tradition.

Then watch "Pangs" while eating pie, and be thankful that I still have a sense of humor. :)

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Ride your bike to and from Thanksgiving events, save gas, pollution, and inches on waist

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They are probably all sold by now, but find a local farmer that sells breeds of animal other than the ones factory farms do, and help increase the diversity of our foodshed.

Find a group of local farmers that you can buy produce and/or meat from. IF you live in the big cities (as most of you do) I pity your dislocation from nature, but applaud your ability to use efficient public transportation and denser housing. You must find markets that will connect you to the "local" foodshed around your city.

Here in the west it is not uncommon to be able to actually drink in the same bar/coffeshop as many vegetable and small ranch style farmers do. We are a bit closer to the land methinks from small stints in the big cities.

GROW A GARDEN - Yes, it's hard work, but it is fun, rewarding, tasty work. Chickens are fun to have as pets in a small yard. Pets that give you delicious eggs.

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Its renewable, carbon neutral, good exercise (if you're burning tree wood, not pellets) and its local!

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At least you'll maintain more of what's left of the vitamins and minerals. As for me, I abandoned meat eating ages ago and haven't regretted it.

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"A diet that can lead to heart attacks, cancer, and numerous other diseases cannot be a natural diet," writes Keith Akers in A Vegetarian Sourcebook. "A diet that pillages our resources of land, water, forests, and energy cannot be a natural diet. A diet that causes the unnecessary suffering and death of billions of animals each year cannot be a natural diet."

I understand there are conservative Christians who fear vegetarianism...which is kind of like being afraid of nonsmoking, nondrinking, or recycling. Ronald J. Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action, in his 1977 book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, pointed out that 220 million Americans were eating enough food (largely because of the high consumption of grain fed to livestock) to feed over one billion people in the poorer countries.

A pamphlet put out by Compassion Over Killing says raising animals for food is one of the leading causes of both pollution and resource depletion today. According to a recent United Nations report, "Livestock's Long Shadow," raising chickens, turkeys, pigs, and other animals for food causes more greenhouse gas emissions than all the cars, trucks and other forms of transportation combined. Researchers from the University of Chicago similarly concluded that a vegetarian diet is the most energy efficient, and the average American does more to reduce global warming emissions by not eating animal products than by switching to a hybrid car.

A 2007 journal published by the American Dietetic Association found "meat protein production required 26 times more water than vegetable protein on rain-fed lands." The journal further states that dieticians "can encourage eating that is both healthful and conserving of soil, water, and energy by emphasizing plant sources of protein and foods that have been produced with fewer agricultural inputs."

"Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems. Urgent action is required to remedy the situation."

---Union Nations' Food and Agriculture Assocation

A single dairy cow produces approximately 120 pounds of wet manure per day, which is equivalent to that of 20 to 40 humans.

70% of the grain grown and 50% of the water consumed in the U.S. are used by the meat industry. (Audobon Society)

On average 990 liters of water are required to produce one liter of milk. (United Nations)

Over 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to grow grain for livestock. (Greenpeace)

Farmed animals produce an estimated 1.4 billion tons of fecal waste each year in the U.S. Much of this untreated waste pollutes the land and water.

The number of animals killed for food in the United States is 70 times larger than the number of animals killed in laboratories, 30 times larger than the number killed by hunters and trappers, and 500 times larger than the number of animals killed in animal pounds.

“If anyone wants to save the planet,” says Paul McCartney in a PETA interview, “all they have to do is stop eating meat. That’s the single most important thing you could do. It’s staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty. Let’s do it! Linda was right. Going veggie is the single best idea for the new century.”

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"Global hunger could be directly attributed to meat-eating." ---Chrissie Hynde

Half the world's population does not receive an adequate amount of food to eat. Ten to twenty million die annually of hunger and its effects. The Institute for Food and Development Policy reports that, "Forty thousand children starve to death on this planet every day," or one child every two seconds.

The livestock population of the United States today consumes enough grain and soybeans to feed over five times the entire human population of the country. We feed these animals over 80% of the corn we grow, and over 95% of the oats. Less than half the harvested agricultural acreage in the United States is used to grow food for people. Most of it is used to grow livestock feed.

Ronald J. Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action, in his 1977 book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, pointed out that 220 million Americans were eating enough food (largely because of the high consumption of grain-fed livestock) to feed over one billion people in the poorer countries.

The world's cattle alone, not to mention pigs and chickens, consume a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people. It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef. According to Department of Agriculture statistics, one acre of land can grow 20,000 pounds of potatoes. That same acre of land, if used to grow cattlefeed, can produce less than 165 pounds of beef.

In his book, The Hungry Planet, Georg Bergstrom points out that protein-starved underdeveloped nations export more protein to wealthy nations than they receive. He calls this "the protein swindle." Ninety percent of the world's fish meal catch, for example, is exported to rich countries. One-third of Africa's peanut crop winds up in the stomachs of European livestock. Half the world's cereal crop is fed to livestock and the United States annually imports one million tons of vegetable protein from Third World nations--just to feed its farm animals.

Bergstrom writes: "Sometimes one wonders how many Americans and Western Europeans have grasped the fact that quite a few of their beef steaks, quarts of milk, dozens of eggs, and hundreds of broilers are the result, not of their agriculture, but of the approximately two million metric tons of protein, mostly of high quality, which astute Western businessmen channel away from the needy and hungry."

Jeremy Rifkin, author of a dozen influential books and President of the Foundation on Economic Trends, writes in his 1992 bestseller Beyond Beef:

"Cattle and other livestock are devouring much of the grain produced on the planet. It need be emphasized that this is a new phenomenon, unlike anything ever experienced before.

"Contrary to popular belief, the poor are getting poorer each year...Increased poverty has meant increased malnutrition. On the African continent, nearly one in every four human beings is malnourished. In Latin America, nearly one out of every seven people goes to bed hungry each night. In Asia and the Pacific, 28 percent of the people border on starvation, experiencing the gnawing pain of a perpetual hunger."

"In the Near East, one in ten people is underfed. Chronic hunger now affects upwards of 1.3 billion people, according to the world Health Organization--a statistic all the more striking in a world where one third of all the grain produced is being fed to cattle and other livestock. Never before in human history has such a large percentage of our species--nearly 25 percent--been malnourished.

"The transition of world agriculture from food grain to feed grains represents an...evil whose consequences may be far greater and longer lasting than any past examples of violence inflicted by men against their fellow human beings."

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this thanksgiving day is a shame tyo perpetuyate the memory of those enlgish pirates who came to american shore in early 1600s-did they lose the way to pilgrim>after all jerusalem was and still is east to pymouth not west.
no -they awere english abstrds who were racists and very pirates in essence and were the scum of the earth-their arival in america is celebrated by the americans most of who have no ebnglish or british ancestry-in fact moere than 60% of americans are not of anglosaxon descent but in name of whote e=versues balck and other crap the aenglish derived scum bags have maninted their illgotten power in america so much that amerc=ica celebreates this crap thankgivintg more than the 4th of july.
so called white supremacists are nothing but engliahs scum bags and their agents-they donto like germans irish, frewnch or scandinavions either-who are more white than these english derived scum bags.

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How britain got hold on america after american independence-- --- This all started soon after Napoleonic war when in 1816 to 1817 The english again attacked america in her southern flanks and the day was saved only because of some French navy mercenaries and French speaking population of Louisiana and such states along with non-english origin americans. But the english invaders infiltrated among that population of the south of USA which today calls itself bible belt (whose god has always been english royalty and who worship only stolen money).By 1850 to 1860 England attacked erstwhile friend (in Napoleonic war) Russia in Crimea along with erstwhile foe (now controlled by unpopular english stooge) France.-how the same pattern is so predictable in case of this intrusive, cancerous exploitative race called english and anglo saxons. At that very time England was actively supporting the slave exploitation, in fact all the big plantation owners were english derived and they owned loyalty not to flag of United states of america but to England. -in other words they were agents of foreign country who wanted to keep south america occupy as foreign power again. The civil war in america was not only supported with money and arms by england but rather england was the instigator of american civil war in order to keep whole of america enslaved and if not possible at least those parts (South) where it could call upon filial loyalty. It was truly a war of race-not against whites and blacks but against anglo saxons versus blacks, Irish, other European peoples .The same would be repeated in future. The confederacy was a traitor to america-a british agents; but ironically that same confederacy flag today is being propagandised by their descendents as symbol of american independence and patriotism. Having lost the proxy war england resorted to the one thing it specialises-terrorism and misinformation. Abraham Lincoln was murdered by the person very sympathetic to british cause. (against Napoleon england had sent several terrorist squads-that is why Napoleon had to declare Himself an Emperor to maintain the clear line of succession to protect glorious French Revolution). It is very interesting that most of the american presidents assassinated were those whom England did not want being elected. By the end of civil war ,instead of disinfranchasising the british supporters (of southern states) and taking away their land or at least redistributing evenly the stolen land, the american govt. was persuaded by britain to spare them and let those southern traitors keep all the stolen land so that drug (tobacco) and cotton would be of assured supply to england. Of course by that time because of fall of Napoleon (brought about not by military might but by conspiracy to embroil the Europeans among each other( conspiracy hatched in London-that was the only english contribution to napoleons' fall-forget waterloo where Austrians and Prussians had contributed most militarily):consequently

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Take part in "Buy Nothing Day" the day after Thanksgiving (november 28th). Take a stand against (socially, politically and environmentally) destructive corporate capitalism and capitalist culture on this day, the most highly shopped day of the year.

http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_Nothing_Day

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Your tips are mostly spot on, but one quibble. Tap water is NOT healthy - it is often heavily chlorinated and contaminated by a variety of pollutants not removed by most treatment systems: such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, etc.

My suggestion - and that of the great research gurus at Environmental Working Group (EWG), is to buy an inexpensive carbon faucet filter for your tap, then drink up.

Also, if you want some good ideas for the upcoming other holidays, my organization, Toxic Information Project (TIP) has just made available a Healthy Holidays Handbook.

We've placed close to 600 copies at over 40 local libraries and they have been flying off the shelves! You can both read and download it from our website at: www.toxicsinfo.org/thoughts.htm

Happy - and Healthy Holidays!

Blessings,

Liberty G

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Try a heritage turkey this holiday...
Blogger Kerry Truewell tells the ugly truth about artificial insemination, etc for "traditional" turkeys!

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