Thanksgiving

Holiday Season 2020 will be different - so here are our top tips on how to reduce carbon, costs and waste and be sustainable this Thanksgiving.

First and Foremost; Thanksgiving Dinner  

Reducing your food waste is a simple and easy way to reduce your footprint whilst making monetary savings.

To minimize your waste, prepare and plan for the right amount of food! Simple and small things like letting people serve themselves so they only take what they want rather than giving everyone the festive supersize will help prevent binning food. Consider using the freezer to store leftovers to keep for longer. Save the scraps and get creative with recipes, they can be great for soup, pies or stuffing. If any food does become waste, ensure to use the food waste bin. 

Anything else cooking? Prepare and cook food in decent sized batches to make the most of a hot oven. Don't leave the oven on when you don't need it - you will be just wasting energy. Make sure you choose the right cookware for the job (glass and ceramics are best for the oven, copper based pans for the hob). Also consider steam cooking vegetables as you can cook them all at the same time, it’s healthier and requires less energy to cook all at once.

More cooking tips

Post Dinner

Crack out your favorite turkey jumper and turn down the heating by 1 degree to save £42 each year for an average household gas bill of 12,500kWh. The heat from the turkey roasting in the oven will also provide extra heating to the house!

Try and reduce TV time by getting the whole family involved in a game of American Football, board games, or even going for a walk! Even by turning off your electronic devices such as your TV and computer rather than leaving it on standby can reduce your energy bill and emissions. 

Turning heating down 1°C saves $55 each year - that's 184kg CO₂

Thanksgiving Travel

This will obviously be limited this year and please refer to local restrictions in your region.

If you are permitted to travel , do so safely making sure your car is winter weather ready ; this will reduce its carbon emissions. Simple things such as, checking your tyre tread & inflation pressures, using high gears safely and not leaving the car idling in long queues, utilizing the start/stop facility if you have one, can all make a difference. Think about travelling during quieter hours and cruising along in top gear to save fuel and carbon! 

Flights in particular will contribute to your carbon footprint big time! If they are unavoidable this thanksgiving, or over the holiday period, you can offset these emissions using our offsetting projects.

Take advantage of the Black Friday sales online to avoid the crowds and stay safe..

Being Thankful

Consider donating items of food (long lasting is best) or clothing to food banks or charities. This is great to help out those less fortunate whilst reminding you to be thankful and encouraging a less wasteful lifestyle. 

For the homeless and the elderly, Thanksgiving can be a difficult time. Your donations and also your time volunteering are valuable to your local charity organisations. Volunteering on the day may be oversubscribed, so consider volunteering throughout the festive season.

To show your thanks on a global scale and to compensate for the your emissions, you can support our environmental projects. Not only does this reduce your impact by funding an equivalent carbon dioxide saving elsewhere to help combat climate change, it also supports the local communities by providing social and environmental benefits, such as improvements in employment, health and biodiversity. 

 Turn this Black Friday into Green Friday - make the most of the sales online  and show thanks for the harvest by supporting our environmental offsetting projects

The team at Carbon Footprint wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving