4 Easy Ways to Make Fighting Climate Change a Part of Your Holiday Traditions
Most of us aren't interested in that option, so how do we balance all the positivity of the holidays against the shocking environmental impact they bring? There's a number of methods you can add to your holiday traditions to help minimize your carbon footprint. Hopefully some of these options will fit into your holiday plans and reduce any stress about your carbon footprint.
Travel Less or Travel Better
Whether you're celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, or Hanukkah, travel is likely the biggest factor contributing to your carbon footprint, but there are a lot of ways you can minimize your impact. Obviously the best way to cut down is to stay local for some or all of the holidays. Many young people prefer to celebrate "Friendsgiving" in their transplant cities and set aside time for video calls with family, rather than trekking back to their hometowns. And if you just don't like your family, pointing to environmental concerns is a perfectly legitimate excuse.
If that's not an option for you—or if you really love your family for whatever reason—choosing buses and trains over cars and planes is always a plus, and selecting a location that is convenient to the greatest number of attendees can make a huge difference. And if you're thinking of traveling to New York City for the Christmas tree lighting or the New Year's Eve ball drop, don't. They're awful.
Get Cozy
Winter heating is hugely wasteful. Any time you see icicles hanging off the side of a house or building, that's a clear sign of heat seeping out into the world. Insulation can go a long way to cutting down on both waste and costs, and signing up with an alternative energy provider like Green Mountain Energy can do a lot to minimize your impact, but there are other strategies that can help you do more while getting you into the holiday spirit, all of which can be summed up with two beautiful words: Get cozy.
Bundle up in your warmest sweater and a pair of thick socks. Share a blanket and some cocoa on the couch with your loved ones. Keep each other warm in one cozy room, rather than heating the whole house. A space heater can be a great way to cut down on your emissions and encourage your whole family to get a little closer.
Get Creative with Your Gifts
Green and eco-friendly gifts are a nice idea and can be really great if they're taking the place of a more wasteful purchase, but there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, and the waste that goes into the manufacture, shipping, and packaging of green-branded goods generally outweighs their benefits.
The greenest option is probably the one you haven't gotten away with since you were ten. A book of coupons for chores and favors doesn't cost you or the environment anything. But if you lack the courage to try pulling off a scam like that, there are some pricier experience-gifts that are a lot more eco-friendly—and a lot more memorable—than an solar-powered phone charger or a pair of pants made from bamboo. A gift card to a farm-to-table restaurant, a voucher for a massage, or just a donation to the Human Fund (or, you know, a real charity) are all great options that don't require wasteful wrapping. Alternatively, if you can make a gift yourself, you'll be a real hero.
Cut Down on Your Meat and Dairy
Okay, this is a big one. After travel, the food that we eat—and the food we throw away—are responsible for the largest portion of our carbon output. Meat is generally the biggest contributor, but red meat is particularly bad. So if you usually have a ham or a roast beside your turkey, cutting that out is a good move. And if you can cut out the turkey itself—or even just choose a smaller turkey—that's even better.
There are obviously other factors to consider, like the distance your food has to travel, and the amount of water that goes into its production, but you may not want to get your PhD before your next meal, in which case, cutting out meat is a simple and effective way to drastically reduce your carbon footprint. Meatless Mondays are an easy step that more people are taking these days, but if you're really concerned about your impact this holiday season, you can offset the added emissions from travel by cutting out meat for a few days, a week, or a month at a time.
If we made that kind of practice a part of our holiday traditions—cutting out meats for some portion of December—we could go a long way toward pairing back holiday emissions. With recent advances in meat alternatives from Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, you might find the change easier than you would think. And if enough of us pick up the habit, the agricultural industry will have no choice but to shift toward more sustainable foods.
Most Environmentally-Responsible Meat You Can Eat
According to a recent article in The Guardian, the most significant way to lower your impact on the environment is cut out meat and dairy from your diet: "The new analysis shows that while meat and dairy provide just 18% of calories and 37% of protein, it uses the vast majority – 83% – of farmland and produces 60% of agriculture's greenhouse gas emissions."
This presents environmentally-conscious animal eaters with a stark choice: Give up eating animals, or give up on your beliefs. But there is a middle ground, which involves choosing options that have, if not a zero-impact, perhaps a lower one. Here is a list of choices, going from best to worst.
Chicken
For those who aren't ready to give up meat but want a more environmentally-friendly option, switching to chicken is one of the best choices. Slate explains that chickens produce a much lower amount of carbon dioxide than cows. Cows generate about four times more greenhouse gases than chickens. In addition, chickens only create two to four pounds of manure per pound of weight, which is less than the 35 to 65 pounds cows make per pound of beef, according to Slate. Experts recommend looking for free-range chickens raised without antibiotics.
Pork
Pork is a better environmental choice than beef because pigs produce about 50% less carbon dioxide than cows, according to the BBC. Pigs are also omnivores (they'll eat anything), and this is better for the environment than cows that require grass or grains. A hog can help reduce food waste by consuming vegetable scraps and other food that would have been discarded. Another positive is that pigs need less feed overall compared to cows.
Mussels
Technically, mussels aren't meat because they're categorized as seafood. However, they're an option for people who don't want to go vegan and still want a good source of protein. The BBC explains that mussels capture carbon dioxide, so they're an environmentally responsible alternative and a better choice than farm-raised fish. They don't need to eat other food sources to grow because they filter nutrients from the water, so their impact is lower. Moreover, they don't contribute to pollution.
Meat-Buying Tips
Shoppers who are worried about the environmental impact of their meat purchases should consider the following tips. First, try to reduce the number of days per week that you eat meat. You can switch to meatless Mondays or make the weekends meat-free. Another option is to use meat alternatives like tofu more often when you cook. Look for free-range and organic meat products. Some other label names to watch for include cage-free or barn-roaming.
There are meat options that are more environmentally-friendly. Consider making chicken, pork, and mussels more frequently for dinner.
Five Small Things You Can Do That Have a Big Impact on the Environment
NPR
1. Skip the plastic straws
If you've been paying attention to the plastic straw debate, then you've probably seen that Starbucks is getting rid of them. It's switching to straw-less lids and paper straws, and other companies are either considering making the change or adopting the same policy. For instance: Alaska Airlines and Bon Appétit.
Several cities, states, and countries are also joining the trend. Vancouver is the first major city in Canada to ban plastic straws. In the U.S., Miami Beach and Fort Myers have followed suit. States like California, New York, and Hawaii are also considering the ban. Meanwhile, Taiwan has banned all plastic straws, bags, and other single-use items.
According to Plastic Pollution Coalition, people use 500,000,000 plastic straws in the United States every day. The single-use straws are wasteful and add to the landfill problem. So skip the plastic straw the next time you order coffee or a smoothie. You can also call your local representatives and ask them to support legislation to ban straws.
2. Switch to CFL light bulbs
Changing the light bulbs in your house can be a quick and easy way to help the environment. A compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) uses 70 percent less energy than an incandescent one. Not only can it help lower your utility bills, it also creates less heat. In addition, CFLs last longer than incandescents, so you'll be saving money as well.
3. Skip eating meat once a week
No one is forcing you to go completely vegan or vegetarian. Instead, you can still help the environment by not eating meat once a week. You'll help lower the greenhouse emissions, which currently make up 20 percent of all man-made emissions, created by the meat industry. In addition, you'll also decrease how much water this industry uses because one pound of meat requires 2,400 gallons of water to get to your table.
Consider taking the meatless Monday pledge. Once a week, make breakfast, lunch, and dinner without any meat. Try an egg omelet for breakfast, get a vegetarian burrito for lunch, and make tofu for dinner.
4. Get rid of bleached coffee filters
If you're already making coffee at home to help the environment, then you can take it another step by changing the type of filters you use. To make bleached coffee filters, manufacturers use chlorine and other chemicals such as dioxin. Not only are these chemicals bad for your health, they're also harmful to the environment. The next time you're shopping for coffee filters, reach for the unbleached ones. Bleached filters are white, while the unbleached versions tend to be brown.
Another option, is to get rid of single-use coffee filters completely. Check to see if your coffeemaker can work with a stainless steel coffee filter.
5. Unplug electronics when they're not being used
It may seem like a simple change, but unplugging all of your electronics when you're not using them can have a big impact. It's estimated that 5 to 10 percent of all energy usage in a typical household comes from electronics being in standby mode, which means they're plugged in but not used.
For instance, when your MacBook is turned off and charging, it draws 27 Watts of power. Even an HDTV that is off and simply plugged in can draw 1 Watt of power. Don't leave your chargers, computers, TVs, or other electronics plugged in.
You don't have to make enormous lifestyle changes to help the environment. Even small steps to lower your consumption and waste can help.