6 "Green" Turkeys For A Green Thanksgiving

It's that time of year again. November is upon us, bringing autumn colors and aromas of turkey wafting through homes. Yes, folks: it's nearly Thanksgiving! The holiday during which we celebrate family, friends, and everything good in our lives. After all, it is thanks-giving!

When I think about Thanksgiving, the first thing that comes to mind, of course, is turkey! That's why I thought I'd make my first Thanksgiving post of the season dedicated to America's favorite bird(after Big Bird, of course!).

Nowadays, sustainable turkey shopping has turned into a science. With all the different kinds of turkey available, it's no longer just "I went to the grocery and picked up a huge turkey!" It's more like "There are too many different types! Which is which?"

So I thought I'd put together a short list of eco friendly turkeys to help you decide which kind you want to go for this year. 

1) Heritage turkeys: While most turkeys are commercially produced by large farms, heritage turkeys are generally cultivated by small, independent farms. Heritage turkeys are bred with great care over generations. Instead of loading turkeys with steroids and growth hormones, heritage farmers instead combine the best breeds, so over the course of a few turkey-generations, the resulting turkeys are naturally stronger, better, and more immune to disease. Heritage turkeys are expensive, though, generally going for 3-4 times more per pound than regular supermarket turkeys. The best part? You can order your heritage turkeys online.   

2) Natural: USDA specifications state that turkeys that contain no artificial flavor, coloring ingredients, artificial preservatives, any other synthetic ingredients, and is processed a minimal amount may be labeled as "natural." The label on your turkey must explain how the turkey you are buying is "natural" - like no added colorings or artificial ingredients, no flavor, etc.

3) No antibiotics - If your turkey label says this, it means it was raised without any antibiotics. Antibiotics may transfer from the bird to you when you eat it.

4) Organic: Organic turkeys are free-range birds that have been fed strictly with organic grains. They contain no pesticides, chemicals, hormones or antibiotics.

And for those of use that are vegetarians, two vegetarian options. The second one really isn't a turkey(neither is the first one, it you think about it!) but it's a great way to celebrate the spirit of Thanksgiving and autumn.

5) Tofurky: If you ask me, the name sounds like a mouthful(pun intended)! Made from soybeans and stuffed with breadcrumbs and other herbs, tofurkys make for great vegetarian and vegan main courses. If you get a little creative, you can even dress it up as an actual turkey!

6) Pumpkins: Nothing says fall like the orangey goodness of pumpkins. Autumn's favorite gourd is incredibly versatile and you can fashion it into sweet and savory dishes. The best part? You can find pumpkins nearly anywhere, and they are wholesome, filling, and hearty. Quite the Thanksgiving meal, don't you think so? 

Check out some pumpkin recipes.

Whether your palate likes turkeys or tofurkys, try and make sure your big dinner has as small an impact as possible on the environment. After all, it is the environment that gives us our hearty turkeys, pumpkins, veggies, and fruits!

I'll be posting more ideas to green your Thanksgiving over the next few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. If you have any thoughts about turkeys or Thanksgiving that you'd like to share, please leave a comment! Thanks!

The Easiest Way To Go Green

The easiest way to go green is "keeping it simple." When you go back to the basics, you're green. Whether your definition of simplicity is replacing disposable diapers with simple cloth diapers, or having larger windows to let in more sunlight so you use lights less during the day, the key to eco-friendly and sustainable is simplicity.

I think there are a lot of things that have become incredibly commonplace in our lives that are just too complicated. If we could somehow simplify them, our lives would become a lot more relaxed. That's the reason Apple fans are so die-hard for Apple products: Apple makes all of their stuff just so simple and easy to use. I know I digressed from eco to tech, but the Apple example was the best and commonest I could think of to illustrate my point.

Sometimes reusing is as simple as refilling a bottle. We often buy bottled water and throw out the bottle after it's empty. But wouldn't using a food-safe refillable bottle be a lot simpler than buying a new one every time? Water fountains are nearly everywhere: they are in all public places, malls, and parks, and they all have clean drinking water.

Some other really neat examples of simple eco-friendly ingenuity:

Solar power - this one has literally been staring us in the face for as long as humans have been around! We've used steam, burned coal, fossil fuels, and even done something as complicated as split atoms to get energy: but the simplest one by far has to be solar power! Just put up a cell to collect the energy, charge up, and you are good to go!

Reusable shopping bags - I remember helping my grandmother reorganize her closet and drawers - everything she had was neatly sorted and wrapped up in cloth bundles - she didn't need plastic boxes and trays. Isn't that what a reusable shoppingbag is, after all? A piece of cloth sewn like a bag that we use to store stuff!

Bamboo utensils - When given a choice between bamboo and plastic, which do you think is more basic? Plastic, which is the result of animals and plants becoming fossilized over millions of years, slowly turning into crude oil, then processed in a factory and molded into utensils? Or bamboo, which takes less than a month to grow, after which it is cut and carved into a utensil?

Organic foods - organically grown/produced foods are also simple at heart. They don't have any of the pesticides, chemicals, or genetic engineering that non-organic foods have. In fact, they were grown just as nature has been doing for the past few billion years! Of course, we can streamline the process by farming, but otherwise, it's up to Mother Nature to do her thing!

Maybe it's time we looked a little bit inside ourselves and tried to simplify"green" our lives. Let's look back at how we used to do things, put a modern take on them, and see what kind of cool ideas we can come up with. What are some ways you have simplified to make things easier or more "green?"