While nothing quite beats the feeling of having those you love gathered around the table, sharing food, stories, and memories, there’s also no denying the Thanksgiving holiday can have an enormous impact on the environment. For example, we typically toss about 200 million pounds of turkey (roughly 6 million individual birds) in landfills each year and unfortunately waste enough water to supply the whole of New York City for 100 days.
If you’re the holiday host this year, we’ve gathered some simple steps you can take to enjoy celebrations that are not only warm and joyous but show gratitude to Mother Nature by helping to protect her.
Here’s how to make a difference:
Serve a Vegan Dinner
Surprise your guests with a creative vegan dinner this Thanksgiving. Cutting meat and dairy from your diet (or even just this meal!) can be an effective way to protect the planet, with research suggesting that a vegan lifestyle could reduce an individual’s carbon footprint by up to 73%. While many grocery stores now sell vegan alternatives to traditional Thanksgiving staples like turkey and ham, you can also create your own completely meat-free dishes. For instance, you could let the citrusy zest of our elegant CLEAN RESERVE Citron Fig inspire a side of lemon roasted potatoes and Brussel sprouts!
Discover more cold-weather, fragrance-inspired recipes here.
Reduce Food Waste
As we mentioned before, food waste is a critical problem during the holidays. One way you can address this is by carefully planning each dish before going shopping. Make a list of only the ingredients you need to create your chosen meal and stick to it. Bonus points if you choose ingredients and dishes that can be used and repurposed in different ways!
Additionally, you can get inspired by the corn-derived, biodegradable cellophane we use to package scents like CLEAN CLASSIC Nordic Light and compost your leftovers! Food scraps and yard waste currently make up more than 30% of what we throw away; if we compost these instead, we can reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills, minimize the methane emissions created there, and lower our carbon footprint.
Learn more about composting here.
Choose Green Decorations
It’s time to get crafty! Instead of purchasing plastic decorations from the dollar store, why not visit your local farmer’s market and pick up miniature pumpkins this year? These vegetables make fantastic, natural decorations and can even be composted after the big day. You can also take cues from the woody notes of CLEAN RESERVE Sel Santal and collect leaves, bark, and pinecones from your backyard or favorite park to make decorations like wreaths and garlands.
Reach for Non-Toxic Candles
Create a warm, ambient atmosphere that doesn't harm the environment by lighting clean, non-toxic candles this holiday season. Not only does our CLEAN RESERVE HOME Candle line feature some of our favorite coxy scents, but they also have been created with soy wax which is an environmentally friendly alternative to paraffin wax.
Find out how you can create the perfect burn here.
