Sustainable Holiday Meals

by Fred Horch, Principal Advisor, Sustainable Practice.

Sustainability is a big part of the traditional Thanksgiving meal: family and friends gather to enjoy home-cooked, seasonal food from local farms, and eat leftovers for many days afterwards. More importantly, getting together is an opportunity to show gratitude for all that sustains us.

While the theory of Thanksgiving evokes peace and sustainability, the practice can be stressful, especially if you set strict and inflexible environmental standards for yourself or your host. It is true that a vegan meal is more sustainable by some measures, but in a broader context, many ways to celebrate can be sustainable, including serving a traditional turkey to guests.

The key to practicing sustainability well is to give yourself time to make thoughtful choices. As my friend Brett Thompson would say, if you panic early enough it looks like you planned ahead.

Planning a Thanksgiving meal is an opportunity to think through many steps along several pathways to sustainability. The food that you will eat is your most obvious choice, but the energy you use to prepare the meal, the materials you use to set your table, and the water and cleaning chemicals you’ll use to clean up afterwards are also part of the sustainability calculus.