When this first appeared in my inbox, I thought it was a joke from one of the many satirical websites on the Internet which regularly lampoon the liberal bogeyman disaffectionately known as global warming.
Then, I thought the good folks at the Washington Times were having a little fun the day before Thanksgiving highlighting tips to make your holiday more eco-friendly.
Sadly, a visit to the World Wildlife Fund's website proved that the joke's on us as the largest multinational conservation organization in the world offered readers ten tips for a greener Thanksgiving:
1) Purchase locally grown, seasonal produce in the bulk bin. Locally produced products require less gasoline to ship to market - and usually taste fresher too. Local seasonal produce can include root crops such as potatoes, turnips, beets, rutabaga, parsnips, salsify, pumpkins and squash. Use bitter greens and hardy vegetables that are available in the fall, such as collards, kale and Brussels sprouts. They're good for you and good for the planet. Look for them in the bulk bin to cut down on individual packaging waste.
2) Buy organic foods - turkeys, produce such as apples, celery, and many of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner trimmings are now available in organic version, usually better for the environment as they reduce the use of pesticides.
3) Shop online or order by phone and save the gas you'd burn driving from store to store. It saves the planet from exhaust emissions, which add to global warming.
4) Look for natural materials such as pinecones, dried leaves, Osage oranges, and other natural materials from your own backyard to make your holiday centerpiece.
5) Serve tap water instead of bottled at your holiday table and cut down on plastic bottles which will need to be discarded.
6) Purchase ingredients with a minimal amount of packaging around them. Cardboard and plastic packaging just ends up in the waste basket.
7) Serve wine sealed with a cork not a plastic stopper. Cork extraction is one of the most environmentally friendly harvesting methods, and cork production provides a sustainable livelihood for people in many parts of the world.
8) Although Thanksgiving is supposed to be a feast, don't prepare more food than will be eaten. American's throw out nearly 40 percent of their food. This year, encourage guests to clean their plates.
9) Remember - leftovers are half the fun! Find new and interesting ways to serve leftovers.
10) Share food with those that have less and invite people for Thanksgiving that don't have anywhere else to go. Sustainable societies are built on sustainable agriculture and food systems but also sustainable communities - be part of one.
In the end, all of these suggestions are actually quite good ones that even skeptics should agree with, although likely not follow.
For instance, I'm not sure I want to purchase my food online. Part of the fun of preparing a meal is indeed going to the supermarket.
Beyond that, as the food has to be delivered to your house likely by a truck that gets worse gas mileage than your car, I fail to see how this reduces fuel usage or carbon dioxide emissions.
Also, the serving of tap water might be just fine for folks in areas where that which comes from their pipes is close to potable. However, there are many parts of the country where this is just not the case.
Finally, did anybody notice the contradiction in tips eight and nine? First we're encouraged to only prepare as much food as will be eaten, and then offered advice as to what to do with the leftovers.
If I follow rule eight properly, won't rule nine become moot?
Or, is the WWF accidentally admitting that no one will pay attention to any of these tips?
Regardless, for those that were wondering, the Sheppard household is doing its share to have a green Thanksgiving, as I noticed last evening my wife and daughter slicing exclusively Granny Smith apples for our pie this year.
Also, I plan on spending the entire day green with envy for my son that is duck hunting in Sidney, Nebraska.
Have a Green Thanksgiving!
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.
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Noel, Last night, I heard
November 21, 2007 - 11:58 ET by Chris NormanNoel, Last night, I heard the first of the expected many stories on local radio about how high gas prices have made this Thanksgiving particularly hard on the poor. The "Let's make everyone feel guilty about having a happy Thanksgiving" stories must be among our most enduring holiday traditions.
about 31.2 million travelers
November 21, 2007 - 12:24 ET by vrwc13about 31.2 million travelers were expected to drive in spite of gas prices that were nearly 85 cents more per gallon than they were a year earlier. The national average for regular gasoline on Nov. 16 was $3.09 a gallon, up from $2.23 on Nov. 17, 2006.
"The question becomes 'Is 10 dollars or 15 dollars more for gas enough to change travel plans?' and obviously most Americans said 'no,' AP
Based on mileage of 20 / 15 / 10 miles/gallon, a trip of:
So "over the river and through the woods to Grandmothers house" 200 miles away, will put you out about 20 bucks more than last year.
Unless of course you own a big honking SUV, it could cost you up to $90 more, but hey if you could afford a big honking SUV whats another $90?
v
If it doesn't snow, we'll
November 21, 2007 - 12:45 ET by mattmIf it doesn't snow, we'll have a greenish-brown Thanksgiving and a high of 30 degrees....pretty normal for the upper midwest...luckily we'll be indoors keeping warm by burning carbon-based fuels and feasting and thanking God for the bountiful harvest our country is blessed with and the free market system that made it possible for us to take full advantage of it.
Wow, the real Thanksgiving
November 21, 2007 - 14:16 ET by Dan The Man 2Wow, the real Thanksgiving story was really eye opening.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
It's one of the many-reasons
November 21, 2007 - 14:26 ET by sarcasmoThat socialist schools should NOT be allowed to exist. We've been subjected for decades to propaganda myths about America's best holiday, and putting different myth-makers in charge of the socialist school system WILL NOT change things. Only a free education marketplace can & eventually will do that.
JMR
PS FEE rocks. Everyone here who hasn't yet should read Leonard Read's "I, Pencil" essay.
Rally online with fans of Dr. Ron Paul.
78 degrees here tommorrow.
November 21, 2007 - 17:56 ET by ricklail78 degrees here tommorrow. May have to turn the air back on.
Democracy: Three wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Rick, that ain't funny.
November 23, 2007 - 19:17 ET by MikeBRick, that ain't funny. That's only funny when we here in Oklahoma can say that to bigtimer in Montana. Then it's hilarious.
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
Noel
November 21, 2007 - 11:58 ET by ricklailDon't want to make you too envious but as I walked into work this AM it sounded like a small firefight. The sounds were coming from the ponds surrounding this place. When I looked at my watch it was 6:48-sunrise. The duck hunters were right on time. Outside of Lake Mattamesket the best duck hunting around here is on the Pamlico River just east of Washington, NC.
Democracy: Three wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Should we eat it?
November 21, 2007 - 12:01 ET by Vivian LeeCardboard and plastic packaging just ends up in the waste basket.
As opposed to say..... eating it? What do they propose we do with the minimal packaging? Stuff the bird with it?
Look for natural materials such as pinecones, dried leaves, Osage oranges, and other natural materials from your own backyard to make your holiday centerpiece.
Yes, those Osage oranges are all over my back yard. How about yours?
When I'm through raking,
November 21, 2007 - 12:06 ET by Chris NormanWhen I'm through raking, I'll just dump the leaves, dirt, and twigs, on the table. It'll be great fun, watching my relatives scream, while the ants, earwigs, and other varmints scurry around the table...
Fertilized centerpieces
November 21, 2007 - 12:38 ET by Vivian LeeAdd the neighbor's dog poop for good measure... Fertilized centerpieces last longer, right?
Better than a Glade Scented
November 21, 2007 - 12:56 ET by Chris NormanBetter than a Glade Scented Candle. :)
LOL!!!!!!!!! I am still
November 21, 2007 - 12:39 ET by Sick-n-TiredLOL!!!!!!!!! I am still chuckling on that one. Hit my funny bone just right--------I could totally envision the scene; something you would see in a "green" National Lampoon movie!
"...National Lampoon
November 21, 2007 - 12:58 ET by Chris Norman"...National Lampoon movie!"
Which pretty much describes Thanksgiving in the Norman house...
The only green Thanksgiving
November 21, 2007 - 12:16 ET by Hero SquadThe only green Thanksgiving for me will be the few green beans that manage to peek out of the delicious turkey gravy I smothered them in on my Thanksgiving Day plate.
*****
"The empty wagon makes the most noise." - Derrick Mason
OH, yeah, I, for one, can't
November 21, 2007 - 12:20 ET by motherbeltOH, yeah, I, for one, can't wait to dig into my Thanksgiving feast of turkey, turnips, beets, rutabaga, and parsnips, along with a nice salad of collard greens and kale.
The thing I can't decide is whether to use real plates and waste the water washing them, or use paper as much as possible, and be responsible for killing trees. I'm truly caught on the horns of a dilemma.....
Collards?
November 21, 2007 - 13:45 ET by ricklailUntil I moved to eastern NC I never heard of collards on Thanskgiving. Shoot we didn't eat collards we eat turnip or mustards greens but not at Thanksgiving. Tomorrow my neighbor will cook about 30 pounds of them for his family. They will be the first thing gone. Me, after living her for 12 years I still haven't aquired a taste for them. Give me mustard greens with balsamic vinegar on them.
Democracy: Three wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Rick... I have lived here
November 21, 2007 - 13:52 ET by Clear thinkerRick...
I have lived here in NC for 17 years and have yet to aquire a taste for collards. How about Ramps? Yuch!
Get Email updates from Fred http://socialnet.imwithfred.com/email_alert_july_26.html
You probably haven't had properly cooked collards
November 21, 2007 - 14:51 ET by RJBelieve it or not, there's an art to it...one that I've only partially mastered.
Rick... I have lived here
November 21, 2007 - 13:53 ET by Clear thinkerRick...
I have lived here in NC for 17 years and have yet to aquire a taste for collards. How about Ramps? Yuch!
Get Email updates from Fred http://socialnet.imwithfred.com/email_alert_july_26.html
Ramps?
November 21, 2007 - 14:06 ET by ricklailWhen I lived back in western part of the state a friend brought me a mess of ramps. Put them in the refrigerator and thought we'd never get the smell out. Did you know they have a ramp festival in either Waynesville or Weaverville each year. Bet that place stinks as bad as Salley SC when they have the Chitlin Strutt!
Democracy: Three wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Noel, why should we believe
November 21, 2007 - 12:18 ET by nicksmith112Noel, why should we believe anything from the experts about global warming? Each hurricane season since Katrina multiple devastating hurricane were suppose to ravage the east coast. If the experts are so wrong about weather months into the future why should we think they can predict years into the future???
Automaker are rolling out hybrid SUV's that get 34 mpg. Is 34 mpg anything to brag about or is this just a way the alarmist can tool around in gas guzzlers guilt-free???
I'm a refugee from the Democratic Party.
Rule #1
November 21, 2007 - 12:24 ET by okiehawk44For Thanksgiving let's promote killing our unborn American children while inviting in millions of Mexican children.
Smoking the Duck
November 21, 2007 - 12:25 ET by Gary HallThe problem Noel, is how are you going to get that duck smoked in time for Thanksgiving dinner? (;~>
PS. I'm smoking the turkey tomorrow. Should I use organic apple wood or organic pecan wood for all of that "organic" smoke?
Gary, apple or pecan? I
November 21, 2007 - 12:48 ET by Clear thinkerGary, apple or pecan?
I suggest you use the one wood that is the most endangered. Make sure you tell a few liberals for effect.
Happy Thanksgiving all!
Get Email updates from Fred http://socialnet.imwithfred.com/email_alert_july_26.html
My Thanksgiving
November 21, 2007 - 12:33 ET by PeskyDaneMy Thanksgiving plans...
My family and I will hop into our Mercury Mountaineer and drive 70 miles from our 4,000 square foot home to my brother-in-law's centrally heated 4,000 square foot home.We will dine on a variety of fowl that were no doubt raised on huge factory farms. I would imagine that prior to their cruel deaths, they spend their short lives in utter misery, living in cramped conditions and injected with hormones and other chemicals to make them nice and tasty. Mmm, mm. We will also enjoy a variety of vegetables which no doubt needed a number of plane and truck rides to reach the table. We will be joined by many other relatives who burnt their share of fuels on their respective journeys.
We will enjoy good fellowship, give thanks to The Creator and congratulate ourselves on the fact that we live in the United States. We will also hail those who went before us and conquered the 500 feudal nations and their drug-addicted toiling populations. And there's not a darn thing the libtards can do about it.
Happy Thanksgiving.
My daughter and family came
November 21, 2007 - 14:20 ET by ricklailMy daughter and family came in last night in their Suburban driving 300 miles. My son will be coming about 250 miles in his Mountaineer. My other son will drive his Silverado v-8 tree feeder over but he doesn't live but about 5 miles away. I think the only thing that we have locally grow are the pecans. Got those from a neighbor. My wife always buys a smoked turkey from the FFA at the local school. The nearest place that raises turkeys and smokes them is in Marshville, NC about 250 miles away. I kwon it was trucked here. The potatoes come from Idaho. I don't know where the green beans and the flour for the gravy comes from but it too had to be trucked here.
We are not going to need any heat here tomorrow. Thanks to global warming it is going to be 78 degrees. We'll probably eat outside on the deck.
Democracy: Three wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
LOL - I think you have us
November 22, 2007 - 11:05 ET by PeskyDaneLOL - I think you have us beat, dude. Happy Thanksgiving.
Though I likely live more
November 21, 2007 - 12:41 ET by danboThough I likely live more of a green lifestyle than most warmers who lecture us. My reaction to this list.
1) Eat locally grow--- This is a treat day. A special day. I'll eat what's special. I'll consider this option after the lecturers stop dining on endangered fish imported from Chile. And out of season produce. This is a conflict with 7. Support cork growers in Spain. But not pineapple growers in central america?
2) Buy organic. No problem if it's good and cost reasonable. But why should I pay more.
3) Shop on line. I do a lot of this because I can find things on line I can't find locally. But I'm with Noel. My pick up uses less gas than the delivery. Not to mention the increased cost. And getting out.
4) Use natural decorations? I do. But see little good in using a magnolia cone (better than pine cone) that will rot verses decorations that will last many years.
5) Serve tap water. This is a special day. No. Champagne. It taste better. And all those CO2 bubbles are fun as they dance on your tongue.
6) Minimal packaging? You really expect me to walk around the store carrying loose ground turkey?
7) Serve wine with cork, not plastic. My champagne will have cork. But I can't see the advantage of shipping cork half way around the globe over plastic.
I agree on 8 and 9.
10. No, I'm gonna listen to my mama. think of the poor starving children in china. I'm going to mail it to them.
Have a Great Thanksgiving. Whatever the color. Enjoy it and be thankfull.
That was a better list than the people who want us to morn on thanksgiving.
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
Another dilemma
November 21, 2007 - 13:18 ET by Vivian LeeThis year, encourage guests to clean their plates.
But doesn't this encourage obesity? Shouldn't we just be eating until our stomachs indicate we are full? What about those government regulated (scratch that) recommended portion sizes?
Signed,
A former member of the clean plate society
For number seven the reason
November 21, 2007 - 15:37 ET by nnptcgradFor number seven the reason the wineries went to plastic was because of a fungus that infected a number of cork trees around the world. Getting good cork became far more expensive so they invested in inventing a plastic version that had the same characteristics, but was immune to the rot that spoiled the wine.
Mother nature is a bitch - Ninth Corollary of Murphy's Law
I'd forgotten it was a
November 21, 2007 - 16:05 ET by danboI'd forgotten it was a fungus. But recall the problem with corks.
Just happens the champagne I chose has cork.
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
Doesn't harvesting cork
November 22, 2007 - 10:40 ET by Seabeach4348Doesn't harvesting cork require the cardinal sin of cutting down trees?
Happy Thanksgiving to all
November 21, 2007 - 12:42 ET by Sick-n-TiredHappy Thanksgiving to all of you and your families!
Out.
This "rule" is utter
November 21, 2007 - 14:21 ET by jdhawkThis "rule" is utter nonsense, "Purchase locally grown, seasonal produce in the bulk bin. Locally produced products require less gasoline to ship to market - and usually taste fresher too."
The sad truth with these idiots in the "green" movement is that they fail to recognize the bounty that the American farmer has been able to achieve.
The facts are that the American farmer grows more crop per acre with less input from capital and labor than any other on the planet. And, it all fails if we attempt to go back over a hundred years and grow these same crops "locally."
Farming is big business and requires huge tracks of land and large inputs of capital, but with few inputs of labor to make it work as it does. "Local" farming is just the opposite of this framework. It requires little land, a small amount of capital and relatively huge amounts of labor.
In a word, "local" farming is inefficient. If we had to rely on "local" farming, we would have severe food shortages here in the United States and would cease to be the bread basket of the world.
These "local" farming advocates are the Sharia law nuts of the "green" movement. There is nothing remotely "green" about "local" farming.
Can you imagine someplace
November 21, 2007 - 15:15 ET by danboCan you imagine someplace like New York or Los Angeles trying to live only on locally produced food?
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
"Can you imagne someplace
November 23, 2007 - 19:24 ET by MikeB"Can you imagne someplace like New York or Los Angeles trying to live only on locally produced food?" Ratburgers anyone?
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
Shoot a northern mallard for me
November 21, 2007 - 17:34 ET by Lame CherryMr. Sheppard have your sun shoot a northern mallard for me. While the Canucks drained too many sloughs up there so the huge funnels are no more that I remembered as a child........there is nothing like the whistling wings of those frosted breasts against an even paler sky in the crisp prairie air.
Oh to shoot lead deuces in an 870 with a vent rib and hear that wonderful twang of 3 in Winchester magnums battering that gun with massive recoil.
Tis the stuff of Jack Douglas Mitchell and Mr. Nash..........if your son is interested I have a goose and duck sauce recipe from the Beaverdam Club I make which is heaven.
1 cup currant jelly
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup dry red wine
Combine and reduce to a bbq sauce consistency and enjoy.
Nash always had bread pudding, cracklin' bread, toast tips and a few teal with this at the Beaverdam from Aunt Mollie's kitchen.
Thank God for Thanks Giving.........I will have to render some of that sauce out soon as I have geese to eat.
(PS Since this has turned into a real American shoot your bird post, I recommend another American company for those who cook game in the Presto pressure cooker. One can not believe how tender and how much meat one does not waste or dry out like an oven does. I prefer the old 40's 50's 60's which are heavy aluminum to the modern stainless steal (ebay usually sells them), but Mr. Sheppard if your son starts cooking in one you will be surprised how great some tough old birds turn out........especially breast meat.
Oh and FOR A REAL GREEN DAY, use the wild game and the Presto as the Presto cooks in 1/3rd the time........THAT MEANS SAVING ENERGY which is what those nuts usually are whining about.)
Happy Thanksgiving.
1. Eat food you like because it is Thanks Giving not Suffering eating bitter fricking veggies no one eats.
2. Buy whatever food your heart lusts after and Thank God for it. Leave the worm infested apples for Jane Fonda.
3. Burn as much fuel as you like. I pollute wonderfully by smoking my turkey with cherry wood from a tree I cut down which I planted.
4. Forget the centerpieces as those are girly things. I prefer cheese, beer, crackers and deer summer sausage as my centerpiece.
5. Load up all the trash you have in making dinner and light her up out the front window at halftime. Makes a great fire and something to do in burning all that plastic makes it toasty warm to warm you up for that beer you are drinking.
6. Forget about wacko green containers and splurge as it is Thanks Giving to God and not make a nut vegan happy.
7. Make your own wine. My recipe is 4 cups sugar, 1 cup real grape concentrate, 1/2 tsp yeast and fill a glass gallon jug with water leaving the cap just on so to let gas escape.
Buy plastic as it employs a whole heck of allot more people than some cork 3rd world producers.
8. Be a good host and pile up the food. If it gets tossed out your stray cats and dogs will gobble it all down. Leave the guests alone as no one wants to eat tofu and other crap on Thanks Giving.......it is why those people always have plates full of crapper food.
9. Send the leftovers home with the company and make them suffer. I do love turkey gravy with turkey meat in it........just add onion salt with all that turkey grease........man that makes liberals nuts, salt and grease.
10. Do not invite bums, convicts, psychos and people with lice into your home. That is common sense. Instead give them all directions to your local Democrat liberal wacko's house and let them eat tofu there.
Christ said it better, Love your neighbors as in care for them. His method is better than inviting people into your home you will need the police to get rid of.
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