Thanksgiving is a festival unlike any other. It’s a day to give thanks for everything that we’ve been blessed with – our families, friends, home, work, community, country and yes, the environment. We’ve so much to thank the environment for. It provides us food we can eat, water we can drink, air we can breathe, resources we can use to make our life simpler.
And what do we do in return? Why, we take from it as a matter of right without stopping to think how our actions are impacting our beautiful, giving environment. How about we celebrate this Thanksgiving a little differently? How about we give our environment some reasons to thank us on this day?
Who’s with me?
Time to give back
According to an estimate by the Rainforest Action Network or RAN, around 3 to 6 billion trees are cut down every year although by their own admission it’s impossible to get accurate data on this. That’s a good place to start, don’t you think? Since we’re mercilessly and mindlessly cutting down trees for our own use, let’s somehow redeem ourselves by planting trees, shrubs, bushes – anything that will grow and give us a green cover. Initiate a tree planting drive in your community, plant some bushes in your yard, or just grow a few herbs in your kitchen garden.
Over the years, our use of and dependence on electricity has increased many times over. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, we consumed nearly 3,856 Billion Kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in 2011.I am not surprised given the fact we have many more electrical appliances and gadgets per household now as compared to earlier. I know we can’t significantly bring down our use of electronic devices and appliances, but we can try out alternative sources of energy such as solar or thermal power. It’s not too hard to find appliances that run on these power sources. We can also buy energy efficient appliances, use natural sunlight instead of light fixtures during the day, and reduce our use of air conditioning.
Saving fuel is another way we can give back to the environment. The figures available with the EIA put the total fuel consumption in the U.S. at 134 billion gallons in 2011. There’s no way we cannot bring down that number with a little bit of collective effort. Wherever possible, walk or bike to your destination. Consider car pooling or using the public transit system in your city. If you can afford it, replace your car with a hybrid or electric variant. Even if that’s not an option, adopt more fuel-efficient driving practices. Learn more about this on the U.S. government’s website on fuel economy.
Many of us don’t treat it that way, but water is a precious natural resource. It’s also a finite resource. So, remember that next time you leave the tap running while brushing your teeth in the morning or ignore that leaking faucet. Hollywood actress Julia Roberts is believed to practice shower economy to save water. How about we bid goodbye to those long luxurious baths and do the same? While we’re at it, we can also clean our cars and water our plants with a pail instead of using a hose; sweep our driveway instead of washing it; and start harvesting rain water.
Last, but not the least, the environment would really appreciate us for recycling. It will lessen the burden on her shoulders for supporting our need for natural resources. Not just that, recycling will also reduce the pollution caused by landfilling and incineration of trash as well as manufacturing of new products. In fact, recycling can be profitable for you. Many private recyclers buy metal scrap from individual households. All you have to do is find one near you. For example, if you live in Camden, NJ. SIMS Metal Management is a great place to sell your ferrous and non-ferrous metal scrap as well as electronic waste, white goods and end-of-life vehicles. They have similar recycling facilities in many parts of the country and even abroad.
Let’s make this Thanksgiving memorable. Let’s make it different. Let’s make it all about our environment. You know we owe it to her!
