Before you sit down for your Thanksgiving feast or unwrap this year’s gifts tucked under the Christmas tree, environmentalists want you to know that your holiday traditions are contributing to climate change and hurting the planet.
Media reports on this bad news are popping up everywhere online as Turkey Day arrives, including on the Earth Day Network website under the holiday-themed headline: “Don’t let consumerism consume your holiday” and the subhead “It’s (not) a wonderful life:”
One study published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology showed that individual household consumption — not businesses, government or industries — accounts for more than 60 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 50 percent–80 percent of total land, material and water use. The problem, researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology reported, lies mostly in the carbon-emitting ways we produce and transport all the stuff (including food) we buy. And when we consider all the new stuff we’re going to buy (and all the additional food we’re going to eat) this holiday, that carbon footprint is only going to grow.
The article directs readers to change behavior to save the planet, including ending online shopping.
“Sure, it’s convenient, but all the packaging and transportation that goes into delivering that gift (next day!) to your doorstep leaves a way bigger carbon footprint than just going to the store yourself.”