Shaping Youth BETA BLOG

Nov. 23, 2009 Like many of you, I’m trying to figure out how to ‘go over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house’ while reducing my carbon footprint, cranky kids and car time, or being locked in a transportation vehicle of any sort (plane, train or automobile) when we really just all wanna be OUTSIDE playing on our day off, eh?

When my folks left Hawaii to be ‘closer’ to us all on the mainland, little did we realize to reach them using public transport it would require BART to Amtrak to an hour ride in a car for their spot in the Sierra foothills in order to avoid the snarly gnarly backups on the Bay Bridge mass exodus toward Tahoe. We want to be as ‘green’ as possible be flexible with traditions, and yet still connect in person not via webcam or Skype, ya know?

So what’s a family to do? We WANT to unite, but dangit, we don’t want to dread the travel exhaustion and money madness as we calculate ourselves like pricey imported “food miles” traveling too far to a destination adding to greenhouse gases, the planet’s plight, and the country’s debt sans fiscal fitness.

Don’t know what’s to come of us this year (still deciding!) But here are a few tips for helping sort out priorities, a ‘coming soon’ instant audio iPhone app for masterful kids storytelling at Tales2Go (Facebook page here)…101 road trip tips from MomsMiniVan and my favorite freebies, the ol’ verbal icebreaker games and intimacy builders, adaptable for any age & theme much like these ‘TableTopics’ I wrote about to get conversations goin. As I run the gauntlet of choices with as much calm, care, and consideration possible (staving off the stress) I give thanks for our bounty of options that so many don’t even have…

It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of Forest Ethics and their annual ‘scorecards’ for grading everything from catalogs to back to school office supplies, so we have a guest post courtesy of their media officer, Will Craven to sift out some of the basics on your checklist for ‘walking the walk’…even if you end up, um…driving.

Giving Thanks: Family Friendly Eco-Tips by Forest Ethics’ via Will Craven

Long before the advent of football or Macy’s parade, Thanksgiving was an intrinsically environmental holiday. How do we give thanks to a planet which gives us such amazing luxuries as cranberries, sweet potatoes, and wine?

Here are a few ideas, do feel free to leave more in the comments section…

1.    Eat local: Each ingredient in a typical meal travels an average of 1,500 miles, and the greenhouse gases from these “food miles” are a big part of how our food affects our climate.  Even worse, large chain grocers like Safeway, Kroger, and Albertson’s are increasingly dependent upon dirtier transportation fuels like those that come from Canadian Tar Sands oil. Avoid the big chains, and shop at a (fun!) local farmer’s market or smaller local business.

2.    Real plates, real forks: The fewer petroleum-based plastic and forest-unfriendly wood products you’re consuming, the better. Knock on a neighbor’s door if you’re lacking any cups, plates, silverware, or napkins. And if you buy any wood or paper products, look for 100% post-consumer recycled content, while avoiding greenwashed products certified by SFI– the (Un!)Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

3.    Speaking of plastic… Plastic wrap has the potential to leach plastic into your food, so use reusable glass or hard plastic containers. Even aluminum foil beats plastic wrap, as it can be recycled.

4.    Drink local: The microbrew revolution of the past 20 years in America is truly something to be thankful for. Nearly every nook and cranny of this country has its own beer, and if you’re lucky, you might have wine as well.

5.    Avoid Sara Lee products: Not only does the global foods monolith use the SFI certification scheme to greenwash its paper and packaging, but it trucks its products all over the world using increasing amounts of dirty Tar Sands oil. Its transportation footprint is too gaseous for the 21st Century climate.

6.    Honor thy region: This is not the same as “shop local”, which is more about avoiding the environmental pitfalls of relying on intercontinental trucking  propelled by Tar Sands fuel. “Honor thy region” is more about savoring how the foods local to your region help define the flavor of your meal, and the flavor of the region itself. In Massachusetts, Wisconsin, or Washington state, this might mean looking up a new recipe for local cranberries. In the US South it might mean doing something creative with peanuts. Give thanks to your region by stirring its home-grown ingredients into your Thanksgiving.

7.    Don’t dive back into the rat race on Black Friday: Just as we’ve gotten yourself into a sane and thoughtful space on Thursday, the nation’s biggest shopping day threatens to turn us back into reactive gnats battling for parking space. Just. Say. No. And for the remainder of the year, try as much as possible to keep your life closer to the pace and values of Thanksgiving than to those of Black Friday.

Amen to that one. I particularly like that ‘reactive gnats’ phrase, Will! It’s SO San Francisco, reminding me of that old joke about pulling into a parallel park place half way across town just because ‘it was an open spot!’ 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours…

Tell us how you’re choosing to spend it? Favorite finds? Traditions? Media moments? Unplugged? Outdoors?

Last year I ‘went Zen’ and used this audio book to make my drive time more enjoyable and use the traffic jams as an opportunity for ‘hands-on’ practice in how I choose to walk through the world. It’s written by an oxymoronic sounding “ American Buddhist nun” (who also wrote Getting Unstuck, enjoyable too)

Now it’s on my holiday list for several families and friends in need of same…not just for holiday traffic but for familial nudges and disquieting pokes and jabs that can ‘harsh your mellow’ under any circumstances from youth to seniors…;-)

Speaking of which, on a personal note, it’s my brother’s birthday tomorrow, which always gets mashed into Thanksgiving, so whatever we decide to do for the holiday know I’ll be wishing you a huge Happy Birthday Mark, wherever we all land…We always joke that it’s like ‘herding cats’ to get us all in one place; but our saving grace is always humor, self-knowledge, and learning lots about those ‘hooks’ in ‘catch and release’ conversational style.

On Shaping Youth for Thanksgiving Day, we’ll be keeping an eye on the CNN Heroes ‘09 special to see how our gal pal from Girl Child Network Betty Makoni fared…

We’ll also be featuring more on Katherine’s teen’s take on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade from the inside out, just as she shared her journal with us being IN the parade…(stay tuned for the ‘behind the scenes’ memories, aftermath on the hard work and experience of being honored to participate and what it meant for the family logistically, financially, emotionally)

Meanwhile back to ‘regularly scheduled programming’…and finally, the multi-part series on moderation of online chat and internet media literacy w/kids…

Below: “American history brought to life by children in this true-to-life reenactment of the first Thanksgiving” (ironic/iconic political tidbits for media analysis) via Babelgum. Visual Credits: Harvest wreath: Free Thanksgiving clipart by Bobbie Peachey

Handful Of Thanksgiving Resources

How to Explain Thanksgiving to Your Kids (fun/silly one)

CCFC Guide to Commercial Free Holidays

Gobble Gobble Give Back (instilling philanthropy) YDT)

Vegan Holiday: Thanksgiving Recipes

Adopt A Turkey Project: Farm Sanctuary

Pilgrim Fare: Bean Soup vs. Turkey/Mythology of History (USA Today)

Thanksgiving’s Carbon Footprint/Factoids & Coloring Pages (TimTim)

Kids Travel Tips Road Survival Guide (via Babble)

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