As you prepare to gorge yourself on turkey and all the fixings, make sure you pause and give thanks to this great planet that we call home. And even better than a verbal thanks, how about letting your actions speak louder than your words? Here are a few tips to make your Thanksgiving a little more environmentally friendly:

-    Grab your reusable bags when you go grocery shopping (or any shopping for that matter including, yes, Christmas shopping on Black Friday!). Make sure you have one bag dedicated and big enough for that bird!

-    If you have to use paper products, use recyclable (or recycled) ones. Otherwise, enjoy your nice dishes and splurge a bit to find fall or holiday cloth napkins.

-    Garnish your table with beeswax or soy candles, which are much more eco-friendly than traditional ones.

-    Take a nature walk and decorate your table with real fall foliage that has fallen to the ground like colored leaves and pinecones. Try out some fun crafts like turkeys made out of pine cones and pipe cleaners with your kids.

-    Check out the Eat Well Guide (www.eatwellguide.org), where you can find different meats by production methods and learn where you can actually buy organic turkey. Don’t forget your local farmers’ markets too, or your local poultry farm.

I know what I’m not thankful for… OK, maybe this isn’t the way to start off the blog for the day, but I am so tired of hearing people stressing out about what they’re doing for Thanksgiving, whose house they’re going to, whom they’re spending the day with, and what they’ll be eating. We haven’t even had Thanksgiving and folks are already planning Christmas, asking the same questions about the December holiday as they do for the one in a few weeks. And then there’s Christmas shopping. I’m not even going there. What I am thankful for is the fact that I can wake up everyday and know that our planet is alive. Alive with relatively clean air, green grass, majestic mountain peaks, and deep, vast oceans. I’m thankful that I have the ability to affect change to our environment by making a conscious effort to recycle when I can, be kind to nature and be a good steward to our earth. I’m thankful that I’ve been given the opportunity to help educate others through Duckey and the Ocean Protectors – and that all of us have the power to help our planet. Remember: “Believe it! Achieve it!”

Ever wonder what’s down there in the depths of the ocean? Of course, you could don diving gear and tanks to get a glimpse at the life that lies deep below the surface, but for the vast majority of us, we only enjoy those creatures we can see – whales, sea otters, hundreds of species of fish, snails, crabs, dolphins. Well, there’s actually a group of about 2,000 international scientists who make it their job to keep track of “what’s down there.” They’ve created the Census of Marine Life, a 10-year project with scientists from 82 nations (talk about teamwork!) that commits to discovering what makes the underwater world tick. Their newest findings, scheduled for release and publication this week, includes a White Shark Café in the Pacific, the fact that a large proportion of deep sea octopus species worldwide evolved from common ancestor species that still exist in the Southern Ocean, and that there are at least 85 new species of zooplankton, small drifting and swimming marine animals. 85 new species! Scientists say that there are probably one million species in the ocean but only about 230,000 are known. To learn more about the group’s studies and their findings visit www.livescience.com.

Being a big fan of animals and sea creatures, naturally I’m a big fan of Animal Planet. So when I started seeing teasers for a new series with Greenpeace Co-Founder Paul Watson, well, of course I became a bit interested. It turns out Captain Watson founded Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 1977 in order to abolish whaling, poaching, shark finning and habitat destruction – basically, to be the stewards of international conservation laws at sea above and beyond what Greenpeace was doing. His international crew now heads out each winter to save the sea’s inhabitants, specifically those in whaling communities off the coast of Japan. Some call the members of this crew “activists”; others say they’re heroes and some even call them “eco-pirates”. Animal Planet hit the seas with them for two months and has captured their mission and passion – going “deep” to show what the whaling trade is all about. The seven-week series premiers this Friday at 9 p.m. EST. Check out www.animal.discovery.com to find a show time in your area.

If you’re like me, you’re probably always looking for ways to conserve energy and protect the environment around you so that those living in our precious habitat – our planet – will survive and thrive through the years. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks like you and I do (which is why we have to get out there and save the planet!) but thanks to President Richard Nixon and Congress back in 1973, we have a little more ammunition to use to protect our wildlife and environment. President Nixon signed into law The Endangered Species Act of 1973 to protect species and also “the ecosystems upon which they depend.” The United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are the federal agencies that oversee the initiatives in this law. The Act was designed to protect species that were (and are) close to extinction, and to preserve the environments in which they live in order to sustain current populations and then hopefully grow the number of species again. This past year, the administration has proposed legislation that would actually weaken the Endangered Species Act and put many species in jeopardy. It is our job as ocean protectors – and protectors of all living things – to continue to preserve and conserve our environment at every opportunity. By working together as a team, we can look for ways to protect critical habitats where these endangered species live. Keep up the good work! Since August, 44 species have been removed from the endangered list and another 23 have been downgraded from endangered to threatened. As of August, 1,327 species are still on the endangered list. Let’s keep doing our part to get them off that list!

Earlier this month, I followed the tale of an amazing rescue of a special manatee that somehow lost his way and migrated north to the cold waters off the shores of Dennis, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. “Dennis”, as he was named by this seashore community, swam into Sesuit Harbor sometime during the first week of October, much to the surprise of these New Englanders who didn’t expect to see this warm weather animal in their harbor. Manatees are an endangered species and thrive in the warm waters off the coast of Florida, not in the 60-degree waters of the Northern Atlantic. A rescue effort ensued where members of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Sea World staff, and rescuers from Florida stabilized this 800-pound gentle giant and prepared him for transport to a rehabilitation center at Sea World in Florida. There he would regain strength and be released back into the wild. Unfortunately, after just crossing the border into Florida and nearing the end of his 20-hour long road trip, according to the news, Dennis quietly stopped breathing. A sad ending to a heroic effort from these real life Ocean Protectors. When I see news like this, I struggle to understand why Dennis was in cold, northern waters to begin with. What made him wander north? Was he looking for food? Was he following another marine animal that sent him off track? Had something in his ocean environment made him sick and disoriented? As Ocean Protectors we’ll never know, but it’s our job to keep questioning why. If we uncover the reasons, we will hopefully prevent others like Dennis from this same, sad outcome.

According to Earth911.com, “every year, one billion pounds of pumpkins are produced in the U.S., including at least 100 million pounds in every state.” But once good ol’ Jack’s flame has sparked its last light this Halloween, where does he go? One might think that getting rid of a pumpkin is easy and you can just toss it. But how do you make sure all of the pumpkin is not put into a landfill? Earth911.com offers some ideas:
- Save the seeds to eat or plant! Pumpkin seeds are delicious (and healthy!) when baked or roasted so when you’re carving, have a separate bowl set aside for your pumpkin seeds. Save some to plant next summer as well and start your own pumpkin patch!
- Start cooking! If Jack isn’t totally soggy and rotted (it does happen), try making your pumpkin into soup or pie and freeze it for the upcoming holiday seasons. Pumpkin muffins are also delicious with fresh, natural pumpkin versus canned.
- Compost your pumpkin. Both the pumpkin itself and the seeds can be composted and will be a great mix to fall leaves in your compost pile.