How to reduce food waste this Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time for many of us to share an indulgent and delectable meal with our loved ones, but the 200 million pounds of turkey that go to waste after the holiday makes the day a little less delicious. Our Optimist View from a few weeks ago discussed the critical issue of food waste in more detail. If you’re making a conscious effort to reduce your daily food waste, why should Thanksgiving be any different? Here are some tips for making your Thanksgiving meal less wasteful.

Think about how much food you actually need: Use this handy “Guest-imator” calculator from Natural Resources Defense Council to help you plan your meal.

Delegate the work: Have each guest bring a small dish and you’ll know there’s enough food. Plus, you won’t feel pressured to overcook to impress your guests.
Go vegetarian: Okay, hear us out. There are truly endless delicious vegetarian Thanksgiving dish options and going meat-free will reduce your carbon footprint. If you’re not ready to ditch the bird quite yet, consider getting a smaller one and buying local and organic.
Small portions: Serve your guests’ small portions and encourage seconds or let guests serve themselves. Leftovers are manageable, but nobody is going to want to keep a heaping pile of stuffing off someone else’s plate.
Don’t peel vegetables: Skins give veggies a rustic feel and trap in vital nutrients. If you want to peel, make sure to compost your skins!
Serve pickles: Pickled vegetables like onions, carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower add a delicious tang to the meal and can be kept much longer than traditional veggie leftovers.
Change up the menu: Consider adding some variety to your meal in lieu of the classics. Guests will be more excited to try something new and may leave you with less tired mashed potatoes leftovers.
Make stock: Toss turkey carcass and vegetable scraps in a pot to make a delicious soup stock to use or freeze for future use.
Share the bounty: Encourage guests to take leftovers home and offer a slice of pie to a neighbor or two.
Find recipes that use leftovers: Turkey sandwiches, potato pancakes, and pot pies are just a few of your options for enjoying Thanksgiving treats in future meals.

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How to make your home more sustainable this winter

Cooler weather and shorter days invoke a nesting response in all of us. While making your home cozy for winter, take some time to make your home more sustainable too! Here are some easy tips for keeping your home green, even as the leaves turn to brown.

Preserve foods: gather the last of your goods from your garden, preserve them to minimize food waste, and enjoy homegrown treats throughout the winter.
Maintain the car: winter takes a toll on your car and poorly maintained vehicles are more environmentally taxing. Take time to change your oil, tires, filters, and replace spark plugs to make your car more efficient.
Clean and repair furnace and water heater: clean filters and air ducts to keep your home warm and your environmental impact minimal
Prepare for water runoff: clean out and repair drains to avoid flooding and dirty runoff.
Skip the yard chemicals: many insects use winter as a critical transplanting time. Stay away from chemicals during the growing offseason, and consider switching to natural remedies year-round.
Work the compost: boost your compost pile with dead leaves and other yard clippings.
Clean furniture and decks: cleaning and storing furniture properly will help them last longer through the wet season and cut down on landfill waste in the long run.
Limit electricity: it’s tempting to overuse heat and lights during winter. Layer up before resorting to heat, and be conscious of energy use!
Avoid plastic and decorate naturally: avoid plastic holiday decorations and single-use toys. Opt for natural decorations and wooden toys instead.
Buy local: buying fruits out of season means hefty transportation costs and emissions. Opt for local winter delicacies instead.
Take your own mug: nothing warms you up in winter like a hot beverage, but make sure to bring your reusable mug to reduce waste and keep your drink warm longer!
Simple maintenance and daily practice changes can make your home more environmentally friendly. Hopefully, these steps inspire you to make some sustainable changes this fall!

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These tips will help you start reading more in the digital age

Many of us put “read more” on our resolutions each year, and many of us find ourselves most of the way through the year with no more books under our belts than we started with. So, how can you improve your reading habits in the digital age? The trick is to start small and build up.

This “bite-size” reading technique involves finding short content, such as essays, short novels, or articles. to load onto a reading app or stash in your purse. In your spare time, rather than opening social media, fit in a few pages here and there. Reading apps and devices such as Kindles make it incredibly easy to work this into your busy schedule.

Starting with shorter content will help you maintain interest, as you can finish a piece in a few reading sessions, and it will train you to build up to longer novels. As with developing any new habit, the key is to start small and stay consistent. Commit to reading one article or a few chapters a day, and you will be polishing off novels in no time!

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5 ways to turn rudeness into something beneficial in the workplace

No one likes to experience rudeness at work, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that it is both insidious and a wholly negative experience. But surprisingly, a recent study into the experience of rudeness within a mental health context found that it can also be viewed positively, or at least, used in a positive way. Here are 5 ways to rudeness to your advantage.

Professional development: Mental health workers indicated that they thought the experience of dealing with rudeness helped them gain insights into why some clients behaved rudely and allowed them to learn techniques to defuse the behavior. This helps to increase confidence in working with a wide range of clients.

Enhancing resilience: Learning the skills required to deal with rudeness was found to increase emotional resilience. The key lies in seeing rudeness as a challenge to overcome, rather than a full-on nuisance.

Building relationships: Although many relationships begin with politeness, that decreases over time as exchanges become more informal and rapport grows. Later on, communication can include insults, name-calling, and teasing—all designed to signal confidence in the relationship and an increasing level of trust.

Forming groups: Although impoliteness and little insults can be unpleasant, research shows this type of social swearing—sometimes referred to as “banter”—can function as a stress reliever and can make groups closer, even improving worker motivation and morale.

Humor: In some of the examples above, the use of rudeness is acceptable, because it is deemed humorous and can help in relationship development. The important point is that this is mock rudeness, often directed at well-known figures, with the obvious intent of poking fun.

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