Thanksgiving is second in a slew of holidays at this time of year that have become one extended caloric nightmare.  Marketers have successfully driven consumers to celebrate these holidays in an atmosphere of frenzied food consumption, often from everyday pre-packaged products festooned with special holiday cheer.  However, you can say no to the pre-packaged cheer and have a hearty, sustainable meal.  Below are 10 tips to a healthier, humane, sustainable, “low carb(on)” and labor friendly Thanksgiving from some fantastic organizations, some of whom we’re working with for the Social Action campaign for our film, Food, Inc.

1. Buy produce from your local farmers market.  Rather than eating grapes from Mexico, apples from Argentina or potatoes from China, purchase as much of your holiday produce from a local farmer! takepart with the Eat Well Guide to find one near you.

2. Buy organic produce whenever possible.  Organic produce is safer, tastes better than conventional produce and is readily available at farmers markets and supermarkets nationwide.  Also, look for organic wines, beverages and condiments.

3. Support a farm worker.  Thousands of migrant workers labor in dangerous, brutal conditions for little pay to bring food to our table every day. takepart to help to improve the lives of farm workers and their families through the United Farm Workers.

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Earlier this month, we told you that our Canadian friends, in Canada, had decided to go ahead and build a facility that will turn waste products into energy.   Well, as per usual, we Americans looked at that and decided we wanted one, so now I can proudly announce that by 2010, the United States will have a plant that will turn 90,000 tons of waste into 10.5 million gallons of ethanol, per year.   U.S.A.!   U.S.A.!   U.S.A.!

Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc., a company based right near where I’m sitting here in the Bay Area, will build the facility ten miles East of Reno, Nevada, at a cost of $120 million.   In a press release announcing the news, Fulcrum CEO E. James Macias says,

Converting garbage waste into a clean, renewable fuel for cars has profound social and environmental benefits.   It will help mitigate our dependence on imported oil, lower the price of gasoline, reduce the amount of waste landfilled, lower greenhouse gases and create a new industry of jobs and economic growth.   Unlike conventional ethanol technology, which uses corn and other agricultural feedstock, our plant will utilize processed municipal solid waste which will not affect the cost or availability of our nation’s food supply.

Like the plant being built in Canada, the new facility will use gasification technology to convert waste into energy.

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The Brooklyn Flea is reviving an endangered species in New York City: the affordable flea market with worthwhile merchandise. In keeping with the regional residential real estate market, the decent, affordable flea market has been priced straight off the Isle of Manhattan and has found a new home in Brooklyn.

Organized by the good folks at the Brownstoner blog, the Brooklyn Flea turns the schoolyard of Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Fort Greene, Brooklyn into an outdoor bazaar filled with both new and previously owned clothing, furniture, arts, crafts, knick-knacks, books and other media. Plus there’s plenty of food concessions for when your stomach starts growling after a morning filled with hardcore shopping.

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We throw everything but the kitchen sink down the kitchen sink”at least, those of us with garbage disposal units in our drains do. But no matter how fine you grind it, all that artery-clogging grease that goes down the drain has a way of gumming up our waterways, so the city of Raleigh in North Carolina has declared a ban on garbage disposal systems, according to the Charlotte Observer:

Starting March 17, any new home or business tying into the Raleigh sewer system will be forbidden from installing the device, part of an effort to keep sewer pipes clear. Violators could be fined $25,000 a day and have the water turned off. The city is also taking aim at existing garbage disposals, advising residents to avoid the temptation to grind scraps and stray rinds — because they won’t be able to replace the gadgets when they stop working after their 10- to 12-year life span.

“They should place their garbage in the garbage can, not in the sanitary sewer system,” said Dale Crisp, the city’s public utilities director.

The ban has angered some Raleigh residents, who note that plenty of people pour fats and oils down their drains regardless of whether they’ve got a food disposal unit. One contractor who opposes the Raleigh ban told the Charlotte Observer that “high-end clients expect the luxury of in-sink vegetable waste destruction.”

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Photographer Chris Johnson’s portraits of mass consumption are a disturbingly beautiful artistic close-up of our discarded consumer goods and waste. Images of stacked crushed cars and overlapping streams of jet exhaust are just some of the environmental themes explored in Johnson’s work.

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