“I’ll be home for Christmas…if I only in my dreams,” croons Bing Crosby on this classic holiday song staple.For many of us getting home for the holidays may be more of nightmare than a dream, often times including headache-inducing travel. Whether you take to the sky, the rails or the highway to get to your loved ones, there is no denying that the holiday season can send the ‘ol carbon footprint soaring higher than Santa Clause on Christmas Eve.
While one could make the environmentally friendly choice of forgoing the trip home altogether, that would likely result in enduring an avalanche of guilt brought on by e-mails and phone calls from a disappointed mom for weeks and months to come. Trust me, “I am worried about my carbon emissions” is not an adequate excuse for skipping out on the holiday festivities unless your Dad happens to be Captain Planet.
So, you suck it up, and travel the hours and miles that it will take to make your family happy, and if you are lucky, you are glad to do so. So what can one do to assuage the gnawing green guilt over the amount of fossil fuels your holiday trek will release into the environment?
One option to easing this guilty conscious is purchasing a Carbon Offset, which is a financial instrument aimed at a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. In simpler terms, you give money towards projects whose aim is to reduce Green House Emissions. At first glance this practice appears to be the perfect solution to the sometimes unavoidable toll our day-to-day actions, such as that cross-country flight home for the holidays, take on the environment.
Critics and cynics alike, however, are quick to point out the flaws to this seemingly positive system. While regulations for this field do exist, some say they are not strenuous enough, allowing certain greedy individuals the opportunity to scam money off well-meaning environmentally minded individuals. It is also argued that a program that allows people to feel better about their less-than environmentally friendly habits only encourages people to continue to make poor choices.
It seems clear that this industry, like many, is far from perfect. And although it is not without its faults, one could argue that any money put towards a thoroughly investigated Carbon Offset is money well spent. As long as you, as with any purchase, know who you are buying from- check credentials and check how funds are allocated towards benefiting the environment. It is also important for people to remember that while it is nearly impossible to keep your carbon footprint at zero, one should try to make as many environmentally responsible choices as you can possibly make.
While a trip home for the holidays may be good for the soul and for a mother’s happiness, it does end up costing a little more than the plane ticket or gas for your car. Try making environmentally responsible choices in your day-to-day life, choose to travel for only one holiday- spend Thanksgiving locally and Christmas with the folks, or vice versa.
Nothing clears a guilty conscience as much as living well, and if you try your hardest, you can keep both your mother and Mother Nature happy as clams.
-Meghan Hurley
Thanksgiving is the time of year to give thanks and express gratitude. It is a time for relaxation as well as spending quality time with friends and family members. During holidays such as this it’s important we pay attention to our purchasing choices and habits just as much the rest of year, perhaps even more. Even though, Thanksgiving can feel like an indulgent and gluttonous holiday, what it represents is far more deep. And its the lesson of appreciativeness for what we have and where life has taken us should transmit to the way we celebrate, as well as our daily choices. I n honor of this holiday, we at AP have put together tips on How to Have an Ethical Thanksgiving below. So savor the suggestions below just as you savor your Thanksgiving meal and remember to extend your conscious choices beyond the holidays. Happy Thanksgiving from us at AP and thank you for all your support! 
1) Eat Organic: As you are shopping the aisles of your market, keep in mind how important purchasing organic can be. Most products and definitely most vegetables and fruits come certified organic these days. Not only is it helpful to the environment to eat organic, it is terrific for your body. Non organic foods can contain harmful chemicals and pesticides which can do a number on your body and seep into our soil and eventually into our water supply, thus harming our entire environment. Of course we would encourage you to eat vegan this holiday and provide many great 
2) Shop Locally: When you are making your holiday food purchases try your hardest to shop local. Meaning, skip the major corporate grocery mega stores for your local store, including co-ops and natural foods stores. But also pay attention to the products you purchase and support your local farms and companies. When you purchase locally, you are stimulating your community’s economy and are supporting a transaction which cuts shipping pollution. This is very helpful to both our environment and to the cost of your product! So be sure to support your local farmer and market.
3) Fair Trade Groceries: Unfortunately not all products can be found Fair Trade at this time. However, there are many food products used for the holidays which you can find Fair Trade Certified. Some Fair Trade products you may be able to incorporate into your meal are Fair Trade rice, olive oil, chocolate and fruit. You might also want to switch your baking supplies over to Fair Trade such vanilla, baking powder, and sugar. You could even make your centerpieces with Fair Trade flowers! Also, serve your guests Fair Trade wine with their meals and coffee or tea after. For a full list of Fair Trade products and where to find them check out 
5) Volunteer/Donate Goods: Even though more people volunteer at soup kitchens and shelters on Thanksgiving Day than any other day of the year, we suggest you call your local shelter and use the holiday as a reminder to volunteer on other days of the year. The shelters need help all year-round and would happy to have extra volunteers. However, if Thanksgiving is one of the few days you can spare, go out and volunteer! Also, there are a number of organizations that collect food donations for the less fortunate and their families. Check your local charitable organizations for Thanksgiving Food Drives, but also check out these organizations as well:
Hospitals are uninviting by nature, assaulting one’s senses almost immediately upon entry. The inescapable odor of antiseptic wafting through the corridors, the glaring fluorescent lights overhead that accentuate startlingly white walls, and the constant wailing beeps of machines that give the impression that someone is in mortal peril every 1.2 seconds tend to make even the healthiest of visitor feel as though their heart might explode.
A recent visit to the hospital saw my father rushed into a very serious emergency surgery. As I paced the floors of the Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, a facility that is part of the world-renowned Brigham and Women’s Hospital, I felt overcome with the extreme anxiety provoked by the fear of losing a loved one. At the time I was too preoccupied with hand-wrenching, constant clock checking, and nervous wood knocking to notice that this anxiety was in any way abnormal. Worrying yourself sick is to be expected in these type of scenarios, what was notable, in retrospect, was that this anxiety was in no way punctuated by the normal agitating factors of a “normal” hospital environment. The air smelled fresh. The waiting room – even though located next to a busy street- was as quiet as a church on a Friday night. The walls were painted with a soft palate, the kind of hues that make you want to curl up with your favorite blanket and a good read. Not the typical institutional white that would ever leave someone remarking to their realtor, “Gosh Linda, it looks like a hospital in here!”, unless that sentence was followed up by, “And I love it! Let me go put on my jammies.”
From its inception, the Shapiro Center kept eco-friendly construction and practices in mind. The Center is not only LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, but followed 
A little more Google style detective work and I discovered that The Shapiro Center is also a member of the non-profit organization, 
I for one can attest for the effectiveness of this movement. While gorgeous views, plentiful sunlight and lack of irritants in the air can not take the place of knowledgeable surgeons and skillful nurses, it does play an important role in the recovery process. Beyond the benefits of an environment that discourages depression and other mental issues that can slow or sometimes even halt recovery times, healthy air is an invaluable benefit for most patients. My father suffers from COPD, a chronic respiratory condition. It is a complication that factors into any and all health problems he has. A hospital that provides nearly pollutant-free air for his battered lungs is priceless to his overall well-being and his success in the recovery process.
With movies like Food Inc which expose the way food and meat are produced in the US and fears of Global Warming brewing, vegetarianism is growing. In fact in 2008, there are 7.3 million Vegetarian Americans and 22.8 million Americans eat a vegetarian inclined diet. In 2008 
And if you are curious to who is a vegetarian the study broke down this diet by gender, age, and the length of their commitments. It was shown that more women and younger Americans have chosen vegetarianism. 59 percent of reported vegetarians are female while only 41 percent are male. It was appears that the majority of vegetarians are between 18 and 34 years old. 42.0 percent of vegetarians are age 18 to 34 years old while 40.7 percent are 35 to 54 and 17.4 percent are over 55. And on top of the showing that vegetarians are made up of mostly a younger female population, the study reported that most of these committed vegetarians have been following this diet for 10 years or more. 57.1 percent have followed a vegetarian diet for more than 10 years while 18 percent for 5 to 10 years; 10.8 percent for 2 to 5 years, and 14.1 percent for less than 2 years. These figures are compelling because it is evident that most Americans who decide to follow a plant based diet do so as a long or lifelong commitment.
As well as showing who is a vegetarian in America, the study explained the reasons most Americans are choosing to live an herbivorous lifestyle. The 2008 study reported that over half, 53 percent, are currently vegetarian for health reasons. Environmental factors were also played a huge part in American’s decision, showing 47 percent as their reason to become vegetarian. It was also shown that 39 percent cited “ natural approaches to wellness” while 31 percent cited food-safety concerns, 54 percent cited animal welfare; and finally 25 percent cited weight loss while 24 percent reported weight maintenance as a reason. There are so many reasons to chose a vegetarian diet, as it is clear by this data, but it seems that most Americans choose to live a meat free life for a variety of reasons.
The study provides great information about those Americans who are eating a vegetarian or vegetarian inclined diet. Perhaps the most encouraging statistics to come out of this study is that the 11.9 million non vegetarians who were surveyed stated they are “definitely interested” in eating a vegetarian diet in the future: meaning more and more people are interested in the lifestyle. Finally, the editor of Vegetarian Times, 
Vegan Cranberry-Walnut Stuffing 
The idea for taking it upon myself to forage for my own foliage in an urban setting was introduced to me by one 
Over the years, the impulse he instilled in me to be curious about the plants that surround us on a daily basis never died. The more obvious edibles, such as oranges in the
But the idea of urban foraging doesn’t need to be limited to easily identified fruits you’ll also see at the market. So many plants that you might pass on the way to a corner store are very-likely palatable and nutritious. This ventures into what is now commonly called Wild Food, plants that sprout up naturally, where they please, entirely uncultivated by people, be they native species having existed in an area for eons or invasives accidentally introduced by people in the last century or less. Recall my former professor, Joe; he had an expertise at identifying and discriminating seemingly obscure edible plants from inedible or occasionally poisonous ones. Such an in depth knowledge requires much practice and perhaps a guide for the new forager; a notable one would be the famous 
Years after learning from Joe I found an incredibly useful book: 
And this easy find is minor compared with the variety and availability of wild and once-cultivated plants permeating our urban environment. For example, not long after at a local farmer’s market, I found a vendor selling twist-tied bundles of dried oat straw, yellow and hay-looking, intended to be boiled as a tea, with a pantheon of 
