Halloween and Thanksgiving are days teeming with environmental no-nos. Just think of the emphasis on junk food, disposable decorations, and other pricey items that you use once and toss.
Follow these four tips to reduce your impact.

1. Save your Halloween costume for next year’s costume swap. Swaps take place across the country on the second Saturday in October. For information, see GreenHalloween.org

2. Adopt a turkey instead of cooking one. Farm Sanctuary www.adoptaturkey.org aims to end the misery of commercially-raised turkeys by placing rescued turkeys into loving homes. It also cares for its own resident turkeys. For a $30 donation, you can sponsor a resident at Farm Sanctuary.

3. Consider using your slow cooker for Thanksgiving dishes. It’s an efficient approach and it reduces your work load. Find some traditional recipes that can be made in a slow cooker at this site.

4. If you’re sending home leftovers with guests, ask them to bring their own reusable containers to cut out the need for plastic wrap and foil.