Greening your BBQ or Picnic
By:
Linda Bowen, Green Consultant
One of the best parts of summer is family cookouts, picnics and BBQ’s. Millions of people in North America participate and the numbers really add up when it comes to creating waste. Here are some easy steps that you can take to make your fun time healthier for you and the planet.
- Choose recycled paper products if using disposables, and avoid plastic unless they are washable and reusable containers.
- Use utensils from home if possible, otherwise, seek out bamboo, wood or biodegradable ones made from starch (available at most health food stores now).
- Recycle everything you can, tin foil (food residue removed), plastic, paper, glass, beverage containers and so on.
- Opt for cleaner burning propane vs. briquettes, which can contain coal dust and other binding agents. If using briquettes, choose the wooden ones made from invasive species or sustainably harvested forests.
- Choose organic, hormone-free meat, cutting down on red meat whenever possible. Trim extra fat and choose leaner cuts of meat, cooking over high heat and flame can produce carcinogens from the charring of the fats.
- Compost leftover food, excluding dairy and meat.
- The only thing left behind should be your footprints.
Linda Bowen
Green Consultant
Linda Bowen is a nutritionist, passionate environmental advocate, and mother of six. She has 25+ years in the natural health industry, including radio show host, health correspondent for TV news, writer, speaker, sales rep for a major nutritional company, and owns her own successful organic cotton clothing company. Linda’s passion is the impact our environment and lifestyle have on our health. She worked with an organic cotton farming cooperative in India, assisted in projects to bring running water and septic systems to small village schools outside Delhi, and she's dedicated to fair trade and social initiatives. As a green consultant, she helps individuals and corporations find solutions that support our health and the future of our planet. Linda can be heard on Tues and Thursdays on her radio show, One Green Planet or you can follow her on Facebook or Twitter at onegreenplanet.