Do you know that more than 600 million pounds of turkey are consumed by Americans during the Thanksgiving dinner? That’s only one dinner. Turkey is the Thanksgiving dinner staple for most Americans.

There are a number of environmentalists who are encouraging us to give up the turkey and all the meat this Thanksgiving. They say that one way of being an environmentalist is to give up meat?

What is the link between loving the earth and loving that delicious melt-in-your-mouth baby back ribs?

They say that hundreds of acres of rainforest are denuded every year in the US to make way for cattle farming. The effect of the excrement produce by industrial farms of hogs and chicken give out toxic gases that are harmful to the top soil and to the health of the people working on or living near the industrial farms.

I have a cousin in Iowa who lives near a hog industrial farm. She said that she bought a small oxygen tank because she gets headache and she felt dizzy every time she passes by the hog farm on her way to work every day. She says that people who work at that farm becomes really sick. The child of her neighbor was rushed to the hospital because she couldn’t breathe. My cousin said that this is because of the toxic gases emitted by the feces of the pigs in the farm.

I found it surprising at first because I thought that the excrement just smelled bad. I didn’t thought that the bad smell carried with it toxic gases. I read up on the topic and discovered that it is the hydrogen sulfide in the excrement that is toxic to the health of people who are inhaling it.

I just realized that it can be very hard to go green. The people from Greenpeace is saying that you are not an environmentalist if you are not a vegetarian. It is very hard to give up meat. How can I give up steak? Thanksgiving will not be complete without the turkey.

It’s too much to take right now. I’ll just focus on one small thing at a time. We bought a certified organic turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner. It means that the preparation of the turkey is environmental-friendly, no hormones, no chemical injections, no inhumane treatment of animals (doesn’t sound right but you know what I mean).

Maybe what I can do is take baby steps. I don’t think I can be a vegetarian. But I can eat meat that is organic. I can eat more organic vegetables. That’s the first step.