HuffPost Gets Backlash After Calling for Canceling Thanksgiving as We Know It
Liberal outlet HuffPost found that its advice for a more eco-friendly Thanksgiving dinner left a bad taste in many mouths.
“You may want to consider skipping the turkey altogether — and, more importantly, the travel,” HuffPost tweeted Tuesday in promoting an article that suggested the Earth would deeply appreciate a revision of the traditional Thanksgiving menu.
You may want to consider skipping the turkey altogether — and, more importantly, the travel. https://t.co/gToR9NVeam
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) November 5, 2019
“How much damage are we doing with our epic Thanksgiving meal every year?” contributor Alexandra Emanuelli wrote in the piece. “It turns out that your food isn’t the biggest holiday culprit of carbon dioxide emissions — traveling for the meal is.”
The article cited 2016 research done by Carnegie Mellon University that said the carbon footprint for a Thanksgiving meal could be as high as 80 pounds of carbon dioxide in a state like West Virginia — in large part due to emissions from cooking a turkey.
“So instead of more turkey, help yourself to an extra slice of pumpkin pie or an additional serving of squash soup,” the HuffPost article suggested.
HuffPost also cited dietician Kate Geagan, who noted that “plant-based foods consistently have been shown to have lower carbon footprints — so those walnuts, chestnuts, mushrooms, etc. are far more efficient to produce in total resources than conventional animal products, especially red meat.”
Geagan touted “eating the whole vegetable, [from] root to tip to minimize waste,” leaving HuffPost to tout the merits of “making a beet hummus as a starter and using the beet greens as a braised side, or keeping the tops of carrots and pureeing them into a pesto.”
HuffPost, referencing the Carnegie Mellon research, also suggested that a family gathering without the family might do the Earth a favor.
“Bringing relatives into town can easily double the carbon footprint of the meal,” Orchi Banerjee, then a student at Carnegie Mellon, noted when the original research was conducted.
“American cars emit close to a pound of carbon dioxide per mile traveled. If your guests collectively drive more than 180 miles round trip, it may help the environment if they stayed home and cooked their own meal,” Banerjee said.
And as for those who fly?
“Flying is a completely different story. Four people who fly 600 miles round trip have a carbon footprint ten times that of an average prepared Thanksgiving meal, before they even sit down at the table,” Carnegie Mellon advised.
But as reactions on social media showed, the advice did not go down as easily as a sweet potato dripping with gravy.
I will eat what I want to eat and travel where and when I want to using what ever method I desire.
— Brad Mccuan (@BradMccuan) November 5, 2019
“squash and pumpkin only create 0.10 and 0.11 pounds of CO2 per pound, respectively. So instead of more turkey, help yourself to an extra slice of pumpkin pie or an additional serving of squash soup.”
I’m buying two turkeys. One to eat and another to drive around aimlessly with.
— Regs (@r3gulations) November 5, 2019
The energy required to keep your office running obviously impacts the climate, so the world would clearly be better off if you just shut yourselves down forever.
— Password is Taco (@pw_is_taco1) November 5, 2019
I’m not skipping one of my favorite holidays to be with family because snowflakes don’t operate with a full deck!
Libs can stay home and eat tofu for all I care, but my family is going to have one hell of an American celebration!
— Diana C (@boxerbuddy4) November 7, 2019
Also laughter and general mirth should be avoided. Expressing joy saps our energy, necessitating further depletion of Earth’s resources as we need to replenish our bodies. Constant solemnity is part (and only part) of the solution.
— Ant O’Fearghail (@aofarre) November 5, 2019
This article makes me want to celebrate a Thanksgiving even harder and more steeped in tradition than ever. Multiple plates of food, extended travel, high methane levels, 3 football games, family togetherness and giving thanks to our Lord for the abundance. ? ? ? Thanks HuffPo
— Greg, The Beard is Gone (@Money_Moose) November 5, 2019
Comedian Michael Loftus joined in the mockery during a Friday appearance on Fox News.
“I need Thanksgiving, I need this. I need all the stuffing, I need sides, I need the turkey. I don’t need the Huffington Post telling me how to live my life,” Loftus said. “What’s the carbon footprint on a building full of idiots?”
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