Thanksgiving is for lots of things – feasting on turkey or vegetarian alternatives with family, watching or tolerating football, and if you’re celebrating it in the U.S., contemplating the origins of the country. European colonists here learned and gained a great deal from Native Americans, yet not how to live in harmony without ownership and abuse of land.

Appropriately, all week the topic of land ownership has been heating up the blogosphere. Why? Contrasting concepts.

First, two tax breaks that make it easier, economically, for U.S. property owners to dedicate …

It’s a classic feud predicated upon the idea I have my land, now you cannot have yours.

In this case, the land is the pristine white beach that stretches along the Florida Panhandle, a beach that has been restored over the past 30 years through a renourishment and restoration program.

Turns out homeowners with wonderful views of the green waters of the Gulf of Mexico have challenged the program to save eroding shorelines because the new strips of sand imported belong to the public and not to them.

According to the …

Thanksgiving can be either a gluttonous extravagance, or one of the greenest holiday feasts.

Here’s why: One of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gasses is livestock production. Turkey is faster growing than cows, so it’s more efficient from a resource input point of view. Plus, turkeys don’t emit methane.

Another big contributor to greenhouse gasses is food waste. After Thanksgiving, we tend to eat our leftovers, using every spare scrap of food.

Other than the turkey and the cranberries, most Thanksgiving dishes are seasonal, plant-based foods that can typically grow anywhere. Potatoes, sweet …

I never thought I’d become a Facebook fan of a government agency, but I’m now a fan of the USDA and am also following the agency’s Twitter.

What’s going on here?

For one thing, the USDA has done more to reinvent itself in the last two months than you can imagine. The agency apparently wants you to know the source of your food, to support local agriculture, and to engage in issues involving  food – such as sustainable agriculture.

Here’s a quote from the USDA’s snappy Know Your Farmer, Know Your …

Eyes are the windows to the soul, right? Unfortunately, they can also be portals to everyday stress and strain.

For many of us, the second we feel a tinge of stress, anxiety, or fatigue, it’s immediately plastered all over our eyes like a mask. I call it Zorro face. I could be sporting an awesome Carol Young Undesigned dress, killer organic kicks and as much USDA certified lipstick as my pucker can handle. But if I’m tired, I might as well be wearing a black mask across my eyes.

Luckily, we can rescue our peepers with a …

Eco-friendly retailers are few and far between, so it can be tough to find the best in green fashion and design within walking distance. Ordering online is the most efficient way to meet your sustainable style needs, but that’s where the dilemma sets in: by having a product boxed up and shipped all the way to your home, are you negating the very green ideals that you’re trying to support?

Numerous studies point to No (more information here). By cutting out the “middle man” of brick-and-mortar stores, online shopping …

Spread the holiday cheer and hold your moral ground with these gifts

There’s a lot to learn from the cool UK example of raising funds to share the wealth.

Take Oxfam, for instance, and their ethical and secondhand shops whose funds raise money for relief efforts around the globe. They do great work and offer us one-of-a-kind clothes and jewelry to die for.

Another group, most commonly known as TRAID (Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development) is a UK charity that actively works to divert clothing and shoes from landfills as well as to reduce world poverty by raising funds for development projects.

From …