The Postconsumers Thanksgiving Content Center

November is a huge month every year at Postconsumers. Why, you may ask? There are actually three reasons. The first is that there are just some great opportunities at Thanksgiving to reduce your carbon footprint by being aware of the difference between tradition and habit. The second is because we adore any opportunity to talk about things that we’re thankful for. And of course the final one is because we want to be sure to arm you to go into November prepared to fight the consumer machine as holiday marketing and Black Friday/Cyber Monday kick into full gear. What that amounts to is that over the years we’ve amassed an impressive collection (we think!) of Thanksgiving-related content. Today, we thought we’d put that all together in one place!

So, Speaking of Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Obviously our primary mission here at Postconsumers is to help you find the satisfaction of enough while you navigate the media machine and the culture of addictive consumerism, which is why Black Friday content is such a core element of our site. We’ve selected two content pieces we think are the most critical to get you through this Black Friday season.

How Long is Too Long? Well, it was honestly a long time ago that we took our first look at the metamorphoses of a single day (Black Friday) into a week-long event. Since then, the “Black Friday Season” has been extended even longer. Even so, we think this is still a short and compelling read to gain perspective on the phenomenon.

50 Things to Do Other Than Shop on Black Friday. This is one of our core pieces of Postconsumers content and we update it every year with new ideas and fresh visuals. We hope it’s an inspiring read, a great share and a way to motivate you to think about Black Friday differently. Plus, don’t we all love the hashtag #BetterThanBlackFriday.

Getting Thankful. We Should All Do It More Often.

We already feel guilty that the first thing we wrote about in this piece was consumerism, because the real heart of the season is about being thankful. We’re trying to stay on mission though! But we’d feel lower than low if we didn’t dedicate at least as much space to the real reason for the holiday. We think these three pieces say it all.

Oprah on Being Thankful. We know, we know. It can be a little hard to take advice on being thankful from somebody with unlimited resources. But we think that Oprah is wise and has managed to capture the spirit of everything we should all be embracing in this, one of our favorite quotes on thankfulness.

The Road to Enough. Two years ago guest writer and Get Satisfied co-author Katherine Hauswirth explored her own feelings on the holiday and the beauty that comes with celebrating its intention rather than its current manifestation. We loved her personal journey story so much that it’s in our list of essential reading for a Postconsumers Thanksgiving.

Things We’re Thankful For. Of course, we generate a new list every year (be sure to look for this year’s), but our 2011 list still rings poignant with us for some reason. We’re still thankful for many of these things and even more so in some ways. We think that this list is a great reminder of things in the world that are good – and that’s a much needed reminder this year!

We Won’t Bombard You With Carbon Footprint Today!

Most of the carbon footprint that happens around Thanksgiving has to do with food and food waste, and we have so much content on that that we’ve dedicated an entirely separate article to it. However, in case you don’t want to go digging (and sometimes the internet makes us not want to dig), we have the two essentials here for you!

The Carbon Footprint of Your Turkey. If you understand how much carbon footprint your turkey generates and how that carbon footprint is reached, you can make some simple changes (like buying a local turkey) that can generate big differences. Conveniently, we’ve tracked all of that information down!

Managing Thanksgiving Food Waste. Even if you just stop and think of your own food waste at Thanksgiving, chances are you’ll see room for improvement. These quick tips can help you to minimize food waste not just at Thanksgiving but all year long.

Did we miss a piece of Postconsumers Thanksgiving content that you’re fond of and relates to Thanksgiving? We’d like to hear about it. Tell us on the social media channels below.