'tis the season to spend, spend, and destroy the environment?!

By now, you have surely heard the adage that it is the US consumer who's holding up this economy, i. e. the rampant, and one might assume reckless, spending by the consumers is keeping the construction workers, retails workers, car manufacturers, etc. etc., on their jobs earning wages.
Now, there is a new twist: the more you spend, the more you wreak havoc on the environment. That we have referred to: the more you use, the more you use energy. From eating, to traveling, to buying clothes, we use energy, i. e. burn fossile fuel, and contribute to the CO2 footprint. Anotherwords, the less you buy, and the less you use, the less CO2 footprint.

Everytime you visit a McDonald or any other food outlet, you order food items and you increase the CO2 emission. In two distinct ways: one is simply by eating and creating the ensuing trash, and the other is by consuming food items that are, in the age of advanced agribusiness and globalization, delivered to you from hundreds or thousands of miles away, hence contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. This is called the food mile.

Enjoy the holidays and spend less.