What do Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey, Regis Philbin & Kelly Ripa have in common? - All of them used their TV shows to spread the word regarding the importance of green living to create a sustainable environment for our future generations.
I don't know about you, but I got a bit tired of reading (due to the fact that I have to read books, website texts and emails all day) these days. So instead of writing about what you can do to reduce your carbon footprint, I'd like to refer you to the following websites where you can watch a couple of very informative videos on green living. Enjoy!
What You Can Do
Check out the Earth Day specials and follow the advice provided by experts in the field of sustainable living:
So, you think, "Real Girls Eat Meat"? Well, this is probably about as far as you can get from the truth and I tell you why (by the way, no offense to Jessica Simpson, she just happened to be the first person I saw sporting this statement)!
Watching the video of Sylvia Earle's TED Prize wish to protect our oceans (see video below) gave me the last push I needed to become a vegetarian! However, my decision to become a vegetarian has little to do with the belief that humans were or were not meant to eat meat (= the edible flesh of any animal) but is all about my dislike of the meat production process and the long-term consequences of meat consumption.
When I was in secondary school our biology teacher showed us a video about beef production and the use of chicken battery cages. It was just disgraceful: first of all, the raising of those animals and the way they were slaughtered was incredibly cruel, e.g. the chickens were raised in total darkness spending their whole life in little boxes where they couldn't even turn around; and in the case of the cows there was more meat produced than the population was able to eat so that tons of the meat were just thrown away. After seeing this video I already cut down on my meat consumption by 80% and started to buy only free range eggs.
In terms of long-term consequences of meat consumption, there is, for example, more and more evidence emerging that meat consumption isn't as good for our health as we previously assumed. Furthermore, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization cattle farming is "responsible for 18% of greenhouse gases" - the large volume of methane emitted by cattle has a warming effect 23 to 50 times greater than carbon dioxide. (Watch Mark Bittman's talk on what's wrong with the way we eat for a deeper insight into the two issues mentioned above!)
In the case of fish consumption, overfishing, by-catch and habitat destruction are serious issues that we can't afford to ignore any longer (watch the video below to find out why we have to react now!)
Just yesterday I read an inspiring Green by Design article titled "Why We Don't Need to Save the Planet" and I couldn't agree more with the author's opinion:
"Recycling, solar power... hybrid cars: the Earth couldn't care less! Making all these green choices is not about saving the planet; it's about saving ourselves. Mother Earth will be just fine without us, thank you very much."
You can see where this is going... it's the real girls (actually all human beings to be exact) who care about the survival of the human species who don't eat meat - or eat at least less of it - at this point in history!
What You Can Do
As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, our consumer behavior is our most influential vote! If an entire population (I know this is not going to happen but one can dream) would stay off meat for a while because of the reasons mentioned above - I don't even talk about being a vegetarian forever - the meat industry would be forced to rethink their ways of production.
If staying off meat completely is too big a sacrifice for you, try at least to cut down your consumption, buy organic meat and free range eggs! The planet won't thank you but future generations will!
I'm interested in your opinion, so please feel free to share your thoughts on this topic by leaving a comment or contacting me via email! I'm looking forward to hearing from you!
Sylvia Earle on protecting the blue heart of the planet:
Filantronomics is a non-profit project with the objective to inform you about philanthropic and environmental campaigns and organisations, the people who contribute to them as well as what YOU can do yourselves to make a difference. In the near future this will also include interviews and events to raise awareness and funds for the charities, projects and campaigns featured on this website.
Everyone who'd like to contribute to this project is very welcome to do so!
Note: English isn't my mother tongue so I apologize if it doesn't live up to your standards! Please feel free to correct me!
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