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Ducking Under Our School Desks (Reply)
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008
8:51:00 AM EDT
Written by mandy787 Blog about this entry |
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8:51:00 AM EDT
Ducking Under Our School Desks (Reply)
Jmuhjacat Writes: Couldn't agree with you more, Patty. And in addition to the contraceptives, information on vegan (or at least vegetarian) diet benefits, including, of course, the personal health and moral ethics ones but also the facts regarding the cost (in terms of funds, arable land, and animal AND human lives) of producing animal flesh would be some of the biggest and best ways those who care could truly be the change they want to see in this mixed-up, muddled-up world. Limiting family size (or better still, electing not to have children), opting for a vegan (or at least vegetarian) diet, and giving up the car in favor of public transportation are three steps anyone can choose to take to really be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. And as one thing tends to lead to another, people who are truly interested in making positive changes in their own lives tend to also want to educate themselves on what they can do for other living beings, and that can lead to adoption and spay/neuter, among other happy things.
Reply: I am so glad you brought up these vital points.
It has been disappointing that in all the talk about global warming and environmental destruction, there is NEVER mention about the destructive effects of raising and slaughtering billions of animals for meat.
More than half the water, grains and antibiotics produced in this country are fed to animals to be later converted to "meat." Modern factory farms pollute air, streams and rivers, and contribute greatly to global warming. The heavy use of antibiotics (to try and control diseses on factory farms) creates the very real risk of producing "resistent" strains of bacteria or viruses (i.e. "superbugs") that will eventually render antibiotics useless.
Meat production is in fact, one of the greatest wastes of natural resources, not to mention cruelty and brutality towards animals.
Consumers are advised to use low energy light bulbs, bring a canvas bag with them to the supermarket or purchase a hybrid car.
It reminds me of how we were told when kids to duck under our school desks in case of nuclear attack.
As you so accurately point out, the biggest ways we can "save our planet" are by cutting out meat and guarding against human overpopulation.
The latter is particularly important in poor countries where lack of education, resources and job opportunities for the young too often lead to war, chaos, unrest, famine and disease.
Its not just a matter of putting on big rock concerts to throw money at the problems.
People need to be educated on birth control and have easy access to contraceptives.
Where animal or human populations become too great for the environments to support, there is eventual starvation, mass killings (such as we do with companion pets) disease or (in the case of humans) war.
In all of those scenarios, it seems responsible birth control (for humans and animals) is the most practical, sensible, economically conservative, environmentally protective and certainly, the most humane.
Unfortunately, most organized religions oppose any curbs on human population growth and refuse to speak out on the industrialized abuses of animals.
Don't look for real and significant changes anytime soon. -- PCA
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Hear, hear! But I believe change has to start within the individual. Our faiths and cultures may be slow to change, but they HAVE changed over the millenia, or else we'd all still be as we were "back in the day". When ideas, however cherished, are out of step with progress, they can and should be discarded in favor of new and better ideas. We don't have to be in lockstep and follow the status quo! Indeed, doing so is a recipe for disaster. Each of us can make the personal decision to improve our own actions and lifestyles as we can and when we realize that by so doing, we make our own lives better. Conscious and intelligent peers got me interested in ecology as a young child; it was, strangely enough, at a cat show that I first learned about feline overpopulation through a vendor; and it was through mass mailing campaigns by animal advocacy organizations that I first learned about the disastrous consequences a meat-based diet have on the individual, the animals (s)he consumes, and the environment as a whole. Armed with that information and more I obtained on my own, I was informed and better able to make my own choices in life. We can all avail ourselves of information and make better choices!