This recent survey Beyond Organic: How Evolving Consumer Concerns Influence Food Purchases, showed 69% of consumers are willing to pay more for “ethical” food. To read more on the survey and the findings, click here for “Survey Shows Consumers Care About Ethical Food Claims: Where Do You Stand? One way that you can help out by supporting animal welfare would be to try to eat vegan, vegetarian, or make sure your eggs are cage-free. Just taking a few simple steps in your eating habits would help make a difference for your earth.
Weddings are expensive – for the happy couple, their parents, and the earth. It’s a $70 billion a year market. Fortunately, it’s becoming more and more common for brides and grooms to make their happy day a green day. Check out the Green Bride Guide. The owner says, “The goal of my business is to show couples and their guests that there are hundreds of ways to decrease the impact of an event and save money at the same time – without sacrificing style. In fact, I have found that across the board, couples can save up to 40 percent off the cost of their weddings by going green!”
Industrial Agriculture is as outdated as the Model T. You’ll probably read statements (including some by people who should know better) that millions of people would starve if it weren’t for pesticide, irrigation, and fertilizer-dependent agriculture. (Funny how they don’t care about hungry people until their industries are threatened). True, we can’t eliminate it all at once, but the world need small organic growers. One reason is that they restore soil fertility, rather than depleting it with chemicals. “Organic farming contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions because it reduces the consumption of fossil fuels (notably those used in fertilizer manufacturing), and reduces emissions of CO2, methane and nitrous oxide. It also reduces vulnerability of soils to erosion, while at the same time increasing carbon stocks in the soil. Consequently, conversion to organic farming is believed to be a viable way of reducing GHG emissions.” Introduction to Organic Agriculture and Climate Change Conference, September 28-29, 2009, Sofia, Bulgaria
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You can help save the earth in your kitchen not only by what you eat and how you prepare it, but also how you clean up afterwards. Annie Berthold Bond shares decades of experience in devising home-made cleaning supplies. Check it out at Green Chi Cafe.
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A new book called Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows is an eye-opening account of a little-questioned article of faith in our culture: the idea that it is normal to befriend some animals while exploiting others. A step-by-step analysis of a cultural blind spot, it is a powerful blend of reason, compassion, and psychological insight. And one dreaded comparison is inevitable. Whenever human beings are rounded up and slaughtered by sophisticated, industrialized killing machines, we called it an atrocity and sneer at those bystanders who claimed they “didn’t know.” Yet today animals are bred, drugged, crammed into concentration camps, and horribly slaughtered – by the billions every year. Most of us eat the result.
The book is well constructed, assembling questions, evidence, and logic to bring us face to face with our moral conflicts – and our moral numbing. Whatever your position on meat may be, this book will amaze and enlighten you about your own attitudes. It would make a powerful addition to the reading list for courses on critical thinking and psychological defense mechanisms. What I found most impressive was the author’s capacity to empathize with readers who have never thought about these things, and to pique not guilt, but curiosity. Please have the courage to challenge mental habits and be curious. This book is a frank and friendly guide that can be your ally in understanding yourself, your culture – and your choices.
