Happy Earth Day 2010 everyone.
The Good News: We won 1st place in a film contest on Climate Change awareness, chosen by Al Gore, and featured on the youtube home page!
The Bad News: Woke up and saw the huge SMOG situation over Sao Paulo
Today’s blog post is dedicated to the cause we are most passionate about: raising consciousness on climate change. I know, I know you’re probably tired of the preaching and the protesting, but its time for everyone to step it up a notch, and start acting on what you already know. So…we’ve included 12 facts and 10 tips on to keep all of you guys informed & inspired on going GREEN.
12 True Facts: These scare us, and keep us up at night ☹
1.)The way that we breed animals for food is a threat to the planet. It pollutes our environment while consuming huge amounts of water, grain, petroleum, pesticides and drugs. The results are disastrous.
2.)The meat industry is a major cause of fresh water depletion. According to Ed Ayres, of the World Watch Institute, "Around the world, as more water is diverted to raising pigs and chickens instead of producing crops for direct consumption, millions of wells are going dry.
3.)Humans are pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere much faster than plants and oceans can absorb it.
4.)Average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880, much of this in recent decades, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
5.)Manure. The tens of billions of farmed animals of the world produce massive amounts of manure, which emit green house gases such as methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide.
6.)Synthetic Fertilizer. Growing feed for farmed animals requires intense use of synthetic fertilizers manufactured with fossil fuels. This process emits a tremendous amount of CO2, and the fertilizer releases nitrous oxide[3] – a greenhouse gas that is 296 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
7.)Exposure to pesticides found in non-organic foods have been linked to breast and other types of cancer, immune system suppression, nervous system disorders, reproductive damage, and disruption of hormonal systems. U.S. consumers can experience up to 70 daily exposures to residues from pesticides through their diets.
8.)Eating a vegan diet prevents the equivalent of 1.5 tons of CO2 emissions every year, more than the 1 ton of CO2 emissions prevented by switching from a typical large sedan to a Toyota Prius. In 2006, the United Nations issued a report which stated that the livestock industry as a whole was responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the whole of the transport sector put together.
10.) The average meat eater, eats around 95 animals per year, or around 200lbs of red meat alone. Oh No! That’s a lot of animals.
11.)Worldwide, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used
# Although plastic bags are recyclable, less than 3% of them actually are. The rest end up in landfills, oceans, and as litter.
12.)Research has shown that up to 60% of what we apply to our skin may be absorbed into the bloodstream. So if we are concerned about the food that we eat and strive to eat more organic products due to a concern over pesticides and other chemicals, then we should also be concerned about the ingredients that go in to our cosmetics and toiletries. Many of the ingredients in conventional health and beauty products are very toxic chemicals.
10 Tips that seriously can change the world. We are doing EVERY single one of them. DAILY.
1.)Becoming vegetarian is one of the most important and effective actions you can take to ease the strain on our Earth’s limited resources, protect the planet from pollution, prevent global warming, and save countless species from extinction.
2.)Pass up one hamburger, and you’ll save as much water as you save by taking 40 showers with a low-flow nozzle.
3.)Take a break from driving. Consider walking, biking, taking a bus or carpooling whenever feasible. And if you have more than one vehicle, drive the one with the best gas mileage whenever you can.
4.)Think about your refrigerator. Don’t locate this particular appliance in direct sunlight or next to the stove or dishwasher. Also, unplug that extra fridge, especially if it’s just keeping a six-pack cold.
5.)Buy Local! Choose your meal based on what's in season now, and available locally. Aim to buy as much as possible food grown and produced within 100 miles of home, saves energy and gas.
6.)Reusing just one bag in your daily life (grocery/home shopping, trips to the beach/pool, gym, picnics, festivals, travel, etc.) can “eliminate” the use of approximately 6 plastic bags every week, that s 288 per year, 20,000 bags if you do it for life.
7.)Brew "certified" coffee. A USDA Certified Organic label means it was grown using sustainable standards. Not brewing at home? Take a travel cup to your favorite java joint; they may fill it at a discount.
8.)Compost your food and yard scraps. Yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute 26 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream. That's a lot of waste to send to landfills when it could become useful and environmentally beneficial compost instead! We freeze our veggie scraps, then put them in the apt complex compost pile when the freezer is full.
9.)Buy Green cleaning products only. Many chemicals contain toxins, including poisonous elements, cancer causing irritants, skin irritants, and harmful products for your respiratory system. Each of these is likely in your cabinet right now. There is evidence that these products wind up in water sources where they cause reproductive effects in wildlife.
10.)Use energy efficient lights. Energy saving bulbs use around one third of the power that normal light bulbs do. Replacing a single bulb in every American home with energy saving bulbs would reduce pollution by the equivalent of one million cars operating on US roads. This is a lot of pollution, and energy saving bulbs can help prevent it.
It only takes 3 weeks to form a habit, so start making little changes today, and watch those karma points pour on in!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwlf5iF56Mo&feature=player_embedded
