BIOFUELS--THE ROAD TO A VEGAN WORLD?

BIOFUELS-THE ROAD TO A VEGAN WORLD

As someone who has been trying to promote veganism for over 30 years, I have come to realize how difficult a vegan world will be to achieve.  Most people will turn away and not want to hear about the horrifying abuse animals have to endure. Most people will laugh about animal agriculture killing our planet. Very few will actually consider what I am saying may be true.  They don’t want to hear it and they don’t want to know. According to Stanley Milgram’s studies, the best we will ever achieve will be a 30% population. This 30% might be enough to make it mainstream, but I doubt it. The vast majority of the population “lacks the resources” (as Milgram politely put it) to overcome their conditioning.

During the same time, global warming has risen rapidly.  Scientists use to warn us about a 2 degree increase in earth’s temperature.   Now we are probably looking at a 6 degree increase in the next few decades. Already our climate here in Wisconsin has changed dramatically.  We are having thunderstorms, dewpoints in the upper 60's, and temperatures near 80 degrees in October.  Past decades this was unheard of, now it is daily. As someone who is connected with nature, I can already feel and see the changes. Less butterflies, less bees, less birds, fewer flowers  equal less fruit on our trees and plants.

But at the same time, we are running out of fossil fuels–oil.  Offshore drilling is expensive and dangerous and wouldn’t be done unless we had no other options. Oil companies are cheering the melting of the ice caps, because they will finally be able to drill in the Arctics and get every last bit of oil from our planet. No matter how hard they try, we will eventually run out, and according to scientists that will be within the next couple of decades.

There is a light to all this doom and gloom–biofuels.  All our cars need to run on biofuels is an adjustment to their computers. Current laws prohibit anyone from tampering with even their own car’s computers.  Kits that override the computer can be bought, but they have to be installed by the car’s owners.  It is against the law for anyone else to install these kits. Biofuels will be cheaper and cleaner.

So what does this have to do with veganism?  Plenty. Currently, two-thirds of our land is being used to either raise livestock or grow food to feed the livestock. If we want to make the switch to biofuels, we need land.  As farmers who grow crops for livestock start to see that there is a bigger profit in growing crops for biofuels, they will make the switch.  This will mean livestock feed prices will go up, which will raise the price of meat, dairy and eggs.  People will start to see them as “too expensive.”  As factory farms sell less and less meat, they too will convert to biofuels.  Corporations will start to reprogram the stupid masses.  What vegans have known for decades (how animal products are bad for the human body) will soon become mainstream.  Corporations are greedy and will do whatever it takes to make money, even if it’s doing the right thing.

The byproduct of biofuels is food.  Food that can be used to feed the world.

As vegans, I feel we should be promoting biofuels as a way to make the world vegan.  As John Lennon sang in Imagine, “You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. “  

resources:

“Pump”   https://www.fuelfreedom.org/our-work/initiatives/pump/

“Livestock and Climate Change” by Goodland and Anhang
 https://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf/LivestockandClimateChange.pdf

EATING OURSELVES TO EXTINCTION

EATING OURSELVES TO EXTINCTION

I stopped eating meat over thirty years ago.  This was before there were so many vegan products on grocery shelves, before there were so many factory farms and before we knew the damage animal agriculture does to our planet.  I stopped eating meat because torturing and killing another living animal is barbaric.  With every bite of meat, we lose a piece of our humanity.

Now we know the damage animal agriculture is doing to our planet. It is causing 51% of greenhouse gases and 91% of rain forest destruction. Two-thirds of our land mass is used to either raise or feed livestock. Animal agriculture is depleting our natural water supply and polluting our oceans, rivers and lakes. All of this causes more severe weather patterns, wild fires, flooding and other disasters. Bee populations are rapidly declining, leading to food losses.  We are on the verge of the sixth major extinction just because humans eat other earthlings.

There are 7 billion humans on earth and about 1 billion suffer from hunger.  Every day 21,000 children die of starvation.  Yet, most of the food we grow is fed to animals that will be killed and eaten.  It takes 16 pounds of food just to make one pound of meat. 96 billion animals and 3 trillion fish are killed every year for food, but 80% of that goes back into feeding livestock. How insane is this system?

The very thought that some lives are more important than others is creating violence in this world. The thought “I am a human; I am more important than others” leads to “I am white; I am more important than others” or “I am a man; I am more important than others.” Fear causes us to excrete adrenaline into our systems. Animals are no different than us. When we eat other earthlings, we are eating their adrenaline excretions.  This, along with the hormones added to animal feed, makes humans more aggressive. If we continue with all this violence and wars, we soon will wipe ourselves out.

We have to start thinking of future generations, our children, our grandchildren.  What kind of world do we want them to live in? Scientists have predicted that if we continue on our current course, humans could be extinct in less than 100 years. We can end violence. We can reverse global warming. We can feed the world. All it takes is for each of us to take one small step—go vegan.

THE BEE DILEMMA

THE BEE DILEMMA

One of the great vegan debates is whether honey is vegan or not.  Most vegans do not consider it vegan. The debate should be about whether the way we treat bees in modern society is vegan.  It’s not.

Sure bees are little insects most people could care less about, but their numbers are dwindling and they are on the verge of extinction.  When the bees go we will be next.  One third of our food is pollinated by bees and that is where the problem lies.

Human activity is destroying natural plants by plowing fields, building cities and homes, etc. Butterflies, bees, and birds are all losing their habitat.  Bees depend on natural plants. Fruit, nut and vegetable growers have had to import bees to pollinate their plants.  Current beekeepers make more money transporting bees thousands of miles to pollinate plants than they do selling honey.  Bee hives are piled on trailers. The vibration of the trip, the change in weather and the change in sunset and sunrise all add stress to the bee’s life.  Added to that stress is global warming, pollution, and pesticides.  Stress reduces the way their immune systems function.  Disease is wiping out our bees.

Transporting bees thousands of miles to make them pollinate trees is definitely not vegan.  But without that, we would not have the fruits and vegetables we love.

So what can we do:

First, we still all need to go vegan. Two-thirds of the land mass is used to either raise or feed farmed animals.  This land is cleared of plants bees need to survive.  It takes less land to grow fruits and vegetables to feed humans directly than it does to raise animals for flesh eating. Going vegan and returning this land to its natural state will help bees recover.

Second, buying local will help.  Also, we should pass legislation that requires fruit and vegetable growers to have their own bee hives for their crops. Especially those labeled vegan or organic.

Third, everyone should stop using pesticides.  Stop putting chemicals on their lawns, even better forgo the lawn and plant wildflowers and other flowering plants for the bees.

Fourth. everyone who has land should start a bee hive. Not for honey, but just for the bees. Other than checking on them once in a while, just let them be bees.

Don’t buy honey or products made with honey.  Don’t buy products made with beeswax or royal jelly.  Show companies that we will not support the demise of bees for money.

We need to do all we can to help this most important little insect.  When they go extinct, humans will not be far behind. The sooner humans realize that all life on this planet is important to the well-being

of all its inhabitants the better. All life is precious and we are all connected.  It’s important for the future of our children and grandchildren to start to do something now.

Resources:

Vanishing of the bees

Silence of the Bees

A Taste of Honey

PICTURES OF MY FRONT YARD

THE MOST IMPORTANT NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION YOU WILL EVER MAKE

THE MOST IMPORTANT NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION YOU WILL EVER MAKE

Every year most of us make New Year’s resolutions like losing weight or eating healthier. The top three resolutions people make each year are: Lose weight, get organized and spend less. The most important resolution you can make this year will not only make you a better, healthier person, it is necessary to save our planet.

Climate scientists have been warning us about global warming for decades. Scientists say a warming of two degrees will cause massive extinction and problems for humans. At the rate of our current global warming we will be warming by four degrees in just a few short years. They have stated 2017 is the point of no return. If we do not start to reverse global warming by 2017, it will be too late. It is estimated, at our current trend, by 2030 there will be a mass extinction not seen since the dinosaurs.

So what can we do to reverse global warming? Stop driving our cars? Turn off our lights? None of these will be effective enough to start a reversing trend. The most effective way to reverse global warming is to adopt a plant based diet—in other words, go vegan.

 

 

The number one cause of greenhouse gases is animal agriculture (dairy, meat, and eggs). According to the World Bank Group, it is responsible for 51% of greenhouse gases. Transportation total is responsible for 13%. Animal agriculture is the number one cause of methane and nitrous oxide.  Methane is 25 times worse than carbon dioxide as far as creating global warming. Nitrous oxide is 300 times worse than carbon dioxide. The following charts show the growth in factory farms compared to the growth in greenhouse gases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

An interesting note, researchers have discovered that the smog over many cities was not caused by cars (like we are told) but by the smoke and fat from thousands of restaurants grilling meat.

Animal agriculture is the number one cause of rainforest destruction. 91% of rainforests were destroyed for animal agriculture compared to 23 % for palm oil. In the US alone, every minute 7 acres of trees are cleared for animal agriculture. These lands are not only cleared to raise the animals, but also to grow food to feed them. Trees are needed to clean our air and reduce greenhouse gas build up. It takes 16 pounds of feed to make one pound of meat. Think about it. If we all adapted a plant based diet, we could not only reverse global warming, we could feed the world.

The majority of our dwindling oil and natural gas supply is used by animal agriculture. Animal agriculture uses 25 times more fossil fuels than our cars and other transportation. We are going to run out of oil. The only question is when.

Animal agriculture is number one in water usage and water pollution. 85% of the water in the US goes to raising livestock.  Climate change will cause more and more drought conditions, making our water even more precious. Our underground aquifers are being drained at a tremendous rate, faster than they can be replenished. Add to that, the run-off from animal farms pollute our precious waters. There is a 7000 square mile “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico that continues to grow. Our Great Lakes also have dead zones caused by animal agriculture. One pig farm creates more sewage than the entire city of New York and this waste is untreated. This waste winds up in our lakes, rivers, and our groundwater we use for drinking. When the waste lagoons get too large, some factory farms start to spray the waste water into the air. We know conserving water is important and we want future generations to have access to water. One pound of beef takes 5,200 gallons of water. That is over a year’s worth of showers. Compare that to 24 gallons to make a pound of potatoes or tomatoes. In the US, fracking uses 140 billion gallons of water every year. Animal agriculture uses 340 TRILLION gallons every year.

Overfishing is destroying our oceans.  Fish help to keep the oceans healthy and reduce ocean warming. Many fish species have been depleted to the point of extinction. 80% of the fish caught goes to feeding livestock.

If you want to give up your car, live in the dark, stop taking showers, go ahead, but none of that will stop global warming and our inevitable destruction. We should be mad as heck at the meat, dairy and egg industries. They are wasting our oil and our water. They are poisoning our water and our air. They are destroying our planet and our way of life. This year make it your resolution to do something about it. Show the animal agriculture industry that they cannot get away with making huge profits by destroying our children’s futures. Go vegan. Take away their money, take away their power.  Not only will you be helping to save our planet, lose weight, and be healthier, you will be helping to end the torture and slaughter of 96 billion animals and 3 trillion fish every year.  It is amazing how one simple small step can do so much.

 

 I encourage everyone to read more and learn. Knowledge is the key to making responsible food choices.

My Sources:

“The Sustainability Secret” by Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn

“This Changes Everything” by Naomi Klein

“World Peace Diet” by Will Tuttle PhD

“The Food Revolution” by John Robbins

“The Conscious Planet” by Neil Pine

“Comfortably Unaware” and “Food Choices and Sustainability” by Dr.  Richard Oppenlander

epa.gov http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/ch4.html

http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/n2o.html

You can change for the better. I am here to help.