When we think about animal abuse and environmental destruction on factory farms, we think about cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys, but we often don’t think about fish. However, fish are abused just as awfully as land animals and fishing is destroying our planet just as quickly as factory farms are. Aquacultures (Fish Farms) Aquacultures are …
Aug
02
Apr
22
Why Vegetarian Is The New Prius (Earth Day 2011)
First, allow me to re-iterate some of the facts from my Earth Day 2010 post: The livestock industry is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire world’s transportation industry combined. Researchers at the University of Chicago found that going vegan is more effective in countering climate change than switching from a standard American car …
Mar
22
World Water Day 2011
International World Water Day was started in 1993 by the United Nations and is held annually on March 22nd “as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.” In the US, where we regularly indulge in overabundance, we don’t often worry about conserving water. …
Oct
15
Blog Action Day 2010: Water
Today is Blog Action Day 2010. This annual event, organized by change.org, is held every October 15 to unite the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action. This year’s topic is water. Today thousands of bloggers from over 125 …
Aug
11
The Good Life Doesn’t Have to Cost the Planet
I’m still working on getting into a daily rhythm here in Austin. It’s been just over a week since I moved here, so between starting a new job, trying to unpack, and struggling to run in 100 degree heat, you’ll have to bear with me as I slowly ramp back up on the blogging habit. …
Apr
22
Happy Earth Day!
“If we treated others as we wish to be treated ourselves, then decency and stability would have to prevail. I suggest that we execute such a pact with our planet.” -Stephen Jay Gould According to polls, three-quarters of us define ourselves as environmentalists. We recycle our garbage, switch our lightbulbs to CFLs, take our reusable …
Apr
14
Belgian City does “Meatless Thursday”
Thursdays were declared “Veggie Day” in the city of Ghent! The Belgian city has decided to go veg for one day a week in an effort to highlight the environmental and health costs of eating meat. The city authorities in Ghent, some 30 miles west of Brussels, are asking residents to get involved and opt for vegetarian meals …
Mar
24
Eggs And The Environment
It’s not just pig farms that produce massive pools of waste. Olivera egg ranch in northern California has a 16.5 acre lagoon filled with waste sludge from its more than 700,000 caged hens. The stench and eye-burning fumes cause headaches and nausea for the neighbors. Waste lagoons like this (which are on all factory farms) are …
Mar
19
Expensive Excrement (yet another poop post)
Two weeks ago, a Kansas City, MO court awarded $11 million to 15 people in a case about pig poop. The plaintiffs sued Premium Standard Farms (a pig CAFO – Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) over the cesspits of pig manure causing nauseating odors and swarms of flies. In their testimony, the 15 plaintiffs said that the odors …
Mar
16
Post About Poop, Number 2 (pun intended)
This post isn’t actually related to the first Post About Poop, except that they both do happen to be about, well, poop. In the past 40 years, the US has effectively reduced the manmade pollutants that left our waterways dead, discolored, and occasionally flammable. But sadly, we’ve managed to smother the same waters with the most natural stuff in …
