Earth Day at 50

I grew up in the country. Big back yard with lots of trees and open space that butted up to a farmers field and a woods. My dad would take my brother and I into the woods on occasion. We would pack a lunch and eat amongst the abandon farm equipment. My dad played in these woods, too, as a kid. The path through the woods led to a small pond and clearing before the second woods started. When we ventured out there I felt like I was in another world. Nature has always been an important part of my life. Walking barefoot through freshly mowed grass and picking green beans from our garden. Raking leaves in the fall and swinging on willow tree branches. The peace I feel while looking at a serene lake at dusk, the majesty of a mountain or a dessert full of cacti. My connection with the earth has always been healing to me and a great reminder of the interconnectedness of ALL things. This is especially prevalent now. Once again, I turn to her for solace and peace in the midst of this pandemic. Walking the neighborhood, I watch the birds flutter and the trees blow in the breeze. Signs of life are popping up throughout the landscaping and I lean on her trees for rebalancing of my soul. These times make you rethink how we have taken so much for granted. Since the Covid epidemic the environment has improved. Pollution is clearing in the skies, wildlife is returning to clean waters, and carbon emissions has reduced because we aren't driving/ flying as much and factories are not running like they used to. Why does it always take an awful event to open our eyes to the destruction that we are causing? This pandemic will end one day because this too shall pass. I hope, when that day comes, we all are able to take away from it many lessons. Everyone can't wait to get back to "normal" but I am hoping the definition of normal changes.

Earth Day, the 50th Anniversary, and I feel like we're in a mash up of Hunger Games meets Little House on the Prairie. The fear of going to the grocery store has me regenerating green onion tops on my window sill and eating every stitch of food until I return to shopping. People went so crazy for toilet paper when in reality you can use cotton cloth wipes and a peri bottle. Woman who've had children know what I am talking about! They also make reusable menstrual pads as well as menstrual cups. Let's think about the red tent days ladies....they literally had nothing but cloths. I am reinvigorated to use my compost bin. I've joined a CSA for the summer and fall and I use washable paper towel wipes to dry my counter and wipe up messes. We have become so accustomed to becoming consumers that we sometimes forget that there are other ways to live.

Now down to the nitty gritty of it all. I am mad and you should be too! Let's just say that if people didn't sell wild animals for consumption we wouldn't be in the mess that we are in, in the first place! If the current administration didn't role back 50 years worth of environmental policies we might be in an OK state, environmentally speaking. President Trump is planting trees today. His trees are worthless when he says things like "coal is clean" and exits us from the Paris Climate Accord. A president who doesn't believe in science has no right planting trees for pomp and circumstance!

That's the administration but what role do we play in all of this?

Many people around the world lost their shit in 2019 when the amazon rain forests were burning. What many don't realize is that this is common place to start these fires. This deforestation is because of our reliance on animal agriculture. Animal agriculture is responsible for up to 91% Amazon destruction and they clear 1-2 acres every second. The animals that WE eat need room to roam and food to eat. We are so disconnected from our food that we often don't realize how it gets from the field to our plate. Eating animals is the worst thing you can do for the environment on so many levels.

- Raising animals for food produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all car, plane, and other forms of transportation combined.

- Livestock and their byproducts account for 32,000 million tons of CO2 (51% of all worldwide gas emissions. (Georgetown Environmental Law Review)

- 56% of the water consumption in the US is to feed crops and animals. Did you know that out takes 2500 gallons produce one lb. of beef?

- It's the leading cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution, and habitat destruction.

It's really hard to acknowledge that something that we have been so engrained to do is causing so much harm. I, first, started eating plant based for health reasons and it morphed into environmental reasons. It's the reason I stick with it. I can't say I am doing everything until I actually do. It's not in my personal makeup. I can't deem some animals to be "domestic" and some to be food anymore. It's not easy, but nothing that's worth doing ever is. I ask that you digest what I have written. Look at your impact and TRY to make a change. You may read this, roll your eyes, and think what a tree hugging hippie. You may refute my facts and you may not like my politics. That's ok, my conscious is clean.

Below I have posted links to some of the things mentioned above:

Sign the petition to end the trade of wild animals for human consumption: https://endthetrade.com

Wet its: https://wetcloths.com

Diva Cup: https://divacup.com

Glad Rags: https://gladrags.com

Cloth tp: https://www.etsy.com/market/cloth_toilet_paper

Source: https://www.cowspiracy.com/facts