Tag Archives: planet

IT’S TIME HUMANITY TAKES A STAND ON PROTECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT and OUR PLANET

Posted on by

0

How many of us have really looked at the impact we have on the environment and our planet?  Do you know how many coffee cups you put in the trash bin daily?  How about all carbon dioxide that is released into our air as you sit in a drive-thru waiting for food that will only cause you sickness?  Have you thought about the amount of garbage we produce on a daily basis?  Will we have enough food and water to feed 9 billion people in the very near future when there isn’t enough food already?  Will you continue to turn a blind eye to the devastation humans are creating on animals, the environment and our planet?  It’s time to wake up and demand better for the planet, for the future and for our existence.

In Ontario – Justin Trudeau just won the Liberal Party Leadership vote – Justin is considered to be the voice of a new generation.  A generation whose priorities are not about capitalism but activism and sustainability.  The future generation has a daunting task – to save the planet and humanity from extinction.  Hopefully, this generation – along with Justin Trudeau’s leadership, can and will act to protect the planet and work towards sustainable and renewable energies.  It is said that if humanity continues to deplete the earth’s natural resources as we are today – we will need 9 earth’s in order to survive.  We don’t have an additional 9 earth’s.  What we need to do is engage the future generation to demand better of our governments and to act to ensure the survival of the planet and of humanity.

Rob Stewart – award-winning director of the amazing and inspiring documentary – Shark Water, spoke at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto Canada about the devastation we are creating on the environment and our planet.  He asked the youth of today to become engaged and to be inspired to create positive change for the planet.  Here is that presentation:

Robert Stewart and Gus Van Sandt have created a new documentary called, Revolution about the plight our planet and humanity faces.  Here is the official trailer and interview with Rob Stewart about this very important documentary:

I urge everyone to watch this film and become inspired to act.  Demand better of our government!  Remove the blinders and understand the consequences that your actions have on our planet and do better.  Stop allowing media and BIG CORPORATION to lull you into a false sense of security – they only want your money.  Education is the key – educate and know what is happening and then be inspired to act for our future and for the future of generations to come.

Together, we can make the world a more positive one.

STOP BUYING!!!! WE NEED TO HEAL.

Posted on by

1

Want, want, want, want…….How much more do we really need?  People are so much more worried about ‘wanting’ the latest gadget or acquiring the fastest car that they are forgetting that our world is in turmoil and requires healing.  If we keep demanding bigger, better, stronger and faster……..the planet will not be able to sustain that need and will eventually give up.  We should be doing our best to mend all the wounds that our demands have created on our planet – and we need to do it quickly and NOW.

BE QUIET, LISTEN and BUY

Buy, buy, buy media whores out to the brainwashed public.

Need, need, need the corporations tell us with false promises.

How much more do we really need to buy?

How much more do we really – REALLY need?

Governments are bought by the corporations to perpetuate their greed.

They tell us that no money is to be made by going ‘greener’.

The ‘hippies’ fought and respected the planet while BIG OIL fought every step of the way.

Bigger, faster and stronger metal is what we need and what you want – so we will BUILD.

Leather shoes, leather gloves, leather car seats, leather jackets, fur coats, fur boots, fur scarfs – annihilation for animals.

More food, bigger portions, more waste and disease – animals carted to concentration and death camps.

Drug companies amassing huge profits by making people more sick for longer durations.

We don’t need to be educated about nutrition – eat all you want and eat more of it because drugs will keep you alive and in a zombie state.

Is your house too small?  That’s okay, we’ll clear-cut this forest to accommodate your desire for a bigger house.

No-one will care, we are developers and are contributing to the local economy - FUCK those hippies, we listen to demand and don’t care for the planet.

It is YOUR right to demand more and it is OUR right to supply.

Don’t worry yourself about the lies the hippies tell you – it is not credible.  Just buy it.

Worry about your family – as a matter of fact, have more children so that they can consume and want more to make us richer.

Don’t worry about our world being ‘over-populated’, we have enough water, land and animals to feed all of you.

Stay distracted by watching your bigger and brighter televisions – we depend so that you don’t ask any questions.

Buy, buy, buy media whores out to the brainwashed public.

Need, need, need the corporations tell us with false promises.

When the planet has had enough – there will be nothing more to buy and no more people to buy.

 HEAL

There is time for me to heal.

If I only heal myself, then I can heal the water, the air and earth.

There is time for me to heal.

If I only heal myself, than I will have clarity.

I will heal to help those who can’t help themselves.

I will heal to fight for GAIA.

Why should we allow future generations to suffer?

Why should the planet suffer?

We have the power – we have the people,

So why don’t we begin the journey to healing so that no-one else needs to suffer?

The planet is speaking to us but we are not listening.  I am not ready to live in a world or time only to say “we should have done that so long ago” or live in a society where people say “we should have listened to the ‘hippies’.“  We are not doing enough because we are not demanding enough.  The skeptics keep telling us that they can’t try greener technologies because the demand isn’t there.  That is not true – what they are really saying is that the MONEY and PROFIT is not there.  It is time for an uprising, a new revolution, a grass-roots movement that will resonate with the generations of the future.  A movement about necessity versus materialism.  Where people care about their well-being and sustainable living on our planet – if we are to have a planet.

No more ‘what if’s’ – it is time to just do.  Change begins with us.

Together, we can make the world a more positive one.

DEFINITE ‘MUST SEE’ VIDEO!!!!

Posted on by

0

I created this blog/site to inspire people to create positive change in the world.  Sometimes, the topics may be controversial and may not be what you choose to believe – BUT, there are things that we all can work together to heal….our planet is one of them.  Please watch and share this very amazing, short and impactful video about our planet….I hope it inspires you to advocate for her because she needs us really badly.

The source of the footage comes from Yann Arthus -Bertrand from his film called HOME.  Music is by Armand Amar.  Here is the link to the movie’s official website:

http://www.homethemovie.org/

What is more important for you……discussing the Oscars or acting to save the planet so that your children can have a healthy environment and planet to live on in the future?  Not a hard decision at all.

Together, we can make the world a more positive one!

HOW ABOUT SAYING ‘I CAN’ FOR A CHANGE?

Posted on by

0

Why is it that so many people in our society have a negative predisposition on many social and environmental issues today? 

  • “One person can’t make a difference”
  • “There is no way I can do that….”
  • “We can’t change our habits”
  • “It’s too late for me to change”
  • “Why bother, it’s not going to make a difference”
  • “We’ve been (fill in behaviour or habit) for years, why change now”

We can’t make positive impacts in the world for ourselves, the environment and the planet.  When did we decide to believe these things?  Has the world been so brainwashed and deflated to believe that humanity is incapable of any positive change.  When did we lose hope?  Have we really succumbed to a life of sitting in front of the television and being bombarded with false promises and dreams?  Are we just living to have ‘bigger and better’ things?  And finally, are we so immersed in our need for the materialistic that we have lost all interest in our own health and well-being?

I am about to turn 44 years old - I hope to live much, much longer.  The question is – will I have that opportunity?  Look at the state of our planet due to our desire to ‘want’ rather than living based on ‘what we need’.  Our need for cars (not only one per family either), bigger houses, more meat, faster planes, bigger boats, larger televisions, etc.  has polluted our planet to the verge of destruction.  You don’t believe it?  Check this out:

WASTE

  1. 3 billion tonnes of waste thrown out each year in the European Union (90 billion of it is hazardous)
  2. Between 1990 – 1995, amount of waste generated increased by 10%
  3. 67% of items thrown out is either burnt in incinerators or dumped in landfills (both are environmentally damaging)
  4. Landfills cause water and soil pollution by discharging carbon dioxide (co2) and methane (ch4) into the atmosphere and chemicals and pesticides into the earth and groundwater
  5. By 2020 (OECD) – Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has estimated that the European Union could be generating 45% more waste than what they did in 1995
  6. Environment Canada indicates that driving, yard work, home energy and home water use are major causes of wast and pollution in Canada
  7. WWF (World Wildlife Fund) states that ‘electronic waste’ (cell phones, computers, etc) is becoming a big threat to the environment
  8. Electronic waste is made up of lead, mercury and plastic which are all toxic, batteries leach acid – these toxins get into our water and soil making them poisonous
  9. Between 160 – 295 million pounds of food is thrown out each year in America (equivalent of filling a 90,000 seat football stadium to the brim every day)
  10. Since 1974 – Food waste has jumped an astounding 50% in the United States

FACTORY FARMING/LIVESTOCK FARMS  

  1. Mostly cruel and inhumane
  2. California officials identify agriculture, including cows, as the major source of nitrate pollution in more than 100,000 square miles of polluted ground water
  3. High levels of nitrates in drinking water also increases the risk of methemoglobinemia, or “blue-baby syndrome”, which can kill infants
  4. Animal waste contains disease-causing pathogens, such as Salmonella, E-coli, Cryptosporidium, and fecal coliform, which can be 10 to 100 times more concentrated than in human waste
  5. More than 40 diseases can be transferred to humans through manure
  6. Manure from dairy cows is thought to have contributed to the disastrous Cryptosporidium contamination of Milwaukee’s drinking water in 1993, which killed more than 100 people, made 400,000 sick and resulted in $37 million in lost wages and productivity
  7. Large hog farms emit hydrogen sulfide, a gas that most often causes flu-like symptoms in humans, but at high concentration can lead to brain damage
  8. In 1998, the National Institute of Health reported that 19 people died as a result of hydrogen sulfide emissions from manure pits
  9. In 1995 an eight-acre hog-waste lagoon in North Carolina burst, spilling 25 million gallons of manure in the New River, killing about 10 million fish and closed 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shellfishing
  10. EWG (Environmental Working Group) estimates that growing livestock feed in the U.S. requires 167 pounds of pesticides and 17 billion pounds of nitrogen fertilizer each year across 149 million acres of cropland generating nitrous oxide which is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide
  11. Methane from cattle is estimated to generate 20% of over U.S. methane emissions
  12. Researchers extrapolate that global meat production will double by 2050 to about 1.2 trillion pounds a year, putting further pressure on the environment and human health
  13. 5 trillion gallons of water was used to produce soy in 2009, compared to 235 trillion gallons use to produce meat in the same year
  14. 60% of the world’s grain is fed to farmed animals – while 925,000,000 people do not have enough to eat
  15. Animals raised for food currently take up 30% of the Earth’s entire land surface

Researches have suggested that we will need the equivalent of 5 earths in order to accommodate the population growth and the human consumption of meat.  5 EARTHS – that is absolutely astounding.    Think about this – the only method of controlling population growth (that we ‘officially’ know of) is war.  Why are we not discussing the issue of population growth control?  How about access to birth control (sorry Catholics or other religious denominations that don’t believe in birth control -  religious view won’t matter if there is no world to live in)?

People are often offended when asked to change their personal lifestyle choices even when so many of those personal choices are so harmful to our health and environment.  When we do face these choices, we often tell ourselves that we can’t for various reasons but don’t even try.  What would happen if we just tried???  Trying a vegetarian/vegan diet won’t kill you, it will only improve your health.  Being more conscious in determining what we need versus what we want will definitely decrease the waste you contribute to landfills.  Most importantly – being aware of what is going on in our world and realizing that you can make a difference in the world.  All you have to say is I CAN be a conduit for change and collectively, with like-minded people – we can create positive change in the world.  What are you waiting for?

Resources:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/index.htm

http://www.ec.gc.ca

http://wwf.panda.org

http://www.etoxics.org

http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/ffarms.asp

http://www.scientificamerican.com

http://www.peta.org

Together, we can make the world a more positive one.

TOO HOT TOO HANDLE!

Posted on by

1

There has been much controversy surrounding ‘global warming’ or ‘climate change’.  Many skeptics believe that evidence does not support claims that the planet is warming – so why bother worrying about the ‘what if’s’.  What is the extent of the scientific consensus of global warming?  It is 95% – could 95% of the scientific community be wrong?  I would rather take my chances in believing the scientists and work towards solutions to combat this problem.  

Many people figure that there is no big deal if the planet warms by a few degrees – they should.  In 1995, Chicago experienced the worst heat wave in decades.  Temperatures approached 106 degrees for more than 6 consecutive days, killing 800 people.  In Europe in 2003 a heat wave killed 6,000 people in Germany, 14,000 in France and 19,000 in Italy.  Why was this not given more media attention?  Is it because we are to pre-occupied with materialism and things that will continue to contribute to the global warming epidemic.  Heat wave deaths are predicted to double by 2020 if global warming is not curbed.

Global warming is caused when heat is trapped on earth’s surface.  Sunlight comes through our atmosphere and gets absorbed by the surface of the earth.  The surface heats up but the heat doesn’t escape into space because it is blocked by greenhouse gases (water vapour and carbon dioxide).  The concern is not with the natural greenhouse effect but that mankind is changing it with our dependency on burning coal, oil and gas.  Scientists are sure that we are changing the climate in the forseeable future, what they are not sure of is if we can live with those changes.  Currently, global warming is responsible for the following:

  • Oceans becoming warmer (this increases evaporation causing more rain).
  • Less moderate rainfalls in the U.S.A. and more increased heavy rainfalls.
  • Decrease/depletion of drinking water due to lack of snowpacks (since 1950, spring snowpack has declined by as much as 60%).
  • Weather extremes (more hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, forest fires)

If we do not do anything to curb/stop global warming, we will lose much more of our coral reefs, species will become extinct, there will be no glaciers left and see levels will rise above 150 feet – causing major devastation to many of the major populated areas around the coastline.

Many think that it is too expensive to do anything about global warming – so they do nothing which will transfer the cost to future generations.  Are our world governments doing all they can to help our planet in the fight against global warming? NO, THE ARE NOT!!!!  Governments cater to the big oil conglomerates and the auto industry the reap the benefits of pushing oil.  We must demand action from our government to stop our dependency on oil and other corporations that have no interest in our environment.  We need to ensure our governments work towards building a future that relies on sustainable energy, like solar and wind.  We need to ask  the automobile industry to create more affordable hybrid and electric vehicles.  Going green will save the economy – by creating more ‘greener’ jobs and initiatives that will help our planet. 

It is imperative that we stand up and fight for this planet – it should be our governments top priority (not spending billions of dollars on starting/fighting wars).  We need a healthy and vibrant world – we need to be able to continue to breathe fresh air and have clean water to drink.  A more sustainable planet is not only the responsibility of our governments and big corporations, it is also up to us!  We must stop the demand of BIGGER televisions, BIGGER cars, BIGGER trucks etc.  We must stop using chemicals that pollute our waterways, rivers, lakes and oceans – the better substitutes are available.  We have to stop becoming a ‘throw away’ society and focus on creating products that will not harm the planet further.

There are many things you can do to help in the fight against global warming - such as the things I have mentioned above like;  buying more fuel-efficient cars (hybrid/electric), stop buying household cleaners that pollute our waters and use greener solutions and recycle.  But the most important thing you can do is let you Member of Parliament know that you will not vote for them if their top priority isn’t making our planet the top priority.

The following documentaries are great movies to help you understand the topic of global warming (please watch and share them):

  • An Inconvenient Truth
  • The Age of Stupid
  • Carbon Nation
  • Global Warming:  The Signs of the Science
  • Five Ways to Save the World

Be on the lookout for Chasing Ice - a new documentary following National Geographic photographer James Balog across the Arctic as he deploys time-lapse cameras designed for one purpose: to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers and their effects on the planet.

Together, we can make the world a more positive one!

AN EMAIL FROM GREENPEACE!

Posted on by

0

I thought I would share an email I received from GREENPEACE.  I like to follow them because their belief’s about our environment and its’ importance to our sustainability are similar to mine.  I appreciate the success stories that they share and am saddened when I hear about the atrocities that we humans are inflicting on our environment and wildlife.  Please support them in any way you can – here is the email:

Hi there,

The Arctic holds a special significance for Greenpeace. The campaign that gave birth to our movement over 40 years ago stopped nuclear testing in Alaska.

Many people thought a nuclear test in Alaska wouldn’t affect them. But if you live on Earth, it affected you.

The radiation from those tests swirled around the world and entered your eyes and my eyes and everyone’s eyes.

Forensic pathologists can tell a victim’s age by looking for radioactive carbon in the eyes. If you were born in the 60s or early 70s like me, you’ll have more radioactive carbon. The level gradually decreases for people born after nuclear testing ceased.

The founders of Greenpeace won their campaign and helped stop nuclear testing. But now things are happening in the Alaskan Arctic that could change a lot more than just the carbon in our eyes.

Some people see the Arctic as the canary in the coal mine, the warning to stop burning fossil fuels and find clean alternatives. Shell doesn’t see it that way. The oil company sees open ocean where once there was 3m thick sheet ice and thinks, “We could drill there now.”

So Shell is off to the Alaskan Arctic in search of the last drop of oil. In the process, it will spread carbon across our skies warming the planet, as well as oil across the world’s most fragile ecosystem, hastening its collapse.

And when the oil has been burnt and the ice has all melted, the ocean currents will change. All the sun’s heat that was once reflected by the shield of sea ice will be absorbed by the open, black waters. Just as the radiation from nuclear tests spread around the world, and the carbon emissions from Shell’s oil spread around the world, so that heat will spread around the world.

If you live on Earth, it will affect you.

Unless we stop them.

The founders of Greenpeace were eleven hippies in a boat but they built a movement that ended commercial whaling, stopped toxic dumping and protected Antarctica.

You are part of that movement. Together, we are three million people. We have 40 years’ experience of winning campaigns, protecting ecosystems and stopping companies like Shell.

Later this week, we’re going back to save the place where we were born, and to save the world. A movement like Greenpeace can do that, and there’s only one movement like us.

Come with us.

Graham Thompson
Greenpeace UK

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/arctic