Project #9 Go Vegan = A New Call for Climate Change?

I have always been considered an outspoken feminist. In my family, and in many of the “old boys clubs” that I have experienced professionally. My little sister teaches the Introduction to Women’s Issues at the University of Chicago while putting the finishing touches on her phd from one of the finest Philosophy Departments in North America -- and I think it would be fair to say that I was her first mentor as a feminist!

Fellow Toastmasters,

Recently I listened to Xiao’s radio show on CFRU on environmental issues. He interviewed the first woman in the House of Commons, Lynn MacDonald and the discussion was clear and intelligent and full of impact. One of the points she made has really stuck with me. She said climate change is a MORAL issue. And, she positions environmental issues as social justice issues. And, she really got my attention when she said that concentrating on women’s rights right now is essentially ridiculous because it needs to take a back seat to ENVIRONMENTAL matters, because otherwise we are simply fighting for equality in mortality rates.

I heard on the CBC Tuesday morning that in the last 30 years we have destroyed 30% of earth’s biodiversity. And that by the year 2050 we will need two of our planet’s worth of natural resources in order for our species to continue to survive. Does anyone have an extra earth for us?

While life expectancy and standards of living have increased for many earthlings, the pressures of our ever increasing populations on FINITE natural resources create a huge problem for us.

Just consider that no more renewable fresh water is available today than existed at the dawn of human civilization. Global demand for water has tripled since the 1950s, while the supply of fresh drinking water has been reduced by consumption, waste and contamination. Half a billion people live in water-stressed or water-scarce countries, and by 2025 that number will grow to three billion.

The world population has doubled in the last forty years. And, we continue to increase those numbers at ever increasing speed! The world population is currently about 6.5 billion and growing by another 76 million people per year. According to the UN the planet will add another 2.6 billion people by 2050. Every 11 seconds another person is added to the US population, and thus shows a population growth rate comparable to that of China. I read that "Leaders must come up with intelligent, creative, inventive measures to discourage births." meanwhile what Bush has actually done is put a person AGAINST birth control in charge of the American Food and Drug Administration.

Worse still is the fact that The US has 5% of the world's population but accounts for nearly a quarter of global emissions. What polluters!

Who has seen the Al Gore thing, An Inconvenient Truth??
While his opponent in the election has been battling to secure more oil for corporate profit and the conveniences of consumers, Gore has been touring with a multi-media lecture warning of the perils of global warming. Our society acts like oil and gas are infinite or renewable but it is in fact a one time gift of nature that we extract. Furthermore, the burning of said fossil fuels causes global warming – melting the polar ice cap and changing the effect of the sun on the earth’s surface. I learned from a Toastmaster’s presentation in Kitchener that Canada committed to reduce our emission levels by 6% (at the Kyoto planet saving agreement meeting) and we have actually increased by 20% and while we continue to INCREASE needs. And apparently the US won't even SIGN the Kyoto agreement?

In the last 50 years, cropland has been signifcantly reduced, and as many as 400 million people are at risk of starvation because of crop failure. Meanwhile,Britain will face flooding through increased rainfall and parts of the coastline could be washed away by rising seas.

This is the impact of short sighted corporate greed. These are just some of the incredibly unhealthy global consequences. THE HUMAN RACE IS GOING DOWN FAST.

Where is our Superhero to remedy our world destruction???

YOU MUST BECOME A SUPERHERO!!!

Do you believe me that saving the environment is a top priority?

Superheros, sustainability is the practice of conservation that allows people enough resources through their life and the lives of future generations.

Sustainability is possible by conserving energy, materials, resources, by innovating new technologies, and by ensuring that the number of births is low enough so that there is enough to go around.

I have some sustainability to suggestions:

1) I think it is smart to eat less meat. I have seen the pie charts that show how much more economically effective it is for humans to eat grains and vegetables directly, rather than growing them to feed to animals we then slaughter for meat.. The average American consumes 20 times as much in natural resources as the average African. And I read research that showed currently, a total of 3,265 pounds of agricultural products are produced annually to feed each American, while China's food supply averages only 1,029 pounds/capita/year.

2) Take up the challenge to reduce and clean up your own energy use. Make spiritual choices to reduce, reuse, recycle. Look for clean, renewable energy sources! Personally I want to drive a hybrid, and live closer to where I work

3) Lynn MacDonald suggested we rethink our values and ensure we use our vote, for the environment. She stressed in that radio show that we must Intervene For Good, and insist that politicians are held accountable and that corporations are also forced to act responsibly towards FUTURE populations as well as those that don’t have a voice. Remember how once slavery was acceptable? It was economically disadvantegeous to stop the practice, but to continue in that way was WRONG! Now we need to take up the social justice issue of fighting for the environment. For ourselves, and for the future of our species.

I hope I have persuaded you to take some constructive actions in this regard, starting today.

sources:
http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2005/10/12/meat/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_vegetarianism
http://www.alternet.org/story/12162/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/famine/story/0,12128,865087,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/famine/story/0,12128,865087,00.html
http://www.vegsource.com/articles/pimentel_resources.htm
http://www.overpopulation.org/impact.html