Happy Earth Day!

One of the big reasons I decided to convert to eating a plant based diet was the fact that it is more environmentally friendly than my old meat eating ways. Here is a quote from a study released by NASA. According to this study animal husbandry will have the third largest impact on the environement!!!!!

"Unger's model finds that in 2020 (left), transportation, household biofuels and animal husbandry will have the greatest warming impact on the climate, while the shipping, biomass burning, and industrial sectors will have a cooling impact. By 2100 (right), the model finds that the power and industrial sector will become strongly warming as carbon dioxide accumulates."

Factory-style farming, which has become a huge industry in the U.S. (we are by far the number one meat producer) has devastating effects on the health of people and the environment. There have been so many cases of contamination reported and lives lost because of this unhealthy and dangerous industry. The hormones and antibiotics fed to what you will eventually call dinner are sure to have side effects on the cattle and in turn on those who eat it. Logic will tell you that a beast that stands in it's own feces, eats a substandard diet, lives in extremely stressful and overcrowded conditions is not likely to produce healthy nutrition for you.

On to the effects meat consumption has on the Earth...after all it is Earth Day. Water contamination can be a serious by-product of manure run-off. Raising of meat for food uses a tremendous amount of water. According to an article published by the Physicians for Responsible Medicine; it is estimated that it takes 2500 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat. In this same article it is stated that "The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN has estimated that 70% of previously forested land in South America has been converted for grazing land." If you do a little bit of reasearch you can find many more studies that show how devastating the increasing demand for animal based products is to our planet. I will leave that research in your able hands.

Even if you are not ready or willing to give up animal products, consider eating veg more often. It will open up a whole new world of textures and flavors. Every meal you forgo meat will make a difference to our plante. I will now get off of my educating you about the evils of the meat producers pedestal.

Now on to the more fun part of todays post.

What I Did for Earth Day by ME!

First off this morning, my lovely sister and I carpooled to one of our favorite trailheads in her very fuel efficient Prius. Our goal was multi-faceted: to get in a beautiful hike and check out all of the blooming foliage in the desert, to get in a good work out, and to help keep our park and trails beautiful. We had a great hike in nice cool weather and picked up some trash along the way.

After our awesome hike, I headed home for lunch. Fred and I enjoyed a fabulous vegan lunch of Lettuce Wraps. NOM!

After lunch we continued our celebration by spending a little time out in the garden and yard. We hope to grow more and more of our own food. Today we planted sweet potatoes. They are supposed to hold up well in the summer heat here. I'm getting my hands in the Earth! It is such a great feeling to connect with nature.

Then I hugged the dog

Fred found a ladybug.

...and a great Earth Day was had by all.