Well, it’s finally here: December 21st, 2012, the so-called “end of the world”. I can’t help but wonder, what if it was true? What if today really is the last day of your life? Looking back, do you have any regrets? Is there anything in your life left unfinished? Anything you wish you’d said to someone, but didn’t? Any act of kindness or generosity you could have done to make someone’s life a little brighter but never had the time? Do you wish you could have lived a life of purpose? If we survive the day, what will you resolve to do with the rest of your life? What changes will you make to make sure that your children and grandchildren will be able to live a long, healthy life?
The world most likely won’t end today, but it’s definitely headed in that direction unless we take a long hard look in the mirror and wake up from our stupor. Ultimately, whether the apocalypse comes is completely up to us because it is completely determined by our own actions.
The real end of the world isn’t something determined by the position of the stars, alignment of planets or shift of magnetic poles — it is something determined by the choices we make today and every day after.
Our planet, Earth, is only one of billions of planets in our galaxy. It is over 4 billion years old and weighs 6 septillion tons. Throughout its existence, billions of species of animal, plant, microbial and fungal life have lived and died in its forests, oceans, deserts, grasslands, and arctics. Earth has withstood asteroid strikes, ice ages and nuclear bombs and overall has fared pretty well. This is what many people fail to understand about the end of the world:
The planet isn’t going anywhere — we are.
Certain species of life will more than likely still find a way to exist on our planet, as has always been the case no matter what historical catastrophe, but the human species will likely become extinct unless we take swift action to right our wrongs.
Do you really want to usher in the age of the cockroach?
We, as a species, need to consider December 21st the end of an era of arrogance, waste and cruelty, and we need to consider December 22nd, 2012 the beginning of an era of humility, community and kindness. Let’s make it the first day we stop paying lip service to the world’s problems and start actually doing something to solve them, because if we don’t, the world will end for our species and we will be the only ones to blame.
It won’t end in a giant explosion like you see in the movies. The real end of the world will creep up on us, but only because so many choose to ignore its cries for help by denying that a problem exists and that our actions — no matter how small — have any influence on its solution.
How have your actions and lifestyle influenced the destruction of our planet’s ecosystems so far?
Facts about the impact of animal agriculture on the environment
- Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions — that’s more than all the cars, trucks, planes and ships in the world combined [Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, a 2006 report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization]
- More than 1/3 of all raw materials and fossil fuels consumed in the US are used in animal production [Ecological Cooking by Joanne Stepaniak and Kathy Hecker]
- Nearly 50% of all water used in the US goes to raising animals for food [The Food Revolution by John Robbins]
- 70% of the crops grown in the US are grown to feed animals on feedlots [Plants, Genes, and Agriculture by Jones and Bartlet]
- 80% of all agricultural land in the US is used to raise animals for food and grow grain to feed them — that’s almost 50% of the total land mass of the continental US [Major Uses of Land in the United States by Marlow Vesterby and Kenneth S. Krupa]
- 70% of land that was once occupied by the Amazon rainforest is now occupied by pasture for livestock, with a large part of the rest used for feed crops. Furthermore, 30% of the Earth’s total land mass is now used to raise animals for food [Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, a 2006 report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization]
- A single dairy cow produces about 120 pounds of wet manure per day, which is equivalent to the waste produced by 20–40 people. That means California’s 1.4 million dairy cows produce as much waste as 28–56 million people [Notes from Underground — The United States Environmental Protection Agency]
- 7 football fields worth of land is bulldozed every 60 seconds to create more room for farmed animals and the crops that feed them [The Smithsonian Institution]
- Animals raised for food produce about 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population and animal farms pollute our waterways more than all other industrial sources combined. Run-offs of animal waste, pesticides, chemicals, fertilizers, hormones and antibiotics are contributing to dead zones in coastal areas, degradation of coral reefs and health problems in humans and other animals [The United States Environmental Protection Agency]
We cannot wait until it’s too late. The fate of this planet and the millions of species of life that inhabit the planet we all share is in our hands. If we really are the ‘top species’, as so many like to believe, let’s stop using this as an excuse to abuse power, but rather as a reason to govern with respect, compassion and stewardship. We are not the Earth’s rulers, we are the Earth’s caretakers. After all, isn’t that how we would like to be treated?
Check out these sites for more information on ways you can reduce your ecological footprint (and don’t forget to live vegan, because it’s simply the right thing to do):
(Here’s a picture of my score. There’s always plenty of room for improvement.)
“There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” ~Aldous Huxley
Just imagine if everyone lived by those words…
Considering that 99.9 percent of all species ever to live on our planet have gone extinct, we can clearly guess that mankind is next. I’m glad mankind will go extinct — we’re not smart enough to survive. I’m grateful that we’ll run out of fossil fuels long before we ever have a chance to colonize other planets. Humans are destructive parasites and it would be sad if we ruined other worlds as we have ruined ours.
I see a race that has never evolved beyond a few solved equations. We are overrun by demonic males who display the exact violent behaviors (raiding “enemy” camps, squabbling, murder) of their evolutionary chimpanzee predecessors. I don’t think it’s coincidence that most vegans are women. There are women who go along with demonic males, rewarding them for their violence, and on the other hand there are women who refuse to play into the ongoing horror program as status quo, whether we are talking chimps or humans. Enter vegans.
The human race will likely not survive, however, we could make our end far more pleasant and slow-going if we remove power from the violent and the stupid among us. We need to take away their ability to control our society (as they do now) and ostracize them before they actually do manage an apocalypse event.
Lots of work went into your post and it shows…very commendable and informative. Thank you.
You wrote: “We, as a species, need to consider December 21st the end of an era of arrogance, waste and cruelty,…” We need to indeed…however our track record for judicious and wise behavior is rather poor. Here’s hoping.
Happy holidays to you and yours.
Thank you! We know we’ve truly lost everything when we’ve lost hope. Hope is what gets me out of bed.
My friend, Robb Curtis (who should be awarded a medal for his life-long work on behalf of animals), wrote an amazing blog post about hope and the animal rights movement that I think everyone should give a read:
http://vegmonologues.com/2012/02/19/love-hope-joy/
Yes, I came out of the womb wearing my Animal Liberation tee shirt! Kara, I blush. Actually it has been a long process and I feel my actual activism falls far short of your accolade but I savor being held in your high esteem. Thank you for the plug! I am cheered in moments of middle-aged despondency knowing that although I don’t have too many more productive years ahead of me, young, energetic, firebrands like you will keep fighting the good fight long after I am dust!
Oh hush, Robb. You have plenty years ahead of you — you’re VEGAN for crying out loud 😀
We’re going to live forever. So far so good, yes?
Thanks, Kara. That’s just me feeling all too mortal at the moment. I know I’m not going to live forever but the years I have remaining will be enriched by my being Vegan — I can’t imagine any other way of being for the rest of my life!
A well researched and helpful blog post. Though violence, weapons, wars may be even a bigger threat to the ecosphere, our wasteful lifestyle alone will inevitably bring about the end of the world as we know it, if we don’t change.
Like you I am a citizen of the West, privileged and participating in the exploitation of the rest of the world. Like you I try to reduce my carbon footprint, but until now I’m nowhere near the level of for example a nomadic herder in Niger or Ethiopia. Alone the production of the new (and nearly unused) car in my garage has probably consumed more resources than this herder will use in one year, or in 10 years, or maybe even in his or her lifetime.
So I muddle along, making compromises all the time, trying to avoid further damage, trying to develop my version of a modest, sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle, trying to find likeminded people with whom I can exchange my experiences.
An editorial correction: withstanded = withstood
Ahahaha thank you for the correction. I’m usually the one pointing out other people’s grammatical and spelling errors, so it’s refreshing to finally be on the receiving end. I showed it to my fiancé and he said, “You see? It’s supposed to be withstood, dummy”. LOL.
It’s very true, a nomadic Nigerian or Ethiopian herder does far less damage to the environment than the average person living in the developed world. They don’t live in nice houses with air conditioning and heating systems, have appliances like refrigerators and dishwashers, drive a new car every five years, eat meat (sometimes multiple types of meat) at nearly every meal, or participate in holiday gift-shopping for items that will end up in a landfill in the near future. Our way of life is simply not sustainable.
While I rarely use my heating and air conditioning, plan on keeping my hybrid car until it breaks down and can’t be repaired, shop at my local weekly farmer’s market for organic produce, cultivate my backyard garden to eventually become at least mostly self-sufficient, and rarely go shopping for things I don’t actually need, there is still more work to be done.
Even running through the carbon footprint calculator a second time to see what my carbon footprint would look like if I did the least amount of damage a person in the developed world like myself (living in a single family detached home) could do, I would still be far from where I really should be. If I drove my hybrid 5,000 miles per year I could get it down to 7.8, but if I didn’t drive a car I could get it down to a 5.9. The main reason my current footprint is so high is because of my long commute to and from work. I plan on retiring from that job by 30, so my footprint should drop considerably after that.
I would like to see a shift from current sources of energy to more sustainable ones. Just living in a house requires a lot of resources. Over time, I believe technology and legislation will change that, but until then, like you, I still try to do my best.
Abstaining from animal products is one of the easiest things a person like us in the developing world can do. The adjustment isn’t easy for everyone, but the benefits far outweigh any present inconvenience. Making different food and clothing choices is much easier than quitting your job and living in a tent.
It is astonishing how similar the stories are, despite the fact that we live on different continents (I’m in Europe). I was a music teacher, a job that I loved and considered as meaningful and fulfilling, but I had to commute which I hated. Fortunately I’m retired now, so only the big house increases my carbon footprint. No AC here, the house has a modern central heating which is used as backup because I mostly heat with a wood stove. Like you I spend my days as a subsistence gardener.
Being a cog in a small wheel of the big machine that destroys the natural world is not an appealing option but many people have no choice because dropping out would mean hardship and pain.
If you have some wiggle room in your job you maybe can bring about little improvements there. Or you act as a mole, sabotaging, obstructing, disrupting, subverting. Gathering intelligence for the time when the global revolutionary uprising will sweep away the moneyed elites.
Just kidding!
Prop 37. Why did your Californians vote against GMO labeling?
You know, I am still so pissed about that. Everyone I talked to that voted against it said it was because they didn’t want food prices to go up. Companies like Monsanto, Silk (Dean Foods), Naked Juice and many others that use GMO’s put millions of dollars into advertising campaigns to brainwash people into thinking it was a silly, frivolous, and ultimately expensive proposition to enforce. Even on the booklet they give voters that gives brief synopses of what propositions are about said something to the effect of “Labels foods that contain GMO ingredients. Will cause a rise in food prices.” That last bit was really all anyone who voted against it paid attention to. They clearly didn’t pay any thought to the price of what eating such foods does to one’s body.
Oh well. I suppose it’s still fairly easy for us vegans to steer clear of GMO foods. We just have to look for fruits and vegetables labeled with a “9” in the plu code, shop the perimeter of the store, or better yet, grow our own produce (if we can). The labels would have mainly been for the processed foods, which if someone really cares about health and GMO’s, I suppose they shouldn’t be eating those foods anyway. All the same, we deserve the right to know what is in the food we’re eating. The sad thing is that so many just don’t care. They care about money and convenience. This is why there are still so few vegans.
The older I get, the more I realize, it’s money that wins elections and votes. Democracy is dead, because those with power can make people believe and vote however they want them to. So many people are zombies, just following the herd.
“Brains…..”
“Meat……”
Thank you for providing this well researched piece that *should* convince everyone who is able to eschew their meat, eggs and dairy – If not for the animals, if not for their own health – Then certainly for the survival of the planet. It’s the easiest thing to be done – Why would we risk having the next generation look back at us and ask “why didn’t you do something?”. They will you know – They will look back with a critical eye at our arrogance, gluttony and stupidity – Trading a cheap burger for the planet. Sad.
You said it perfectly: “Trading a cheap burger for the planet”. Wow. Arrogance, gluttony and stupidity indeed.
I must echo what others have said — this is, indeed, a well researched post. I expect nothing less from Ms. Vegan Rabbit! Such an important point to make: “the planet isn’t going anywhere — we are” But, being the eternal optimist (with bouts of pessimism and doubt) that I am, I do believe that we humans are evolving. As you know, I do not side with those who hate humans (and thus, hate themselves). There are indeed stupid, greedy exploitative, demonic people (men –and women, Kimberly Steele) who are busy fucking things up for all Earthlings, but there are MANY of us who believe we should be caretakers rather than rulers; who have chosen to live as compassionately, and as consciously as we can and to leave the smallest carbon footprint — and we know that being Vegan and advocating Veganism is one very dynamic way of doing that.
I agree with everything you write here, Robb. (We’ve already discussed this before.) I don’t believe that everyone is to blame, but there are definitely those stupid, arrogant people out there who really don’t care about anything or anyone. If I didn’t think there was a way to get through to at least a few people I wouldn’t even bother writing this blog and I’m sure you wouldn’t bother writing yours as well.
I love humans. We have an incredible capacity for hatred, greed and cruelty, but we also have an incredible capacity for love, benevolence and compassion. It is up to each individual person to decide how they want to live their lives and how they choose to treat others around them. Ultimately it is their decision whether they want to be a good person or a bad person — a part of the solution, or a part of the problem.
Reblogged this on radicalleftism.
Thank you!