photo by Gilles Gonthier
In the last few days I’ve begun reading the Pulitzer Prize winning book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
The reason I bring this up is because I feel that if you choose to be vegan for ethical reasons and a genuine concern for animal cruelty, then you cannot turn a blind eye to environmental concerns. I mentioned in an earlier post that I feel veganism and environmentalism often go hand-in-hand. Well there is a good reason for that. Animals die horrible deaths in slaughterhouses every second of every day. It is an unfathomable truth. But what about the silent deaths that occur in nature? What about the animals that are starving to death because their ecosystem is in turmoil? What about the creatures that are unable to reproduce because their mating calls cannot be heard over the highway traffic? Or the animals suffering from the dramatic climate changes related to global warming? Who’s to say those deaths aren’t equally cruel?
Now, I don’t expect you to stop living your life for the sake of nature, but I do expect you to be aware. It was your choice not to be ignorant to the injustices going on in the meat and dairy industries that helped form who you are. Living a vegan lifestyle is your personal protest against animal cruelty. So don’t let it stop with what you put in your mouth or what you wear. Go for a nature walk and consider how sad you would be if that natural environment no longer existed. Keep yourself educated on how you can help the environment. Donate to conservationists. Plant trees. Pick up litter. Turn the lights off when you leave the room. Buy local. Walk or use a bike when you can. Ask yourself what you can do to help save that next species from extinction…
Al Ortiz Says:
http://www.examiner.com/a-1498837~Baltimore_getting_cleaner__greener.html
Editorial
Baltimore getting cleaner, greener
July 22, 2008
BALTIMORE (Map, News) – We can’t help but notice Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon’s promise to make the city cleaner and greener is coming true in Patterson Park. The once drug-infested abyss is becoming, under her watch, a beautiful asset to the neighborhood and to the city.
Long-overgrown pathways now reveal wide promenades; new and elegant light posts throughout the 155-acre park mean nightfall won’t provide cover for drug dealers and prostitutes; and regular trash pickup means leftovers from picnics won’t attract rats and that piles of bagged dog poop won’t accumulate, along with flies and a pervasive stench.
Dog owners fill the park morning and evening, providing the “eyes” urban thinker Jane Jacobs said were so necessary for thriving city spaces. And police are never far away throughout the day. Regular sports matches fill the fields and tennis players the courts — some of which transform into sites for day-long volleyball matches on the weekends. Weekday concerts draw residents from Butchers Hill and Canton and Highlandtown. Music makes the city seem friendlier, definitely less menacing than depicted in most headlines and on shows like “The Wire.” The quirky pagoda and panoramic views of the city and the Inner Harbor add to its ambiance.
Some might even call the park hip. Not too long ago fliers welcomed participants to a Saturday morning memorial service for a pet owner’s deceased poodle, inviting attendees to bring readings describing beloved pets. This is Baltimore?
We’re not there yet. Unattended young men regularly set off fireworks in broad daylight and harass passers-by on their bikes and with foul language. And some people still think the ground is a garbage can and let dogs run through the children’s play space. Worse, shootings on the perimeter of the park make safety a lasting concern as are the occasional used needles scattered near trees where children and dogs could easily step on them.
Adding markers throughout the park to identify locations would help police respond to 911 and 311 calls. Right now callers must use street intersections to notify police, which doesn’t work when you’re in danger in the middle of the park. And ultimately the park cannot thrive if the city does not. That means adding more residents. As we’ve noted many times — and the mayor’s own Blue Ribbon Committee on Taxes and Fees urges — the best way to do that is to cut property taxes. It worked for San Francisco and Boston. It can work here too. If the city wants this green renaissance in East Baltimore to spread, it must take the whacker to it’s most onerous weed: High taxes.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:44 am
Chung Ridgnal Says:
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December 28th, 2009 at 9:18 am