How can we fuel sustainability forward?

The governments’ roles as defined by Bell (2002) are to be a vision/goal setter, lead by example, act as a facilitator, be a green fiscal authority, as well as to be an innovator/catalyst. The government took on the responsibility of protecting and restoring the environment when they established the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969 and when they assembled the Environmental Protection Agency in December, 1970. It is clear that the government has had a responsibility to advance sustainability, but whether or not the US government has met that responsibility is the real issue.

The main achievements of the EPA since its inception, according to a letter from President Clinton, have been: regulating auto emissions, banning the use of DDT, cleaning up toxic waste, protecting the ozone layer, increasing recycling, and revitalizing inner-city brownfields (2000). These are significant accomplishments, but I feel that the government could have done much more. I, personally, would have liked to see the list look more like this: reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced usage of landfills by implementing recycling in to all public spaces, and improved sustainable agriculture development policies.

There is so much more that we should be doing and that we can be doing, and the government is the key to making all of this happen at the rate in which we need it to. Businesses can do their part, but just as Ray Anderson explained in his speech, businesses typically do only enough to “comply” with government regulations (2009). Mr. Anderson helps to make it clear that government needs to make regulations more stringent if we are to make a significant change for our planet, for some businesses will choose only do what is necessary to comply.

Former US Energy Department Official, Joseph Romm, explains in his book Hell and High Water that “if we hold off on modest government action today, we will almost guarantee the need for much more extreme action in the post-2025 era” (2006). In reading his book and understanding what the world could look like in 2025 with global warning’s affects (increased natural disasters, rise in sea-level from melting icecaps, etc), it is clear to me that we must do whatever is in our control to prevent the worst.

As most people do not take much initiative themselves to make significant life changes, it is up to the government to “act as a facilitator” and “lead by example”, as their role has been defined (Bell, 2002). If you take the law of littering or speeding, for example, do you think that many people would continue to choose not to litter or not to speed if it was not enforced? Although some may continue not to litter or speed, I feel that many people would start driving 80 on the highway and throwing trash in the park, simply because they would feel it makes their life easier.

I feel that the government needs to take an immediate, active part in sustainability and curbing climate change. Stricter regulations need to be put into place for auto emissions (including fuel-efficiency), energy usage (with implementing more renewable energy sources and making our current energy sources more efficient and clean), recycling, sustainable agriculture policies, food production, chemical usage, and deforestation, just to name a few. It may seem as though by implementing so many more regulations on the way we live will seem too controlling and many are worried that with this much government control that we would become a Police State. I feel that as long as we implement regulations that assist in sustainability and that do not control actions, the feeling of over-control from the government will not be an issue. For example, when implementing regulations with recycling, rather than going to the extreme of fining citizens for not recycling, instead regulations should be put in place that make it mandatory that every business and household has recycling services. Furthermore, I feel that regulations for businesses are much more important than regulations for individuals or households, as the impact would be greater.

In addition to moderate government regulations, I feel that the key to promoting sustainability is with education. I feel that if we reach children while they are still building their views of the world that sustainability practices and reasoning would make a huge impact on them. Children, especially under the age of 10 or so, are very in-tune with their initial feelings on subjects and have an affinity towards the environment, animals, and their surroundings, If we can influence children at this stage in their life, they will be more inclined to try sustainable methods and they will enjoy showing others what they are learning. Children already bring home what they learn and try to influence their parents, so why not send them home with information that can help save our planet? By putting sustainability on the curriculum for children in grade school, at minimum, we can reach a vast amount of the population and this will make a solid building block to facilitate change over the next generation and beyond. As the Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health in 1981 stated, “Children are one third of our population and all of our future.

The question now is: how do we go about educating the educators?

References

Anderson, R. (2009, April 20). Focus Green Series. Retrieved from

Bell, D. V. J. (2002, March 27). The Role of Government in Advancing Corporate Sustainability. Sustainable Enterprise Academy, York University. Retrieved from http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/scholar/2002/bell11062002.pdf

Romm, J. (2007). Hell and High Water: Global Warming – the Solutions and the Politics – and What We Should Do. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

United States Department of Health & Human Services.: Public Health Service. (1981). Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health (DHHS-PHS-79-55071). Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED198956.pdf

United Stated Environmental Protection Agency. (2000). EPA’s 30th Anniversary Celebrated. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/epa/30b.htm

Meatless Monday's - Pledge to not eat meat

Meatless Monday's

Pledge to not eat meat on Monday's.

This is absolutely no expectation to make everyone a vegetarian.  A pledge to not eat meat is more making a stand against the global travesties that the current meat industries place on our planet.  Learning to consume less meat, to not see it as a necessity at every meal is a crucial lesson each American (and human) needs to learn. 

According to the USDA, Americans now consume 222 pounds of meat per person (stats from 2007) compared to 144 pounds per person in 1950, this is nearly double in a little over 50 years!.¹  The amount includes 66lbs of beef per person per year, and 87 lbs of chicken per person per year, with pork, veal, lamb, and turkey not far behind..  As shown below, this means Americans consume over 41 million cows per year and over 13 billion chickens per year.  These numbers are only expected to rise, unless we start to change the way we live and eat. 

 

307 million people * 222 lbs meat = 68,154,000,000 lbs of meat consumed by Americans (68 trillion)

492lbs = Yield of meat on steer²

307 million people * 66 lbs beef¹ = 20,262,000,000 lbs beef (20 billion)

20 billions lbs meat/492 lbs yielded meat = 41,182,926 cows (41.1 million)

2lbs = Yield of meat on chicken³

307 million people * 87 lbs chicken¹ = 26,709,000,000 lbs chicken (26 billion)

26 billion lbs chicken meat/2lbs yielded meat = 13,354,500,000 chickens (13.3 billion)

 

So what?  So humans eat cows and chicken and other livestock and many say this is “natural” and that it is not a big deal.  Once again, I am not trying to turn everyone into vegetarians.  I am only trying to have each person limit the amount of meat consumed based on the glaring environmental impact that meat production has on our earth, based on the quantities of meat that American’s demand.  As shown below, it takes over 20 trillion gallons of water to produce the amount of beef that American’s consume, as well as 114 trillion pounds of corn.

2,500 gallons water = 1lb beef⁴

Americans consume 20 billion lbs beef = 20,655,000,000,000 gallons water (20 trillion gallons)

492lbs (1 steer) * 2,500 = 1,230,000 gallons of water per steer

2,800 lbs corn = 1 steer⁵

Americans consume 41 million cows = 114,800,000,000 lbs corn (114 trillion lbs corn)

2,800 lbs corn / 492lbs (1 steer)  = 5.69 lbs corn per lb of beef

**Conflicting figures were found for the amount of water and grain needed to produce one pound of beef.  According to John Robbins in Food Revolution, 5,214 gallons of water are needed for 1lb of beef and 16lbs of grain.  This is considerably larger than the figures I used for my calculations (see sources).  I chose to go with the smaller figures as it shows that the impact is still huge, so just image if I used John Robbins figures how monumental the results could be.  I will change the figures if and when I find the most credible source.

So if each American chooses to remove meat from their diet just once per week, as the RMOG Pledge proposes, how much impact will this make?  Let’s say that we shed off eating 1oz of meat per week (suggested serving for meat) and multiply that by 52 weeks, leaving each of us with 3.25lbs less of consumed meat per year.  This will reduce the amount of meat consumed by Americans by nearly 1 trillion pounds!!  This may not seem like much, but as shown below, this constitutes a savings of over 2 trillion gallons of water and over 5 billion pounds of corn (assuming, for simplicity, that all of this meat was beef).  So by simply giving up only one ounce of meat per week, look at the impact you, just one person, could have on our planet.  Choose to give up a few more ounces and see how the results will multiply.

1oz meat per week * 52 weeks = 52 oz / 16oz per pound = 3.25lbs meat

307 million people * 222 lbs meat = 68,154,000,000 lbs of meat consumed by Americans (68 trillion)

307 million people * 219 lbs meat = 67,233,000,000 lbs of meat consumed by Americans (67 trillion)

921,000,000 lbs of meat saved per year by eating 3lbs less meat per year

921 millions lbs meat (assuming beef) * 2,500 gallons water per lb = 2,302,500,000,000 gallons water saved (2 trillion)

921 millions lbs meat (assuming beef) * 5.69 lbs corn per 1b meat = 5,240,490,000 lbs corn saved (5 billion)

I won’t get into how that water and grain could be instead used, as it should be fairly obvious to most of you.  However, the most important fact about these savings is the other global crises we are facing, such as water shortages, deforestation (in order to grow grain and raise the livestock), the huge controversy over our seed supplies and GMO’s (aka Monsanto), and the use of antibiotics and the growing resistance of these antibiotics.  Reducing our consumption of meat will also help ease these other crises, or at least help prevent them from getting any larger.

Raising livestock at the rate American’s demand has other monumental environmental impacts, such as deforestation, CO2 byproducts, and CO2 transportation costs.  Once again, the grain required to feed livestock is enormous.  As stated by the Vegetarian Guide, “cattle consume 16 times as much grain as they produce meat, so right there we have 16 times as much energy just to grow these crops, just so we can waste them on livestock.”  The CO2 byproduct from livestock is also a huge concern with the issue of greenhouse gasses in our environment, not to mention the CO2 from transporting the livestock by truck, boat, train, or other means.  Simply put, the energy used to produce meat is colossal. 

Many people do not put the raising of livestock together with deforestation, yet it is a serious issue.  According to GreenPlanetAwards.com, “The United Nations estimates that in the Brazilian Amazon, 70% of the deforestation has been done for cattle grazing”⁷.  The site’s article also explains that Brazil is the leading exporter in beef (more than those countries ranked 2^nd and 3^rd combined) as well as soya, which supplies much of the world with livestock feed.  Explained further, “The rainforests act as the air conditioners to the world, providing much of the world’s fresh water, and regulating the overall temperature. But when they are burned down, they release CO2 into the atmosphere and disrupt the ecosystem of the entire planet.” 

Another important consideration when choosing whether or not to eat meat is regarding the use of antibiotics in our meat.  According to Princeton University, 80% of antibiotics in the U.S. are given to farm animals⁸.  “When bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, the bacteria resistant to these drugs live to reproduce”, as www.keepantibioticsworking.org explains and this is creating stronger and stronger strains of bacteria that are becoming more difficult to control and treat.  When you consume meat, you are subsequently ingesting a large amount of antibiotics as well.  Not only is this facilitating the antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but also consuming large amounts of meat it is making you less resistant to antibiotics for when you might actually need them.

There is much upheaval about the inhumane treatment of the animals and although this deserves attention, I will not be touching on the practice of raising livestock, as this blog is about “going green” and not animal rights.  I will leave you with a thought to ponder on however, as many experts have referenced the raising of animals to be similar to “Concentration Camps”.

Reducing your consumption of meat can help the world in so many ways.  It will help will preserve our most precious resource – water, will ease the demand for land for raising livestock and their grain, curbing deforestation, help keep our antibiotics working (and keep you from getting sick so often), and helping to bring back harmony to our ecosystem.

I hope you will join The Real Meaning of GREEN in making a pledge to not consume meat on Monday’s.

Sources:

1: http://www.humanesociety.org/news/resources/research/stats_meat_consumption.html

2: http://ask.metafilter.com/27259/How-much-meat-is-there-on-a-cow

3: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_ounces_of_cooked_chicken_meat_will_one_average_chicken_yield

4: http://www.vegsource.com/articles/pimentel_water.htm

5: http://www.extension.org/faq/4027 

6:http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/environment.html

7: http://www.greenplanetawards.org/deforestation.html

8: http://www.princeton.edu/~greening/downloads/antibiotic_table_tent1.pdf

9: http://www.keepantibioticsworking.com/new/resources_library.cfm?refID=69872

Going GREEN - Where To Start

-Recycle
-Reuse (Freecycle)
-Eat real food
-Eat local foods
-Eat organic foods
-Eat less (or no) meat
-Grow your own food
-Stop junk mail
-Use only reusable bags
-Don't buy bottled beverages - use a reusable container
-Use energy saving techniques in your home (turn lights/water off when not in use, reduce the escape of heat or AC, run only full loads of dishes/laundry)
-Use energy saving techniques when commuting
-Live by example
-Get a green job
-Help your workplace adopt green techniques
-Vote wisely & research your vote
-Research & know the facts!
**Demand and they WILL SUPPLY!!