I think it's pretty clear that the US, the World and the Planet cannot take another 4 years, or more, of Republican rule. I understand the desire to vote outside of the 2-party system, but I am asking everyone to take the time to educate themselves on what a McCain-Palin administration would mean for the animals, and the environment. What will a vote for Nader, or someone else, achieve in real terms? What could it cost us?
Here is a little primer, consisting of excerpted quotes from Sarah Palin, regarding these issues, taken from this site:
Palin On the Environment:
* Opposed protections for salmon from mining contamination. (Aug 2008)
* Sue US government to stop listing polar bear as endangered. (Aug 2008)
* We must encourage timber, mining, drilling, & fishing. (Jan 2008)
* Wolf predator control is important for subsistence hunters. (Sep 2007)
* Feds shouldn't list beluga whales as endangered. (Aug 2007)
* Provide stability in regulations for developers. (Jan 2007)
* Convince the rest of the nation to open ANWR. (Jan 2007)
* Fish platform: "Resource First" philosophy. (Nov 2006)
* Supports "Roads to Resources": subsidized access to mines. (Oct 2006)
* Don't duplicate effort in monitoring cruise ship emissions. (Oct 2006)
Palin on Guns:
* Hunts and fishes, as did her father. (Aug 2008)
* Hunts as much as she can; freezer-full of wild game. (Aug 2008)
Palin On Oil and Energy:
* Produce more of our own oil & gas, for national security. (Sep 2008)
* More pipelines; more nukes; more coal; more alternatives. (Sep 2008)
* Claimed major triumph: $500 million subsidy for gas pipeline. (Aug 2008)
* Global warming affects Alaska, but is not man-made. (Aug 2008)
* Gasline Inducement Act: 1,715-mile natural gas pipeline. (Aug 2008)
* Commercialize Alaska's North Slope natural gas. (Aug 2008)
* Appointed an Alaska oil and gas commissioner. (Aug 2008)
* To win, GOP must push energy independence. (Aug 2008)
* Lift moratorium on offshore drilling. (Jul 2008)
* Convinced McCain to drill offshore; not yet on drilling ANWR. (Jul 2008)
* Unlock ANWR; we're ready, willing and able to contribute. (Jun 2008)
* Bush is right: drill ANWR & develop our own supplies. (Apr 2008)
* Get ANWR open. (Nov 2006)
* Chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. (Nov 2006)
Care about human population control? She's for legislating reproductive choices, opposing anything other than abstinence-only programs and is against abortion rights unless the "life of the woman is in danger".
Her husband is a commericial fisherman, when he's not working in oil field production for BP.
Probably the most horrific things she supports is aerial wolf hunting. You can see a video of what that entails here.
Check out the Palin Family Animal Torture Photo Album at this site, which also offers some more info on her environmental positions.
At this point in the election year, a vote for a 3rd-party candidate is a potential vote against our future. Please consider that when you make your selection this November.
Showing posts with label environmental. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environmental. Show all posts
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Guest Post - To Truly Celebrate Earth Day, Go Vegan!
In recognition of Earth Day, I've invited my good friend and fellow animal advocate, Lisa Q., to guest blog on the topic of environmentalism and veganism. In her frequent outreach, Lisa passionately alerts the public to the reality that unless we all adopt a vegan lifestyle, we truly will never tackle our global climate crisis.
Without further ado, here's Lisa:
When Al Gore made “An Inconvenient Truth” it soon followed that “global warming”, now called “climate change”, was a hot topic and eventually “environment” was no longer a dirty word. I will be eternally grateful for the progress I have seen for the environment, and do credit Al Gore, but I am among those who are very disappointed with some of the weak spots in his message. Like most “environmentalists”, Al Gore is not even vegetarian, so maybe that is why he was unable to bring himself to inform the pubic that animal agriculture is arguably responsible for more environmental devastation than any other industry, and that going vegan will save the earth.
No other industry can claim this much environmental crime: Animal agriculture is responsible for creating far more greenhouse gasses than all forms of mechanized transportation combined; it is responsible for consuming our limited supply of water and 70% of all crops grown; while it is consuming the water it is also the largest source of water pollution; it is the reason that 70% of the deforested Amazon rainforest was clear cut (for grazing land).
I am sure Al Gore knew many of the facts that led the United Nations to publish Livestock's Long Shadow, a 2006 report that details many of the ways animal agriculture is killing our planet through pollution and resource depletion. Keep in mind that as strong as it is, it was still written by people who I highly doubt are vegetarian themselves, so you may notice how hard it is for them to state the obvious, that we must stop eating animals to save the earth.
It is very common to see environmental tips listed in the media now (Again, thank you Mr. Gore). I was pleasantly shocked the first time I saw a “ways to go green” list in the conservative Reader’s Digest. But even in the most progressive publications, the most commonly suggested green tip is to reduce your carbon emissions through reducing your mechanized travel. That is a fine tip, but not if you omit the fact that animal agriculture is responsible for far more greenhouse gasses than all forms of mechanized travel combined. You can drive a Hummer daily and still not do as much damage as you do by not being vegan. Sure, it helps if you can buy a fuel efficient vehicle and avoid travel, but if you really want to cut greenhouse gasses you must go vegan first.
Ironically, some of Mr. Gore’s most boisterous critics complain that his frequent travel by jet is proof of his hypocrisy. At least Mr. Gore buys carbon offsets, and I am not sure that he would be safe on regular planes, but in reality if they really wanted to complain they would point out that he is not vegan.
Greening tips are often expensive, too. They want us to seal our homes, install solar panels, buy hybrid cars or conversion kits, buy offsets, etc. You can go vegan without spending any additional money at all and still do more for the environment than all of those expensive tips combined.
Has someone told you to turn off the water while you brush your teeth? Great idea, but if you are in the US and had half a pound (pre-cooked weight) of hamburger for dinner, you wasted an average of 15 gallons of water and 6 pounds of grain.
I am glad that someone cares about reducing mercury in our water. It is very disturbing that this is allowed to happen in the first place. We need to make sure that the EPA’s clean water funding is not cut. Still, runoff from animal agriculture and chemicals used in tanneries is the largest source of water pollution. The ammonia from animals we raise to eat causes acid rain. Animal agriculture dumps raw sewage into our water! In addition to algae blooms which absorb the oxygen in the water, and the listeria we see in the news, the sewage from animal agriculture contains antibiotics and hormones!
It is much easier now to get affordable recycled copy paper, renewable this, no old- growth that. At an Earth Day celebration I was offered a tree to plant. How is that going to bring back the rainforest?? I’d like to see a constant reminder that 70% of the deforested rain forest was not actually cut down for paper or furniture, but it was clear cut to make room for grazing land! I don’t need to plant a tree, when going vegan saves an entire rain forest.
The crisis we now face is so urgent that we cannot continue to avoid the cold hard fact that if we want to survive we must go vegan.
Without further ado, here's Lisa:
When Al Gore made “An Inconvenient Truth” it soon followed that “global warming”, now called “climate change”, was a hot topic and eventually “environment” was no longer a dirty word. I will be eternally grateful for the progress I have seen for the environment, and do credit Al Gore, but I am among those who are very disappointed with some of the weak spots in his message. Like most “environmentalists”, Al Gore is not even vegetarian, so maybe that is why he was unable to bring himself to inform the pubic that animal agriculture is arguably responsible for more environmental devastation than any other industry, and that going vegan will save the earth.
No other industry can claim this much environmental crime: Animal agriculture is responsible for creating far more greenhouse gasses than all forms of mechanized transportation combined; it is responsible for consuming our limited supply of water and 70% of all crops grown; while it is consuming the water it is also the largest source of water pollution; it is the reason that 70% of the deforested Amazon rainforest was clear cut (for grazing land).
I am sure Al Gore knew many of the facts that led the United Nations to publish Livestock's Long Shadow, a 2006 report that details many of the ways animal agriculture is killing our planet through pollution and resource depletion. Keep in mind that as strong as it is, it was still written by people who I highly doubt are vegetarian themselves, so you may notice how hard it is for them to state the obvious, that we must stop eating animals to save the earth.
It is very common to see environmental tips listed in the media now (Again, thank you Mr. Gore). I was pleasantly shocked the first time I saw a “ways to go green” list in the conservative Reader’s Digest. But even in the most progressive publications, the most commonly suggested green tip is to reduce your carbon emissions through reducing your mechanized travel. That is a fine tip, but not if you omit the fact that animal agriculture is responsible for far more greenhouse gasses than all forms of mechanized travel combined. You can drive a Hummer daily and still not do as much damage as you do by not being vegan. Sure, it helps if you can buy a fuel efficient vehicle and avoid travel, but if you really want to cut greenhouse gasses you must go vegan first.
Ironically, some of Mr. Gore’s most boisterous critics complain that his frequent travel by jet is proof of his hypocrisy. At least Mr. Gore buys carbon offsets, and I am not sure that he would be safe on regular planes, but in reality if they really wanted to complain they would point out that he is not vegan.
Greening tips are often expensive, too. They want us to seal our homes, install solar panels, buy hybrid cars or conversion kits, buy offsets, etc. You can go vegan without spending any additional money at all and still do more for the environment than all of those expensive tips combined.
Has someone told you to turn off the water while you brush your teeth? Great idea, but if you are in the US and had half a pound (pre-cooked weight) of hamburger for dinner, you wasted an average of 15 gallons of water and 6 pounds of grain.
I am glad that someone cares about reducing mercury in our water. It is very disturbing that this is allowed to happen in the first place. We need to make sure that the EPA’s clean water funding is not cut. Still, runoff from animal agriculture and chemicals used in tanneries is the largest source of water pollution. The ammonia from animals we raise to eat causes acid rain. Animal agriculture dumps raw sewage into our water! In addition to algae blooms which absorb the oxygen in the water, and the listeria we see in the news, the sewage from animal agriculture contains antibiotics and hormones!
It is much easier now to get affordable recycled copy paper, renewable this, no old- growth that. At an Earth Day celebration I was offered a tree to plant. How is that going to bring back the rainforest?? I’d like to see a constant reminder that 70% of the deforested rain forest was not actually cut down for paper or furniture, but it was clear cut to make room for grazing land! I don’t need to plant a tree, when going vegan saves an entire rain forest.
The crisis we now face is so urgent that we cannot continue to avoid the cold hard fact that if we want to survive we must go vegan.
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