Amazon is Burning and This is How YOU Can Help
Amazon is the largest and most biodiverse rainforest on earth and number one ally against climate change. At the end of the day, it's responsible for over 20% of all oxygen supply as well as plays a key role in reducing pollutant levels. Instead, since 1970, 91% of the lungs of our planet have been replaced with cattle and cropland (to feed the cattle). If that wasn't enough to aggravate the climate change crisis, the rainforest has been on fire at record rates for the past 3 weeks. Total of 73.000 fires were recorded since the beginning of this year. This is a 83% increase compared with the same time last year. The fires are so serious that they are visible from 400 miles up in space.
People feel helpless or rely on government to take care of things... But the reality is that destruction of the lungs of Earth has been going on since the 70s and not much has been done to stop it. People need to realise that it's up to us, the people, to take action. Starting with ourselves and everyday habits as well as becoming conscious consumers, because at the end of the day it's our money that we vote with decide on what future we will have. Here is what you can do to make a big impact:
Reducing animal products consumption
This is a BIG one. As the Rainforest Foundation puts it, “Today as more meat and meat products are imported from Latin America it’s especially important to reduce meat consumption.” Cattle ranching is the world's largest single driver of deforestation. More and more land is being cleared to make space for cattle farming as well as their feed. Animal agriculture requires massive amounts of not only land but also feed, energy, and water. On average 12kg of feed (including soy) are needed to produce 1kg of beef. How insane are these facts?! Animal agriculture is also associated with an enormous amount of methane production. Methane is 25-100 times more destructive than CO2! Since the demand for animal products is constantly growing, we are unable to maintain this rate of consumption. Researchers at the University of Oxford found cutting meat and dairy from your diet can reduce your environmental impact from food by 73%. Another study published in the Science journal, which is one of the most comprehensive study that included data from almost 40,000 farms in 119 countries, concluded that meat and dairy industries are responsible for 60 percent of agriculture's greenhouse gas emissions. It also claimed they provide 18 percent of calories and 37 percent of the world's protein levels. I don't know how about you but this makes me so angry...
Since a lot of things are out of our control, deciding on what to eat is the single most effective way to prevent the destruction of the rainforest. Because at the end of the day, what we choose to eat has a much bigger impact than we ever thought in the past.
Want to learn more? You can now watch Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret on Netflix. This is one of the best documentaries I ever watched. It talks about the topic and explains it in great detail. Please share this article to raise awareness. There is more that we can do, as individuals, than we ever thought before.
