"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful. At the same
time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel
called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.
It seems as though everywhere I look there are plastic bottles of water in people’s hands or discarded on the sides of the roads. (This is more obvious when the weather is warmer.) I think that the only things that I see more often in people’s hands, no matter how cold it is out there, are the ubiquitous cell phones. (Lately, I’ve been seeing more of those little cell phones that fit on the ear, too.) But, of course, cell phones are not discarded the same way as plastic water bottles.
In his article “Dried Up” (Jan/Feb 2009 issue of VegNews magazine) Mark Hawthorne offers a thorough analysis of the causes behind the world’s water shortage, bottled water being only one part of this dilemma. As Hawthorne says in his article:
“While bottled water and its attendant environmental consequences are major concerns, agriculture, energy, and global warming are even bigger (and more overlooked) kinks in the world’s water supply. Food production not only uses colossal amounts of water, but animal agribusiness pollutes rivers, streams, and other freshwater ecosystems.”
“U.S. consumers discard an estimated 60 million water bottles a day, most of which are not recycled.”
“For the first time in a decade, sales of bottled water slowed in 2008, growing just 6.7 percent, versus 6.9 in 2007….”
It’s obvious that fads are simply mimetic behaviors. Hopefully, more people will begin to realize that they would be better off drinking filtered tap water and going vegan, which would be in the best interest of everyone – humans and nonhumans as well as the environment.
Also visit:
Water Shortages – 7 November 2008:
http://www.all-creatures.org/heart/blog-20081107.html
Water and Drought – 17 October 2007:
http://www.all-creatures.org/heart/blog-20071017.html
Water Scarcity – 18 August 2006:
http://www.all-creatures.org/heart/blog-20060818.html
Vegan recipes, photos, and ingredients:
http://www.all-creatures.org/recipes.html
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Kidney Stones - 26 January 2009
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