Move over Easter, There's another Spring Holiday worth Celebrating...

 I’m sure many aren’t aware nor really care that this Saturday marks 2017’s Earth Day. Many will pass it off as some hippie tree hugging holiday. But here’s a little thing that you should consider…actually it’s much bigger than you or I…It’s the thing that gives us life each and every day. It gives us food, it gives us oxygen, and it gave you and your family a home. It’s OUR PLANET EARTH. It’s amazing honestly that no matter how you say it, people just do not give a single a fuck about the planet. Or they like to blabber “I..I do to like the Earth! But there’s nothing I can do!” Listen I am not anyone special. I am not here to preach to you, and make you feel like a shitty human or to tell you what you can and cannot eat. But guess what? We are destroying our planet, we are literally wiping out entire species.

               I’ve always loved animals and considered myself somehow different from others in terms of being a caring person when it came to nature. But when visiting Walt Disney World (of all places) a few weeks ago, I had kind of a sad epiphany. My girlfriend and I were on their safari in the Animal Kingdom park, which is where you travel in a bus like vehicle with other passengers and get to drive through an animal reserve full of wild animals. While a tour guide gives you information on them. But as we are traveling the word “extinct” keeps popping up. Either to say the animal is on the endangered species list, or that they are extinct in the wild and are only alive in reserves like that one. It would seem that tons of these animals you think are perfectly fine because they’re not from around you, are not fine at all. We love movies like the “Lion King”, or to name a new one “Zootopia” but the actual animals who bring these characters to life most people do not think twice about. I have been one of these people, I always have had the mindset well what can I do? I am a single ant out of a planet made up of 7.125 billion people. But it starts with growing numbers.

             

  When I got back, I wanted to look into animal charities to ease my conscious and I found some great ones. This is an example of something YOU can do to help. If you don’t want to make a single life changing decision then you could at least donate to some of these. I’m sure your next thought is “Well yeah, but how do we know they even use our money for anything other than a payday?” And that was my first thought too! So, there’s a website called https://www.charitynavigator.org/ that gives you all of the stats you need to know about these places, and any other charity for that matter. From CEO’s earnings to their reliability. A charity I fell in love with is called the “Animal Welfare Institute” which can be found here at https://awionline.org/. They have a 100 score on their accountability and transparency rating on Charity Navigator. So, I know my money I will/have been sending is going to be put to the best use. If you check out their site you can see their list of accomplishments. To find this place I used a site called http://www.viralnova.com/best-animal-charities/ that had the top ten animal charities to donate to that will put your money to use. Of course, there’s tons, including the most popular one, The World Wildlife Fund(WWF), which I also have a great deal of respect for. (https://www.worldwildlife.org/)

               There are plenty of great organizations like these who are out there fighting the good fight not only for animals, but for you. Yes, for you too. People often forget that even though we aren’t nearly extinct, the chemicals and nasty hormones they put in factory farmed animals, is the same shit we are eating. The same shit you feed your children. I’m not telling you to stop eating meat, that isn’t my place to say. I personally am struggling very hard with changing my diet, because if you know me, I have about the worst diet one can have. I am not going vegan or vegetarian, at least not right now. But I am changing things up big time. Starting with eating local meats and crops the best I can. Even the vegetables and fruits at a big chain store are loaded with pesticides and other disgusting crap. I even researched how the USDA are apparently lying assholes and 50% of the food you get from a store that has that organic seal “USDA Approved” sign sometimes doesn’t mean squat. Which really sucks and is infuriating, because unless you can grow and raise your own food, it’s like what am I supposed to eat!? But we can’t let it drive us to the point of not enjoying life, I am not telling you to not enjoy the time you have here. Go ahead and eat some junk food, and have fun sometimes. But throw in some love for the world around you. Get educated on what you can do to help, Which I’m in the process of doing. I am cutting back on my meat consumptions for starters, it seems minuscule but imagine 7.125 billion people eating less meat. How much that would save. Recycle, try conserving water, stop supporting the worst of the worst industries. These are all small tasks we can all try to strive for. I know money is an issue when it comes to eating healthy, but think about why that is for a second, buying beef from Walmart’s shelves compared to buying local meat is a huge difference. But why would that be? Could it be because Walmart’s meat isn’t all that reliable? Stop putting so much faith in our government, they DO NOT have your health in their best interests. Nor do they give a single fuck about any animals. It’s all about money, most people’s lives are. Poachers are some of the filthiest scum on our planet, and you should never buy an animal product that could potentially benefit them. Of course, there is some things that are damaging to the environment like driving our cars, that there is only so much we can do about. Hopefully they will come out with more environmentally friendly cars in the future.

               On a side note but which relates to all of this, is we really need to stop looking at vegans like they are aliens. I know before I always thought of a vegan as some sandal wearing, make their own soap, doesn’t bathe properly kind of person, who takes everything to the extreme. Well it isn’t true, at least not for the majority. For some reason in our society, engrained in our minds, is that to be very caring of nature, to want to save our Earth and it’s non-human inhabitants, is to be labeled as some sort of freak. For some reason caring is looked at like it's the worst thing you could be doing, people roll their eyes and just hate hearing about any of it. I am guilty of this too, my own sister is vegan, and not that I ever said she was a freak, but I have always thought what she does is weird, and have made jokes to her about being vegan. I think every vegan has dealt with this, then I came across this article https://redwinevines.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/why-the-fuck-am-i-vegan/. This person may be extreme in some of their points, but the part about going to a family dinner and listing what people say to them hit me. It made me feel like a giant prick, because I have definitely said a few of these things to my own sister I’m sure.  I have always been one to accept people for whatever they want to be. I make a point of it. I have felt ostracized for many different reasons at any sort of gatherings throughout my life, and then I saw I was a part of the others in this situation. Well not anymore, this works for both sides I know, you don’t want to feel like the scum of the Earth every time you eat. But we can all be civil and eat peacefully together.

                There is something that just really infuriates people sometimes, when you bring this stuff up. From saving the environment, to making healthier food choices, to vegans. I think the biggest is fear. I think people are afraid of everything I’ve said because it is easier to not deal with any of it. I know personally researching different things, I feel like shit, it makes me sad, depressed, and I feel helpless like all I can do is watch it happen. In the end if more people do not rally together, I may just be watching it happen no matter what. But I will do my best to make contributions to our precious Earth. In the words of the late-great Michael Jackson “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make the change”. If that’s isn’t enough, then look into your children’s eyes, your grandchildren’s. Think about their life in twenty, thirty, sixty years from now. Will it be a world filled with amazing animals who make our world go around, with amazing sites, and sounds. Or will it be filled with little fresh air, no rainforests left and no animals left. I choose the first option, I don’t about you. Just to give you a little idea about how many animals you already know and love that are critically endangered here is a short list; Amur Leopard, Black Rhino, Bornean Orangutan, Cross River Gorilla, Eastern Lowland Gorilla, Hawksbill Turtle, Javan Rhino, Malayan Tiger, Mountain Gorilla, Orangutan, Saola, South China Tiger, Sumatran Elephant, Sumatran Orangutan, Sumatran Rhino, Sumatran Tiger, Vaquita, Western Lowland Gorilla, Yangtze Finless Porpoise...oh it wasn’t that short was it. I wish it was too. These are all the critically endangered animals on the World Wildlife Fund’s page, not including the regular endangered species. So, for this year’s Earth Day, are you going to sit there and breathe sighs of exasperation, and roll your eyes to my entire post here, because I’m just being some tree hugging hippie and what I am saying upsets your entire day.

  Or are you going to do some good, show some love for your planet, and try to better the human race. I think we are going to go and see Disney Nature’s newest film in theaters called “Born in China” about animals living in the wilderness of China. Also, Disney will make a donation if you see it this weekend to the WWF, to benefit Pandas and Snow Leopards. Disney is a great company, in they actually do care about the environment, and spreading awareness, that’s basically what Animal Kingdom is all about. Makes me love Disney more than I already did! I think we are going to see what plants we can plant to put on our deck as well (Unfortunately apartment living for us right now☹) . Can’t think of anything you can do? Here is a site that has 25 ideas, some are as simple as changing some light bulbs!

http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/different-ways-to-celebrate-earth-day.php.

We are all human, we make mistakes, we are hypocritical, and we aren't perfect. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't show the planet a little humanity and try a little harder.

 But enough rambling get off your phone, your computer, or whatever and go take a look at the world….Oh.. and have a Happy Earth Day!