Austinites, get ready for Earth Day

Austin is known for being a laid-back, earthly kind of place; so naturally with the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day coming up on April 22, Austin is not only celebrating the day, but the whole week.

Starting April 14, there are events planned in order to honor the earth and have a good time while doing it. Because Austin is the music capitol, it would only be right to kicking off the week with a concert. The concert will feature the Old 97’s and Ben Kweller.

Activities throughout the week will also include a farmer’s market with focus on sustainable food, a guided hike along Barton Creek, screening of the academy award winning film, The Garden, Earth Day festival, and Barton Springs cleaning.

The Earth Day festival which will be held April 21 and will feature local green artists, live music and entertainment, vendors and their earth-friendly, sustainable wares, a showing of an episode from the series- Plant Earth, as well as fun and educational activities for kids.

“Give 5% back to Mother Earth” will occur on Earth Day and is a commitment from certain businesses to contribute 5% of gross sales for the day to support seven non-profit organizations that are committed to protect the environment and preserve the culture of Austin. Some of the businesses include Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, Opals Divine, Shady Grove and Trudy’s. You can find the rest of the list at http://www.austinearthday.com/givefive.html

So, for the most part, by shopping or going out to eat on Earth Day, Austinites can contribute to supporting and helping the Austin community and environment. Not a bad deal!

If some want to contribute their time but not their money, there is always the Barton Springs cleaning. This is where volunteers come out on Earth Day and give back by helping clean up the Barton Springs pool.

Ground Zero for Dolphin Slaughtering

Taiji is a small village in the southern part of Japan that extends into the Pacific Ocean. According to the Academy Award winner documentary, The Cove, at first glance of this town, it seems very dolphin friendly. But Taiji holds a secret that many people are becoming aware of- and they don't like it.

Taiji is ground zero for the hunting and slaughtering of dolphins. Most of these dolphins are killed in order to be processed into meat for human consumption.

THE PROCESS: A small group of people take around 13 boats at sunrise to go search for dolphins. When the dolphins are located, the hunters position their boats in a line and place 15 foot long metal poles into the oceans and bang them with a hammer. This creates an unbearable sound that put the dolphins in a panic and survival mode. This drives them together and into shallower water. The sound enables the hunters to navigate them into a killing cove.

Once they are trapped in the cove, it is an easy task for the hunters to "drive hooks, sharp spears and knives into their bodies," according to savejapandolphins.org. The blood from the dolphins stain the cove water red.

The hunters say that dolphin hunting is something they are proud of, and it's a tradition. According to this website, some people have the misconception that whenever something can be labeled traditional or cultural, it automatically justifies the act. But as a time-honored tradition in the Ethiopian country side, a man rapes the woman he wants to marry as a way to "ruin" her so she will have a hard time marrying anyone else but him. Because this is a tradition, does it make the act justified? Definitely not.

The killing of the dolphins is only one part in a two part story. According to The Cove, hundreds of samples of japan dolphin meat have been tested and have shown to be toxic. So toxic that the markets near Taiji was analyzed to have 5000 times more mercury than the health advisory of .4 ppm.

The oceans around China, Japan and the United States are the most polluted in the world due to industrialization.The EPA requires that if fish has more than 2 ppm, it will not be fit for human consumption. To put this in perspective, bottlenose dolphins off the coast of the United States can have up to 6800 ppm.

So this is a health, ethical, and environmental issue. With people gaining knowledge about this issue, hopefully it will put enough pressure on Japan to end this practice.

Global Warming

Global Warming is a touchy issue for a lot of people. I have discussed this topic with a lot of people, and I have gotten opinions on both extremes. People can get really defensive about this issue because it challenges what people do and the lifestyle they choose. One thing is for sure, global warming is occurring. The earth's temperature has been rising each year, and that's a fact that the majority of the public doesn't challenge anymore. But the major question that everyone is debating over is whether global warming is man-made or not.

Evidence shows that human activities- such as burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas- release greenhouse gases into the air, which supports the argument that global warming is man made. The Earth has a natural supply of greenhouse gases, which keeps the earth warm enough for humans to survive (know as the greenhouse effect), but according to the Environmental Defense Fund, when industry took off in the 1700's and fossil fuels became apart of life, they began to build up in the earth's atmosphere beyond Earth's capacity to remove them, creating a blanket of heat. Other sources such as Greenpeace, the National Wildlife Federation, and Time Magazine have reported that global warming is man made.

On the other hand, evidence has also shown that the Earth has gone through dramatic, and practically unconceivable climate changes throughout it's history. The History Channel's "How the Earth was Made" tells the tale of the Earth's past, present and predicts it's future. According to this documentary, the earth has been similar to the sun's heat, it has gone through an Ice Age, which consisted of the ice retreating and reappearing several times and it has had poisonous gases covering the planet. The climate is in a constant state of change and is not going to stay constant because humans inhabit the earth now. The documentary implies that global warming is inevitable given the past history of the planet, and whether it is accelerated by human's or not, it will happen.

I'm not even close to being a scientist, but I do have an opinion on the issue. I agree with both. I believe the earth is going to go through severe climate changes naturally, which is causing global warming; but I also believe that human activities don't help make anything better- but in fact, accelerate the issue. Now, I believe that we will all be long gone before this has an affect on the human race, but if we know that we produce greenhouse gases that are not good for our climate, environment, and future generations- why wouldn't we want to do something about it? Why would we not care about what happens to the people that will really have to deal with this?

This planet... this amazing thing we live on, is so rare, so unique, and in my opinion... is so taken for granted. Earth will not be around forever, and in fact, it will be around for a very minute period in astronomical terms, yet, we have little respect for how amazing it is and how lucky we are to be here. Why would we not want to help it be around for as long as possible?

Friend or Foe?

Did you know that four multi-national corporations hold more than 80% of the meat market in the United States? I found this out watching the academy award nominee, Food Inc., which is a food documentary that brings incite to what goes on in the factories these corporations own and operate.

Walking into a grocery store, there seems to be all different kinds of variety, but in actuality, these four companies own the majority of what you’re seeing. This wouldn’t necessarily be a horrible thing, if these companies operated humanly- but they don’t.

Most people know that meat is produced in a factory environment, but what a lot of people don’t know is the conditions. People want food, faster, cheaper, and more of it. Because of this, cows are fed corn in these factories because it’s cheap. According to Food Inc, it is so cheap the United States put 1,000,000 Mexican workers in Mexico out of work because people, like I said, like things cheap. Corn might not seem like a bad thing to feed cows, but cows were not made to eat corn- they were made to eat grass. According to Food Inc. feeding them corn is what caused E. coli to show up in cows. Because cows in these factories mostly stand in manure up to their ankles, if one cow gets it, the others do as well.

Chickens that are owned by these multi-national corporations have it just as bad. Chickens are kept in the dark all day, with barely any room to walk around because there are so many of them. Which doesn’t even matter because they feed them so many hormones to –guess what? Grow them, faster, cheaper and bigger- that they can’t walk for than a couple of steps because they can’t keep up with the rapid growth.

Besides being terribly inhuman to the animals slaughtered in these factories, the multi-national corporations have very low accountability according to Food Inc. These corporations found the 1,000,000 Mexican workers out of work as an opportunity to get cheap labor. The corporations advertised in Mexico and hired illegal immigrants to work in the factories. When the government cracked down on illegal immigration, the workers were arrested, while the CEO’s got a slap of the wrist. The workers, who were brought over here by the companies, were arrested for trying to take care of their families.

I’m not trying to convert anyone to vegan, or vegetarian. If people want to eat meat, then they should. There are some good, honest organic farmers that farm and produce meat the way they should. Cows and chickens get to eat grass; they are both raised with respect and value and don’t have any hormones put in them. We get three votes a day, choosing to support a company that does good, even if it costs a little more, is worth it to me. The only reason the multi-national corporations are doing this is because of demand. With the recent green movement, it’s been changing, but it can change even more if people just become aware.

There is something fishy about Trader Joe's

While shopping for seafood in supermarkets, what most customers don’t know is that they might be carting away fish that are on the edge of extinction.

The question is: why do supermarkets sell endangered fish?

Well this is the question that Greenpeace, an activist organization that helps fight sustainability issues, pressure supermarkets to face by releasing a report several times a year showing where supermarkets stand when it comes to selling sustainable seafood.

On this list, one of the lowest ranking supermarkets is the well-known Trader Joe’s, who is known for being “green” and selling low-cost organic food.

According to Greenpeace, they sell 15 out of 22 of the red list fish. Red list means the fish are on the edge of extinction due to mass over-fishing and a slow reproduction rate. These include snapper, redfish, South Atlantic albacore tuna, swordfish, tropical shrimp and yellow fin tuna- to name a few.

Do any of these fish sound familiar? Well, they did to me when I first heard them and I had no idea they were endangered.

Greenpeace created a Web site dedicated to avoidance of this issue by Trader Joe’s, or according to them, Traitor Joe. It brings humor, while ridiculing Trader Joe’s for not “listening “ to consumers, which is something they usually pride themselves on.

Because of feedback by consumers, and pressure from Greenpeace, the company responded to the issue on their website. "We listen to our customers. Hearing recent feedback, our goal is to offer seafood options that fit customer needs ranging from food safety and taste, to concern over the environment... To continue in our efforts to support this goal, we intend to use the Monterey Bay Aquarium's science-based and research-backed Seafood Watch recommendations to help with our seafood purchasing decisions."

This is a good step in the right direction, but it is not action. Greenpeace has proved, by continuing to urge the public to pressure Trader Joe’s on their website (greenpeace.org), that they will not let down until they see action, and not words.

According to the report, Whole Foods ranked number three in overall seafood sustainability. Other supermarkets that beat out Trader Joe’s include Wal-mart, Target and Sam’s.

So, to readers, I would re-think shopping at Traitor Joe – oops, I mean Trader Joe’s- when craving seafood and maybe consider one of the supermarkets that at least have taken some action towards sustainable seafood.

And to all the people fighting this issue and activists at Greenpeace I say…

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.