ONE SOLUTION TO END THE HEALTH EPIDEMIC AND SEVERAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS - brought to you by an Au
- Minny Jackson
- May 30, 2018
- 5 min read
Welcome to this blog spot.
My name is Minny Jackson and I have set up this environmental page called Green Eye to raise awareness of the benefits of a plant based lifestyle, which I believe is a necessary step the globe needs to take if we wish to thrive on this planet. Check out some of the research I have done these passed couple of weeks, which shows us that we need to reevaluate our diet. What I have found indicates that we need major agricultural reform to save water and resources. In this post I also talk about globalisation, and how that affects how we approach resource conservation on a large scale. It's time we think about resources as a shared global concept. We need global cohesion. I hope you find the rest of this post informative.
Agriculture in Australia uses up more water than household utility use.
In the picture below you will see some facts from the Australian Bureau of statistics, indicating that the largest water consuming states are NSW and Qld. These are also the states where the majority of our cattle is farmed. Logic says these industries are using up the majority of our water (and they'll need freshwater too).
See the full stats here:
In order to save water we therefore need to re-evaluate our diet, and this should be our number one priority in the world right now. Every other governmental issue is not as important to be honest, if we run out of food. So we need to do something fast and we need to change our behaviour in regards to the industry that is causing most of the world's environmental/health problems.
Household utility use in Perth uses up 71% of water, which is more than the 19% water use of business/industries. So by all means save water at home, to save water in a local sense. But really due to globalisation, the nature of import/export we need to think outside of Perth and even Australia. Because of the nature of globalisation, we cannot just teach children to take short showers - sure that'll save water if you live in Perth, but what's the point teaching them that when they'll probably move around in their life and live in other places (this is the lifestyle of the future due to globalisation) so we need to THINK AHEAD and keep them water conscious on a global level.
Globally speaking, only 4% of water is used at home. So the other 96% must be used by industries. In order to shift the focus of these industries, and make them more water conscious, we need to shift our consumer behaviour. We need to be aware of what foods have high water footprints. Meat has one of the largest water footprints.
3 FACTS WE NEED TO SHARE WITH THE WORLD
1/3 of the world's caught fish is used as cattle feed.
200g of beef is equivalent to 47 eight minute showers
Meat consumption is linked to health problems (cancer, diabetes, heart attack for starters)
Our oceans are being depleted so that we can raise cattle! We are feeding cattle crops and fresh drinking water, so water is being wasted there too. So our meat consumption is just a compounded environmental problem. Let's cut this problem at the root and stop consuming these products.
If you are living in NSW and Qld and haven't heard this information before then something is very wrong with the way things are run in Australia. This only highlights the fact that the government doesn't really want you to stop buying meat. Why? Because meat is a 15 billion dollar export industry. But what they don't realise is that if they teach the plant-based lifestyle in school, and share its benefits with the community, less money will be needed to fund healthcare (an industry with a lot more money behind it).
SO IF WE GO PLANT-BASED...
1. We will experience less health issues
2. Conserve our ocean life
3. Conserve water
4. Emit less pollution
5. Save money (meat is expensive compared to plant based whole-food - if this wasn't the case third world countries wouldn't be eating plant-based diets)
6. Stop the unnecessary cruel treatment of animals (they are stuffed full of hormones, forcefully impregnated, shut into little cages/pens, fed terrible diets, debeaked, mishandled etc
Please keep in mind that going plant-based will require you to take responsibility over the nutrition you need because there isn't much institutional research behind veganism at the moment because it is 'esoteric'. We need to go mainstream with this lifestyle so that it can be researched properly. But if this diet wasn't adequate than long-term vegans would be dead, and the plant-based vegans, from sheer observation, don't have many health problems compared to non-vegans. So I think we are okay in terms of getting adequate nutrition.
Now that we've established why this diet is necessary to employ, let's have a look at some issues that may arise as people transition to this lifestyle over time...
Nutrients you need to be conscious of on the plant-based diet include taurine, DHA and B12, omega 3 for starters - so make sure you are getting those nutrients. Transitioning the planet to the plant-based lifestyle is going to take time and we need to address the fact that the above nutrients are found in animal products. B12 can takes years to deplete (it is a bacteria grown in your body so you don't even need to take regular supplements for this really, just on the odd occasion. So research a way to get these nutrients especially. Iron, calcium etc are actually plentiful in fruit (especially dried fruit), veggies, nuts, seeds, herbs. And you will retain these nutrients better when the body rids itself of mucoid plaque in the GI tract. Also by upping the raw fruit/veg you will increase your potassium level and be able to uptake other nutrients. If you are eating meat, taking iron pills, but are still low in iron, think about that for a minute - obviously you are giving your body enough iron - that's not the problem - the problem is whether you're absorbing it. Some foods are better absorbed than others. So research how you can better absorb food.
Also manure is a great fertiliser for plants, so we're going to need to find substitutes for that - we've got to tackle this problem one step at a time. The first step is raising awareness of the NEED for major agricultural/dietary reform. I wouldn't be plugging all this unless I thought it was actually necessary for the survival of our species.
Thank you for reading this post. Stay tuned for more articles by liking the Green Eye Page: Link here: https://www.facebook.com/GreenEyeCollective/
LINKS THAT MAY HELP YOU UNDERSTAND WHERE I AM COMING FROM:
WATER USAGE STATISTICS IN AUSTRALIA
INDUSTRY HOUSEHOLD WATER USE
MEAT, PLANT-BASED DIET AND HEALTH
A RESOURCE TO SHARE WITH YOUR CHILDREN - OUR GREEN EYE SCHEMATIC
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