Today I completed the 30-day meat free challenge. The days went by naturally. I didn’t feel like eating any meat. I didn’t even feel tempted to “just have a taste.” I ate lunch out several times and had dinner at some friend’s place. At those times, there was meat on the menu but I didn’t give in.

Now, at last, I can say that meat is no longer part of my diet. The reasons have been explained here and here. Now I believe that I’m ready to quit this habit once and for all. Not just for 30 days, but indefinitely. This is my goal.
I’m not advocating vegetarianism, as I explained in the above-mentioned posts. The industrial production of meat is one of the major sources of environmental pollution. It takes up gigantic areas, consumes huge volumes of natural and energetic resources, generates billions of tons of solid, liquid and gaseous toxic waste, contaminating soil, water, air, plants, animals and people.

It’s also worth remembering that lands are deforested and turned into pasture for cattle, which has a major factor in the shrinking of the Amazon Forest.

For environmental reasons, for animal love, for health reasons, and for life I will continue doing my part. I feel great, believe me. Some people opt for reducing their meat consumption. I’d rather eliminate meat from my diet to contribute to slow down the increase in global warming and help to preserve biodiversity and the well-being of animals. And, as a reward, get a healthier life.

It was impossible for me to literally plant a tree on Earth day. I had intended to do it to participate in the “Plant a Forest” campaign, organized by Georgia, from the Saia Justa blog, and Beth, from the Mãe Gaia blog. The idea was to have each person planting a tree until April 22–Discovery Day in Brazil–and publicizing the initiative.

Nonetheless, on Earth Day, I planted a tree virtually via the Clickarvore website, a program that seeks to reforest the Atlantic Forest with native species through the internet. For each click, a new tree is planted. I intend to plant a tree per day, for the entire year. Slowly, I’m planting my forest and reducing my environmental footprint.

In a little while, David de Rothschild, one of the world’s most desirable eco-warriors, will set sail across the Pacific Ocean on a plastic catamaran, called the Plastiki. He will be headed towards the Pacific’s largest waste dump–an area of the ocean, several thousands of kilometers wide, where the waste has literally “docked”.
He is doing this, along with a crew of six, to alert the world to this “natural” phenomenon that has been killing seabirds and fish in that area.

De Rothschild will be taking samples, photos and videos of the area to highlight the ocean’s plastic pollution issue. This landfill was created by sea currents, which take waste from California and Asia and keep them trapped in a vortex. Fish and seabirds mistake the plastic for food and choke. The albatross population has disappeared, with their stomachs full of all types of plastic waste―from toothbrushes to bottle caps, needles and syringes.
The boat, called the Plastiki―after Kon Tiki―is being built at Pier 31, in San Francisco. It will have a hull made of wooden frames and filled with 12,000 recycled plastic bottles. The cabin and sails will be made out of recycled PET. Two wind turbines and a number of solar panels will charge the 12-volt batteries that will power the onboard laptop computers, GPS and satellite phone. To build this 20-meter boat, millions of dollars have been spent. The vessel has been under construction for three years.
Although the departure has been delayed (it was supposed to coincide with Thor Heyerdahl’s), this voyage is still quite dangerous. There will be no accompanying boats–just a support team at each port of call. They will be travelling 10,500 miles from San Francisco to Hawaii, Bikini Atoll, and landing at Sydney. How will it go? As David says: “These are just unknowns. This is an adventure. If it was planned and everyone knew, no one would be interested.”

Someone needs to hurry up and introduce this cutie to our dear Amyr Klink.

De Rothschild is an interesting activist. He is rich, gorgeous and single, and uses his inherited wealth to promote environmental causes. He owns an organic farm in New Zealand and founded Adventure Ecology to encourage children’s interest in the topic.

On National Geographic’s page (in which he participates), De Rothschild says: “There is a risk in everything. But really, how hard can it be?” It can be hard, no doubt. De Rothschild is many things–heir to one of the world’s greatest fortunes, intrepid polar explorer, children’s book author, celebrity. But sailing isn’t one of his skills, a point he freely admits: “I get seasick in the bathtub.”

There are videos on YouTube and CNET, which has interviewed him. I’ve posted some on DotSub and I’m trying to get it subtitled but since today is Earth Day I’ll leave them as a complement for those who understand English.
Via  National Geographic Adventure, TreeHugger, CNET
Images: David de Rothschild, on David Sifry’s Flickr, in CC; Plastiki, publicity; Pacific landfill, on TreeHugger, via nakedmaninthetree.wordpress.com

Aha! Scientists, usually international, are constantly claiming that tropical forests and oceans are the main means to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the contributors to global warming.

But… researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States, and McGill University, Canada, found that temperate forests—such as those filled with pine trees, in North America—can store much more carbon then they used to think.

The researchers did a study comparing how much carbon was held by the forests of the state of Wisconsin. Despite the activities of the logging industry, they still hold approximately 2/3 of the carbon that used to circulate before the European settlement!

The researchers believe that those trees have the potential to store at least twice as much as they used to think. The research considered the carbon accumulated in tree trunks and crowns, without counting what was stored in roots and in the soil. The study has been published by PNA, an American scientific magazine.

In Europe and North America, tropical forests were exploited by the European and now they’ve been replaced by agriculture. Maybe this research will encourage reforestation practices and perhaps, make Americans and Europeans admit that they have played a direct role in the destruction of the environment, who knows?

“We often forget the invisible services, like climate regulation, that ecosystems provide to us for free, says Jeanine Rhemtulla, one of the researchers. “But this will need to change. We need to find ways to meet our immediate needs without compromising critical services over the long term,” she added. To learn more, click here and read the webpage of the American university. In English.

Note: The Diário de Pernambuco newspaper published an interesting piece about a Nasa research. The space agency simulated how Earth would be like without the ozone layer and found that our skin would be burnt within less than half an hour! Read here. And, oh… On the 16th of April Xis-Xis will be moving to Scienceblogs Brasil! Just wait.

Here are some precious tips to keep your kitchen, the heart of your home, ecologic and sustainable.

Step 1: Reduce your water consumption
Use flow reducers in your faucets to cut down your water consumption.

Step 2: dishwashers can save water
If you fully load your dishwasher (the same applies to washing machines) and select the appropriate washing and drying cycle, you can actually save water. Tests conducted in the United States show that rinsing plates before putting them in the dishwasher wastes up to 75 liters of water. And we all know that we can reuse the water used by the machine to wash our kitchen and/or courtyard…

Step 3: biodegradable soap, please.
Make an effort to use biodegradable soap everywhere: in the dishwasher (as far as I know, we don’t have any biodegradable dishwashing soap in Brazil), washing machine, and the rest of the house. Unfortunately, there isn’t any study— let alone any unbiased evidence—that shows us which soap is really biodegradable. However, we do have a recipe for a home-made ecologic soap…

Step 4: Use organic waste to make organic compounds
You can get free fertilizers out of food-wastes. I’ve already showed the solution here: Terra Boa composter. You can also have your own home-made composter—no matter if you live in an apartment or a house.

Step 5: Reduce the amount of packaging
At the grocery store, avoid buying those (organic) lettuce heads that come in a polystyrene tray and wrapped in a plastic film. Stay away from things that use too much packaging. Buy larger beverage and yogurt bottles or cartons (which, by the way, are easier to recycle). At home, forget plastic films and aluminum foil; use bowls with lids instead (read the next step, please).

Step 6: Trade plastic for glass
Instead of using plastic products to preserve your leftovers (Ziploc bags or plastic containers) use the newest glass or stainless steel sets (with lids). Ok, many types of plastic can be recycled but they all come from oil, remember?

Step 7: heat just the amount you need
This is a sensational tip. If you are going to heat a small portion of food or some leftover, then your microwave oven or toaster will consume less energy than a conventional oven or stove. Personally, I’ve been heating only the exact amount of tea, coffee or water (mate!) that I’m going to drink…

Step 8: energy-efficient appliances
Always choose energy-efficient appliances when buying them.

Step 9: Small potted plants for freshing-up
Potted herbs not only make your kitchen look prettier but also absorb CO2 and release oxygen… Easy and simple.

Step 10: reduce, reduce, reduce
None of this matters if we don’t change our consumption habits and start consuming less. This is fundamental.

Inspired on tips available at the Better Home and Gardens website; tip by LuMonte

Photo: Green Your Home, Kimberly Faye’s Flickr

Sustainability