Environment
Spreading the word
Inspired by this article on Vegan.com, I have been working on becoming more active in supporting animal rights, human rights, veganism and the environment on as many sites as possible. After I read the article, I have also joined new social networks, just so I can spread my opinions wider.
In the past, I have to confess that I haven’t really felt at home on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. For instance, I think this is the third or fourth time I’ve joined MySpace, then deleted my account.
I have my favorite places on the web, where I feel I belong, where I enjoy hanging out, keeping in touch with my friends and so on. To some extent, I think I’ve become better at using my old favorites better, to get the word out.
After reading the article above, and this one, I have realized that I don’t have to “like” Facebook and Twitter or any of the other social networks, but I can still use them to get my message out.
If you are passionate about animals, veganism or any other cause, or for that matter anything else (in my case, for instance writing, books, languages, history) you can start too. You can use social networks to get your message out, whatever it is. That’s what those social networks are good for, in my opinion.
I won’t try to put the arguments in favor of this way of spreading the word, when others have done it so much better. If you’re interested, read the two articles I mention above.
Then, if you want to do what I have, start sharing URL:s to petitions, free donation sites and more. The more you share, the more people can get informed about important issues and causes.
And while you’re advocating your cause, you might find links to other interesting sites, funny images, food porn, quizzes etc. So I guess I don’t have as much against Twitter and so on, as I thought I did. Or maybe they’ve just grown on me.
Boycott Canadian Seafood
“I just signed the 2011 Boycott to Save Seals. As long as Canada’s commercial fishing industry slaughters baby seals, I refuse to buy Canadian seafood. If you care about animals, will you join me?
It is up to all of us to send the Canadian fishing industry a message they cannot ignore: Stop the killing of defenseless seal pups, or we’ll put you out of business. Thanks for helping save seals!”
Please sign to stop seal meat export
Pocket gardens
Creating a greener and more productive city… This seems to be an excellent idea.
Composting for children (or other beginners)
If you want to grow your own vegetables (or whatever you like) composting is an important part of your gardening. Basically, any vegetables or fruit etc that you eat, produce peels and so on, and those are ideal for enriching the soil in your garden.
Cool cartoon
I found this a while back and I thought it was great. Very true.
Surviving the end of civilization
I just read an article about surviving the end of civilization. It seemed to mix serious and joking advice. Personally I found a couple of the points either impossible to follow or simply ridiculous. So I added a few of my own, so my list would contain ten points too. My points are more serious, but I claim no expert knowledge. Take these points as they are, just general advice that should be useful even if society doesn’t come to an end.
1. Collect supplies – food and more
2. Get crafty – no demand for bloggers, fashion gurus or celebrities
3. Build a greenhouse
4. Make a garden and grow vegetables, fruit, cereals and so on.
5. Collect rain water
6. Get solar and wind power
7. Move into the woods (or some other isolated spot) or gather your family, friends and relatives – so you’ll have friendly neighbours
8. Get some environmentally friendly and low energy transportation – like bicycles?
9. Build a wall or grow a thick, thorny hedge
10. Collect valuables for trade – gold and so on.
Light down a wire for solar power
This was quite interesting. Alternative sources of energy are definitely worth checking out.
Got Soy Milk?
I found this great article on Care2 and I thought I’d share it. Read it and learn why it’s a good idea to switch from cow’s milk to a vegan alternative. It mainly goes into the crueltyfree aspects of the switch, but there are plenty of other good reasons too. For one it’s a lot more healthy for you.
Soy milk doesn’t contain any cholesterol, in case you have troubles of that kind. It also lacks lactose (which is great for people like me who are lactose intolerant). You can actually make soy milk yourself and it isn’t hard at all.
There are other alternatives in case you don’t like, or are allergic to, soy milk. Rice milk and oat milk are the kinds I’ve tried, but in some countries you can also get hemp- and almond milk commercially. In fact, milk is just the beginning. You can also get yoghurt, cream, cheese, ice cream and things like tofu, soy protein (many different kinds), wheat protein (gluten or seitan) and much more. Some of those can be made at home with little or no special equipment.
If you haven’t already tried them, I can really recommend the alternatives. (I only wish I could get hemp milk here…).