Written by Michelle Sherrow
Today marks the 42nd anniversary of Earth Day. To celebrate, PETA presents the top 10 surprising ways that helping save the planet saves animals, too:
Most of the puppies that pet stores sell are trucked or flown hundreds of miles from puppy mills, creating a Great Dane–sized carbon pawprint. But animal shelters in every city are full of locally grown companion animals you can tuck into your Smart car before taking the short drive home.
SeaWorld isn't just hard on orcas—it's also hard on the environment. The marine park was in a fine mess after it got hit with a fine for messing up San Diego's Mission Bay after violating effluent limitations numerous times.
g_kovacs|cc by 2.0
Ecosystems are being decimated by biological supply houses that catch huge numbers of frogs to be dissected. If you're a student or parent, urge your local school district to switch to a virtual dissection program instead.
Ringling logs more than 25,000 miles every year dragging animals across the country chained in boxcars and trucks. Don't give the "cruelest show on Earth" your green until it goes green and retires its animals to sanctuaries.
Primates are torn away from their jungle homes and flown to the U.S. from as far away as China, Cambodia, and Indonesia to be used in experiments. Ask the few airlines that still transport primates to laboratories to stop—for animals and the planet.
We know that only mean people wear fur, and only ungreen people wear the toxic soup of chemicals that it takes to keep the fur from rotting off their backs—chemicals such as ammonia, formaldehyde, hydrogen peroxide, and chromates.
There are so many luscious body-care product lines out now that are made without harsh chemicals and without harsh animal tests that it's easier than ever to be a green goddess. Check out PETA's shopping guide for a list of cruelty-free companies.
wwarby|cc by 2.0
Neither are the other chemicals you'll find en masse at leather tanneries, such as formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, and cyanide-based finishes. Wearing dried-up animal skin is all dried up.
Meat production requires so much water that you save more water by not eating one 16-ounce steak than you do by not showering for six months. So by going vegan, you can help save the Earth and keep it a pleasant-smelling place.
Dinner Series|cc by 2.0
Now that you've saved the Earth and animals, relax with a beer. If you recall PETA's notorious "Got Beer?" campaign, you know this beverage choice won't contribute to the massive climate change, exploitation of resources, and water and air pollution that the dairy industry is responsible for.
Spread the green! Share this post on social-networking sites and help other aspiring environmentalists go green for animals' sake.
Written by Jeff Mackey
The Lorax is what? The Lorax is whose?
The Lorax is property of late Dr. Seuss!
Yes, he is the Lorax who speaks for the trees,
Which factory farms will chop down as they please.
Now someone has taken the Lorax away
From the doctor's dear widow, or so people say.
OK, it's a statue—though that hardly counts
Since our planet still suffers in massive amounts.
The Lorax may speak for the truffula trees,
But the Amazon basin plants—who speaks for these?
It's meat and it's dairy—it's honey and eggs,
While the Earth hardly stands on its last pair of legs.
Buckets of chicken are bad like those big SUVs;
No cutlet's as lovely as truffula trees.
No more should the wild plants all be cut down
When tofu's available all over town.
So PETA has offered a bird figurine
To stand in for the Lorax, who's so pure and so "green."
We hope Mrs. Geisel will take in our bust,
Before piglets and chickens all crumble to dust.
For he is the Lorax—he'll yell and he'll shout
'Til all Earth's animals will run out.
You want to be friends with the air, Earth, and water?
Then simply go vegan—with son and with daughter.
P.S. For another take on Dr. Seuss and vegan living, check this out.
Written by PETA
Do you know what you're seeing when you look at seafood? It seems that most of us don't. When Consumer Reports tested 190 different samples of fish from restaurants and stores, they found that more than 20 percent were being marketed as something other than what they actually were. A similar investigation by the Boston Globe found that as much as 48 percent of fish flesh is mislabeled.
The findings will no doubt dismay people who try to buy only species of fish that they think are sustainable. But "sustainable" is simply a marketing buzzword that the seafood industry likes to use. Eating any fish at all contributes to the decimation of the ocean's ecosystem.
© Alaska Fisheries Science Center
The massive nets and long-lines used by factory fishing trawlers are indiscriminate in what types of fish they catch, and fishers simply toss overboard the dead or dying dolphins, sea turtles, and other "bycatch" they don't want. Farmed fish such as salmon and sea bass are often carnivorous, so many pounds of wild fish must be caught to feed those on farms.
Whether the label on the package matches the fish under the cellophane, one thing we can be sure of is that the flesh we are eating came from an intelligent animal with a unique personality who did not want to be gutted alive or suffocated. If we can eat faux fish, such as Vegieworld's codfish, salmon, shrimp, and tuna, that tastes the same, is free of harmful toxins like mercury and PCBs, and doesn't claim any animals' lives, why not?
I'm such a map geek that I study the road atlas for fun. But I was equal parts intrigued and disturbed by the latest map that I laid eyes on: Food & Water Watch's Factory Farm Map. This interactive online map shows which areas of the U.S. have the most animal factories, and it also allows you to filter the results by the types of animals who are raised and killed for their flesh, milk, or eggs.
Wherever they are, factory farms lead to animal suffering, environmental destruction, and a lower quality of life for everyone. We can help keep factory farms out of our communities by showing our friends and families the many benefits of going vegan and why everyone would be vegetarian if slaughterhouses had glass walls.
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
… by going vegan. Sure, we at PETA sing the praises of electric cars, but hybrid car owners who load bags of revolting meat and dairy products into their trunks need to start humming a different tune.
That's why PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman has written a letter to James Hunt, chief of Boston's Environmental and Energy Services, offering to buy space on the city's planned electric-car charging stations for PETA's "Meat's Not Green" ads.
The raising of billions of animals to become meat-lovers' main courses is a main contributor to environmental destruction—it's a leading source of greenhouse-gas emissions and causes water pollution and topsoil erosion. The meat industry runs on enormous amounts of fossil fuel and water—and the denials of those who ignore the fact that each package of meat represents immense, intense animal suffering.
Will PETA's ads grace electric-car charging stations in Boston? We'll keep you updated.
Written by Karin Bennett
Leilani Münter is fast, hot, and compassionate. She recently revealed to readers of The Huffington Post that her love for animals inspired her to go vegetarian years ago.
Now we know why this red-hot racecar enthusiast went vegetarian—and why sexy actor Michael Dorn went vegan (unlike his Star Trek character, Worf, a spaceship-steering, raw meat–eating Klingon).
We're still wondering: What drives you to be a comely and conscious cook?
Not long ago, we told you that celebrity chef Mario Batali was introducing special "Meatless Mondays" options at all of his 14 restaurants. Well, thanks to Freep.com, we get to meat meet up with Mario for a progress report: He says that he feels better as his diet becomes increasingly veggie-heavy. And he predicts that environmental concerns will prompt others to embrace a vegetarian diet. Oh—and he reveals that his own vegetarian cookbook is in the works.
Could Batali be channeling vegan chef Tal Ronnen? I'd love to think so, but one thing's for certain: Both Chef Mario and Chef Tal are inspiring countless flesh-loving foodies to think outside the T-bone.
It's so hot in the city, you'd think I'd be making another batch of lemonade—but I've got a hankering for some Internet Soup. It's been a while since the last batch, so dig in!
Oof! I don't know about you, but I'm full after all that soup—and guac. This Special K needs a siesta. Until next time …
For those of you who grew up in more recent decades, "acid rain" is not the name of a death-metal band. In the 70s and 80s, sulfur dioxide emitted by power plants was turning rain into sulfuric acid, threatening fish, trees, and, yes, even statues. After the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got the power plants to clean up their act, we thought we had the problem licked for the great outdoors. But if you lick something outdoors now, your tongue might dissolve. Acid rain has returned in a new form—nitric acid—caused by nitrogen oxide emissions. And the number one source of these emissions? Intensive factory farms.
So now we can add the resurgence of acid rain to the long list of environmental disasters caused in large part by using animals for food. It remains to be seen whether the EPA will step in again to address the problem, but fortunately we don't have to wait for them to get involved—after all, what better way to fight the disastrous effects of factory farming than by going vegan?
I have good news and, well, not-so-good news. The good news is that as a result of a lawsuit filed by environmental groups, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed to pay closer attention to all the factory-farm manure that often spills into our waterways.
The not-so-good news is that the EPA plans to rely on factory farms to provide the data that the agency needs—every five years. The farms will be expected to disclose, among other things, information about their manure-storage facilities and how the "excess manure" is disposed of. In other words, the EPA is letting the fox guard the henhouse.
It's good that the EPA is doing something. But I have more faith in people like Goldman Environmental Prize–winner Lynn Henning, who gathers water samples and uses aerial photography to help hold factory farms accountable for mucking up our rivers and streams. Her efforts can really make a difference—and so can you by reminding people that farms cater to consumers. If there were no demand for flesh, eggs, or milk, then there would be no problem. So here's to a different kind of report: our success in encouraging people to help preserve America's waterways by going vegan.
Try passing out a copy of our vegetarian/vegan starter kit at your nearest stream!
Written by Heather Moore
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
Follow PETA on Twitter!