I am sitting on my balcony while on vacation in beautiful Florida. I have just completed a meditation, and I’m inspired to write a few words on this sunny breezy Sunday afternoon. The meditation I completed discussed wishing happiness to both your closest friends, and more importantly, to those whom you may have a more complicated relationship with. I believe focusing on positivity is key to maintaining a good state of mental health. I also believe these same positive thoughts produce a good energy space to live and work in.
Think of a person you may know who elicits negative thoughts and emotions within you. There are two things wrong with this. Firstly, you are allowing someone else to change your mental well being. Secondly, these thoughts can produce a negative space for others to be around. During my simple yet powerful meditation today, I thought of different people that I share different relationships with. One was a friend, another an acquaintance, and finally someone that brings stressful energy into my life. The meditation practice discussed wishing all of these people happiness, wellness, and a life free from suffering. This really helped to put my own emotions in check, and also to be aware of the end goal. What is the end goal? Happiness of course. No matter what someone has done or said to you it’s important to realize that they have experienced their own struggles and pain. We are not responsible for their words or actions, just our own.
If we allow another to effect our mental state then we lose a little bit of happiness every moment we sit in that space. Try to let go and wish all of the people in your life well. It feels good to want joy for others. It takes love and understanding to create a compassionate world. I left my meditation in a happy state even though I was asked to think of a negative person in my life. Mission accomplished.
On that note, I wish you all happiness, wellness, and if just for a moment a little less suffering.
(Over the last year I have read many books and articles. I’ve been researching on the environmental impact of global warming. For the purpose of this post I pulled statistical facts from cowspiracy.com. There are several contributing factors to global warming, but I wanted to discuss one contributor that humans can have an influence on.
There are many reasons I am vegan, one of them is to decrease my carbon footprint or reduce the amount of harm I am contributing to the environment. As you may know, this is one of our worlds greatest global issues, and we are seeing a movement towards solar energy and electric vehicles. Despite this, our world is still dependent on fossil fuels, and this is deeply concerning. Perhaps you have thought about these issues before, but how does this relate to veganism?
What many do not think about is the direct impact animal agriculture has on our planet. The damage comes in the form of greenhouse gas, water usage, and animal waste. We are depleting our oceans and changing ecosystems all over the world. Livestock and their byproducts contribute to roughly 15% of all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. I was quite shocked when I first discovered this during my transition to veganism. I couldn’t imagine I was a contributor in almost every way. I still drive a car, but my next purchase will definitely be an energy efficient one. I don’t own my own home so unfortunately I lack control in regards to switching to solar energy. The one thing I realized I could change immediately was to go vegan.
If you are still not following, or not quite sure how cattle for example could contribute to Co2 emissions let me explain. During their digestion process cows release methane into our atmosphere. Their burps are literally killing our environment. It also takes an extraordinary amount of water (500-2500 gallons) to produce one pound of beef. So whilst turning off the faucet when brushing your teeth is helpful, it’s hardly comparable. Think of all the water it takes to grow the feed for these animals, and all of the land that is consumed. Our rainforests are being destroyed as well, animal agricultural is responsible for 91% of amazon destruction. Fossil fuels are the primary source of carbon dioxide release, however, humans contribute to carbon dioxide release through animal agriculture such as deforestation/land clearing for cattle.We also burn down the rainforest to clear more land in order to grow the grain needed to feed cattle. We are displacing animals, destroying their homes, so that we can eat a burger. This infuriates me. I was reading about the amazons in South America and learned many of its people are upset about this as well. Unfortunately activism against amazon destruction comes with a price. Over 1,000 activists in Brazil have been killed, and without their voices, the movement is weak.
I also want to mention the topic of grass fed beef. It it becoming a trend for companies to market grass fed beef and free range eggs/poultry as “healthier alternatives”(I will be posting in the near future about veganism and health, and explain why beef is not necessary to live and also unhealthy) The problem with grass fed, is well, the grass. More land is occupied when we have grass fields for cows to graze on, more water is needed and so on. This trend is not sustainable for our future and worse for our environment. You might be choosing free range eggs (like I used to) because it makes you feel better that the animals are roaming free instead of in cages. Keep in mind two things; first, this is not regulated, and second, the animals still suffer in the end when they are killed. I know it is a very disturbing reality, but I feel a moral obligation to share my knowledge with you. You can then decide what is best for you.
It is important for all of us to evaluate our own individual impact on our world. We can’t expect things to change if we don’t. When you go vegan you stop giving your money to the industry, and you create a demand for alternatives. Maybe you’ve noticed there are more vegetarian and vegan restaurants around. There are more options for food at the grocery store as well. Companies are taking notice and are producing so many meat alternatives today.
Yummy beyond burger with vegan cheese
If you are like me you may decide to make a drastic change, which would be great 😉 I would love for you to go vegetarian or vegan, but I understand this can be very overwhelming. Maybe a more practical start would be reducing or eliminating certain foods from your diet, try decreasing the amount of red meat you consume for example.
I hope you’ve learned something new today, it’s quite a lot of information to take in and to think about. I don’t mean to overwhelm you or stress you out, I just wanted to share some difficult truths about the current state of our environment. I am even more concerned given the fact that our current president chooses not to believe in these facts, and I fear he will not be helping this cause. Luckily we can choose what we purchase, and by doing so we are fighting for the animals, our health, and our world.
thepeacefulhappyvegan 