Food: A Dark and Dangerous Place

Last week I attempted to do an update with regard to the Pet Food Recall and got side tracked: Pet Food Recall: Trail of Tears, which gives a heart wrenching account of the loss of my Golden Retriever, Annie Oakley. Today, I wanted to get an update on China’s baby milk poisoning and landed on ‘Police arrest underground gang ‘poisoning baby milk for profit’. The contamination has led to China’s worst food safety crisis.

This week, I’m taking a long look into centuries of food industry practices. Practices which began innocently enough, but, in many instances have developed into a dark and dangerous business; bringing disease and death to the planets inhabitants!

The Truth Will Sit You Free!

There are hundreds of reports and stories about the ongoing Pet Food Recall and its continued impact to our pets. What seems most important after reading these reports is to pass on what I’ve learned and to keep linking together with others who have similar concerns; doing so gives more credibility and a more effective means of convincing people to change what they and their furry friends eat!

The sense to be made of the Pet Food Recall and the ongoing tragedy is not something most people want to know. Knowing means you find a truth. What you do with the truth is what counts. My advise is to take a journey. Take time to take a deep look into the Pet Food Recall before you make any decision. For me, the journey has taken some horrific and outrageous trails. Read more

11 Things We Can Do To Cut Expenses or How to Beat the ‘Gas Woes’!

Recently, after a minor fender bender, I put my car into a body. I chose not to have a rental; thinking I would spend time at home doing things around the house and save gas.

After spending three and a half days at home: cooking, eating, sleeping, watching Animal Planet, the news, movies, working on my lack of lawn, going through and getting rid of ’stuff’, I called my sister, a few friends, wrote two posts, installed Photoshop CS3 (anyone know a good beginners class?), and visited Steve and Marsha (a hike away) for some icy blended drink and talk about retirement life. Yes, it’s been a relatively easy first week of retirement.

Staying home was not difficult. However, by Thursday I wanted and needed to get out of the house. I called my insurance to arrange for a rental and treated myself and Pieper (my companion and Golden Retriever) to a hike and swim. The trip to where we hike and swim is about a 20 minute drive and a 30 minute hike. The temperature was a whopping 91 degrees. When you are over a mile high…well, we were cooking. Unfortunately, Pieper is the only one allowed to swim in the reservoir; I’m left panting on the shore.

After the hike and swim, my normal routine, in an effort to coordinate trips and conserve gas, is to stop at the market on the way home. I’ll find some shade and park; leave the windows half way down in my Blazer, and Pieper being damp is fine while I pick up a few items at the grocery.

The rental car (a 2007 Ford Focus), had huge windows all around, letting far too much sun into the car. The car would hardly cool down with the airconditionair on maximum! No way was I going to leave Pieper in this car. I passed the market, did not collect groceries and went directly home.

Read more

The Way of Animals: Plight of The Sumatran Tiger

TRAFFIC: CONSUMERS PARTNERS IN WILDLIFE CRIME

Today, the Sumatran tiger is being sold Body part by body part into extinction! The Sumatran tiger is listed as Critically Endangered on IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, the highest category of threat before extinction in the wild. “We cannot afford to lose any more of these magnificent creatures”, says Jane Smart, Head of IUCN’s Species Programme.TRAFFIC INDIA, the wildlife trade monitoring network says end consumers are as much partners in wildlife crime as those who deal in or hunt protected species of wildlife. TRAFFIC says:

Tiger body parts, including canine teeth, claws, skin pieces, whiskers and bones, were on sale in 10 percent of the 326 retail outlets surveyed during 2006 in 28 cities and towns across Sumatra. Outlets included goldsmiths, souvenir and traditional Chinese medicine shops, and shops selling antique and precious stones.

HUMAN TIGER CONFLICTS

Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF International’s Species Programme says this is an enforcement crisis.

Dr Tonny Soehartono, Director for Biodiversity Conservation, Ministry of Forestry of Republic of Indonesia. “We have been struggling with the issues of land use changes, habitat fragmentation, human-tiger conflicts and poverty in Sumatra. Land use changes and habitat fragmentation are driving the tiger closer to humans and thus creating human-tiger conflicts”.

HOW MANY LEFT?

The latest report was launched the day after India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) announced an official estimate of 1,411 tigers currently surviving in the wild in India; more than 50 percent down from the previous census estimate of 3,642 tigers in 2001-02.

My heart aches when I look into the face of this animal. I want to scream and stomp! Stop it! My voice is so tiny; and when I think about the hundreds of environmental and animal organization, the thousands of scientists and animal advocates, all our resources and decades of time: how does the Sumatran tiger find itself at extinction’s door?

We have yet to find a balance between human social and economic development and the natural world. I do not argue that we need to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. However, I wonder about the planning we make to achieve the reduction of poverty and improve peoples lives. The Sumatran tiger is one in a long list of animals at the brink of extinction in our quest for human social and economic development.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

What can I do in my tiny spec of the world to save this incredible creature? What can you do? If you have an answer, please share it here, so I can spread the news to as many little bloggers as possible! Of course, dollars to any of the organizations mentioned above will help. And I’ll continue to monitor this story.