From the Stoop

Part Two

Note: Part One of this article appeared in the November 2016 edition of Live Laugh Learn:

https://www.algonquincollege.com/livelaughlearn/home-november-2016/from-the-stoop/

Your responsibility to react

Being somewhat intelligent does come along with responsibilities. If you are aware of a consequence from an action, then it is your responsibility to react accordingly. We seem to have claimed responsibility for the well-being of our fellow partners on the planet Earth but are turning a blind eye to their demise.

Religiously, scientifically or otherwise, it is impossible to escape from the basic truth that for every action there is a reaction or a consequence. You cannot buy a product containing palm oil without knowing that there is a primate genocide and ecological catastrophe on an industrial scale is occurring in some of the most valuable, sensitive, and diverse ecological habitats on Earth – all thanks to that same cheap cooking oil we find in our supermarket products every day. You cannot go to a fast food franchise for lunch without knowing – for instance – the chicken you are eating never saw the light of day and more than likely never had the room to turn around or flap a wing. You cannot visit an aquarium and not be aware of the suffering the dolphin went through after watching its family members being slaughtered. And what gives us the right to take baby animals from the wild and raise them for our pleasure in captivity?

In a time when we question our planet’s fate in the morning and then by nightfall we plan our hunting trip or our vacation to our nearest marine theme park, we have a long way to go before we can make a real change to our thinking and, of course, our actions. When biologists report that the white-tailed deer population is catastrophically low and we still conduct the annual hunt during the rut, then it makes me think that it too is solely controlled by the machine that feeds hunting. Same goes for atrocities like wolf-culling contests and coyote “fun” shootings.

We accept without question

We often think that because we live in Canada and can look about and see birds and animals that we are doing something right, but in fact we are not. We, too, are industry-controlled. We buy into the fast-food chains and expect to see a restaurant every second block. We consume millions of gallons of coffee every day and never once ask if the coffee was grown in a clear-cut jungle or shade grown. We dispose of millions of pounds of plastics that show up in our oceans and around the bellies of turtles and whales and at the same time walk through a box store and see a mountain of new plastic water bottles. We refuse to know where our food comes from and whether the animal suffered unjustly in its journey to your table. We turn a blind eye to the sheer numbers and obvious mistreatment of animals to feed the fast-food industry. We accept without question new products that come out touting the benefits of krill, the only food source of the baleen whale. Why would we need this source of omega 3 all of a sudden and the whales don’t. Simply put, without krill, most of the life forms in the Antarctic would disappear.

We will lose most of the world’s species over time. There will not be enough time for evolution to give them a fighting chance. Eventually, if we continue on the path we have chosen, there will only be one mammal left on Earth and that will be humans. We can certainly minimize some of the damage going forward, but we can never recover that which has been lost. It will take some serious questioning and some very serious sacrifices. Ask the questions, do the research, know where your meal comes from and what consequence has to be paid if you continue to consume that product.

I will stand puzzled sometimes when I gaze down the aisle of a store. Do we really need to develop and market the thousand different shampoos, conditioners, and creams? Do we really need to choose between aloe, cucumber, strawberry, peach, sea salt, and mango bubble bath? Do they contain real food byproducts? The same applies to so many products. I envision the gigantic vat and all the manufacturers dip into it and stick their labels on it.

It is your responsibility to be aware and then to make new choices. If you do that, then I will have more hope. I am already leaving a planet in dire straits to my grandchildren so I would at least like to give them a head start on saving what is left.

Succeed by example

I leave the stoop today as perplexed at the human tragedy, but I leave you with this homework.

  • Watch the Cove again
  • Learn about the plight of the orangutan in Borneo, Sumatra, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
  • See the bush-meat stories
  • Know where you meal comes from and how
  • Know how many hectares of rainforest were lost to bring you coffee
  • Learn how the animals that end up in your fast-food are treated Learn what you are applying to your body
  • Learn the practices that Chinese medicines need to fill the jars on their shelves

Do this and make your own choices for change and you will have forever the gratitude of the fishes of the sea, the turtles, the mammals and the birds that try very hard to share this planet with us. Give them back the privilege of the planet. We are failing so perhaps they will succeed by example.

Leo Greeley is a recent retiree of Algonquin College.

The opinions expressed in Live Laugh Learn are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent those of the editors, faculty, or staff of Algonquin College.