I talked to a couple of my friends about ozone and the mention of the word immediately elicited the following reactions, "the ozone layer", "ozone depletion", "pollution", "ozone hole in New Zealand".
One friend mentioned about the recent flood in Australia and how this could be a sign of how human activities are affecting nature's natural cycle and hence the weather. I have a few friends living in Australia and although they weren't affected, they say it was the worst flood in history and reconstruction would not only be costly but would take quite some time too.
Another friend very interestingly mentioned about how animal farming is a big contributor of CO2 as well as other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, mainly from animal waste. Clearing of land for animal farming is also to blame for the release of carbon dioxide into the air as forests and wooded areas are natural carbon sinks. As the number of tress start to decline, less CO2 is recycled and hence adding to greenhouse effect. So she suggested we all do our part by adopting a vegetarian, or at least less meat diet to help the planet. Totally agreed!
There are many things we can do to save the ozone layer, just to name a few:
1. use energy saving light bulbs
2. put on a sweater, lower the thermostat
3. unplug electrical appliances if not in use
4. eat less meat or no meat at all!
5. recycle
Those big animal farms are really disgusting and are bad for all the environmental and human reasons you mention, not to mention the cruelty toward the animals. Have you seen Food, Inc. by Robert Kenne? Ug.
ReplyDeleteThe other day my daughter was eating chicken and found a dubious section and got utterly disgusted. She said she was remembering what she saw in the documentary and wasn't going to eat the rest. We all stopped eating.