Giving up Carbon for Lent

Will you give up something for Lent?

Here is a post on Twilight Earth:

The 10 Best Ways to Give Up Carbon for Lent.

10. Get a cloth sack

9. Give the dishwasher a break -

8. Fill your plates - What plates are those? Light switches and plug plates!

7. Don’t let it shine - “Oh Honey! You turned down the lights! How romantic!”

6. The Secret Sister of the Recycle, Reuse and Reduce triplets -Let me introduce you to Precycling! Simply put, Precycling is the act of “not purchasing” something that would otherwise be Recycled or thrown into a landfill.

5. Eat Slow, Joe - Fast foods are Carbon intensive.

4. Got a Bounty of Brawny Scott’s in your kitchen? Give’em the boot! -

3. Wean yourself off the bottle - No, not that bottle, this bottle.

2. Don’t be Latte for work - How much water goes into that single Latte you buy on the way to work? 50 Gallons! Check out this video.

And the number 1 thing you can do to give up carbon for Lent? Give up Beef! For every 1 pound of beef that you eat, you are also consuming 7lbs of grain, and 2,500 gallons of water. Not to mention about 270 antibiotic injections. 1lb of beef also produces the carbon equivalent of driving a car at 60 miles an hour for 200 miles or burning a 100 watt bulb continuously for 20 years.

Our pastor is giving up red meat for Lent because he wants to lessen his carbon footprint.

You may read more about the effects of meat production on the environment here at:

Beef Effects on People, the Environment and Society.

Cooking meat on Memorial Day?

Go ahead and celebrate Memorial Day with a cook-out on the grill. Then, next Monday, consider eating less meat.

I'm not saying Prof. Cricket needs to eat less meat. She is a canine after all. But I think Americans eat way too much meat. You will be healthier if you find other forms of protein; and so with the earth.

Some say "A meat-eater on a bicycle leaves a bigger carbon footprint than a vegan in a Hummer!"Did you know...

-Animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gas emissions than automobiles. Cows raised for beef, in particular, emit massive amounts of nitrous oxide and methane.

-Animal waste and feed cropland dump more pollutants into our waterways than all other human activities combined.

-Meat-based diets require 10-20 times as much land as plant-based diets - nearly half of the world's grains & soybeans are fed to animals.

Meat Out Mondays
Eating meat is something many of us grew up believing was the best thing to do to get protein. It is hard a habit to break, and I am not asking Prof. Cricket to participate, but I use recipes from Meat Out Mondays. My favorite is sweet potatoes topped with black bean chili.

Go ahead and eat out, just avoid disposable dishes

My husband and I don 't eat out that often, but last night we were both really hungry and he was craving a hamburger. He wanted a Wendy's burger. I am trying not to create a demand for mass marketed beef products. He told me if we went to Wendy's I could order a salad. He was correct. But I knew that it would be served on a disposable dish with disposable utensils.

We ended up going to Perkins. He got his hamburger. I order my salad.
It has been ages since we have been out to eat. We both got what we wanted. We didn't use any disposable dishes. I did NOT push my "no non-grass-fed beef" beliefs on my husband, and we left the young woman, (who is probably working he way through college) a nice tip.