Thousands of Dead Pigs Floating in Chinese River – Just as Gross as US Pig Production Waste

At least 6,000 dead pigs have been fished from a Shanghai river in China. According to CNN, the corpses began turning up in the river after a government crackdown on the selling of meat from diseased pigs. In a bind, farmers began disposing of them by throwing them into the river. This lack of concern for public health when dealing with livestock is disturbing, but China is not the only culprit. The United States has a less than perfect track record when it comes to protecting our waterways from the hog industry. In Sioux County, Iowa, alone,?more than 1 million hogs on factory farms produce as much untreated manure as the sewage from the Los Angeles and Atlanta metro areas combined. With this amount of?manure, which is the country’s fastest-growing large source of methane, a greenhouse gas, it is obvious why factory farming is so detrimental to the planet. Unfortunately, with meat consumption on the rise in China, many more of these environmentally damaging situations are likely to occur. But we don’t have to add to these issues. By reducing your meat intake, and/or buying sustainably and locally raised meat, you are helping to create a greener world.

Monarch Migration Plunges to Lowest Level in Decades

The number of monarch butterflies that completed an annual migration to their winter home in a Mexican forest sank this year to its lowest level in at least two decades, due mostly to extreme weather and the abundance of monocultures in North America.?The area of forest occupied by the butterflies, once as high at 50 acres, dwindled to 2.94 acres in the annual census conducted in December.?That was a 59 percent decline from the 7.14 acres of butterflies measured in December 2011.?The latest decline is due to drought and record-breaking heat in North America when the monarchs arrived last spring to reproduce.?But an equally alarming source of the decline, is the explosive increase in American farmland planted in soybean and corn genetically modified to tolerate herbicides. The increasing large amount of farmland devoted GMO’s?has eaten away grasslands and conservation reserves that supplied the monarchs with milkweed. It is saddening to think that one of the world’s most beautiful migrations might soon disappear. Let’s do what we can to help protect Monarch butterfly populations, along with thousands of other animals and insects, by avoiding foods made with GMO’s.

Artists Against Fracking

The artists of?Artists Against Fracking?worked together to create this music video for?Don?t Frack My Mother, an anti-fracking anthem sung by Sean Lennon, (John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s son). This is the perfect time to celebrate our progress. In case you missed it, the New York State Assembly passed a?two-year moratorium?on fracking in New York. But this is also the perfect time to keep the pressure up! The bill?s not a done deal. It still has to pass the NY Senate and then get signed into law by Governor Cuomo.?Help to spread this video on Twitter and Facebook.? Here?s a suggested tweet:?Hey, @NYGovCuomo, sing along with us: #DontFrackMyMother! Watch the video and pass it on:?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfymhAEe-TM