My Human-Mom & her EarthEcho

This shall be a post dedicated to my human-Mom... all about my human-Mom... her strong beliefs... her EarthEcho...

Mom has decided to be a vegan as of today. Veganism is a philosophy & lifestyle whose adherents seek to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing or any other purpose. Vegans do not consume meats, seafood, honey, dairy products like eggs/cheese.

Another great form of diet is fruitarianism - what being a fruitarian is all about. A fruitarian only eats what the Earth provides - fruits & nuts, & doesn't destroy or kill anything.

Freeganism is another different form of diet which involves foraging of foods in trash... somewhat like a dumpster. Freegans are self-sufficient & avoid paying for food, but rather consume what left-overs there're in the trashbins.

But Mom is quite satisfied with being a vegan (no meats/seafood/honey/dairy pdts like milk & cheese).

Below is a quote by 1 of Mom's heroes (other than Richard O'Barry) whom is against whaling, clubbing of seals, shark finning & dolphin captivity.

''I believe that veganism is the morally right thing to do but most importantly I believe that veganism is something we must adopt to cleanse the earth of the damage the meat, fishing and dairy industries have cause to global eco-systems.''

Paul Watson (Captain of the Steve Irwin, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society)

Mom has been an ovo-lacto vegetarian at age 17, vegan at age 19, pesco-vegetarian at age 23, & has decided to move on back to a lifestyle of veganism now at 25... so as to play her part to help the Earth (read on below).

Over-fishing is another one of the world's most disturbing problem that many have not come to realize about. Fishes in the wild are being depleted at an alarming & extraordinary rate that many fishermen have resorted to killing dolphins & whales for meat & to prevent them from consuming fishes. Is it us HUMANS or the whales that are "over-fishing''? Think about it. Humans CAN survive w/o fishes, but can the whales? How selfish can the human species be just so as to consume fishes everyday.

"We are in massive denial & continue to bicker over the last shrinking numbers of survivors, employing satellites & sensors to catch the last fish left. We have to understand how close to extinction some of these populations really are. And we must act now before they reach the point of no return. I want there to be hammerhead sharks & bluefin tuna around when my five-year-old son grows up. If present fishing levels persist, these great fish WILL go the way of the dinosaurs."

Extracted from : THE END OF THE LINE (Book & DVD)

Scientists have discovered that if the entire marine-ecological system is "tampered & interfered" with, what will eventaully be left for us are jellyfish & plankton. Do you fancy a jellyfish-burger in future?

Needless to say, Mom greatly DISAPPROVES of anyone eating sharks' fins. They have little nutritional values & contain high toxic mercury (bigger impact on pregnant animals & babies) as sharks like whales, are the top predators in the foodchain. Please refer to this article on Singapore being high on the list of consumers for sharks' fins. Shark finning is one of the most inhumane criminal acts on Earth, slicing off their fins whilst leaving them to SINK & DROWN to death... a slow & agonizing death...

Please Love Sharks, not eat them. Please also save childish & irresponsible remarks to yourself... for eg "but sharks eat humans! we should eat them!" Anthropocentrism is NOT the way to go. Biocentrism is! (Biocentrism - The idea that all species on the planet have an equal right to exist & that all species must have the right to exist, even habitats. The interest of a species must take precedence over the interest of an individual or a group of individuals within any one species. The rights of any species must take precedence over the desires & concerns of any one group of human beings. Culture is not a justification for exploitation of a habitat or a species.)

SAY NO TO SHARKS' FINS & educate the people around you.

"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men."

Alice Walker

Another great DVD to watch will be FOOD INC which depicts what most (if not all) humans are exactly eating everyday. We urge you to consume more organic/free-range produces to reduce the sufferings of caged-up chickens that NEVER get to see sunlight or even spread their wings in their entire lifetime... & many other farmed animals like cattle etc.

Now, altho' Mom's a vegan, she still buys & prepares (organic) meats for us. In short, she comes in contact with meats everyday both at home & at work. We aren't vegans like her because she believes that its morally right for animals to consume animals, just like how you'll never see a vegetarian lion anywhere.

Mom's also a weight-watcher as she tends to lose & gain very easily. From as low as 38kg to as high as 51kg... so as of now, she has lost nearly 11kg (in 2 months) & intends to maintain her weight at 40kg via a good diet & lotsa exercise (jogging with us or for her half-marathons of 21km).

Anyone whom knows her well, knows she is very dedicated to feeding us an organic raw natural diet coupled with lotsa daily exercise. Other things that she likes to do are watching Animal Planet, Nat Geo Wild, or any shows depicting wildlife, brave people risking their lives to save endangered species, etc.

Mom is not a fan of captivity of wild animals. So in that, she obviously doesn't like (nor visit) zoos/dolphinariums especially with smart creatures like dolphins/seals taught to perform stupid tricks to entertain humans. Most of these lovely intelligent creatures are wild-caught (locally & worldwide, watch THE COVE to witness the entire inhumane process)... & it's simply morally wrong to separate them from their families (to live in tiny enclosures) as they're social creatures that swim hundreds of miles per day in the open-sea to tease, socialize & play.

Mom & Dad also supports certain (non-profit) organizations that vow to save, & even die for the creatures they so love & vow to protect from extinction from being hunted down. Altho' Mom cannot do much from over here, she donates as & when she is able to. She hopes more people will come to realize about our dying animal species & planet... & do something about it before its too late, before your future generations can only see such wonderful, intelligent, self-conscious creatures from BOOKS & PICTURES instead of in their Natural Wild Habitat.

Besides animals, Mom is also trying to be environmentally friendly to our planet Earth. Do you know about the harm (non-biodegradable) plastic bags are bringing to our marine friends? They get wrapped up & die via choking from plastic bags... friends like the turtles, fishes etc. These plastic bags (& styrofoam boxes etc) will exist FOREVER because they can't bio-degrade, & they're dumped into the ocean because of over-population & hence, marine life are the ones whom SUFFER, no thanks to humans.

Definitions:

(Oxo) Biodegradable: Waste that will eventually break down & become part of the earth & soil like (oxo-biodegradable) plastic bags.

Non-Biodegradable: Waste that will NOT break down. Egs are plastic, metal & glass. Dangerous chemicals & toxins are also non-biodegradable, as are plastic grocery bags, styrofoam (polystyrene) , & other similar materials.

Some basic & simple ways that Mom helps to reduce the use of plastic bags are by bring her own eco-friendly bag when grocery-shopping, or simply saying NO to plastic bags especially when the distance from the shop to home is so near.

Should you have a recycling bin around your residence, please fill them up! With recyclable materials of course... we'll let you have an insight of our own daily collection before filling the recycling bin up!

Bringing your own tupperware when buying take-aways is also a way to reduce the use of harmful styforoam take-away boxes.

Mom is also switching to 100% oxo-biodegradable plastic bags for our family's Nasi Lemak stall, as well as for the Natural Pawpals' products. We hope more people will come to realize about these eco-problems we're facing today... & help to play their part in it. The ones to suffer first will be the animals, but ultimately, it will be us humans most greatly affected.

"All social changes begin from the passion of an individual." Please do not have the mentality that A PERSON doesn't make a difference. If one person reduces the use of 5 plastic bags a day, what about ten people? What about an entire NATION? Learn to look at the bigger picture. We really hope to do more, but til then... we will keep trying to be eco-friendly in our everyday-lives.

Mom & Dad likes to do stray-feeding as well. We follow them too & currently have 3 groups of stray dogs that we feed almost daily with lotsa table-scrapes collected from their food-stall. Most of the time, "beggers can't be choosers", & this is the best they can do currently. That way, at least the stray dogs won't go starving.

Photography (mostly of us & nature) is another of Mom's fav. thing to do. She hopes to invest in a better DSLR (for us) soon.

Of course, we're definitely no saints. We play a part in ruining our environment as well. For eg the use of air-condition (Mom has decided to slp w/o aircon anymore, which is really hot for us, but we just withstand it with Mom & Dad =] ), driving a car (having a car is mainly because of us, it is hard to bring dogs around Singapore w/o your own mode of transport & Mom's car's mileage is extremely low as she tries not to drive that much & uses public transport instead whenever she can. Mom drives WITHOUT aircon 90% of the time) etc. So in that sense, we can all play a part in REDUCING these harmful everyday acts.

Another of Mom's beliefs is Intuitive (Animal) Communication. That all animals, plants, micro-organisms, & elements are conscious.

There's alot more things about Mom & her beliefs, but we'll end here for now (or maybe add on to it when we've more time). Here's one of Mom's fav. quotes to end it off.

"The pyramids, the Old masters, the symphonies, sculpture, architecture, film, photography... All of these things are worthless to the Earth when compared with any one species of bird, or insect, or plant. The life of a human being is worth less than the life of a worm."

Paul Watson (Captain of the Steve Irwin, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society)

What is your EarthEcho? Everything you do makes a difference.