Greetings fellow Earthlings, and HAPPY EARTH DAY! Although yesterday was officially Earth Day, we should be celebrating and protecting this amazing planet we live on EVERY DAY! Mother Nature puts on an amazing show every day, and like many mothers, her hard work and love often goes unnoticed or appreciated. Every day the sun rises and sets, flowers bloom, birds sing, animals are born and oxygen is made for us to breath for crying out loud! Let's make a promise to ourselves and to our planet to do what we can to preserve it's health and beauty. It is after all the only planet we have! There are many things we can all do that will have a positive impact on our planet. Many of them are following in the example of some of the greatest organizations and forward thinkers that fight to protect our planet.
The National Resource Defense Council has been at the forefront of defending the health of our planet for 40 plus years and is America's most effective environmental action organization. From helping to enforce the 1970 Clean Air Act by directing cities to improve mass transit and reduce reliance on cars, to helping win protection for a hundred million acres of Alaskan lands in the 1980's, the NRDC is a global superhero! Here are a few things you can do to support their work and get involved.
One of my favorite organizations to support is Mercy For Animals, for inspiring compassion for animals and making people aware of the impact their food choices have on their health, animals, and the planet. Personally, I have never felt better by following a plant-based diet and forgoing all animal products, but to know that my food choices are making a difference in preserving the health of this planet makes all my kale salads, butternut squash soups, and tofu scrambles taste that much better! Raising billions of animals to produce meat for our growing population requires massive amounts of land and water to grow their feed and results in high volumes of manure that pollute our water, soil, and air - all to produce food that every major health organization recommends eating less of. It's true, factory farming does more harm to the environment than all of transportation combined!
Fortunately for us, we have the ability to make better choices for ourselves and for the planet. Here are a few facts courtesy of PETA for you to think about the next time you sit down to eat.
If every American skipped ONE MEAL of chicken per week, the environmental effects would be like taking 500,000 CARS off the road.
Every 6 SECONDS an acre of rain forest is cut down for cattle farming. That is 14,400 ACRES A DAY.
It takes 2,400 GALLONS of water to produce 1 POUND of meat. That is more than 50 BATHTUBS worth of water.
In the U.S. more than 30 MILLION COWS are raised for food each year. Their burps and farts comprise 20% of all U.S. METHANE-GAS EMISSIONS. And we breath all of that in. Gross.
One of the top sources of WATER POLLUTION is the raising of animals for food. Animals raised for food produce more than 10 TIMES the POOP and PEE as humans do, much of which ends up in our water. Yummy.
Mercy for Animals has reinvented environmentalism with their new campaign, The New 3 Rs. RETHINK your diet, REDUCE your meat consumption, and RESTORE the planet. Gone are the days when Reduce, Reuse, Recycle were enough to keep our planet healthy. If we want to make a difference, we have to make a change. And we can start every time we sit down to eat. Choosing a plant-based diet will have more of an impact on our environment then driving a fuel efficient car.
I can't possible write a blog post about being environmentally conscious and kind to animals and the planet without mentioning Alicia Silverstone. It's because of her compassionate example and amazing book and blog, The Kind Diet and The Kind Life that I am a vegan, and continue to be inspired to take action for our environment and all it's inhabitants. It was an easy and fun transition, discovering new foods and learning about the small choices we can make that have a positive effect on the planet. Here are a few of my favorite tips from her Earth Day Challenge:
Save Energy! Unplug your TV and other electronics when you're done with them. Turns out it's better for your health too!
Take shorter showers and don't leave the water running while you brush your teeth. (I'm guilty of both of these! :-/)
Walk, bike, or take public transportation instead of driving. It's free exercise.
Start your own garden! Not only will you be helping environmentally by adding more oxygen into the air, but you'll know exactly what you're eating - no hidden chemicals! (I'm growing an herb and mushroom garden. I can't wait to use them to cook one of Alicia's delicious vegan recipes!)
So my friends, let's all do our part to keep our planet healthy and beautiful, it's the least we can do to repay for all the destruction we've caused it. I know personally, much of it was unintentional, I was unaware that some of the choices I was making were bad for the planet. But now I know better, and now so do you. I know it's overwhelming when you watch the news and all you hear about is global warming crisis updates, mass pollution, and destruction of the rain forest. But every little bit of good we do will help, so let's show the Earth some much needed love!
I think we can all agree that elephants are one of the most majestic, gentle, amazing and tender animals we have on this planet. Apart from being the largest land mammals, elephants are very social and intelligent. They are incredibly loving and form great bonds with their family and their herd. Plus they never forget! I wish I had that kind of brain power!
Unfortunately, the future of these magnificently gentle giants remains uncertain. The biggest threats elephants face is poaching, conflict with humans, and habitat loss. Elephants across Africa and Asia are being poached for their ivory at alarming rates. It was estimated that about 25,000 - 40,000 elephants were killed last year alone for their ivory tusks, making it the worst year on record in the history of elephant conservation.
Fortunately for elephants, and all of us who love them, there are many wildlife super heroes out in the trenches fighting to prevent them from being a memory on this planet. And even greater for us who care so much about elephants, we are able to get involved and do our part to ensure the future of these playful pachyderms. Read on for some of my favorite elephant heroes, foundations, and fundraisers to learn how you can help elephants too! When I went to San Francisco for the Wildlife Conservation Network's Wildlife Expo I was lucky enough to attend Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton's presentation. For those of you who don't know him, he is one of the world's foremost authorities on African elephants and the first to have alerted the wold of the ivory poaching holocaust in the 1970's. He is founder of Save the Elephants, and basically an elephant superhero. I won't lie, I got teary eyed when he showed the images of all the confiscated tusks and decomposing elephant bodies they come across in the field. I thought to myself, "Surely, if everyone knew about this, someone would do something to stop it!" And then it occurred to me, I'm someone, and you're someone. So let's do something.
Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton and his team are helping African elephants on every level with research, education, and protection projects. Help out this elephant superhero by donating some funds for the cause! A cool thing that Dr. Douglas-Hamilton shared was that one of China's biggest stars, Yao Ming, traveled to Africa to see first hand what the ivory demand of his country is doing to elephants. He teamed up with WildAid and created some amazing PSAs against buying ivory. Since China is one of the biggest consumers of ivory products, these PSAs are made to reach about a million people a week in China. Hopefully, little by little, the message "When the buying stops, the killing can too." will make it socially unacceptable to purchase ivory products.
Another elephant superhero is of coarse, Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick. Through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust established in memory of her late husband, Dame Daphne shows her love and compassion for elephants through her work at her elephant orphanage nursery. She has successfully hand reared over 130 new born elephant orphans from just hours old up until their two milk dependent years. Daphne and the keepers at the elephant orphanage become the new family of these baby elephants who grow up in Tsavo National Park in Kenya where they mingle freely with wild herds and eventually become fully integrated back into the wild community. Some of Daphne's orphans have now had wild born young, which they bring back to show their human mom!! Even more amazingly, you can help her by fostering your own orphaned elephant!
There are many other amazing organizations and foundations fighting to keep elephants safe and out of harms way. Here are some of my favorites, and links to how you can help their efforts for elephants:
Wildlife Conservation Society - based out of my local Bronx Zoo, the WCS is working tirelessly to help elephants on every level. Join them by signing their petition to the US delegation to CITES (Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) to develop a plan to enforce laws that already exist to protect elephants and crack down on poachers. You can also support me as I make tracks for elephants this year at the WCS Run for the Wild! which raises funds for elephants. Along with my team, Junk In My Trunk, we are trying to raise as much funds as possible to help elephants out of this crisis - so please donate what you can! I'm very excited about this event as I've done it for the past three years. The previous years have been to benefit tigers, penguins, and lions!
PETA - If you love elephants, you want to help and protect them from every kind of harm. And that means not exploiting and abusing them for the sake of profit and entertainment. The Ringling Bros Circus is infamous for beating elephants to get them to do very painful tricks. The most important thing you can do to help stop this is not go to any circus that uses animals. Elephants of all ages, from babies to the elderly, are beaten with bull hooks, electro shocked and tied up to break their spirits. Teach your kids compassion and respect for all animals. Sign this petition with PETA to the USDA to demand they help suffering circus elephants.
While it is heart breaking to learn of all the terror and cruelty that our beloved elephants face all around the world, we CAN do something to help. In researching all the great people and organizations that are doing what they can to help elephants, I came across an amazing young girl from California. Juliette West is the project leader for a documentary film where she traveled to Thailand to help elephants. While the film hasn't been released yet, the trailer looks amazing and I will definitely be first in line to watch it and support this great cause!! How I Became an Elephant was made by Rattle the Cage Productions which makes documentaries about animal and environmental protection. How awesome! So my friends, please do what you can to help elephants. They deserve to be happy and free, not fighting for their lives in the wild, or abused and caged up in a circus. It's scary to think that elephants could become extinct within a generation. It is up to us to help and do what we can. Every little bit counts and adds up to a big thing - as big as an elephant!!
Hi, I'm Sue Caro! I'm an actor, a vegan, a wildlife conservation activist, animal rights activist and a Leo. The people who know me best would say I'm a cross between Ace Ventura and Pocahontas. To say I love animals is an understatement. I've been involved with advocating and helping animals since the age of ten when I started sending all my babysitting money to the PETA. They had sent me some info on what animals endure during testing and experimentations along with a picture of a sad little bunny hooked up to an awful animal-testing device with it's raw flesh exposed. I wish I could have unseen that picture because that sad little bunny was identical to the two rabbits I had as a kid (Roger & Jessica). It broke my heart to learn of the needless suffering and cruelty that bunny and so many other animals in this world were victim to. That was not cool with this ten year old! Thus began my lifelong dedication to all things ANIMAL! "Animal lovers are a special breed of humans, generous of spirit, full of empathy, perhaps a little prone to sentimentality, and with hearts as big as a cloudless sky."
John Grogan, author of Marley & Me
Although I have much love for all furry, feathered and finned animals, I would say that lions, dogs, and elephants hold a special place in my heart. Apart from being a Leo, and The Lion King being one of my favorite Disney movies, being a lion was my first acting job. I was cast as the Cowardly Lion in my school play and I had to sing If I Were the King of the Forest in front of an audience of 500. I was very bashful as a kid so everyone said I was a great Cowardly Lion, but I still maintain that I was just in character. Because of this love, I traveled to South Africa to volunteer on a lion sanctuary a few years ago. I fell asleep every night to the roars of the big daddy Mufasa lions, and woke up early every morning to feed and play with the cubs. It was by far one of the coolest things I've ever done and I wish I could spend the rest of my life traveling the world and volunteering on wildlife sanctuaries.
When I was a little kid, I remember all I wanted in life was to have a dog. Unfortunately, the first 14 years of my life we lived in an apartment building that did not allow dogs. I remember dragging my parents to our local shelter so we could help out and walk the dogs, always stopping and petting EVERY dog I saw on the street, and making friends with the kids at school who had dogs at home so I could come over to play with them (the dogs more than the kids). Every birthday candle I blew out, every penny I threw into a fountain, every wish I made upon a star was for a dog. My dream finally came true when my parents bought a house and my favorite aunt and cousin from Peru brought me the cutest, caramel-colored cocker spaniel that we named Pooch. Over the years Pooch has saved us not once, but twice by alerting us of fires in our house in the middle of the night. Pooch is also the reason my family owns a business today. So many of our family and friends saw how much we loved Pooch and asked if we could take care of their dogs while they were on vacation because it made them feel better to know their dogs were in a loving home instead of being kenneled up at a veterinarian's office. It started off small, with our neighbor's German Shepard and a family friend's dachshund. Then the word spread and we had ten dogs at our house one summer! During that time, the company my father had been working for the past 20 years was being bought out and threats of lay offs worried him Off to the Internet I went to figure out how we could make our new "Pooch Paradise" a legitimate money making business. I found a dog day care and boarding franchise based out of Boulder, Colorado that offered franchisee opportunities called Camp Bow Wow. After lots of convincing that it was a fool proof idea, my dad and I got on a plane to Colorado to see what it was all about. Fast forward a few years later and Camp Bow Wow of Stamford, Connecticut opened it's doors to hundreds of wagging tails waiting to play all day while their parents were away! So every time I visit and get to play with dogs until my heart's content, I remember all those candles I blew out and pennies I threw into fountains that made my wish for a dog come true! 150 times over to be exact! (That's the maximum number of dogs we can have at one time. ) And what's even cooler, Camp Bow Wow even has it's own foundation called Bow Wow Buddies that promotes the health and welfare of animals worldwide. They promote humane education and treatment of animals, invest in research and treatment for animals affected by illness and disease and help find foster and lifetime homes for unwanted animals!
The boys. Left to right: Rocky, who I rescued as a pup from a neglectful home. Our first love, our Peruvian Pooch. And Milo, who is now in doggy heaven who was the unwanted love child of two show dogs who had a love affair during a veterinarian's office visit.
So, here I am today writing this blog (with Rocky fast asleep on my lap) and I couldn't be happier about where I am today. Last year I quit my "real job" in corporate America to pursue another love of mine - acting. While I'm still working on getting that Oscar, all the acting classes I've taken really made me more in touch with my true self and what is important to me. So much so that I even became vegan at the start of the new year. I initially intended to do it for about a month as a cleanse and a test of will power, but it's March now and I'm still going strong! I credit this lifestyle change completely to Alicia Silverstone and her book The Kind Diet. I have always loved her as an actress and have tremendous respect and admiration for her tireless work as an advocate for animals so I thought this was the perfect book to help me with my new vegan-ness. Every time I read it I feel like Cher Horowitz was telling me how "absolutely wretched" the meat and dairy industry were to animals and how it gave her an "overwhelming sense of ickyness" to have ever eaten animals. "As if!!" I've read the entire book a few times and I keep it in my kitchen for all the amazing recipes she shares. So much so that it is now covered it butternut squash and umeboshi plums (which I didn't even know about until this book) And I can honestly say that I've never felt so amazing. She also has an awesome website dedicated to all things kind to animals and the planet, called The Kind Life. Check it out, she really is an amazing human! Thanks Alicia! This past October, my love for animals took me to San Francisco to the Wildlife Conservation Network's annual Wildlife Expo. I got to meet and hear some of the world's most dedicated wildlife conservationists speak about what they were doing to help the planet's imperiled wildlife, and more importantly, what we could do to help. I was lucky enough to get into Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton of Save the Elephants presentation on the state of emergency that African elephants are in due to the surge in poaching over the last few years. I also got to meet the authors of an amazing book that celebrates the world's leading conservationits and the animals they are commited to saving, Wildlife Heroes by Julie Scardina & Jeff Flocken. When I got the chance to speak with them and tell them how much I enjoyed their book, they asked me what my favorite part was and I blanked (or maybe I had one too many mimosas at breakfast, I can't really be sure) I wanted to tell them my favorite part was a section of the book titled, How to help: Working Together to Make a Difference. In this part of the book, they share things everyone can do to get involved. With an introduction by Jack Hanna, the whole book is truly inspiring and really makes you want to do something. So, here I am. I'm creating this blog in the hopes that you too will want to get involved. While this book and attending the Wildlife Expo are in part to thank, the dream of creating a platform where I can share information about all the foundations I support, people who inspire me, and causes I'm passionate about has really been brewing for quite some time. So much so that my very talented brother has helped me create a trailer for a prototype for a wildlife conservation television show! For all you networks and production companies out there, Keeping It Wild is looking for a good home and a pilot script and series bible is available upon request.
So my dear friends, my hope, my wish, my dream is that you are inspired to do something for our animal friends. It's easy to say you are an animal lover, so now is the time to walk your talk. All animals, both domestic and wild need our voices to speak up for them. Take a minute to sign a petition against animal testing, start a rally to protest animals at the circus, volunteer at a wildlife sanctuary, foster a shelter dog, send some funds to help out an organization that's fighting the good fight against animal injustice, but please, do SOMETHING! From the bottom of my heart, and from all the animals, thank you for taking the time to read, share, post and more importantly - act. May all your generosity and compassion come back to you a million times over.
