Amazon is burning and my kids are crying

Have you heard about the fires raging in the AMAZON!!??? No, not the Amazon company's warehouse, but the actual Amazon.

What!? A place that until recently could never really be on fire because it was too wet. However mostly due to deforestation which brings droughts as well as a myriad of other issues, the Amazon has been decimated. Along with the animals and people. 

So you ask, what does this have to do with my burger? 

The deforestation has been tied to the meat and SOY industry. Some say that the fires were actually set by local farmers in order to make way for more farmland to either raise cattle for our burgers or to plant soy. 

My kids were in tears because they "love the Amazon" despite having ever been there, they just know of it from the movie Rio (a cartoon about birds in the Amazon). It made for an interesting conversation about the state of the world and what we can do. 

We lit some incense and said some words in the wind to send to the animals, people and plants/land. In hopes that we will be forgiven for what humanity has done.

We talked about eating more local vegetables and when we eat meat, to only eat from our butcher who we know only uses local animals on his family’s farm. We are lucky for that.

So what can you do?

a) Cut down on the meat and the soy products. If you need those proteins, know where it is coming from. How it is treated, etc.

b) support your local farmers

c) become vegan all together (but exclude soy)

d) sign petitions that support farms that use ethical practices

e) stay aware and engaged

f) always look for ways to help

We have way more power than we believe. We have to show the corporations that we value life, the earth (one and the same), animals, water, people more than we value a good burger.

Refuse to pay for this type of destruction.