Save Your Prayers—These Posts Will Inspire You to Act for the Amazon
The Amazon rainforest fires were all anyone could talk about last week and rightfully so. Our planet is on fire, and the question “What are you doing about it?” has never been more important. Some folks are acting in the best way possible—find out who and how.
#PrayForAmazonas and similar hashtags dominated Twitter. Reactions included shock, fury, dejection, and—most importantly—motivation. But crying over the fires in the Amazon rainforest and beyond is useless. Instead, take a page from these Twitter users’ book:
Follow the example of food personality and famed chef Eddie Huang: Go vegan.
Rose Wyles, “The Vegan Nutritionist” on Twitter, is right: Leather production is fueling the Amazon rainforest fires, too. Pledge to be leather-free!
Take that, Arby’s.
Meanwhile, on Instagram …
… Huang asked his more than 360,000 followers to join him in going vegan …
… animal activist Harley Quinn Smith urged her nearly 250,000 followers to go vegan, too …
… Hollywood megastar and Beyond Meat investor Leonardo DiCaprio called on his nearly 5 million followers to quit eating beef …
… other activists chimed in …
… and influencers and artists alike used their skills for the greater good:
Mainstream Media
Conversations abounded outside social media, too:
“[I]t takes only a few minutes of investigation to learn that there is one overwhelming reason the Amazon is burning—to clear ground for cattle ranching and for the cultivation of soy, the vast majority of which goes not into tofu but into animal feed, including for fast-food chicken,” Farhad Manjoo wrote in an op-ed in The New York Times.
“The Amazon Is Burning Because the World Eats So Much Meat,” read one CNN headline.
“Feeling Sad About the Amazon Fires? Stop Eating Meat,” another headline—this time from Vice—aptly stated.
Aside from referencing the Amazon rainforest fires, all these sentiments have one important thing in common: a clear-cut call to stop eating animal-derived foods.
Since 1970, cattle ranching has caused up to 91% of the world’s deforestation. It’s also the single biggest cause of deforestation in the Amazon, accounting for 80% of it.
What are you doing about it?
You Can Help Save the Planet
If you go vegan today, in one year, you will have saved about 10,950 square feet of rainforest—not to mention nearly 200 animals. Stop talking about the Amazon rainforest fires and start doing something, instead:
Already vegan? Good on you! You can still help, though. Click below to help your friends and family make the transition to animal-free eating.
