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This beautiful ring-tailed lemur is sunbathing, which they frequently do sitting upright. Her posture almost looks human-like, with her arms resting on her knees. Unfortunately these animals are critically endangered due to habitat loss and poaching/hunting. It is estimated that there are only about 2,000 of these animals left in the wild. When it comes to habitat loss, according to the United Nations, it’s the LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY that is the largest user of land on the planet and the leading driver of deforestation. With the rapid increase in our human population over the past 50 years, there has been a corresponding explosion in demand for environmentally devastating animal foods, the mass production of which weighs immensely in driving every major environmental crisis we now face — including climate change, water pollution and water depletion, land use, and — as alluded to above — deforestation, loss of habitats and species extinctions. It is a truly tragic time when our human activities are causing the rapid destruction of the natural world, including the extinction of species, literally wiping out millions of years of a unique evolutionary history. We are currently in the midst of the Sixth Mass Extinction, which scientists have concluded has already begun. The last (fifth) mass extinction event was roughly 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs disappeared. Although we humans have a seemingly harmless appearance, with our ever growing numbers and consumption patterns, we have become as deadly as a meteor. What can you can do immediately to help address this crisis? To start, abstaining from animal foods is one of the most impactful positive actions you can take as an individual, both to help restore our environment, protect what’s left of the planet’s biodiversity, and (of course) to withdraw your support for the completely unnecessary exploitation and death inflicted upon countless billions of sentient animals every year. |