How Much Water is Needed?

現在請看以下的數據：

99,935 litre 有多少？

• 如果我每天喝8杯水(2 litre)，我大概需要136.9年才會喝完。
• 如果人的平均壽命是65，2 磅的牛肉所需的水足夠2個人喝一輩子。

99,935 litre 的水就是這麽多。

一包砂糖. 十萬里路

以下的故事讓我對放在面前的食物和global warming有了新的了解:

"To give an example of how ridiculous our global food distribution has become, California's Center for Urban Education About Sustainable Agriculture points to the saga of sugarcane.

Imagine you are sitting in a Hawaiian coffee shop pouring a packet of refined white sugar into your coffee mug. Would you know that the sugar you are about to drink was first processed in a plant across the street? But since the sugarcane was still in the pale brown raw stage, it was then shipped to the C&H (California and Hawaii) Refinery on the outskirts of San Francisco, turning it into snowy-white fine-grain sugar. Now it had to be packaged into little sealed paper packets for coffee shops, so the sugar then traveled across the U.S. to New York, where it was packaged and eventually distributed to restaurants around the nation, including the coffee shop in Hawaii. Ultimately, that package of sugar made a 10,000 mile round-trip processing journey before landing in your coffee mug."

一包砂糖. 十萬里路. 誰會想到?

Reference: Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall, Gary McAvoy and Gail Hudson

"高危"水果

根據Harvest for Hope一書, 以下水果最容易受殺蟲劑污染:

• Raspberries
• Apples 蘋果
• Peaches 桃
• Cantaloupes
• Cherries 櫻桃
• Celery 芹菜
• Green Beans
• Grapes and raisins 葡萄
• Potatoes 馬鈴薯
• Spinach 菠菜
• Tomatoes 番茄
• Winter squash
• Strawberries 草莓

如果想減低風險, 該書建議消費者購買有機產品.

Reference: Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall, Gary McAvoy and Gail Hudson

無錫的純淨水「瓶」危機

無錫除了有臭水危機，也有純淨水危機。不對，應該是純淨水「瓶」危機。

• 用以製造純淨水瓶的通常是一種對環境有傷害性的東西，PET(polyethylene terephthalate)
• 要製造1 kg的PET需要17.5 kg的水，比裝在裏面的水還要多
• 當美國2002年膠水瓶的回收再造率為10%，我們有理由相信無錫的情況會更糟

好了，到這大家都應該明白純淨水「瓶」危機是什麽了罷？

Reference: Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall, Gary McAvoy and Gail Hudson

Why Should We Bother?

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall:

"Why should we bother about the way animals are treated? Does it matter? After all, there are a lot of humans who are treated very badly. Shouldn't we try to help them first? Of course, we must try to help suffering human beings. But suppose I ask you why? Why does it matter if fellow human beings suffer? They belong to the same species as you and me, so that we know that they have feelings like our own. We know that they can feel pain, as we do. We know that they can feel sadness, fear, despair, loneliness, boredom. Well, so can chimpanzees. And so can dogs and cats and pigs and oh! so many others..."

牠們有沒有生命？

請看以下報章節錄:

• 「把公雞養至160天，待性功能成熟，搓揉公雞性器官即可採精。此後每隔2至3天採精一次，公雞壽命可維持1年。若飼養日數不足便開始採精，公雞壽命會縮短數月至半年不等。」
• 「把母雞養至150天，待性功能成熟，翻開母雞性器，注入0.25ml精液至輸卵管。母雞授精後，未來5至7天產下的雞蛋都是授精蛋，可孵化成小雞，此後每隔5天重複授精工序。」
• 「利用燈光模擬日照，令母雞誤以為白天，增加產蛋量。但母雞始終要休息，若模擬日照超過17小時，會加速母雞勞累致死。」

雞可能沒有小狗小貓可愛，但，天呀！牠們不是機器，不是爲了人類產精生蛋才存在的機器呀！

我們是不是忘了什麽？


One million calves are raised for veal annually in the United States—intensively confined in individual stalls so small they can't turn around during their entire 16- to 18-week lives before slaughter. (The Humane Society of the United States)

Reference: 明報《萬般皆是人 半點不由雞》2007年5月28日

這的確是個難題...

據我一個住在爭產風水師附近的朋友說，一眾有聲討空氣污染的報社的採訪車都採取「停車不熄匙」的策略。我這朋友每次經過都敲窗叫他們熄匙，每次他們都會順應如流 - 暫時 - 待我朋友走遠了才從新啓動。

現在天氣這麽熱，熄了匙就沒空調，這樣子日復日的焗sauna，記者們不是很慘嗎？這的確是個難題。

從各種調查中，我們知道很多人都同意環保的重要性，可是說是這麽說，如果環保措施會帶來不便，那又另作別論。

想要乾淨的環境但又不想付出，這的確是個難題。