Think about it, has there ever been a factory built for the sole purpose of poluting our air or our waters? No of course not, factorys are build to help people get what they want. As the demands for that want go up, so do the pressures on the factory to produce more, produce faster, and produce cheaper. That is when the poluting begins. To give you a perfect example of this, look at Nike.
Nike, has long been mine, along with millions of other's favorite running shoe company. Infact, it is the world's leading athletic shoe and sport's apparel supplier. It was founded by Phillip Knight (an University of Oregon track athlete), and his legendary Coach Bill Bowerman. They got their start selling shoes that Bowerman had designed to help his athletes on the track. Very humble beginnings for a company that has become one the biggest and most succesful enterprises in history. What they have accomplished is truly inspiring!
So it came as a huge surprise when I read the following story on Greenpeace.com
Greenpeace investigation exposes contaminated supply chain with strong US connection
While the US-based companies behind reputable global brands like Adidas, Nike, Reebok, and Timberland appear to believe that Amazon sources are excluded from their products, our investigations expose for the first time how their blind consumption of raw materials fuels deforestation and climate change.Greenpeace’s undercover investigation into the Brazilian cattle industry has exposed the many convoluted steps in the complex global trade in leather and beef products from part-Brazilian-government-owned corporations Bertin, JBS and Marfrig. We have identified hundreds of ranches belonging to these companies that are within the Amazon rainforest and supplying cattle to slaughterhouses in the Amazon region. Where we were able to obtain mapped boundaries for ranches, satellite analysis reveals that significant supplies of cattle come from ranches active in recent and illegal deforestation. Trade data also reveal trade with ranches using modern-day slavery. Additionally, one Bertin slaughterhouse receives supplies of cattle from an illegal ranch occupying Indian Lands. These slaughterhouses in the Amazon region ship their hides and beef to company facilities thousands of miles away in the south of Brazil for further processing before export. In a number of cases, additional processing takes place in import countries before the final product reaches the market. In effect, criminal or “dirty” supplies of cattle are being “laundered” through this supply chain to an unwitting global market.The demand for leather means more Amazon rainforest cleared to graze cattle which can end up in brands like Nike, Adidas, and Timberland. Take action now >> Ask Nike, Adidas, Timberland, Reebok, Clark’s and Geox to refuse to use leather that is destroying the Amazon.
Read entire story at grrenpeace.org/usa/news/slaughtering-the-amazon
This just shows you how damaging our want can truly be. They are not destroying the Amazon for the fun of it, or at least I hope they're not. The Amazon is being destroyed to keep up with the world's demand for leather - for more. So what is the answer? How do we stop all this? The answer is... WANT. We must want to stop Global Warming. We must want to live in a sustainable way. We must want to leave the earth better than we found it. We have already shown how destructive our want can be. Don't you think its time to show the real power of want? Lets unleash the power of want... the power of WANTING TO CHANGE!!
"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."
-Alan Cohen
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