Practicing Awareness Towards Human Sustainability

Using your Giving Nature through Practicing Awareness Towards Human Sustainability

What has sustained humankind throughout the millennia?  The most common school of thought favors our wits, cunning and use of tools as the answer. This we can call our adaptive nature. We tend to draw great pride and assurance from knowing we have it. But if our adaptive nature is the only reason for our success as a species than we are quickly becoming victims of it.

It is now inarguable that our planet is warming at an alarming rate. A sixth extinction is in full swing. There’s no guarantee that humankind won’t eventually be part of that extinction and all of it is a byproduct of our adaptive nature, more commonly referred to as human progress. That progress has provided much of the world with endless comforts and a bounty of food with few of us thinking about it’s cost other than the monetary exchange we make to acquire it. Now we know better. From fossil fuels to the food we eat, we know our consumption will kill us if we don’t make some changes.

Ever rising to the challenge, we humans now are evaluating what we can do to avoid our demise. Those among us with the best developed adaptive natures are attempting to come to the rescue. Responsive governance and technology are being urgently pursued and advocated. That’s good but there’s a real chance government policy changes and technological solutions won’t happen fast enough. Estimates are that Green House Gas emissions or GHG’s must be substantially reduced before 2030 if we are going to survive. It’s clear that our consumption behaviors must change and fast while our Adaptive Nature catches up.

And, as said, that includes what we eat. Agriculture is responsible for 18% of all Green House Gases with much of it coming from the raising and consumption of foods derived from ruminant farm animals like cows and sheep.

Yet there’s good news to be found here since we can make big impacts on reducing agriculture’s contribution to the problem just by choosing what we eat.

This could especially be true with the enhancement of regenerative, organic or hydroponic agricultural practices and Biochar systems thrown into the mix.

Regenerative  Agriculture turns farming into a carbon capturer instead of an emitter.  Organic Agriculture uses as much as 50% less energy than conventional agriculture while also prohibiting the use of harmful synthetic farming chemicals.

Hydroponics could be ramped up quickly, using as little as only a tenth of land and water. It would leave the earth’s waters to sustain us as well as leaving it to sustain the natural ecosystem intrinsic to our survival. Hydroponics would also provide an abundance of land for growing carbon capturing plants and trees. Most importantly, a big portion of our most nutritious food supply would be stable and protected from the ravages of climate change.

Another is Biochar that uses chicken waste as an energy source and converts waste into a material that can be used to filter and remove mercury from the environment as well as possessing the potential to reinvigorate Soil Carbon Sinks.

These are practices and technologies already developed and available to us.

But by far the seemingly  easiest route with the greatest impact would be if we all just stopped eating any animal derived foods at all.  We could just become vegetarian or vegan.  

Such diets require few to no farm animals and greatly reduces agriculture’s impact on green house gases. Besides who among us would rather not use an animal as a food source to satisfy our nutritional needs?

Yet even though more of us know now how healthy for us and the planet it is to eat this way surveys show that over a recent ten year period, the number of those committed to vegetarian-vegan diets are stagnant at between 2-5% of the entire U.S. population.

So what is stopping us?

Maybe we try to become vegan or vegetarian, but give up eventually because the diet seems too confining. We miss ice cream and hamburgers too much.  And perhaps some of us feel it’s all too daunting to consider any of it and just won’t even try.

Nutrition is a concern too, since there are certain nutrients we humans need that animal sourced foods provide more efficiently than plant foods.

All of this pushes us further away from doing something. If you’re not all in, it won’t make a difference.

No Meat, No Dairy, No This or That. Forget it.

We can’t afford to think like this.

As witnessed above, we must try to ween ourselves away from ruminant farm animal sourced foods as being a major part of our diets. 

We think your giving nature can play a part in leading us all out of this Human Food Dilemma. And we at Giving Nature think we can help you do that.

Here’s how.

The companion and equal partner to our adaptive nature is our giving nature. Accessing both holds the key to true change. 

A giving nature is best defined by all the good in the world we do for one another that’s often taken for granite.

We are born helpless and vulnerable with many of us leaving the world in the same way. We receive at critical moments, then, and at many times in between, the fruits of someone’s giving nature.

Without giving nature as a constant throughout human history there would be no wits, cunning or tools to use because we wouldn’t even exist. It’s what truly makes us human and is what most of us tap into without even thinking about it when it comes to caring for someone important to us. What could save us is what we’ve had all along.

If we build awareness to our current climate dilemma through following our giving nature, that being our compassion for each other, then we’ll make food choices that are better for all of us and feel positive and hopeful when we do.

We can become imbued with a sense of compassion and community rather than fear. When we eat, even if it is by ourselves, we will eat in communion with one another in a shared, giving experience.

We call this special kind of awareness PATHS or Practiced Awareness Towards Human Sustainability.

We can can look back over human history and present day to see how we’ve harnessed our giving nature to build awareness towards other human food dilemmas.  A good example is human kind using its giving nature toward building and focussing  awareness toward solving problems of massive starvation in certain parts of the world.  The results have often been the saving of  countless lives, particularly those most vulnerable in effected populations.

How to get started on your PATHS Journey.

Whatever the change is we want to accomplish, often our enthusiasm for change can lead us to jump too far down a particular path and can lead to feelings of failure. We abandon the goal. To avoid this we recommend the following approach while always conscious of our Giving Nature at every turn :

Beginning PATHS

First, before making food choices find a simple, helpful, compassionate phrase to keep in mind that will activate your giving nature. One might be, “When we eat, we eat for all” but one you’ve created that speaks from your own heart and accomplishes the same goal is even better.

Remember your adaptive nature is still needed, and doing a little research is important. You may know a little or a lot of what we’re talking about. Whatever the case, we have links throughout this page and others on our site that give you important foundations and reinforcement for making good choices on your PATHS journey.  you can also find all links to all topic pages on our home page sidebar. 

The best place to start is to know you’re Carbon Footprint, to determine how much Carbon Dioxide and other GHG’s your daily activity creates and what your personal effect upon global warming and climate change.

It’s ok if that isn’t enough right away to prompt a food purchase that reflects your personal PATHS.  Like most of us your PATHS journey will have many turns.  Trying to make hard and fast commitments to diet regimens will often set you up for failure.

So when you do begin making PATHS type purchases and your inconsistent that’s ok. The point is that you’ve begun thinking about it. You’ve become aware and that’s the most important of all steps.  Just keep actively use your giving nature to stimulate your  awareness and think about how you can make the world a better place for all of us just by being conscious of each food you choose.

The eggs you had for breakfast, the salad you had at lunch, the chicken you had for dinner are all part of a chosen Beginners PATHS diet.  But ice cream, burgers or steak, all of which come from ruminants, can be part of your beginners diet as long as you’re reducing or at least thinking about reducing them weekly.

Choosing PATHS

Now find the PATHS best for you. There are endless PATHS to chose from and you’ll likely have many.  Some are more advanced than others. The only hard and fast rule is that you make room for forgiveness on your journey. There is no such thing as failure.  With PATHS, Practicing your Awareness of what you are eating is the only requirement. Be sure to leave guilt out of your self evaluation when making your choice. If you follow this method were confident significant sustained change will happen.

Experimentation is an important part of PATHS and makes it into a food adventure rather than a diet discipline.

Say you choose an animal sourced food derived from non-ruminants like a Frittata or for chicken breast for lunch or dinner rather than a hamburger or Steak . If you do that just once a week you’ll make a huge impact you can be proud of!

It’s estimated that a cow needs nearly 7 times more nutrients and water to produce the same amount of nutritional human edible food a chicken can produce with one egg. That means much less grain which means much less land, pesticides, fertilizer and water were used when compared to a beef product. Coupled with the vast reduction of GHG’s released from a non ruminant and you’ve made a big difference with one simple lunch.

Also, when choosing your alternatives to ruminant foods and that choice is still derived from an animal, consider animal welfare as a guide to your purchase if such a choice is available. Better environmental practices are a natural part of Humanely raised animal derived foods. Being aware of how the animal was treated from which your food has come from helps build your awareness overall as it leads to greater understanding of the interdependence between us and all living things.

Exploring PATHS

Vegan and Vegetarian diets seem like rarified air to many of us and impossible to achieve. But even so we recommend at least trying to have a vegetarian meal once or a few times a week. You never know what you’ll experience that is surprisingly delicious and it’s amazing what an impact making just one choice can make.

Also, seek out organic and hydroponic produce when you can and try to include some in your diet. If you can’t find a particular item you’d like to try, ask the produce manager at your local market.  Through this exploring you’ll be building your intent and purpose towards making Human Sustainable food choices.

It’s through this type of practiced awareness we believe you and others can find PATHS towards a stronger and stronger Human Sustaining diet.

While practicing your awareness you’ll learn about exciting new ways to grow food and that even turn the destructive aspects of animal derived foods into a positive.

Please purchase our Giving Nature eggs and help us meet our goal to help make a more Human Sustaining Earth. When you visit us, you’ll learn about PATHS Recommended products for you to try on your PATHS Journey, along with promotions, and in what stores you can find them.

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