Let's Talk About the Bottom Line

Image credited to Genius Works 2009

Hey there everyone! As a recent graduate I often get asked what my degree is in and what I've noticed is that almost every single time that I respond with sustainability studies, I get asked what that entails. It seems that almost everyone is aware that sustainability focuses on helping the planet, but not much else and there is so much more to it than that. So today I would like to focus on one of the driving principles of the sustainability movement, the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). This may sound familiar and that's not surprising, as a capitalistic society most of our businesses and social norms gear towards profit or making money above all else. That's what the traditional bottom line is all about. The TBL still incorporates the economic portion of society, because regardless of our preferences, money still makes the world go round figuratively speaking. This is where it takes a turn away from the old model, in that it focuses on making sure that the environment is not destroyed or contaminated in the pursuits of these profits while also ensuring that no people are being harmed or exploited as well. A good way to remember the portions of the TBL is to remember these three words, people, planet and prosperity. Once we start addressing these three factors in all of our societal pursuits, we will be well on our way to forming a sustainable society.

Now I know this sounds like an incredibly difficult thing to incorporate into our society and you're right. I'm not here to lie to you. This will be difficult at first but anything worthwhile takes work to achieve. There are plenty of ways that we can work together to make this into a societal norm, the best is to educate yourself and not just classically. We need to become emotionally, socially and politically intelligent. Another suggestion is to take small steps towards a sustainable lifestyle, as the cliché goes, Rome wasn't built in a day. Well good habits take a while to build as well. Finally, get politically active. We may only be able to take baby steps, but by making sure we get educated, competent and caring people into positions of power we can make great leaps and bounds. So please, consider the benefits of a society that cares not only about being wealthy, but being healthy, smart and compassionate as well.

Thank you all so much for taking a look, I hope you enjoyed it or it at least made you think. I would love to hear what you all want to learn about, if you think of anything please leave a comment below. If you would like to pass along any constructive criticism or just ideas and suggestions please comment as well. Until next time, peace out!

The Timon and Pumbaa Diet

Image credited to cartoonbucket.com

  

                                                Image credited to thegrowingproject.com  

Hey there everyone! I would hope most of you have seen the Lion King by now, and if not go treat yourself to it immediately. All watched and re-watched? Great, so you all remember how Timon and Pumbaa would chow down on surprisingly tasty looking bugs. This may seem like a poor diet and you would be right, but not for the reasons you're thinking. As it turns out eating bugs is just fine, even good for you. Timon and Pumbaa just need to get some fruits and veggies in there and they'll be great.

All jokes aside, it is very true that bugs are good for us. The concern I hear most often is that folks believe insects contain very little protein since they're so tiny. The good news is that these little guys are packed with nutrients, let's compare common house cricket protein contents to that of beef. the average protein content in common crickets is approximately 21 grams of protein per 100g of cricket. Our bovine buddies contain approximately 26g per 100g of beef. Right now you may be wondering why I presented this when the cricket loses, well this is because according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, American adults eat nearly twice as much protein as necessary on a daily basis. For most males this means around 102g of protein per day for men and nearly 70g for women. The healthy range, unless you are a professional athlete, is about 56g for men and 46g for women. To top it off, most insects contain other important substances for our bodies such as high iron content, amino acids, vitamins A and B12, plus many other combinations depending on the type of insect you decide to chow down on.

Now there are many other benefits to eating cricket over cow. It takes many times less water, food and space to raise the same amount of insects then it does for cattle. This means by switching to insects, or even just reducing beef consumption, we will have more room to build, live and grow more food for our fellow humans. Now I do apologize to any cow lovers reading this, I know it seems like I'm picking on them a little, but of all of our protein sources, beef is the one that is the most harmful to the environment. Don't get me wrong, I love a good burger more than almost any other food and insects still kind of gross me out, so this is something we need to do together as a team!

Well that's about all for me today, I really hope you all found this informative. If you have any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions for my next topic, please leave a comment or contact me through social media. Thanks again and peace out!