Green washing is becoming a serious problem that many people are not aware of. Meat producers such as Tyson have done this in the past with chicken. The company advertised the meat they produced, as “all natural” but was the exact opposite. In the Tyson factory, chickens were fed corn that has been genetically modified which is definitely not natural. Also, the chickens were treated with antibiotics and injected with artificial growth hormones to make them larger quicker. Tyson falsely labeled the packages of the chicken and advertised to the public that the chicken was free of antibiotics and was all-natural. The case against Tyson began in 2007 when the United States Department of Agriculture discovered the use of gentamicin and ionophores in the process of raising chickens. These are two antibiotics that prevent the chickens from dying raising the profitability of the company. Eventually, Tyson was forced to change the label of the packaging and also sued by competitors such as Perdue and Sanderson Farms Inc. Although most of the meat producers in the industry use antibiotics, they do not label them as “free of antibiotics.” Tyson’s deceptive marketing strategy falsely informs consumers which can subtract business from producers that are actually truthful in their labeling. The increased competition is not fair for ethical producers in the same industry but especially for the consumer spending money on products that are actually undesired. The specific example of Tyson green washing their products is very significant because Tyson is an enormous company being one of the worlds largest meat processors and the second largest chicken producer in the United States. Therefore, the general population is relying and trusting one company with their health and money. Green washing has many negative impacts to society and the population as a whole and needs to be broadcasted more to the public because not a lot of people are aware this is an issue.

http://www.naturalnews.com/024756_antibiotic_antibiotics_USDA.html

http://www.businesspundit.com/the-top-25-greenwashed-products-in-america/

A person can do a lot of various things to try to become more sustainable and to lower their overall carbon footprint here on earth. I have always tried to use minimal resources by trying to conserve the amount of water and electricity I used. I would do this by simply taking short showers and turning off lights and many other things as well. However, lately I have taken on the challenge of going vegan. I have previously only been eating fish occasionally that I had caught here locally and that has been hard to give up. But I have been vegan for around two solid months and I feel great. I have been mainly eating a lot of fruits, vegetables, and pastas. Going vegan actually lowers your carbon footprint greatly and can help you live a more sustainable lifestyle. This is because it takes a great amount of resources to produce just one pound of meat. Hundreds of gallons of water are used to feed the animal and to also water the food that the animal eats. So every part of the process of raising livestock uses a great deal of water and land to raise the animals. Therefore, eating no meat lowers your carbon footprint and helps the environment greatly. I could only imagine what would happen if the whole world lived off a plant based diet. A lot of land would be freed up and a lot less water would be used here on earth. Also, the amount of methane and nitrous oxide emissions from livestock would be lowered and climate change may be slowed down tremendously. I would encourage people to go vegan not only because it helps the earth but also because it is very healthy for you and makes you feel amazing!

There is an upcoming event that is being hosted by the USDA Forest Service and the Palmetto Conservation Foundation to help cleanup trash in the Francis Marion National Forest. This is the tenth year that it is being hosted and has been shown to be very successful in the past. The event starts at 8 A.M on February 4th at the Francis Marion National Forest Headquarters which is located at 2967 Steed Creek Road in Huger. It is one of the most popular cleanup events in the lowcountry and is also a very fun activity to participate in. To register for this event and help cleanup our National Forest you can either go online at palmettopride.org and fill out a very short form or you can call 877-725-7733. Over the 10 years that this event has been going on there has been a total of 237 tons of trash removed and around 2100 volunteers! Therefore, this event is extremely helpful of removing all the trash that has been thrown into the forest by human beings with little respect for nature. The Francis Marion National Forest is very large and consists of around 260,000 acres of land. This is a very large area which makes it harder to keep clean especially when there is frequent travel from many hunters, campers, and hikers. In the past, illegal dumpsites, abandoned cars, and furniture have been removed from the forest. In addition to the actual clean up there is also a lunch held afterwards for volunteers. I hope to see y’all there!