Actor Woody Harrelson Has an Important Message

The holiday season officially kicked off with Black Friday when millions of Americans

flocked to stores to spend their hard earned money. But as we prepare for the spending season, Woody Harrelson is urging consumers to start, “taking responsibility and spending money wisely.” This message is one that promotes consuming less and keeping in mind that when we do buy things, we must be aware of the environmental costs attached to them. After all, every time we purchase a product, we are implicitly condoning their practices and as Harrelson explains,”no company will continue a practice or product that you, the consumer, will not buy.” So in a lot of ways, this “gives you the ultimate power to change the world you live in.”

But how should we wield this power? Harrelson argues our dollars have real constructive power to create a world where men and women can live in, “peace and justice in a clean environment.” Our actions as individuals are more important than ever, especially considering the President-elect has expressed a complete lack of concern for our environment. Since we cannot rely on the government, as Harrelson says, “Yet again it is down to the common man,” to protect our planet and the living things that surround us.

We can do this in our day to day lives in a number of ways. For example, choosing to reduce the amount of plastic we use is a great place to start. We generate 300 million tons of plastic every year but only 15 percent of it gets recycled. When you consider that over 700 marine species are in danger of extinction because of this pollution, our choices become incredibly important.

We can also take major steps to protect the planet with our food choices. Currently, animal agriculture is responsible for 14.5 percent of the world’s carbon emissions (more than the transportation sector) and so by eliminating – or cutting down on – this aspect of our diets we can make a difference in the fight against climate change.

Reducing meat and dairy consumption can also help to combat hunger around the world.  Over 50 percent of the world’s arable land is either dedicated to growing livestock feed or grazing cattle. Animal agriculture also uses nearly a quarter of the world’s fresh water. And yet, 850 million people still go to bed hungry every night.

As Harrelson states: “This is the 21st century. If we use our resources wisely there is no reason why anyone shouldn’t have what they need. There’s no reason [for] people to be starving on our planet.” We can all use our everyday choices to do just that.

If you’re looking to start healing the planet with your choices, join One Green Planet’s #EatForThePlanet campaign and make your money count. We can no longer stand by and wait for our government to correct the wrongs in the world – it’s not going to. Instead, let’s act to create change  in our own lives!

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