You have the power

A powerful article that enforces the need for individuals to take a personal stand against the problems in our environment and be responsible for our world!

When I have children I want them to still have sharks to admire. I think I can pass on a bowl of sticky soup that will come out my backside anyway!

You Have the Power
Korea Times, Opinion, 01-04-2009, By Rick Ruffin

It seems people are always waiting for scientists, experts, policymakers and government to find the answers. However, the solutions to all our problems can be found at the personal level. Change begins with the individual.

Each year, around the globe, millions of sharks are killed. Their fins and tails are hacked off and they're dumped back into the sea to sink and die. The fins are dried and shipped to Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia.

These shark fins provide the gooey matrix from which highly popular shark fin soup is made. This dish is popular in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and wherever rich Chinese people gather. It is especially popular at Chinese weddings.

Because the soup is so popular, the shark population around Cocos Island ― a lush tropical Eden in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central America ― is rapidly being depleted. If we don't stop eating shark's fin soup, there will be no sharks left.

So let's take this opportunity to say goodbye to the sharks, the giant bluefin tuna, the African rhino endangered by the ivory trade, and thousands of other species of life as well, because unless we start changing our consumption habits radically, they will all disappear.