Earthsavers Keep Trying, No Matter What!

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

When people begin trying to do things to save Earth, they often go from one cause to another. They do not give up. One such person is former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Yao Ming. In Installment 231 of my blogs (November 20, 2014) I described how Yao Ming was making efforts to protect the African Elephant. These days Yao Ming is working with the conservation group WildAid to convince the people of China that they should stop serving shark fin soup. This destructive practice of killing an entire shark just for its fins (and throwing the mutilated shark -- often still alive -- back into the sea) is no different from killing an entire elephant just for its tusks.

Some would argue that the practice of serving shark fin soup is an important Chinese tradition.

However, just because something is considered to be a tradition by some does not necessarily make

it right! Slavery was a tradition in Brazil and the United States. But it had to go because is was immoral. There are many cruel, inhumane practices all over the world that are allowed to continue because some people feel they are important cultural practices. My own moral sense equates the killing of sharks for the sake of vanity with burning down a town because a known "bad guy" is in that town hiding somewhere among many innocent people -- or destroying a huge swath of rain forest in a mad dash to take out all its trees for their timber.

Yao Ming's celebrity status in China makes it easy for him to call attention to the plight not only of elephants, but also of sharks. Refusing to rest on his basketball laurels, Yao Ming is using his social clout to score some

Earthsaving points to go along with the many points he scored as an NBA player! Since I am clearly not so famous as Yao Ming, I feel wonderful knowing that while my words reach only a small number of people, Yao's face, deeds, and words are reaching great multitudes! Yao Ming is truly a friend of Earth!

Steve Walker Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.