The Sloth Club: Slow is Beautiful
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.22.06
We have been meaning to get around to writing about the Sloth club for awhile, since we learned about them through Candle Night, but you know how it is. It seems that a few years ago Australian activist Anja Light was in Equador and rescued a sloth from a cage in a kitchen and was moved to tears. He set up an organization to emulate the sloth- an animal that moves slowly, consumes few resources and is vegetarian. It is "an eco-movement towards new lifestyle". Sloth Club members are into the Slow Food movement and have opened Cafe Slow in Japan, which reportedly has prompt service. You can learn more from the ::Japanese website (last updated Nov, 2004) and in ::Metropolis
"The core of the Sloth Club concept is to actually 'become' a sloth. The aim is to emulate some of the basic behaviors of the sloth in order to find a way to live in harmony with the earth.
So what does it mean to be 'sloth'? Is a sloth lazy and dirty? Is a sloth stupid and slow? Ask yourself the question: Is a sloth really sloth-like? You may be truly surprised to find out how they live.
We now realize that most humans (especially in rich countries) are usually busy living in ways that destroy the planet - we want to promote the concept of 'doing' less, living simply, minimising our destructive impact and finding joy in our life without consuming an endless chain of meaningless things. The three-toed Sloth may be our greatest teacher in how to do this. It is also one of the animals that cannot live without the primary forest. Maybe the best way to save the Sloth is to become sloth-like. "
I'm all for the idea, but damn if I don't find sloths to be creepy as all get out.
OMG there soooooooo cute lol :P
OMG there soooooooo cute lol :P