THE VEGETARIAN BLOG

This is my little homage to the New Year. Have fun. Go vegan! And have a great cruelty-free 2009.

With London being completely dead during the Christmas period, I got a bit lazy too and it’s been a few days without posting. But let’s make up for it right now: I got an email from The Point, which is a campaigning social network, where Make Law No Animal Testing got the number of people it was looking for (100) and so it can start fundraising. Here’s the link: click in and let’s help put an end to barbarism in the name of bogus science.

Elsewhere, Alternet has an incredible article, one of the best of 2008 pieces the website is running again, about veganism. Author Kathy Freston focuses on the protein myth, which the dead flesh industry, aided by misinformed doctors, loves to resort to in its desperate attempts to defame a plant-based diet. Read it – it’s very good.

For more tips on how to eat well – and the post-Season period is ideal for that, with all that New Years Resolution business going on – check out this article on the Examiner. Great tips on veggies and fruits.

 Photo credit: P. Wallerstein

I occasionally receive updates from Marine Animal Rescue (MAR) in California about one of their good deeds and today was one of those days. I always like the way they word their emails, which always include a photo of one of their rescuees. This is what they told me today:

The young sea lion pictured stranded himself today (23/12) in Santa Monica. Trembling, most likely due to hypothermia, the skinny yearling wanted nothing to do with the ocean. Skinny seals and sea lions have a difficult time warming their bodies in the water. Sometimes sea lions will float with one flipper exposed to the air and sunlight hoping to warm themselves. If that doesn’t work, they’ll strand themselves out of the water to warm their bodies. Many of the pinnipeds that strand should be left undisturbed and others, like the sea lion rescued today are in need of human assistance and must be rescued. Surfers and joggers running by the sea lion didn’t bother him at all. MAR successfully rescued the sea lion and immediately transported the young animal to the care center for medical attention.

What a cutie and I have to say, this sea lion warmed my heart today and I wish him and all other sentient creatures in the world a happy time, for Christmas and for ever!

One of the main Brazilian newspapers reported today that ranchers account for 76% of forest clearing in the Amazon, according to new, more reliable data. But there’s no point panicking and not doing anything about it: give up on all animal products and you’ll be doing your share to help mitigate the human impact on the environment. Vegans have been saying how addiction to flesh is unsustainable in our planet with its dwindling resources, and every now and then official published data confirms this. So … over to the latest announcement from the European Vegetarian and News Alliance:

More hunger in the world calls for more ethical living

FAO: Number of hungry people rises to 963 million (9 December 2008)

For people with compassion and a sense of responsibility the FAO warning that another ‘40 million people have been pushed into hunger this year ‘came as a shock.

How could that happen given that our international leaders are so committed to universal values: In December 2008, the UN celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, and also a “UN Climate Change Conference” took place in Poland. Only in September 2008, world leaders discussed the Millennium Development Goals with the aim of reversing “the grinding poverty, hunger and disease affecting billions of people”. Last year the World Food Programme (WFP) gave assistance to 86.1 million people in 80 countries.

Yet the world hunger problem is exploding. Almost one billion people are now affected, even though the veg protein given to the beef herd alone would feed them all, and many more.

A grim scenario
Without a radical change of course, the future is looking dark: The FAO expects that the demand for feed will double by 2050 because of growing meat and dairy consumption, WWF warns that “two planets” would be required to sustain current lifestyles within a generation”, and only very few countries do remain within their “biocapacity”.

So there will be more suffering if we don’t stop living beyond our means. Even a new kind of colonialism may develop when affluent countries satisfy their meat and biofuel needs by buying up and exploiting poor far-away regions, pushing local populations into poverty and starvation and polluting their soil, water and air.

Vegetarianism against eco-crunch
The problem of world hunger is not a natural disaster because, right now, Mother Earth is still able to provide for us all. A wisely managed agriculture must at least secure this status-quo. But that’s not enough! Jazzed-up and questionable old FAO concepts (cloning, genetical engineering, more fertilizers etc) are obviously not suitable to overcome new challenges. We need a fresh outlook, based on affordability, sustainability and fairness. Environmental destruction by the meat industry must be addressed and stopped.

IPCC chief: “Don’t eat meat”
In a press conference in Paris last January, the Indian scientist Rajendra Pachauri highlighted “the importance of lifestyle changes”. It’s now high time for FAO’s Dr. Diouf and his scientists to listen to their UN colleague and Nobel Prize-winner Pachauri!

Vegetarianism is a beneficial gate into a more humane future: It helps the hungry. It helps the environment. It helps us all.

And please sign this petition asking the European Union to stop subsidizing livestock businesses.

This press release came through my news wire this week and I thought it deserved being transmitted verbatim….

Earlier this week the first fan-managed, motion picture studio, Green Light Flix announced that it is now recruiting 50,000 vegetarians and vegans to join their “Producers Club.” Blending activism and entertainment, Green Light Flix members help develop and produce media, such as feature films, videos, podcasts, webisodes, and more.

“Vegetarians, animal rights activists and environmentalists have a very rare and often negative representation in cinema and television. Our mission is to change that. We want to show activists in a positive light while entertaining and educating audiences,” said Dawn Black, co-founder of Green Light Flix.

Green Light Flix fills a critical gap in the entertainment industry. For the first time, a community of environmentalists, animal rights activists, and vegetarians will be able to help choose, promote and have an impact on media that appeal to them. Fans get the opportunity to discover new storytellers while getting insider access and VIP perks for their contributions.

“There are millions of vegetarians and vegans around the world, and many of us are insulted by being portrayed in films and TV shows as pale, 85 pound hippies that look sickly and need a murdered farm animal’s carcass and dairy products to feel better,” said Scott Cardinal, GreenLight Flix co-founder and Director of Development. “Environmentalists and animal rights activists are usually portrayed as kooks, too. Imagine heroic films like ‘Rocky,’ dramatic films like ‘The Breakfast Club,’ romantic comedies like ‘Serendipity,’ and more - except the main characters are obviously animal rights activists and vegetarians or vegans. That is what we plan to do. The positive examples would do more to promote our positive lifestyle than all the horrific slaughterhouse videos on You Tube.”

Green Light Flix’ 2009 slate includes “V-Day,” a forward-thinking documentary about what the world would be like in the future if everyone was vegan; “GreEntreprenuer,” which is interviews with owners of earth-friendly businesses; “Guy Going Green,” about a 355 lb. man changing his life for the better; a series of cooking DVDs; and a few dramas and comedies with characters that are admirable animal rights activists, vegetarians, vegans, and environmentalists.

“Producing and distributing feature films and videos can be a great form of activism. Finally, animal rights, vegetarian, vegan and eco activists have an opportunity to join in on this while supporting the causes they believe in,” claims Board Advisor Steve Silberberg.

The projects are financed by Membership dues which turn Fans into Producers and investors. Once the productions are done, Limited Edition DVDs are distributed to those same Member whose annual dues financed them. Memberships start at $25 a year. Members will help make major business decisions including logo design, web design, film development, marketing and distribution, etc. Members will also receive VIP perks, such as a free member T-shirt, DVDs, 25% off all products, and more. Green Light Flix will donate 10% of net profits to animal rescue, rights, welfare organizations selected by its members.

“Many animal rights groups produce footage of slaughterhouses and animal cruelty, which most people do not want to watch. While this information needs to be made public so people can learn the truth, we also need positive videos showing what the world could be like without dependence on animal products. Green Light Flix will do that, and we are excited to support them.” said Jodi Chemes, VP Youth Outreach, Florida Voices for Animals.

You sometimes just have to gape at the cheek some people have. Altnet reports that The Journal of the American Medical Association in June published an article titled “The Recommended Dietary Allowance of Protein: A Misunderstood Concept.” However …

In its Oct. 15 issue, it had to print a correction stating that author Sharon L. Miller was “formerly employed by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association” and author Robert R. Wolfe received money from the Egg Nutrition Center, National Dairy Council, National Pork Board and Beef Checkoff through the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

Is resorting to such low attempts of misleading the public a sign that the meat industry is worried? Perhaps, but I also think it just reflects the modus operandi of an industry that lives off the exploitation of animals. What do you think?

Full article +

I just wanted to point you to this thought-provoking, honest article written by Lisa Franzetta, Animal Legal Defence Fund’s director of Communications, in which she comments on this New York Times piece about the tragic link between livestock and carbon emissions.

The [NYT] article doesn’t focus at all on what this means in terms of the net increase in suffering among sensitive, sentient creatures who share the planet with us (though I hesitate to suggest we truly “share” the Earth with the billions of animals who are living and dying as, in effect, our slaves). Frankly, figures like this are enough to lull me into the despair that all our work for animals is merely a Band-Aid on a massive, hemorrhaging wound of unspeakable suffering.”

Franzetta makes a sobering, articulate analysis of the incomprehensible refusal by the media and, even more alarmingly, environmental pressure groups (and Al Gore), to acknowledge animal suffering in the hands of producers and the ecological disaster that animal farming represents (not to mention the health hazard). Read it and tell other people about it. And if you’re not a vegan become one right now.

This is what I call a conscientious doctor. The American medical researcher Neal Barnard said he makes no apologies for promoting a vegan-style diet in New Zealand whose farmers rely on the world eating meat and dairy foods for their livelihood, according to this report.

Dr Barnard was in Wellington to address Victoria University students, and told NZPA that obesity and “terrible” eating habits increasingly meant that people in affluent countries were facing a rising tide of adult-onset diabetes and premature deaths. His research showed that type-2 diabetics could “repair” their insulin function by cutting meat and dairy from their diet, and slashing their intake of food oils. “The low-fat vegan diet is more effective at treating diabetes than the typical diet or oral medications,” he said. “I want people to stop focusing on how much pasta, how much glucose, and how much rice they eat. Instead, I want to take the grease out of the diet. This approach could put a huge dent in the diabetes epidemic.”

Over 175,500 New Zealanders have congenital diabetes (type-1) or the adult-onset form (type-2). Dr Barnard described the illness as “the disease of our time”. It really is great to see a doctor being brave enough to tell people to avoid getting ill instead of telling them how to get treated while keeping the bad habits that caused the problem in the first place.

Elsewhere a CNN expert said a vegan diet is great, although her concern with protein is disproportionate. She’s right about B12, the only nutrient vegans need to supplement.

Yesterday was World Animal Rights Day and all over the world people were sending out the message that our treatment of non-humans has to improve and they must be included in the moral sphere that humans currently exist. A lot of people work incredibly hard to make it happen and one of them is Lorri Bauston (pictured), who co-founded Farm Sanctuary in 1986 and founded Animal Acres in 2005. Bauston is a true animal rights heroine, whose life is dedicated to the cause. Here you can read an interview with Ms Bauston.

You can help too.

How about signing this petition that asks president-elect Barack Obama to ppoint an animal-friendly Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of the Interior? Obama is working to fill key positions in his administration and these two roles have a tremendous impact on the treatment of animals and the enforcement of a broad range of laws - including those covering puppy mills, animal fighting, and wildlife. Among the candidates being considered for these two positions, there are several who have taken a strong stance on animal protection, but Obama needs to hear from the people that this is what they want – no hunters, please!

Talk about a complete lack of pedagogical sense. Following a year-long campaign to persuade Canandaigua Academy (a high school in upstate New York) to eliminate a project in which students butchered chickens in an ecology course, United Poultry Concerns last week learned that the Education Department has instructed Canandaigua Academy administrators to stop the slaughter project under NYS Education Law, Section 809 - Humane Treatment of Live Vertebrate Animals, which prohibits studies that employ “termination of life.” The surviving chicks of the last batch to be raised and killed were taken to Farm Sanctuary.

Previous birds were not so lucky: In December 2007, students illegally slaughtered 21 chickens in Eric Cosman’s ecology class, despite the pleading of Canandaigua activist, Joel Friedman, urging school administrators to show mercy and spare the birds. It was subsequently disclosed that under NYS Education Law, Section 809, a school seeking to harm and kill animals must submit a waiver application to the Education Department for review. The department promptly suspended the project, following a letter from attorney Elinor Molbegott, legal counsel for the Humane Society of New York, on August 5, 2008, advising the department of the project, which had not been applied for or approved.

The school district submitted the waiver application, a copy of which was obtained by Molbegott under a Freedom of Information Law request. The application showed that the school offered no legal justification for killing the chickens. The goals set forth did not meet waiver approval standards, and the application was denied. At this time, it appears that the Canandaigua Academy chicken slaughter project is dead for good.

“United Poultry Concerns is deeply gratified that the Education Law protecting live vertebrate animals in the State of New York was upheld,” said UPC President Karen Davis. “It gives confidence to the humane community, which increasingly is all of society, that laws protecting sentient creatures from preventable harm are enforced, and that the animals themselves, be they chickens or dogs, are gathered within our circle of compassion where they belong.”

I’m glad about the outcome of this terrible story and I wonder how the hell all this came to happen in the first place. I mean, how could school staff even think about killing animals in the classroom?