Earthfirst is one of the few green websites I know that tends to take a more clear-cut approach to the thorny, almost taboo issue of environmentalism and meat-eating. For some reason, many greens avoid the issue altogether, which is strange considering the well-know impact that animal farming has on the planet, being responsible for more greenhouse emissions than transportation. But back to Earthfirst, the website published earlier this week an article analysing whether being a meat-eating environmentalist is a contradiction in terms and it pretty much said, yes, it is, so kudos to Earthfirst for that.
Eating meat isn’t inherently un-green or unnatural. Yes, humans have been eating meat for centuries, yadda yadda yadda. But it’s been a long time since we raised and slaughtered our own food animals on our own land, which had a far smaller carbon footprint. People in industrialized countries (especially the U.S.) eat way more meat than they used to, as well. Demand is growing, so the number of factory farms is growing, too. Does mean that free-range, grass-fed, organic meat is necessarily the answer to all of these pressing problems? Not exactly. Part of the problem with ‘free-range’ meat is that these animals require even more land than conventionally raised livestock.
Whichever way you choose to look at animal farming, there are problems - and we haven’t yet mentioned the ethical problems of confining, inflicting pain, transporting and killing the animals that will end up on the table for the pleasure of a person who gives no thought to the process behind a piece of flesh. So, no, an environmentally-aware person cannot eat meat unless they choose to ignore the big problem that meat as well as eggs and dairy represent. Those who wish to be green at the table should go vegan.
Good news for animals abandoned in a roadside zoo in Lebanon. After a month of negotiating with the owner, Animals Lebanon was finally able to close down what it calls ‘one of the worst zoos in Lebanon and give the animals the care they so desperately need’. On Friday, 13 February, the organization rescued nearly 40 animals.
Now Animals Lebanon need help now to care for these animals. They all need a place to live, whether in a sanctuary, rehabilitated and returned to nature, or adopted into homes, with vet care and proper food.
The moving video below shows the appaling state the animals found themselves in and raises serious questions about the legality of such operations. Zoos are nothing but animal prisons and they should be closed. Their only educational purpose is to teach children that animals can be kept behind bars and used as humans wish. They are, in short, speciesist enterprises of exploitation.
A series of pro-vegetarian spots started being broadcast on MTV as of yesterday, and will run for five weeks. Produced by Compassion Over Killing, the adverts appeal to the youth market and focus on exposing the cruelty of animal farming, telling viewers exactly where animal products come from. Recent research shows that vegetarianism is growing faster among teenagers than other groups so it’s a good idea to target this type of audience. Says COK’s Erica Meier:
Our 2009 MTV Pro-Veg Ad campaign launches tonight: viewers around the country will see, perhaps for their first time, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the cruel world of factory farming—and they’ll be further directed to visit our website TryVeg.com for more information.
To watch the adverts, click here. I think they are very good.
The Globe and Mail carries a report about a study published in the February issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, which has concluded that a vegan diet “is easier to stick to than you might think”. The study was carried out by researchers from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the George Washington University and the University of Toronto, and assigned 99 people with Type 2 diabetes to follow either a low-fat vegan diet or a conventional diabetes diet for 18 months.
The vegan diet dramatically cut consumption of cholesterol, fat and saturated fat and increased fibre intake compared to the conventional diabetes diet. People on the vegan diet lost weight, lowered their blood sugar and LDL cholesterol, and reduced the need for diabetes medication. Among people whose diabetes medications remained unchanged, those following a vegan diet achieved better blood-sugar control as indicated by bigger improvement in a blood test that measures hemoglobin A1c.
I welcome studies like this becomes it further cements the idea that veganism, besides being more ethical than a diet based on animal parts, rewards its adepts with better health. It may take some getting used to as we are, in most cases, programed to eat animal products, but the transition process goes rather fast and I can say from experience that the very thought of eating meat, dairy or eggs makes you nauseated in a matter of months after turning to veganism. It’s a wonderful feeling to feel free of even the slightest craving for anything derived from the exploitation of animals.
The Connecticut chimpanzee tragedy has attracted a great deal of media coverage and even Time Magazine published an article explaining why it happened – well, chimpanzees are not suitable for domestic living and can ‘snap’ at any time, as Travis did. It really is very strange that Travis could have been legally kept as a pet. The hope is that the high interest in the case will lead to measures banning people from keeping wild animals as pets once and for all.
But will it? I learnt that Travis’ story is not unique and his mother met the same tragic and violent end. According to a report in the New York Daily News, his “mom, Suzy, was gunned down in 2001 by a teenager after she and two other primates escaped their Missouri ranch and wreaked havoc”.
Underlying all these tragedies is the cultural assumption that we can dominate animals and do as we wish. The fact is that we can’t. Nature sets its own limits and we should not trespass them. It’s a sad, sad story, both for the woman who got mauled and for Travis who got shot down for having been raised in the wrong place.
A cattle rancher in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, owes a fine of US$19 million dollars. Rosana Sorge Xavier has illegally deforested an area of 9.4 thousand hectares of forest to clear land for cattle. Meat eaters, beware. Anyone who buys animal flesh is supporting this type of criminal activity that is literally eating away the world’s lung. Now, how someone can get away with such an enormous amount of deforestation is another story entirely. You can’t do that overnight while everyone else sleeps, which reinforces the fact that we have to take the problem in our own hands, as governments do nothing, and that is going vegan. If there’s no demand, criminals like Ms. Xavier will stop doing what she does. The Brazilian environmental agency, Ibama, is owed a total of US$940m in fines, most of which by farmers.
On Saturday I wrote about grey seals being safe in Canada afters buyers cancelled their orders. However, those blood-thirsty sealers managed to get an order for 200 seals and so that number of animals were murdered for what is most certainly a meagre amount of money. How much is life worth? It’s priceless, but not in the sick minds of these assassins. According to a report in the Chronicle Herald:
Bridget Curran of the Atlantic Canadian Anti-Sealing Coalition said she was upset her group, which monitors the hunt, wasn’t notified that sealers were on the island. It just shows a total lack of transparency on DFO’s part,” she said. “As licensed observers, we have a right to be there to monitor and document the kill.”
It’s disgusting that Canada allows such a thing to happen. In fact, this vile industry has come up with a novel way to defend the slaughter of seals: to protect fish stocks! Now, humans have been overfishing for decades and they want to put the blame for the disappearance of ocean fish population on seals? Puh-lease! I’ve never heard anything as hypocrytical in my whole life.
The Boston Vegan Society (BVA), with the kind and generous help of a private donor, is beginning a new outreach initiative. Effective immediately, the BVA will begin wholly funding the printing and distribution of its full-color ‘Respecting Animals’ pamphlet to qualifying advocates throughout North America.
The process of applying for funds is simple but it requires the organization to have the same strategy as the Boston Vegan Society, that is, an abolitionist approach to animal rights via vegan education. “We are committed to funding the printing and distribution of the pamphlet to any vegans and vegan advocacy organizations whose work is consistent with our methodology.” So have a look the BVA website and get the information you need before getting in touch with them.
Those willing to apply for funding visit this page. The digital version of the pamphet can be seen here.
We know that vegetarianism has many benefits but this is an extra perk. A public school in England (Ed: a public school in England is actually private; go figure) is offering vegetarian students a 10 per cent discount in fees. Considering the annual fee is £15,000 (or US$21,000), that’s a quite a nice bite off the full price.
Wycliffe College in Stonehouse was founded by a vegetarian Methodist minister in 1882, and today’s governors hope the new incentive will keep his values alive. GW Sibly chose the school site for its clean water and proximity to a railway station, and the pupils grew their own fruit and vegetables, says a report in the Daily Telegraph.
And it seems like the Sibly family was quite ahead of its time in promoting vegetarianism. In 1910, Mr Sibly’s son gave a group of selected students a vegetarian diet in order to compare their health with those who ate animal flesh. I’m sure he found very positive results as the school continues to promote vegetarianism after so many decades. Now, that’s an idea for many other schools.
I was nearly moved to tears when I opened my inbox this morning and saw the news that grey seals have been spared of the brutal killing that takes place every year in Canada around this time of the year. And why has it happened? Because demand has shrunk, which proves once again that boycotting is one of the most powerful weapons an ethical consumer has. This is the point of veganism: decreasing demand for cruel products.
According to a report by seal activist Rebecca Aldworth, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the government of Nova Scotia announced last week that they were authorizing another grey seal kill. But yesterday, seal processing plants told seal hunters that they would not buy the skins of the baby grey seals, and the sealers stayed home … “this is the beginning of the end of the commercial seal slaughter”.
Many sealers are now openly wondering whether shrinking markets will also impact the imminent commercial harp seal kill. In light of these developments, HSI Canada is urging the Canadian government to buy out sealing licenses and develop alternative economies for coastal communities.
But we should not assume that all’s well up north. The grey seal pups are likely safe for now, but in just a few weeks, the true target of the world’s largest slaughter of marine mammals, the harp seals, will be killed by the hundreds of thousands in horrible ways. But, just as with the grey seals, there is hope for the harp seals. Not only is the demand for seal products drying up; the boycott of Canadian seafood products is costing the Canadian seafood industry far more than the seal hunt brings in. So, let’s keep at it and tell Canada, one of the richest countries in the world, that defying ethics for the sake of a cruel commerce is a very ugly thing.
