Livin’ Veg

Glen Beck on Turtles - You May Vomit. July 31, 2009

Glen Beck is absolutely appalled by the fact that the USA is designating funds (5 million a year) to protect turtles and otters. He thinks that for turtles to warrant protection, they should carry guns to protect our country. Then maybe he’d consider giving them some cash, to you know, not become extinct… Sigh.

This man makes me feel venomous. In the following video, he screams, rants, and acts like a crazy person all because he doesn’t think animals are worth protecting. He also only thinks we should help protect turtles on our own soil. He sees no benefit to helping protect them internationally. Mr. Beck. Sea turtles swim. They move from place to place. It’s an international problem you idiot!

Pardon my yelling. Glen Beck must bring out the best in me.

Feel Good Wayne Pacelle Story July 30, 2009

I like reading Wayne Pacelle’s (CEO of HSUS) blog. He talks about current animal events, is always even keeled and very sweet. His blog yesterday was the epitomy of the sweet part.

A mother pidgeon decided to lay her eggs on the deck of his D.C. apartment. Right in a poorly tended potted plant. Now, if there are pidgeons on your deck, you can’t exactly go outside, so Wayne did the following:

I decided I’d just do all my work inside for some weeks, and cede the deck to her and not disturb her. Rock doves nest on cliffs, and well, if she thought this was a cliff, who was I to tell her differently.

On facebook, Wayne has asked his many many many friends to donate to the cause of puppy mills instead of wishing him happy birthday on his wall. So, if you’d like to donate before his bday on August 4th, ask him to be your friend and then check out his birthday wish. He’s been such an amazing voice and leader for HSUS. He’s reshaped it and made it a machine for animal protection. And who doesn’t adore a guy who lets baby pidgeons spend their adolecents on his deck.

Shark Finning and Shark Slaughter July 29, 2009

There is a great opinion piece in the NY Times today on sharks. Killing a shark for it’s fins is to me, one of the most horrific reasons to kill an animal. It’s like killing an elephant for it’s ivory. Such a small part is used and then the rest of the corpse left to rot. The waste of a life. Not that I’d be much more thrilled if the entire body was used, but it would be like if a cow was killed for her hoof, and that’s it. And since fins are so small, many sharks die to meet the demand.

The opinion piece talks about the ramifications on the health of the oceans:

Nearly a third of shark species in the open oceans are threatened with extinction. Losing these top predators creates a cascading imbalance. The species whose numbers the sharks once controlled begin to explode; they then wipe out smaller fish, some of which humans depend on for food. Water quality suffers. Healthy oceans require sharks, and without healthy oceans, healthy fisheries are impossible.

If you want to learn more about finning  and information on the laws in the USA about finning, check out HSUS’s fact page on the topic. They have a lot of great info on sharks.

Sharks aren’t the most sympathetic creatures in the ocean. We have learned to fear them from films, and think of them as a threat to human safety. It’s a very rare occasion when a person is attacked by a shark. It’s easy to want to protect the fluffy and cuddly, but sharks need help too. Even if they are kinda scary.

Man Made Pollution Giving Animals Cancer? July 28, 2009

If you’re like me, just reading that headline made you upset/angry. This article in Newsweek talks about multiple instances where cancer rates have sky rocketed among animal populations and cites the contributing factors. But the chunk of it says that besides for habitat destruction, global warming, endangered species and your more general pollution, our nasty waste is giving animals cancer.

They aren’t talking about people who throw their bottled water in the lake. They are investigating the many nasty toxic carcinogens that we dump thoughtlessly into the environment everyday.

Here is a great example of what’s wrong and the good news. That it can be fixed:

The good news for animals suffering from pollution-induced cancer is that when contaminants are taken out of the environment, some species have shown marked drops in carcinogenesis. For example, catfish living in Ohio’s Black River had cancer rates ranging from 22 percent to 39 percent in the early 1980s. The disease killed virtually all fish before they reached five years of age. After a steel plant’s coking facility closed in 1983, PAH levels dropped significantly; cancer rates dropped 75 percent and the amount of fish living past five years has tripled.

I’d recommend reading the article. It’s going to make you sad. But it’s important to recognize all the ways in which we need to work to fix a broken system. A system in which the earth is our dumpster and animals are after thoughts.

Serve Foie Gras? You Won’t Get My Business. July 27, 2009

Last night my husband and I were up at Vassar college. He had a rehearsal for a reading of Othello. After his rehearsal we went to dinner and then to see The Burnt Part Boys (soon coming to off broadway). We went into a restaurant in Poughkeepsie called Beech Tree Grill and sat down to eat. They had a lovely looking Buckwheat Soba noodle dish. The waitress came over and mentioned that we didn’t have the full dinner menu so she brought that over. And there on it I see “Hudson Valley Foie Gras.”

Hudson Valley Foie Gras is the Foie Gras farm that has been in the news and the focus of AR groups. Especially NYS farm animal groups like Farm Sanctuary. I pointed it out to my husband and asked him if he would mind if we left. I couldn’t in good conscience support a restaurant that served such a heinous dish. I got up, went over to the waitress and said very politely, “I’m sorry but I can’t eat at a restaurant that serves Foie Gras.” She said, “I understand you feelings completely.” I said, “Hudson Valley Foie Gras is a really evil place. Please pass on my concerns to the people in charge. I just can’t support a restaurant that offers such an awful dish.”

And we left. Now, I know that eating at any non vegan restaurant is supporting cruelty. But foie gras is such a decadent and terrible “food” that it seems particularly awful. I refuse to eat at any restaurant that serves it.

Are there any reasons you’d walk out of a restaurant for moral animal related concerns? Have you ever done it? Did you tell the manager or the wait staff why?

Ringling Bros. Elephant Abuse on Tape July 24, 2009

PETA has just filed charges against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for violating Connecticut’s cruelty-to-animals statute.

What did Ringling Bros. do?

…trainers and other employees routinely struck elephants with bullhooks, dug the weapons’ sharp metal hooks into the sensitive skin behind elephants’ knees and under their trunks, and whipped both elephants and tigers.

Circuses really make me feel ill. Carting animals all around the country and making them perform. No one can ever convince me that an elephant can have any quality of life while stuck in a pen, traveling via train and being beaten with a bull hook. I really don’t know how parents think it’s okay to take their kids to the circus for a day of family fun. Perhaps they just don’t know about the atrocities. At least, I hope that’s true. That they just don’t know. In that case, it’s AR’s job (as well as our job) to do a better job getting the info out there. Good job to PETA for getting this on tape.

Read the full press release on PETA’s actions here…

The NY Times Gives 36 Vegan Salad Recipes July 23, 2009

Vegan is no longer a scary word in the food world. I was so happy when my dad sent me an article by Mark Bittman about 101 simple salads for the summer. The first 36 of the salads were vegan! And then the next 18 or so were vegetarian. That’s over half of the salads without any kind of animal flesh. (I remember a time when it was strange for a salad to have meat on it. Now all restaurants are sticking all sorts of corpses on their greens. Gross.)

Number 7 is going to be first on my list of salads to try:

7. Grate carrots, toast some sunflower seeds, and toss with blueberries, olive oil, lemon juice and plenty of black pepper. Sweet, sour, crunchy, soft.

Speaking of cooking, last night I made this recipe from the Discerning Brute. So easy! And yummy:) Raw Creamy Zucchini Pasta.

Neuaura Shoes On Sale July 22, 2009

Neuaura shoes is having a great sale on their website. I love the end of seasons. It’s late July and all the brands are reducing their prices to make way for the fall stock. The perfect time to get shoes.

You’ll find plenty of flats, heels, sandals and all sorts of shoes for your needs.

And while you’re at it, check out the spring sale on Nimli. They have some adorable dresses like the Lara Miller Chelly Dress. Seriously, I wish I had 10 weddings to go to this summer. Then I could fancy up for all the occasions and have the perfect excuse. Sadly, no weddings this year.

If you’ve been putting off shopping, now is the time to do it. Deals are absolutely everywhere.

Eco And Vegan Birth Control/Sex July 21, 2009

I had never really put much thought into eco/vegan contraceptives. Besides for the obvious lambskin, which just seems wrong from any standpoint. Really? Lambskin? But I never knew that most latex has an added milk enzyme. Therefore, not vegan. I had also never given much thought to the zillions of condoms flushed down the toilet and thrown in the garbage. I don’t think anyone is going to recycle a condom. Ew. And what about taking birth control pills? That’s got to be eco, right? Well, we’re learning new things all the time on how the hormones are polluting our water. So, the pill, it turns out, is not so eco.

So what’s an eco/vegan to do? Abstinence? Ha. Maybe if Sarah Palin had her way. If you’ve got all the kids you’ll ever want, perhaps a little procedure to make you sterile would be the best bet. But for those of us who are not quite ready to procreate, how can we be eco/vegan?

This great article on Huff breaks down the issues involved. They recommend Glyde condoms for the vegan minded. No milk enzyme.

For the environmentally friendly gal/guy, they say stay away from polyurethane - it won’t break down. Do not flush your used condoms down the toilet. Instead, put them in the garbage. They can’t be recycled, but they don’t need to go through our water system to end up in the landfill.

Perhaps the greenest method is the IUD:

“The copper IUD is hormone-free; made from a small amount of a cheap, plentiful metal; and can last up to 10 years. It’s also 99 percent effective in typical use, as compared with 82.6 percent for condoms and 91.3 percent for the pill. Nevertheless, less than 2 percent of contraception-using women in the United States use copper IUDs.”

The article has tons more information. I recommend taking a look to get all the info and links. Especially on the issue of estrogen in our water system. Not good. Not good at all.

Personal Actions Or Political Activism? July 20, 2009

Personal responsibility is often touted as the way to change the world. I’m a firm believer in personal behavior and the importance of making humane choices. Going veg, riding your bike, composting etc. All of it makes a difference.

But sometimes I think our insular culture finds it easier to ONLY focus on the personal choices instead of also taking action politically. This article discusses the issue…

An Inconvenient Truth helped raise consciousness about global warming. But did you notice that all of the solutions presented had to do with personal consumption—changing light bulbs, inflating tires, driving half as much—and had nothing to do with shifting power away from corporations, or stopping the growth economy that is destroying the planet? Even if every person in the United States did everything the movie suggested, U.S. carbon emissions would fall by only 22 percent. Scientific consensus is that emissions must be reduced by at least 75 percent worldwide.

So what the article is really saying is that as great as personal change is, we need to do more. The article is definitely worth a read. It confronts the difficulties of maintaining the insane scope of our consumer culture while still trying to make change. It’s contradictory.

The answer to the above question is that it’s not an either/or. It’s both. Personal action is the first step. Other kinds of action are harder but will change the world where it really counts. In policies.