Blogs: Animals

"The Ocean Needs Sharks More Than I Need Soup"

2012-05-15T07:29:48Z

Judy Ki Has Retired to a Career of Advocating For Sharks, Chickens, Pigs, and Politically Courageous Candidates

The family meals of Judy Ki’s Hong Kong childhood paved the way for her current whole foods, plant-based diet. She grew up in the Chinese tradition of eating fresh veggie dishes with only small amounts of meat and fish. Judy’s mom taught her to respect animals, including the lizards whose role was to keep down the insect population in the family garden.

Judy, a humane advocate, political activist, and retired middle school science teacher, is a San Diego neighbor. I admired Judy’s work, meeting her at community events and through Facebook, where Judy describes herself as “proud bunny-hugging, bleeding-heart, do-gooder.” She took the time to share her path to activism with me recently over a bountiful salad and baked potato lunch.

At age 20, Judy moved to the US for educational opportunities. She chose California because she disliked cold weather.

An environmental caucus of the Democratic Party in San Diego in 2007 was a turning point for Judy. “A beautiful young blonde lady gave me a Vegan Outreach pamphlet. The year before I had read the book Fast Food Nation and was shocked at the treatment of animals raised for food. After reading the pamphlet on the realities of factory farming, I knew I had to take action,” Judy recalls. She had just retired from a 27 year career with the San Diego Unified School District, and finally had time to devote to activism.

She started by going to Washington DC for the Taking Action for Animals conference sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Meanwhile Judy was slowly transitioning her diet. She had stopped eating factory farmed animals right after getting the Vegan Outreach pamphlet. She still consumed some sea animals, but tapered off these choices. Soon she was happily sticking to a 100% plant-based diet.

Read the rest of Judy's journey into activism and quest to save sharks. Please be inspired - you can make this much of a difference yourself!

Language and animals - who hears a who?

2012-05-05T19:15:39Z

I just learned something new. In MS Word, a sentence with the phrase “a hen who slept at the foot of the bed” shows a grammar error on “who” – the grammar rules recommend “that”. Change it to “man” and look! “Who” is OK.

I kept experimenting. These language rules systematically strip individual identity from animals, giving them the same grammatical status as a table.

Dogs, cats, and mice are also not whos. Neither are birds (no, not even parrots), lions, or tigers. Strangely, a monkey is a who. But not a chimp or a gorilla.

It’s a fun game for a few idle moments – try to find an animal that MS Word deems worthy of being a who. Sorry, Horton and Dr Seuss, but an elephant is not a who.

A person's a person, no matter how small. Is an animal a thing, no matter how tall?

Who cares?

When I write about animals, I deliberately go against my conditioning and use identity and gender language to regift these creatures with their natural birthright.

A hen or a cow is a “she” and a bull is a "he" – how hard can that be? If I don’t know an animal’s gender, I can at least pay the same respect I do to human creatures and use s/he or other techniques.

See how easily we can reject this judgement that humanity is clinging to for its own convenience and profit – that animals don't matter enough to care whether they are male or female?

Who is an animal? Who is a piece of meat?

We all know common words that objectify animals in the animal industry:

Nobody eats a cow, they eat beef, or steak, or (hamburger) mince.
Nobody eats a sheep, they eat mutton or chops.
Nobody eats a pig, they eat pork or bacon.
Even a lamb is just called lamb, and a chicken is just chicken.

If you think that last one is quibbling, think about what you picture when you hear “a lamb” or “a chicken,” compared to “lamb” and “chicken.” That simple word “a” assigns identity to the animal – and it’s taken away just as simply.

And you’ll love this. According to MS Word, a hen is not a “who.” But a rooster is.

Who’s writing this stuff? (And yes, I checked: a software programmer is a who.)

Could You Do It Yourself?

2012-03-28T22:06:15Z

At a recent lecture in a spiritual bookstore, I covered some of the spiritual aspects of going vegan. Yet even if you’re not spiritual or religious, many of the same principles apply, simply because many spiritual traditions come down to everyday values and ethics.

So I began wondering about an ethical question: If you couldn’t go to a store or a restaurant to buy your meat, and instead had to go out and slaughter a cow yourself for that hamburger, could you do it? I don’t mean to be grotesque, but could you shoot a bolt through a cow’s head and watch it instantly fall to the ground? Could you slit a pig’s throat while it is squealing for its life so that you could have bacon for breakfast? Could you cut off a chicken’s head or drag it through an electrocution “bath” to feed your child chicken nuggets? What about catch a fish and watch it take its last breath as it flops around on your boat deck so you could enjoy some sushi?

I don’t ask these questions to be dramatic, but I think that they will shed light on your values, and here is why that is so important: We humans have an intense psychological need to feel that we are staying true to our values; however, we often create stories about our behavior that allow us to believe we are staying true to our values when we are not. For example, if we hold a value of being kind to animals, but we like to eat hamburgers and don’t want to give them up, we might create a story for ourselves that the government is making sure that the slaughterhouses are humane, and that makes us feel like we are staying true to our value of being kind to animals. Even if we hear that the slaughterhouses are extremely cruel, we will continue to believe our story that the government is protecting the animals so that we can go on eating hamburgers. We won’t even be willing to watch a video posted on Facebook in case it challenges the story we are upholding to stay aligned with our values.

If you want to challenge your values and you still eat meat, I highly recommend you watch the documentary Earthlings, or go to PETA’s website and watch some of their many short video clips on the factory farms. See if you still feel comfortable choosing meat products after seeing these videos. If you really don’t want to watch the graphic videos of slaughterhouses, dairy farm and egg factories, here is a question for you to ponder instead:

If you could not kill a cow (pig, chicken, etc) yourself, is it ethical to pay someone else to do it? Is it ethical to divert your money to support the behavior you will not do yourself?

The answer will depend on your own values – not mine – but I think that if you still eat meat, dairy and eggs, it is important to ask yourself this question. It truly is a matter of life and death.

Pork tales continue; when does the madness end?

2012-02-15T12:38:10Z

Apparently not anytime soon

I don't know which is worse---the horrors inflicted on our environment, our health or the poor animals that suffer their entire lives so we can enjoy our Egg McMuffin. But today, I want to talk about the latter.

: How would you like to spend four months in a place like this? Laying hens spend their entire lives in similar quarters.

On Monday, there was an article in the New York Times (See link below) about the practice of using "gestation crates" for pregnant sows in the pork industry. Did you know that there are five million breeding sows in the United States and that over three million of them spend their entire 4-month pregnancy in a 2 by 7-foot crate which does not give them enough room to turn around? From the article:

At a little more than 2 feet by 7 feet, sow stalls are too small for a pregnant pig to turn around. Being confined in a stationary position for the four months of an average pregnancy leads to a variety of health problems, including urinary tract infections, weakened bone structures, overgrown hooves and mental stress, according to animal rights advocates.

This is just the latest story to hit our mainstream newspapers reminding us of the absolute madness associated with our marriage to the deadly habit of eating some form of meat and dairy three meals a day. As the article points out, McDonalds is now involved in this saga, one that has been around for a long time. And it will probably be around for much longer.

In 2007, Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, pledged to end the use of gestation crates in the facilities it owns by 2017, a date it postponed during the economic downturn. The Humane Society then conducted an undercover investigation, releasing video of pigs in Smithfield’s stalls, and the company once again pledged to stop using the crates by 2017.

: Our children think that pigs have a pretty nice life---the 3 little pigs of our youth.

When will all of this "madness" end? The answer is simple---when we stop buying the products. You've no doubt heard the children's story about the three little pigs. Well, today we're featuring "three little pig stories." Here are the other two---from earlier blogs.

COMPLICITY — Billions of animals suffering in factory farms Warning, there is a video in this blog that features vivid images (and sounds) of things that take place in today's pig factories. I couldn't make it past the first 30 seconds.
Burning trees in the Amazon — to feed pigs in China As Mark Bittman (New York Times) has noted over the years, our meat and dairy food model is the most wasteful, damaging and unsustainable system imaginable. I frequently mention this example of just how ridiculous our meat-eating habits have become. We're now burning trees in the Amazon---to make room for growing soybeans---that we then ship 10,000 miles to feed pigs in China. That's because the Chinese don't want to depend on the United States for their all-important pork eating needs.

All of the above reinforces just how far humankind has strayed from living in harmony with Nature on this planet. Sadly, we are the only species (out of millions) that have taken this route. This week, I am delivering lectures on college campuses. Following the theme of our book, my topic is:

The “big picture” about the food we eat and how it relates to the promotion of health, hope and harmony on planet Earth

Of course, the simple answer to ending the madness is for all of us to start choosing the kind of food promotes health, hope and harmony. When we choose a whole foods plant-based diet for ourselves, we not only promote our own health---we can also save our nation $2 trillion in health care, conserve fossil fuels, remove the #1 driver of global warming, feed all of the world's hungry on far less land, and facilitate the restoration of our degraded arable land, forests, lakes, rivers and oceans. We can also end the suffering of sixty billion "food animals" per year---those who are grown to feed the wealthiest 2 billion people in the world---a very unhealthy diet.

Finally, one more article on "ending the madness" along with a link to the New York Times article about the sows in the crates.

Ending the madness. For the environment

McDonald’s Vows to Help End Use of Sow Crates - NYTimes.com.

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com

: J. Morris Hicks -- Member of the Board of Directors -- Click image to visit the foundation website.

"Winged Migration" -- celebrating the magnificent bird; not eating it.

2011-11-28T21:57:01Z

What's a documentary about birds got to do with our diet?

In a word, it's all about harmony. The theme of our book and this blog is all about health, hope and harmony. As we return to the natural diet for our species, we take charge of our own health while simultaneously planting seeds of hope, accelerating the pace with which the human race can return to living in harmony with nature.

It's a bit of irony that I began writing this blog post on the evening before Thanksgiving, the family holiday when our entire nation celebrates by dining on the flesh of a bird that spent its entire life preparing for this human celebration. As I watched this movie for the first time, I couldn't help but think about the billions of birds per year that are unfortunate enough to be born into our meat and egg industry.

Let's take the baby male chicks in an egg factory, for example. As I explained in our book, they all meet their death just moments after being identified as being a worthless male, obviously incapable of producing eggs. In the movie, I saw baby chicks in Nature who are full of curiosity and excitement about their new life outside the egg. They all prance around chirping and exploring their new surroundings -- just like the male chicks in the egg factory.

But the fun is short-lived in the factory; immediately after being identified as males, they are killed -- thrown in a macerator or a plastic bag to suffocate with their brothers. Of course, life for their sisters in the egg cages is no bargain either.

The title of our book's chapter on that whole miserable process is Hell On Earth. That's what happens to living, sentient beings that spend their lives as a part of the unnatural food of the only species that has strayed far from the natural diet for their species -- the human race. We call ourselves civilized, yet behave like barbarians when it come to so many of our choices in food. Continue reading this article, complete with three free movies.

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com

Your Thanksgiving Turkey - now in living color

2011-11-24T04:32:40Z

I grew up with turkeys on my dinner plate or as cartoon figures drawn around five little fingers.

Like any animal, there's always so much more to learn!

Like the Native Americans (Indians), turkeys are another victim of colonial naming confusion so great that I hope you can explain it to me.

400 years ago, the English market confused the American bird with an African bird that they already called a turkey because it was shipped via Turkey.

Turkey life....

Wild turkeys live in woods in parts of North America. They were introduced to New Zealand (where I live) around the 1890s. The large park near my parents' house generally hosts a flock of wild turkeys.

They spend their days foraging for food like acorns, seeds, small insects and wild berries. They spend their nights in low branches of trees.

Yes, wild turkeys get to fly!

They weigh about 8 kgs and can live up to 13 years (average 3-4 in the wild). Turkeys have sharp full colour eyesight and fast evasive action when in danger including running (up to 29 km/hour) and flying (up to 88 km/hour).

Turkey talk...

Wild turkeys communicate using a wide array of different vocal calls, including gobbles, clucks, putts, yelps, and whistles. Strutting is also used by males as a form of communication, to attract females and intimidate other males.

Turkey love...

Each spring male turkeys try to befriend as many females as possible. Male turkeys puff up their bodies and spread their tail feathers (just like a peacock).

They grunt, make a "gobble gobble sound" and strut about shaking their feathers to attract females for mating.

Turkey family

After the female turkey mates, she prepares a nest under a bush in the woods and lays her tan and speckled brown eggs. She incubates as many as 18 eggs at a time. It takes about a month for the chicks to hatch.

When the babies (known as poults) hatch they flock with their mother all year (even through the winter). For the first two weeks the poults are unable to fly. The mother roosts on the ground with them during this time.

Turkeys protect their poults from predators by hiding them in long grass. Turkey mothers will band together to attack hawks.

Basically, turkeys are large, intelligent birds. They are as varied in personality as dogs and cats.

Your holiday turkey

No prizes for guessing that farmed turkeys get the same raw deal as other farmed animals. Yes, the story is horrible. There is no happy ending...or beginning or middle. If you buy a supermarket turkey, you owe it to him to read this.

Factory Farm Turkey Life

Your turkey was bred, fed, drugged, and genetically manipulated to grow as large as possible as quickly as possible. He needed to be market size when he was slaughtered at 5 months - a tiny fraction of his natural lifespan.

Turkey feed generally contains antibiotics and animal by-products, and commercial turkey feed is designed to promote fast growth.

In 1970, the average live turkey raised for meat weighed 8 kgs.
Today, he weighs 13 kgs.

According to one industry publication, modern turkeys grow so quickly that if a 7-pound human baby grew at the same rate, the infant would weigh 1,500 pounds at just 18 weeks of age.

He never once got to fly.

Factory Farm Turkey love

Your turkey's mother was artificially inseminated because her male partners were too big to mate with her.

Factory Farm Turkey family

Your turkey was hatched in a large incubator and never saw his mother. When he was only a few weeks old, he was moved into a filthy, windowless shed with thousands of other turkeys, where he spent the rest of his life.

To keep your turkey from killing others in such stressful conditions, parts of his toes and beak were cut off, as well as his snood (flap of skin under his chin) - with no pain relief.

Factory Farm Death

Millions of turkeys die in the first few weeks of life in a factory farm from "starve-out" - they stop eating because of stress. Others die from organ failure or heart attacks because they're unnaturally big and fat. And slow-growing turkeys get killed right there in the shed by farm workers - so that unsaleable turkeys won't waste any more food.

Your turkey survived long enough to get to slaughter.

Factory Farm Slaughter

He was thrown by his legs into a large crate packed with other turkeys. He was lucky because his legs didn't break like other turkeys in the worker's hands. He also avoided dying during his truck trip with no food, water, or temperature control - millions of other turkeys aren't so lucky.

At the slaughterhouse, he was hung upside-down by his weak and crippled legs and his head was dragged through an electrified "stunning tank," which immobilized him.

Your turkey should be thankful to be successfully stunned - some of his neighbours dodged the tank and were completely conscious when their throats were slit. If the knife misses, they are scalded alive in the tank of hot water used for feather removal.

Conscious choices

If you struggle to feel thankful for that bad taste in your mouth, remember that these millions of turkeys are only mistreated because people keep buying them.
Even if it is a long family tradition, you still have other choices.

Free range/organic turkeys

I don't wholeheartedly recommend this, because:

I'm vegan
You won't always know how much better a free range or organic turkey is, compared to the standard factory farm product. You will need to do your research.

But investing in an alternatively raised turkey is a blow struck against indefensible factory farming.

Go easy and cheap - go vegan

Yes, you can skip the bird and still celebrate until you burst!

Here are just a few samples:

I'm a huge mushroom fan, so these huge mushrooms get my vote!

And of course, you can't go past my Frugal Vegan Stuffing - anyone can make this.

NYC gets Vegucated!

2011-10-20T17:06:48Z

It's a scientific fact that for centuries, New York City has attracted a higher percentage of the most talented and creative people in the world than the original York (or as some might call it, Old York City). When we moved here, I have to admit I was both excited and intimidated by this. I mean if we're being honest here, I'm more Brooklyn than Manhattan, and sometimes I'm pretty sure the Manhatteners can spot it. How could they not? But tangents about my awkward nerdness and the social dynamics between these two neighboring boroughs aside, we were both excited about moving to New York because the few people we knew here were part of that talented and creative demographic I mentioned earlier who are busy doing some of the most amazing things to make the world a better place for animals. A lot of those spectacular people were at the New York City Premiere of Vegucated last week.

Veganistas Alex Jamieson and Marisa Miller Wolfson - Photo Credit : Jessica Mahady

It was a sold-out show with an audience of 500 beautiful people dressed for the red carpet in a city know for its fashion. But people weren't just there to get their picture taken; this crowd came ready to see this new feature-length documentary that followed three meat-loving New Yorkers experimenting with a vegan diet for six weeks. I know I've been raving about this film a lot lately, but I just got so excited when they won the award for Best Documentary at this year's Toronto Independent Film Festival. It's the kind of film that everyone - even the most experienced activist and hardcore vegan - should see. It reminded me of the days when I first made the choice to go vegan, what it was like to become the kind of person who cared about what I ate, and realizing for the first time the implications of my eating habits on others.


I had the best looking date there.* Photo Credit : Jessica Mahady

I won't lie. It won't be like some highschool yearbook that only shows the fun parts. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you might even blush a bit; but you'll be glad you took this trip down memory lane by proxy. Every vegan's story is different. Some people are like me, and decided in some kind of lightening bolt moment that they didn't want to contribute to the suffering of animals and went vegan on the spot. But for others it was a growing experience that took time and a little effort to find a way that worked for them. I think it can be easy to forget that journey when you've been vegan for years and your closest friends are vegans and activists. Watching Vegucated didn't just remind me why what we do is important, it also has some encouraging and inclusive messages that people at any stage in the vegan spectrum** can relate to. Plus, I couldn't be happier or prouder of my friend Marisa Miller Wolfson. I mean seriously, how many people can honestly say they're a documentary filmmaker? And no I don't count all those people who say it to get women into bed... that's why I added the 'honestly' part.

Vegans are so good looking - Dan Piraro and his lovely wife Ashley.

Back to the event! The food was remarkable! Brooklyn's own V-Spot served their infamous black bean empanadas. There was actually a pretty notable spread featuring food from quite a few of New York's Vegan Hot Spots like Candle Cafe, FoodSwings, Cinnamon Snail, and Verite Catering. Even Sweet & Sara vegan marshmallows to dip in a dark chocolate fountain. And of course we can't forget Smuttynose beer from City Swiggers and organic wine from Frey Vineyards. They even had some of my favorite frozen treats from Soy Delicious. I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating: no one loves food like a vegan! You had to be brave and assertive to get the good stuff from the buffet table. If it wasn't for Dan, I'm pretty sure I would have starved.

Girlie Girl - Chloe Jo Davis - Photo Credit : Jessica Mahady

We had great seats between Matt Rice from Mercy For Animals and the Cartoonist and longtime Animal Advocate Dan Piraro and his wife Ashley. If you've never met Ashley, you should know that she is probably one of the most passionate and exciting activists on the planet. Lord only knows how many animals she has saved just by being awesome. We got to see Chloe Jo Davis from Girlie Girl Army, which is always pretty much the definition of 'Vegan Treat', and catch up with more friends than I can name.

Between the film, the food and the friends - it was one of the first nights of hopefully many that reminded me why this is the best city on Earth.

If you haven't seen Vegucated yet - The Let's Get America Vegucated! Autumn 2011 Tour is currently underway and might be coming to a theater near you soon! Click Here to find a screening near you!

Click Here to read to get vegan recipes and read more adventures from Meet The Shannons!

* The skirt is part of H&M's New Conscious Collection, and this photo is a great reminder on why I need to remember good posture. SIGH.

** The Vegan Spectrum - I like to think that inside everyone is a vegan waiting for their chance to get out. Some of those inner vegans are completely free to live and explore all aspects of a cruelty-free life with no exceptions and for others that vegan is only allowed out to enjoy a cute LOLcat... but I have a hope that even the furriest wearing, meatiest eating, heart-of-ice hunter will someday have that personal moment many of us have had that made being a vegan make sense and work for them. They'll let that inner vegan out and start making choices that reflect that innate compassion for animals so many of us started out with as children. I mean there are very few of us out there that were born vegan and if we can make this choice why can't they? I'm believer that there is always enough room in the Vegan Club and everyone is welcome.

Sir Paul and Nancy serve organic vegetarian at their wedding.

2011-10-12T10:41:26Z

Including the wedding cake.

Paul McCartney has long been a prominent voice against the cruel treatment of animals in our factory farms around the world. A famous quote of his:

If slaughterhouses had glass walls, we'd all be vegetarians.

: Sir Paul McCartney with his new bride, Nancy

Sadly, they don't have glass walls, but we are still complicit in what goes on behind every single one of those walls. And, don't kid yourself about dairy and eggs not being harmful to animals.

The life of a dairy cow is no picnic and the laying hens probably live a more horrible life than any of the other animals that we eat. And guess what happens to the male chicks in an egg factory? They are dropped into a plastic bag to smother to death along with their brothers -- 250 million of them per year, just in the USA. Michael Pollan describes the lives of those female laying hens in our book:

It is routine practice to cram laying hens into cages so small that the birds are sometimes driven to cannibalize their cagemates. The solution to this ‘vice’—as the industry and the Department of Agriculture call such counterproductive behaviors in livestock (talk about blaming the victims!)—is to snip the beaks off the hens with hot knives, without the use of anesthetic.

Click here to continue reading this article, including a video...

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com

Animal Transportation

2011-10-10T20:51:53Z

Ever wondered how pork gets to Hawaii? Me either. But if you knew, you’d probably start writing letters to the local papers, as I recently found myself doing. Laurelee Blanchard, who runs the Leilani Farm Sanctuary in Maui is a great friend of mine, so I was thrown into this topic recently as she fought hard with other animal rights activists for the plight of the pigs … and found huge success.

Hawaiians love their pork. It’s one of their favorite cultural meals. Next time you vacation in Hawaii, take notice how on Sundays the local parks are taken over by large families as the BBQs are fired up for a day of family fun. Perhaps the thing I like most about Hawaii is this strong focus on family and friendships. However, as the smell of BBQ pork starts wafting through the air over the pristine beaches, I can’t help but assume that most Hawaiians don’t know how their pork got to Hawaii either.

Until recently, most pork sold in the state of Hawaii came from live pigs. This sounds great – get your meat as fresh as possible and all – but we don’t often think about how our dinner is transported. According to Laurelee in an article recently published in the Maui News (October 8, 2011):

“A transported pig's journey begins with a nearly 24-hour-long truck ride from Iowa, Montana or South Dakota to a holding facility in Vacaville, Calif. Hundreds of pigs are kept at this facility for several hours before being transported, via truck, to the Port of Oakland.

The pigs are then crammed onto a vessel where they are provided neither straw nor other bedding to protect them from extreme temperatures or slippery flooring. There is only one livestock attendant onboard responsible for caring for as many as 920 pigs. For approximately five days, the animals are forced to live in their own feces, urine and vomit, and even amid the corpses of other pigs until the dead animals are thrown overboard by the livestock attendant.

Upon arriving in Honolulu, it is usually several hours before the pigs are unloaded from the ship. They are left suffering in the heat with minimal ventilation before they are transported, via truck, to the Hawaii Livestock Cooperative slaughterhouse, which has been cited numerous times by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the inhumane handling and slaughter of animals, where they are slaughtered and processed.

As if the extreme animal suffering weren't enough, scientists, as well as health and food safety officials, have noted that the stress of long-distance transport of live animals increases the animals' susceptibility to disease. This, in turn, increases the risk of food-borne illness and disease transmission to humans who consume meat from these animals.”

We don’t like to know about these things, because then we have to think about them. Yet, the plight of a pig’s journey is quite similar to most animals who end up in our meat supply. You can literally see chickens stuffed into cages with their heads poking out the sides of a huge transportation truck as it flies down the freeway at 60 mph. Cows also can endure very long trips that can last as long as 36 hours, forced to stand the entire way, often with no access to food, water or bedding. They might be driven like this through the 110° heat an Arizona summer or the -10° freeze of a Minnesota winter. These are conditions that we wouldn’t dream of putting a human through, so why would we do it to animals?

Fortunately, thousands of pigs have received a victory at the hands of Laurelee Blanchard and the other animal rights activists who spent so much time to save them from this suffering: Three of the main supermarkets on the islands now refuse to purchase pork that has been shipped live from the mainland. All of these supermarket chains have vowed to buy frozen pork instead. Interestingly, this may end up shutting down the only slaughterhouse on Oahu.

Yet, while this is a major victory for animal rights activists, it is, perhaps, a somewhat minor victory for the animals: Not only do the pigs live their entire lives in a concentration camp-like hell, they are still slaughtered at the end of it. And as I just pointed out, there are billions (no exaggeration here) of other animals like chickens and cows that also live a life of hell, only to be transported for hours in harsh conditions to their death at the end of the road.

So, this is one of the many reasons that I am vegan: To save other sentient beings from as much suffering as I possibly can. I’d like to live my life as a poem of compassion for others – humans and non-humans alike.

I think the biggest success about Laurelee’s efforts may be in how far she is spreading the word about compassion, and urging us all to reach deep inside to our sense of humanity … and decide not only to quit eating pork transferred alive for long distances, but to quit eating animals and their products altogether. My hat is off to you, Laurelee!

COMPLICITY -- Billions suffering in factory farms

2011-09-27T15:29:16Z

Warning. While this blog is necessary, it's not altogether pleasant.

After 225 consecutive daily blogs, I have only devoted two of them to the disgusting topic of animal suffering. Now there will be three. In our book, we cover five categories of reasons supporting a plant-based diet: health, environment, energy conservation, world hunger and suffering of animals. I began my own journey to a plant-based diet for health reasons, but after eight years of eating this way, I am now perhaps even more passionate about those other four categories of reasons -- especially this one.

: We need a few billion more people on our team of promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

Driven by the availability of cheap energy, we have simply been consuming the wrong food (for our species) in great quantities for the past fifty years -- and we've inflicted great damage to our own health and to the health of the planet in the process.

While disrupting the precious harmony of nature with our food choices, we've also been complicit in a violent process of bringing animals to market -- a process that can never be a part of the inevitable restoration of harmony on planet Earth. And, if we can't figure out a way to get it done, we'll leave Mother Nature no other choice but to do it herself.

There are eleven chapters in our book and one of them is devoted to the suffering of the animals that we raise for our dinner tables. It is entitled "Hell on Earth" and it is titled appropriately. Not very many people have ever seen the inside of a factory farm and the meat, dairy and egg industry would like to keep it that way -- because they are very much aware that opening their doors for public tours would be very bad for business. Click here to continue reading; short video included...

—J. Morris Hicks…blogging daily at HealthyEatingHealthyWorld.com

Got Guilt? Motherhood, Sacrifice, Breastfeeding, and Dairy

2011-09-15T21:37:33Z

Motherhood and sacrifice - where to start? Google it for 2.8 million hits and keep on going.

The story of Jesus's sacrifice is known worldwide - yet first Jesus's mother Mary gave of her body to him by breastfeeding. There is an entire genre of art dedicated to this - Maria Lactans.

While we modern mothers sometimes resent the constant sacrifice of our own needs to our babies, mothering instinct is biological and strong. A happy breastfeeding mother and baby dyad is a testament to the future of the human race.

Mammals and our milk

All of us mammals produce milk for their young - it's why we're called mammals.

Mothering young and feeding them is common to humans, cats, dogs, horses, lions, tigers, goats, and of course, cows.

Read the full story about cows as mothers and the dairy industry.

Veg*n Activism

2011-08-09T22:24:55Z

There are a few topics in our culture that get people mightily defensive about – religion, politics, and food. Tell someone that we should/shouldn’t scrap the welfare system, and tempers will fly! Suggest that there is/isn’t a god, and veins will start popping! Tell people how that chicken got to their plate … unh unh. Don’t go there.

If you are like most people, you bristle and defend yourself when someone states diabolically opposite viewpoints as if they were fact. For example, I am outraged when someone states that I can’t be healthy if I’m not eating meat. (This really kills me if they are overweight, which is usually the case.) Similarly, when someone says that they don’t believe things can be all that bad in the factory farms because, after all, the government is overseeing the system, I just want to pull my hair out! AAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

However, is it possible that you are causing the same reactions in your friends and family? If you ask with disgust, “Do you have any idea what that poor chicken went through to get to your plate???” Or, “I never eat fish anymore. Let me tell you about how the fishing industry is ruining our oceans…” Chances are that they are ready to pull their hair out too. If you commonly find yourself in arguments or full-scale wars about your veg*nism, chances are, my friend, that you are starting it. It’s not always the case – there are definitely people who will attack, simply upon hearing that you are veg*n – but my experience is that that’s very rare. If you are commonly getting into arguments, you are probably being seen as either proselytizing or coming across as better-than-thou.

Instead, try compassionate activism. Compassionate activism has three steps:

Never assume that your way is the right way for everyone.
Set a good example that exemplifies your beliefs
Spread your beliefs using peaceful methods and means.

Here is a fantastic example: There was an article earlier this week about some Buddhists that set 600 pounds of lobsters free that were destined to become dinners¹. Did the Buddhists steal the lobsters and set them lose? Hijack a boat and throw the lobsters overboard? Scream about the injustices of lobster farming to passersby? No! They saved their money, bought the lobsters, and then set them loose in a beautiful ceremony … smartly letting the press know about it beforehand. Pictures of the lobsters belly-flopping their way to freedom made it all over the press, with an explanation of how Buddhists believe all life is sacred, all creatures should be free from suffering, and that they were celebrating a particular holiday that focuses on doing good deeds. Kind of makes you want to look into Buddhism, doesn’t it?

This is the type of compassionate activism that I believe we vegetarians and vegans should strive for. Positive, uplifting and inspiring activism. Setting an example that people really want to follow is one of the best things we can do.

If you are interested in making a difference, try this idea that came across my inbox this morning from FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement) – they are setting up booths in busy places that offer people $1 to watch a 4 minute video about the horrible treatment of animals on farms². What a fantastic idea! As a volunteer, you can be there to compassionately talk to the people after they are done watching the video. No doubt, many will be in shock, and ready to make some changes.

PETA, FARM and many other organizations can use your help. Or, you can always come up with your own creative ideas for reaching out and making a difference. Whatever it is, go for it, using the tenets of compassionate activism.

Just think … for each person you turn vegetarian, you are saving over 100 lives a year for the rest of that person’s life!

¹http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20110809-293593.html

² http://www.farmusa.org/PPV.html

If You're Going to be a Vet, You Can't Eat Your Patients!!

2011-07-28T19:47:35Z

There are many things I love about my husband. Besides being a loving, supportive, and funny man, he’s also smart, handsome and incredibly humble about it all. With this humility, he isn’t likely to express his opinion very loudly, unless he’s among his closest friends – he just assumes that everyone has their own path, and it’s not his place to barge in and tell them how to live.

So I was more than a little surprised when he told me recently that he challenged a patient of his who said she was going to be a vet. “So you must be a vegetarian?” he asked the young college girl. “Ummm … no…” she said hesitantly. “Hmm.” He paused. “Well, I’m a doctor and I’m not a cannibal – how can you be a vet and eat your patients?”

At this point of the story, I was on the floor rolling – mainly due to his comment, and also due to his bravado in standing up for the veg*n diet. Like I said, he’s generally pretty quiet about his opinions when he’s with strangers. I can imagine this poor girl who came in for a routine eye exam, only to have her doctor nail her to the wall about eating her future patients! But I’m sure he made a point that stuck with her. YAY, husband!!

So, for today’s blog, I simply ask you: “Do you stand up for your veg*n diet?” You don’t need to throw blood on fur-wearing opera fans if that’s not your style, but can you at least stand up for what you believe? Can you proudly tell people that you eat this way, and briefly explain why? If not, then practice your elevator speech. You never know when you might say something that sticks.

Caged chickens in New Zealand need your help - act now!

2011-07-23T21:10:51Z

Over three million hens in New Zealand live short and cruel lives crammed inside wire cages to produce almost 1 billion eggs. For over 20 years SAFE has campaigned to ban these battery cages. Open Rescue have bravely entered farms to document cruel conditions and rescue birds.

One ordinary New Zealander, Carl Scott, spent an entire month living in a cage to raise public awareness.

This year the Government is in the process of reviewing the Code of Welfare for Layer Hens. But their current plan is hardly an improvement: colony cages have already been condemned internationally.

The time is now

We can make a change. It's an election year. Wherever you are, speak up for these young female birds and improve their terrible conditions. Even a short statement will make a difference:

“We are appalled at the treatment of layer hens in New Zealand. Colony cages do not comply with the Animal Welfare Act; follow Switzerland’s example and ban battery cages outright.”

New Zealanders

Contact your local MP - Directory of all NZ MPs
Contact New Zealand Prime Minister John Key
Contact New Zealand Green Party Animal Welfare Rep Sue Kedgley

Internationally

Contact New Zealand Prime Minister John Key
Contact New Zealand Green Party Animal Welfare Rep Sue Kedgley

Share this message using the Facebook link at the end, and other ways to take action

For more information

Read the whole story at SAFE’s NoCages campaign.

Evolving Backwards

2011-07-10T22:20:09Z

And with seeing and being reminded comes…inspiration…each image of animals being treated with apathy in the most horrific manners…manners in which are impossible to imagine how a human could conceive of them-let alone implement and perpetuate them. And yet, they do…and these events continue to the tune of billions of animals per year in the United States alone.

And with hearing an expert in ecology comes…terror…the stab of shocking inescapable doom we are instigating by the shear consumption of massive quantities of animal-based products. We are literally eating ourselves into the next extinction.

As “evolved” thinking primates, one of the defining features we ought to boast is the ability to learn from our mistakes and ameliorate the choices that led to the ultimate poor results. And yet…have we? Is history not repeating itself? How many mass extinctions have occurred in history? Have you ever considered that we-in our evolved, learned culture-could repeat a catastrophic end of humanity as we know it?

And yet...here we are…right smack in the midst of a cataclysmic downward spiral. The more animal products we consume, the more inane senseless torture of sentient, innocent creatures, the more destruction of our air, soil, land, waters, loss of biodiversity, and then some. Oh yes…how can I forget? As a healthcare professional, I directly witness the impact of animal food consumption in my daily practice. I also happen to experience utter miraculous transformations regularly when people cease their consumption of animal products…as my sick clients get healthy, medications get put back in the medicine cabinet permanently, athletes beat their personal bests, and everyone in between thrives.

Our fork determines our future like nothing else. Politics, powerful medications, advances in medical procedures, are laughable when you consider and witness the impact of the food that you eat. It is time we all recognize the blatantly obvious…we know too much now…there is no way out. As our 6.5 billion global population ensues, we are literally eating our planet…and we will soon be left with nothing…tick tock. What will you do? Knowledge is command…we are officially at the tipping point. Will we survive? We have the solution…but will we learn from our mistakes? Or will we remain safely protected in our blissful bubble…tick tock…choose wisely…