So I'm Thinking Of Going Vegan

thanksliving

This weekend Canadians celebrate the holiday that makes me so sad. I've talked about the fowl/foulness of this day before, and where I feel turkeys really belong, but today I'd like to talk about the word Thanksgiving itself. It's the second part of the word "giving" that I find quite confusing as this holiday has so much to do with taking instead. How can we demonstrate "thanks" by taking the lives of so many? Do people really think that millions of turkeys are giving up their lives willingly? We talk about give and take as a practice of compromise, but when it comes to animals, why are we doing all the taking and they the giving? 

Why can't we give thanks by letting beings live? What would be a better act of gratitude than appreciating all the wondrous species that cohabitate the planet Earth? Why don't we celebrate Thanksliving instead?

This prayer by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau has been circulated widely, but it's beautiful, and so appropriate for a holiday that spells horror for many:

My hope is that we can navigate through this world and our lives with the grace and integrity of those who need our protection. May we have the sense of humor and liveliness of the goats; may we have the maternal instincts and protective nature of the hens and the sassiness of the roosters. May we have the gentleness and strength of the cattle, and the wisdom, humility and serenity of the donkeys. May we appreciate the need of community as do the sheep and choose our companions as carefully as do the rabbits. May we have the faithfulness and commitment to family of the geese, the adaptability and affability of the ducks. May we have the intelligence, loyalty and affection of the pigs and the inquisitiveness, sensitivity, and playfulness of the turkeys.

My hope is that we learn from the animals what it is we need to become better people.

from Vegan's Daily Companion: 365 Days of Inspiration for Cooking, Eating, and Living Compassionately, Day 310, p. 263

p.s. Unfortunately I was too late with writing a letter to the editor asking folk to consider celebrating the holiday in a more living way, but did manage to slap a few "New Vegan Age" stickers (thanks, Tom!) on a couple of butcher shop windows in town.

got milk? go wean yourself already!

No doubt you've heard about the latest undercover investigation uncovering familiar dairy cow slaughter cruelty (the details might change but the unending horror doesn't), and since Provoked and These Glass Walls have covered it better than I could, I won't add more here. Naturally it depressed the hell out of me, so I decided to express my frustration at Cafe Press and came up with this custom-designed (okay, logo only) slightly cheeky (I so mean a stronger word than wean, snort) women's tee:

Hmmm, maybe I SHOULD pop in a suitable graphic, a ©, and run a little tee shop! :)

13th annual CrueltyFest Niagara

Ugh. As proud as I was of my region hosting the fabulous inaugural Niagara VegFest, I'm equally saddened and ashamed to be living in a region that's hosting their 13th annual PoultryFest Niagara this Saturday. I mean, I'm sure there are some harmless and perhaps even positive aspects to this event, but somehow I don't think celebrating chickens and chickenhood and trying to prevent them from being used and abused will be the main focus. At least, not judging from the "fun" competitions like Chicken Chariot Races, a wing eating contest and a drop the egg contest. Chicken chariot races? Seriously? 

Okay, wait, maybe we'll have better luck with their Poultry Discovery Centre where they promise that we will learn all there is to know about our fine feathered friends. After all, in our local paper today enthusiastically endorsing CrueltyFest one of the organizers said that watching chicks hatch is one of the most popular activities among the youngsters, so no doubt they'll be informed of the important familial and social bonds and that they need to be respected, no? Sadly, the answer is likely a big fat NO, unless the following makes you feel more at ease than I do:

"Take a minute to watch Mother Nature work her miracles with our hatchery display.  Chat with the experts and don’t forget to collect informative handouts from our industry partners and their representatives. Special thanks goes to our industry partners, the Chicken Farmers of Ontario, and the Egg Farmers of Ontario for their continued support..."

Yikes. But what really bothers me is that this event is being touted as a great day of family fun, and many of their activities are specifically geared to kids. Call me paranoid, but I can't help think that with the involvement of industry partners and informative handouts, it conveniently indoctrinates younger generations into believing that using other sentient beings is just okey-dokey. So sad. Actually, depressing as hell.  

p.s. if a family member, who knows I'm vegan and what I would likely think of this event attended last year and said it was a lot of fun, how can we convey to the folks running this Fest (or to the forum members of Poultry Swap Ontario, for example) that what they're doing is NOT right, without sounding completely bonkers?

animals in laboratories

April 21-29 was officially World Week for Animals in Laboratories, and Tuesday April 24th commemorated World Day for Animals in Laboratories. Sadly, as shown in the image above, harming animals during testing and research has a long sordid history, and like other animal use is difficult to stamp out in part because it's such a profitable enterprise. Never mind that nicotine experiments are STILL being conducted on pregnant animals, or done to figure out whether Harry Sadistic Asshole Harlow ("The only thing I care about is whether or not the monkeys will turn out a property I can publish. I don't have any love for them. Never have. I don't really like animals. I despise cats. I hate dogs. How could you like monkeys?" quoted in Deborah Blum, The Monkey Wars, p. 92.) was actually right about maternal attachment and deprivation. The truth is that most animal testing and experimentation isn't done to promote human welfare as falsely claimed, but exists to feed corporate drug companies and keep scientists spinning on their academic research wheels.

As a vegan I object to any use/abuse of other sentient beings, and while I know that vastly more beings are tortured and killed for food, animal experimentation and vivisection seems to send its own particular chill down my spine. Maybe it's the prolonged confinement and repeated torture, or the fear and terror that can't be escaped time and time again, or maybe it's the outrage I feel toward educated scientists and physicians who obviously don't give a fig about the "first do no harm" principle that should be emblazoned on their hearts and beings. I don't know, but there seems to me something so heinous about this form of use that I can only describe it as Mengelian.

So what can we do? Here are a few ideas:

• become informed about the scope and reality of vivisection today
• inform family, friends and others about what you know
• send letters to editors of local papers to reach even more people
• go cruelty-free and boycott products tested on animals
• make sure that the charities you donate to do not fund animal research
• contact the alumni office of your university to let them know how you feel about animal research done on campus (every time I get called to make a donation I tell them exactly why they're not getting a single penny from me)
• support legislative efforts such as the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act
• celebrate stories of rescue like the raid in Italy against Green Hill
• and finally, remember and share this vegan rule: if there's something you wouldn't do unto another human, then don't do it to any other sentient being

Amazon books that are pissing me off right now

The problem with reading blog posts and linked articles on Twitter, YouTube and FB is that you can come across stuff that even as a fairly seasoned vegan you didn't anticipate. Who knew that the training of K9's involves such cruelty? Never occurred to me. Another blind spot on my part I suppose, although every institution engaged in animal use is complicit to some degree in keeping practices secret from the general public. But now that I know, I can't unknow, and the information on the site regardless of its actual accuracy haunts me. Because if this is how many police dogs ARE trained, how can we expect officers to care about other forms of animal cruelty?

Vegans becoming hunters. WTF? Hunting now promoted as a cool hip thing for women to do. The taking of life somehow seen as a badge of gender equality. Again, wtf? And all this nonsense about being "connected" to nature, "knowing" your food, and showing "respect" by becoming a DIY backyard slaughterer. It makes me think Sir James Paul McCartney had it all wrong -- glass walls won't make a damn difference.

So being already annoyed by a sign advertising an annual church-sponsored pig roast on my way to town earlier (guess the Would Jesus Eat Meat Today? booklet I sent them last year didn't have much impact), I then get thoroughly disgusted by some of the glowing but-make-me-puke reviews of the following dreck found on Amazon:

• Chicks with Guns
• Girl Hunter: Revolutionizing the Way We Eat, One Hunt at a Time
• The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian's Hunt for Sustenance
• Everything but the Squeal: Eating the Whole Hog in Northern Spain and last, but probably the worst of all (although at least it got negative reviews as well)
• Putting Humans First: Why We Are Nature's Favorite

Bah! And having, um, some anger issues, snort, I resort to tweeting and emailing rude responses to dickwads of both sexes. Not effective I'm sure, and not what Colleen Patrick-Goudreau would stoop to, but like I said, anger issues. Sometimes I really DO understand wanting to hide your head in the sand. There are days when I just don't want to hear of another instance where humanity treats other sentient beings like complete crap. The best antidote for me at those times is to burrow my face in my feline's furry belly or indulge in a helping of Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. Yeah, I know, singling out one cute species is probably speciesist, but don't you dare tell me that today cuz I'm not in the mood! ;)

not vegan yet? then please view farm to fridge

 

Vegan already? Excellent! Then keep calm, vegan on, and scroll down for latest post.

alternative images for Good Friday

Christ (who could be viewed as an animal liberator when in anger he released doves, cattle and sheep from the Temple -- an open-air market) would NOT condone the suffering and sacrifice that billions of animal beings face on a daily basis today.

And his sacrifice (if you happen to believe the Christian story) does not wash away the enormous human sin of devaluing and destroying the lives of countless sentient beings that God (if you believe in him) values just as dearly.

I don't know what (if anything) happens after death, but part of me hopes that something resembling what is commonly thought of as heaven will exist for every senselessly slaughtered animal being. But humans? Nah, we don't deserve it.

The images above were created by the talented Dirk Giesselmann and can be found (along with others) at the Toronto Pig Save website.

 

the Oprah vegan show "review" of sorts

So how did I feel after watching Oprah's vegan challenge show? In a word: disappointed. And by the last five minutes downright angry. But let's go back to the beginning. (I'm also writing this before reading any other blogger's post on the subject so I won't be influenced by my usual "damn, why didn't I think of that" envy. Snort.) And, just as the episode did not include a lot of investigative journalism that I could see evidence of (despite Lisa Ling being a paid journalist), this post will not attempt to be balanced or even-handed if I don't feel like it, nor necessarily present my impressions in chronological order. Ha! 

The show started off pretty well, I thought. Oprah and 378 staff members signed up for a week long vegan challenge (participation was not mandatory), and in terms of lunch line-ups and staff-wide hugely increased fiber-induced bowel movements, the week was a big success. The term radical was tossed around a few times with regards to veganism, but I suppose most of us are used to that, just as we're used to hearing words like militant and extreme when our philosophy is described. Michael Pollan (Oprah introduced him as being a rock star of the food movement which I thought quite silly) did agree that veganism is a "cool idea" because it forces you to be conscious and think about where your food comes from, and he also mentioned the link between the standard American diet and chronic disease. Oprah then introduced the statistic of 10 billion animals being consumed each year including 30 million cows and let those numbers (I'm assuming those are  stats for America only) sink in. So far so good.

Unfortunately, from there it went downhill for me, but before I continue, I want to say how much I dislike the term meat. It's too ambiguous, too sanitary, and too far removed from what we're actually eating. Michael Pollan to his credit (who will be referred to as MP from this point on), also mentioned how far removed we are from reality when we buy stuff wrapped in cellophane. Snacking on deceased (and diseased) animal flesh is terminology much more accurate  as far as I'm concerned.

The show then continued with Lisa Ling (after seeing cows being fattened up on corn and corn byproducts) taking a tour of Cargill, one of the largest slaughterhouses in America I believe. Twenty companies had refused a request for a tour of their facilities, but oddly, there was no question as to whether Cargill was typical or representative of most slaughterhouses (correction: MP later stated that Cargill was cleaner, bigger and better run than most), but they still would not allow the actual killing to be filmed. The general manager (sorry, forgot her name) paid lip service to the idea that animals should be treated with dignity and respect and reiterated a number of times how the company and employees had a lot of respect for the former living creatures. Right. I also heard her use the phrase "harvested (gotta love that euphemism) carefully" and that killing animals was somehow part of the "natural order of things." And did you know that the stun bolt gun doesn't hurt, but renders animals completely unconscious so that they don't feel any pain when the bolt is driven into their brain? The effect of the tour on Lisa Ling? Well, she did appear to wince when shown how cows don't feel pain, but now has a new appreciation when eating the animals described as naturally curious by the guy responsible for fattening them up at the beginning of the show. 

So what is MP's take on this industry? Well, meat is not evil (I'm inclined to disagree, and would argue that the production of what we call meat today most definitely is), and while it may be a good idea to reduce our consumption, there's no need to eliminate it, especially meat that's "humanely" raised. He expressed concern that eliminating meat would hurt farmers, and that reforming the industry is preferable. He also credited veganism for improving industry conditions. And remember how I said in my last post that I wasn't sure how I felt about MP? I do now! Putz indeed. MP has a new book coming out soon and I truly hope his sales tank. While it's possible that there are humane ways of raising nonhuman animals, there's nothing humane about killing them for food. 

This brings me to one of my major objections in how veganism was presented in the episode: veganism as diet only. While I appreciate the time constraints of a commercial-riddled hour-long show, absolutely no mention was made of how vegans try to avoid the exploitation of animals in all its forms. Even worse, the implicit (and usually explicit) assumption among most humans that animals are ours to use wasn't addressed at all. 

The show then focused on Kathy Freston and how the vegan challenge was met by staff participants. I like Kathy, I do, and her vegan segment in her Quantum Wellness book was persuasive enough that it (and other factors) convinced me that I wanted to go vegan full-time and not just convert slowly. Some might not like her "lean into it" approach, or her "lose weight, get healthy, change the world" campaign, but I welcome any step in the vegan direction. I also don't have a problem with her seeing veganism as a spiritual path. And, I was quite impressed when she jumped in as soon as MP said, "meat is not evil" with the retort that she wasn't able to look into the eyes of an animal and feel that their suffering was less important than her appetite. At that point though Oprah interrupted with her most delusional and asinine comment ever by saying, "but the animals don't suffer!" What? Really? She then referred back to Lisa Ling saying that whether a person decides to eat meat or not needs to be an individual choice. Maybe she's been burned by the hamburger lawsuit, but to me that's a major cop-out because nonhuman animals certainly don't get that individual choice. No, animal use needs to be seen as a collective decision (one I don't agree with) that human needs/wants are more important and that they trump the rights of any other species.

And surprise, surprise, Oprah does not want to commit to going vegan, although she doesn't mind being veganish if and when it suits her. To sum up I would say that in some ways this show was a good start, but I was extremely frustrated by the end of it. What a shame. Oprah could have done so much good had she wanted to. And yes, I'll still be contacting her, but it'll be to let her know that she clearly doesn't have a clue and missed a big opportunity to achieve something positive with her useless fame. Sigh.

turkeys belong in fields, not on plates

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada, and while I do have much to be thankful for, since becoming vegan this holiday tends to make me sad rather than grateful. The lovely photo above (taken by my Flickr friend Spyder Venym) shows turkeys as they should be: alive, wild, together, outside, and doing whatever they feel like doing. Instead, turkeys are on countless plates all over the country today (I don't have to tell you what misery they suffered before/during their deaths) and it breaks my heart. 

trying to be cruelty-free continued

As I was saying in my last post, I try to be cruelty-free. But it isn't always easy, or even straightforward. It's helpful to see the bunny logo to ensure products haven't been tested on animals, but otherwise you have to be careful that testing wasn't excluded on the final product only, instead of all the ingredients. I love it when I see the word vegan right on the label because even 100% vegetarian is no guarantee that there aren't any animal ingredients included. You can't even count on brand names. For example, I picked up a Jason's lip balm the other day without checking because I already had their lotion and shampoo, and sure enough, I got home and discovered it had beeswax! It's vegetarian, but not vegan. I didn't throw it out though because it was an honest mistake, and I'm not in a position to throw money away. So, I have to remind myself to check ingredients carefully.

But even then, you're not out of the woods. Take my Silk soy beverage for coffee--it's delicious, and I wouldn't be able to drink my coffee without it. And it's also completely vegan, but WhiteWave, who happens to be a dairy company, owns it. Yep, ultimately my money is going to a company that's part of an industry I despise. Tom's of Maine? Also vegan, but a subsidiary company whose parent company is Colgate-Palmolive--a company heavily involved in animal testing. Earth Balance? Well, it contains palm oil (as does the Silk soy beverage and lots of other foods) an ingredient associated with clear cutting rainforests, and that of course has negative impacts on the environment and non-human species like orangutans. Yikes!

So what's a vegan to do? Simply the best they can given the circumstances. I strive to avoid the obvious and worst offenders in terms of ingredients, but I'm not a scientist, I don't have all the ingredients memorized, and while I might not like certain parent companies, I sometimes think that because profit is the only thing they care about; realizing that vegan products are in big demand may not be such a bad thing after all.

trying to be cruelty-free

Like most vegans, I do my best to be cruelty-free. That includes buying products not tested on animals, and without animal ingredients. So far, I have found soap, lotion and shampoo that I like, but finding a vegan deodorant that I like just as well has thus far been elusive. The two in the photo did not work for me, and at $6 each, I don't want to have to keep experimenting. In frustration I ended up buying a bottle of Arrid again (bad, I know!), so do you have any recommendations? 

Tito Ortiz's anti-dogfighting ad

 

I know, many people (including most vegans) don't like PETA (and I don't care for a number of their tactics either), but I DO like this ad. It's an old one apparently, although I only saw it for the first time today, and while I don't know/care who Tito is, I like what he's doing here! And while PETA-bashing may (perhaps even rightfully so) be a popular sport as well, I don't think any vegan would disagree that the blood-sport of dog fighting needs to stop, and whether support for this notion comes from animal welfare or animal rights groups shouldn't matter.

 

Behind-the-scenes footage from Tito Ortiz's PETA photo shoot.

pig roasts, gun shows, good grief!

As stated in my July 31st post, I moved back to my hometown after an absence of more than twenty years, and I guess I somehow forgot just how small and rurally based this area (Niagara Region) is. Or maybe I'm just not used to reading local newspapers that cover events like barbecues, county fairs and pig roasts. Pig roasts! And in just over the two months that I've lived here, there have been two of them. Now given the fact that I get a visceral reaction just from seeing animal flesh in grocery flyers (I swear I never noticed before turning vegan just how prominent it is), I nearly threw up my last meal when I saw a photo of the poor pig nearly done and ready to be eaten. What's even worse in my opinion is that this event was sponsored by a church; an institution that you would think would encourage non-suffering of all species. Anyway, it made me wonder if I should place an announcement asking if there are any other vegans in this town!

The opinion pieces I mentioned in that July post? The first, titled No animal cruelty in pampering a race horse, had the editor asserting that folks calling for a ban on horse racing are "horribly-informed, if not totally ignorant" and overreacting. Don't take my word for it though, as someone at the Niagara Center for Animal Rights Awareness also saw this piece and responded with what I thought was an intelligent and articulate rebuttal. Sadly though, their reply was never printed, which, I'm embarrassed to admit, made me abandon my own less coherent and already belated response. Then, this doozy, which made me shake my head, although she had a valid point about the chickens. Not surprising though that a column denouncing the efforts of animal rights activists would also advocate the death penalty! And guess what? Her piece got a huge positive response. But what I've also learned (in looking through drafts of potential letters to the editor), is that I'm pretty hot-headed, and should probably wait with responding to anything until I've cooled down, snort.

why NOT animal rights?

145 million animals are killed every day for food; 53 billion are killed every year.* 

And that doesn't even include fish and other sea animals! I'll let those numbers sink in for a bit because if you're anything like me I find them staggering and almost unbelievable, although it helps to have a clearer picture because I bet most of us don't really think about the sheer number of animals that humans do eat. And this is only one way in which we consume other animals, and only one element of the numerous ways in which we treat other species as if they are our personal property. So how can we then deny that it might not be time to rethink our relationship with other living creatures? Because I'll also bet that none of the animals killed for food every day actually want to end up on our dinner plates.

* from the "Go Greener, Go Vegan" brochure produced by the Vegan Party of Canada (www.veganpartyofcanada.blogspot.com)

Prevent Cruelty to Animals Day

Today, April 10, is Prevent Cruelty to Animals Day (part of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month -- commemorating the founding of the ASPCA in 1866), and I think it highly fitting that it happens to fall on Good Friday. I like to think that the religious figure being celebrated this weekend, representing unconditional love, and known for his compassion and humane treatment of the marginalized, would if he were alive today, extend that same compassion to ALL sentient beings. I somehow don't think that Christ would truly feel that only human animals are deserving of respect and dignity. In fact, I bet that Christ himself would be championing the vegan cause if he were still around! Or at least agree that cruelty to animals (including to those we consume) is not acceptable.

So however (or if) you celebrate this weekend, remember what love is supposed to be about, that it isn't finite, and that it need not be directed at only one species. :)

more good news

From an email sent to me by the International Fund for Animal Welfare:

Incredible news. In an historic victory more than 15 years in the making, Russia today announced a complete ban on the hunting of all harp seals less than one year of age.

YOUR calls and letters have made a huge difference. Nearly 40,000 messages were written for Prime Minister Putin in the last month alone.

You have helped save up to 35,000 baby seals this year from a cruel and brutal slaughter in the White Sea.

Thanks to your support, IFAW has worked tirelessly in Russia to end this hunt since we opened our office there in 1994. We were the first organization to visit the ice and expose the bloody cruelty within Russia when it was virtually unknown - despite being physically assaulted by sealers and enduring powerful opposition from Russian government officials.

Over the past year, IFAW organized a wave of anti-hunt protests in 25 cities across Russia. This public outcry led to mounting pressure on Russia's government to formally address the need to close the harp seal hunt.

And when a ban on just whitecoat pups (up to about 11 days old) was announced in February, we continued to push through the road blocks of fisheries officials to provide the scientific evidence needed to argue for a full ban.

This is your victory. It's time to celebrate ...

And then tackle Canada's commercial seal hunt!

some good news for a change

Received the following bulletin from the Ontario SPCA earlier this month:

Dear supporter:

At Queen's Park on April 3, 2008, Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Rick Bartolucci tabled Bill 50, the 'Provincial Animal Welfare Act' to amend the 89-year old Ontario SPCA Act. On March 1, 2009 the Ontario government proclaimed Bill 50 into law.

The amended Ontario SPCA Act widens the definition of animal cruelty, improves the Ontario SPCA's ability to address critical animal welfare issues and allows our investigators to bring more abusers to justice. Now Ontario has some of the strongest animal welfare legislation in the country!

Key changes include:

• Establishing new provincial offences against animal cruelty, including causing or permitting distress.
• Providing judges with greater flexibility to impose stiffer penalties, including jail time, fines up to $60,000 and a potential lifetime ban on animal ownership.
• Providing inspection powers to the Ontario SPCA; allowing investigators to inspect premises where animals are kept for the purposes of exhibit, entertainment, boarding, sale or hire.
• Permitting the Society to apply for custody of an animal victim while a case is still before the courts.
• Expanding the standards of care to be applicable to all animals, not just dogs and cats.
• Requiring veterinarians to report suspected animal abuse or neglect with protection under the law.
• Making it an offense to train an animal to fight with another animal or to own animal fighting equipment.
• Making it an offense to harm a law enforcement animal, such as a dog or a horse.

The Ontario SPCA is one of the largest and most responsive animal welfare organizations in the country, representing a network of 50 communities across the province. While it is unfortunate, the fact remains that we investigate more than 16,000 allegations of abuse and neglect yearly. As a result of those investigations alone, more than 9,000 animals come into the Society's care requiring veterinary care, sheltering and re-homing.

Our peace officers province-wide investigate heinous crimes on a daily basis. A recent cockfighting case in East Gwillimbury, which received wide-spread media attention, is one such example. With the proclamation of this legislation, new provincial offences for the training of animals to fight and the ownership of animal fighting equipment now exist.

We see unimaginable cruelty on a daily basis. This new legislation gives us hope that we can decrease abuse and save more lives. This is an historic day in animal welfare for the province of Ontario and for the Ontario SPCA. The Society looks forward to working on behalf of Ontarians to address concerns for the well-being of all animals.

To learn more visit www.ontariospca.ca

Sincerely

Kate MacDonald
CEO, Ontario SPCA

Yay, a step in the right direction!

a progress report of sorts

So I guess I've been vegan now for almost eight months and am happy to report that it's still going well. Once in a while someone will ask how my vegan "diet" is coming along and of course it isn't a diet as such (if it were only a diet then I imagine most vegans would have broken it by now), but a commitment and a philosophy. Some might even call it a lifestyle.  I think of it more as a personal contract or pledge that you undertake in an effort to do what you can to reduce animal suffering, and in that sense it's a powerful form of activism because I can't think of too many other causes whereby one person can have an immediate impact simply by taking themselves off the meat-eating market. And by refusing to partake in practices that are taken for granted by most, you also have the chance to make other people think about what they eat and why.

My own process of becoming vegan was both gradual and immediate. Gradual in the sense that I had already cut out most dairy products over the years (way too much mucus and congestion!), rarely ate red meat, and didn't like most of the fish options available. The switch was immediate though when I learned what factory farming actually was (the reality of it is hidden for good reason), and what animals went through for the sake of human consumption (whether in terms of food, testing, research, so-called entertainment, or any other forms), and I pretty much stopped animal consumption from one day to the next. And for me a big part of veganism is consciousness; being fully aware of what you eat, and how whatever it is that you're eating actually arrived on your plate. In a sense I think it's like the drunk driving campaigns that urge you to drink responsibly, but in this case it would be being knowledgeable about the processes involved whenever humans eat other animals and how the dairy and meat industries have drastically changed over the years.

I suppose my main hope for the future is that veganism will become as mainstream as environmentalism (I really do believe that will happen one day!), and that being animal-friendly will be seen in the same vein as being eco-friendly as the two are fundamentally linked. In large part I'm vegan because I think it's better for ALL involved: humans, other animals, AND the environment.

Hmmm, now that I've written this it reads more like a mini-treatise than a progress report, but oh well! :)

turkey talk

Of course it's hard not to talk about turkey today given that it's Thanksgiving in the United States (in Canada we celebrate it a month earlier), and obviously any blog devoted to animal rights is probably not in favour of killing these birds, but to be honest I never gave much thought to turkeys at all before I became vegan. In fact, I never gave any thought to how any animal eventually arrived on my plate and I suspect most other people don't either. But the whole process of how we treat animals before and during slaughter will be the subject of future posts as today I'm just going to throw out a few turkey tidbits (from Ingrid Newkirk's Making Kind Choices) at you. Did you know that wild turkeys:

• can blush? (they change skin colour to reflect changes in their feelings)
• can be personable and friendly?
• can run 25 miles per hour and fly up to 55 miles per hour over short distances?
• have a 270-degree field of vision and excellent hearing?
• tense up when afraid and get stressed when slaughtered? (um, wouldn't you?)

Okay, I've changed my mind. Came across Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-a-Turkey Project, and they have information on what factory farming for turkeys is really like. So if you're going to eat turkey this Thanksgiving then at least be aware of what they have to go through. Better yet, save a life and have a cruelty-free feast instead!

transitioning to veganism

Wow things have changed since I wrote this nearly three years ago! So if this is your first time visiting please ignore and jump right to the main page, snort.

Well, since I don't really know where to begin, I think I'll just jump right in. I set up this blog almost two months ago and in that time have successfully been following a vegan diet, although I still have a few non-vegan items (i.e. leather knapsack and sandals) in use. Technically therefore I would be considered a total or strict vegetarian rather than a vegan per se, but I like the term "transitioning to veganism" (found in Joanne Stepaniak's Being Vegan) better as that more accurately describes where I'm at.

You may have noticed the short definition of vegan that I provided at right, but here is a more complete definition provided by The Vegan Society (est. in 1944) in England:

Veganism denotes a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude--as far as possible and practical--all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals, and the environment.

I think what appeals to me about veganism is the fact that it isn't just some diet (although what may most strongly stand out in some people's minds are the things that vegans won't eat), but a way of life based on a philosophy and purposeful principles. And while there may be different motivations for people embracing veganism (namely health, environment and ethical concerns), the path and end result (avoiding animal products) are the same.

In this blog I hope to chart my journey as I become a full-fledged vegan, and outline the "what, why, and how" of what I'm doing in case it's of any interest to others. I also want this blog to focus on the more fun aspect of veganism--food! Yep, I'll be reporting and posting pictures of what I'm cooking and eating, both successes and failures. I'm also starting a related companion blog on animal rights because even though I've adopted veganism as a way of life for myself, I don't think you have to be vegan per se to be concerned about animal welfare. In that blog I'll be exploring where I stand when it comes to animal rights (there are so many different issues and outlooks!), and I invite you to join me there as well. For those of you who know me primarily through Think Outside The Piggy Bank, thank you for visiting and please do come again.