Have Gone Vegan

the day American democracy and decency died

It's been a week to the day since the election, and people around the world (not just American residents who'll be impacted first and foremost) have reacted with shock, anger, fear, sadness, bewilderment, and a host of other related emotions. The reality (and unreal feel) of this situation is still sinking in for many, and folk are not only processing, but grieving. (Interestingly enough, almost 1/4 of polled Canadians and Brits indicated they wanted Trump to win, so like their American counterparts they experienced very different emotions as the results came in.)

A key difference this time around though is that unlike the last election when progressives were happy that Democrats won, Republicans (and MAGAs in particular) are expressing a visceral glee in not only winning, but beating their opponents. Slogans like, "Your Body, My Choice" have gained traction and are being used to mock and taunt women, while racist messages were sent to vast numbers of Black people across the US saying they'd been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Not surprising I suppose when Trump's campaign was rooted in both misogyny and racism, but chilling nonetheless.

Predictably, the blame game began as soon as Harris conceded (too quickly I think, as she could have made Trump sweat a bit), with fingers pointing at Harris, the campaign, and the Democrat Party for losing. Numerous factors were cited, but any pundit confidently declaring that "She or it or they lost because..." and then only mentioning one reason has lost the plot as far as I'm concerned. No one can definitively conclude why as there were a number of overlapping causes and issues. Let's not forget either that there's been a strong global right-wing shift with many incumbent parties losing their status.

Personally I think Harris ran a strong campaign, and couldn't have done much more given the vast amount of both disinterest (nearly 14 million, or 4 out of 10 Americans, didn't even vote) and disinformation. That Trump's campaign spewed copious amounts of lies about the economy, crime, and immigration was a given. That they spread falsehoods about what they would do (e.g., improve the daily lives of the working class), and what they wouldn't do (e.g., distancing themselves from Project 2025's agenda), was also not a surprise.

But they were truthful in ways that the electorate minimized or ignored, e.g., the reality of the cost of tariffs being paid for by American consumers, what mass deportations would do to both the economy and families, the gutting of environmental regulations (Trump already rolled back 100 EPA regulations in his first term), and so forth.

But it wasn't just Trump, his minions, and billionaire friends (hello, Elon) to blame. Voters themselves couldn't be bothered to know what, or even whom, they were voting for. Google searches on election day itself spiked with queries about Joe Biden running, and searches AFTER election day included "what is a tariff" indicating that a lot of folk were clueless. Didn't know, didn't care sums up the experience of too many, which is sad when you consider what was at stake. 

This was an expensive election in more ways than one. Approximately $16B (yes, BILLION) was donated to political campaigns (think about the impact if that much money was spent on housing or health care or social supports), if not the downright purchasing of candidates for expected return favours. Soon-to-be trillionaire Musk, for example, cannot legally run for US office, but he sure did try to buy it. * He's just been selected today to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, and if he runs/ruins it the way he did Twitter...

Monetary cost was just one price paid. Earth itself, the environment, natural resources, exacerbated climate crisis, human rights, human lives, animal lives (as one of my dear friends often and rightly points out, when things get bad for humans, non-human animals suffer concurrently as well), and even American democracy itself as the UnUnited States lurches towards autocracy.

The current administration is also to blame for not holding Trump accountable while they still had the chance, for not putting him in jail instead of allowing a felon to run for office again, not protecting the constitution, not protecting women by codifying Roe, and trying to take the high moral road with opponents who clearly no longer know what morals mean. It was no longer a level playing field which Democrats ignored at their peril, placing every voter in peril too.

What are parents supposed to teach their kids about crime now? They can no longer say that crime doesn't pay, because it does. It no longer goes unpunished, but is rewarded instead. You can commit any crime you want, and still become President. There's a moral lesson for ya! 

And why does this matter so much to non-Americans you ask? And to Canadians in particular? Because everyone will feel the effects of a Trump administration and its decisions. Economically, politically, environmentally, culturally, militarily, you name it, and as members of the global community, we'll experience the repercussions.  

As for Canada, we've already felt the impact of his first administration, most notably in how political discourse has changed for the worse. We've become almost as polarized politically as in the US, and the conservative populist playbook followed almost to the letter by our current Opposition Leader champing at the bit to become Prime Minister.

A career politician who's never had a real job but claims to be for the working class while courting millionaires and lobbyists, campaigning from the get-go two years ago even though our election campaign cycles are usually only a few months long, spouting simplistic slogans, lies and outrage, expressing disdain for the media, suggesting he'll implement ant-trans policies, and blaming immigrants for the high cost of living and housing. Sound familiar? Oh, and his team has already spent 8.5M (yes, MILLION) on advertising. It's fair to say that far-right factions in Canada were emboldened by Trump's first term, and will likely become even more so now.

Here's an amusing (although sad enough) column about how Canadians have become just as gullible and wilfully uninformed as our American neighbours when it comes to picking our political leaders. Ignore the multiple ads and enjoy.

If at the beginning of reading this post its title initially struck you as hyperbolic, I'd ask you to reconsider given the picks to his team that Trump has already made. Consider also Trump's statement (threat?) that if you voted for him this time, you'd never have to vote again.

Consider too that Trump is more a figurehead of his party and that the real danger to democracy lies with those behind him. Consider that Vice President J.D. Vance could be President sooner than anticipated given Trump's age and obvious cognitive decline (vigorously remonstrated with Joe Biden but oddly ignored when it came to Trump), and that his allegiance to the stated ideals and policies of Project 2025 are all the more dear to him. Call me hyperbolic, but I fear dark days ahead. And certainly we can expect that the hatred and vitriol won't subside anytime soon, because we've seen it amplified already.

So the biggest question now is, Now what? Stand by and watch? Not an option if you care about either decency or democracy or both. Fight like hell when shite happens, as it quickly will come January. The first 180 days especially, if you believe the Heritage Foundation folks behind Project 2025, who've been preparing their "Mandate for Leadership" manuals for conservative governments since 1981.

In the meantime, rest up Americans, and get ready. Also, as the inimitable Rebecca Solnit writes, "Authoritarians like Trump love fear, defeatism, surrender. Do not give them what they want."

For Canadians specifically, we need to resolve to not let what's happened next door happen here. Like Trump, Pierre Poilievre has bamboozled a lot of folk into thinking that Canada is broken (it's not), that Justin Trudeau is to blame for inflation (he's not), that immigrants are to blame for the cost of housing (they're not), and that "Axe the Tax" (eliminating the carbon tax) will solve all our problems (it won't).

We have to counteract the conservative propaganda machine because right now too many Canadians are fooled into viewing Poilievre as our political saviour. Nope, like Trump, he ain't. So let the work begin! 

the biggest threat to humanity right now?

If you rightly think it could be any of the following:

• climate change
• natural (or man-made) disasters
• war (especially the nuclear kind)
• another and-even-worse global pandemic
• economic inequality
• (read and weep at how much richer the richest 1% of the population became)
• the erosion of social support networks to help people deal with poverty, etc., 
• fill in the blank with anything I erronously forgot

you would actually be quite wrong, because according to too many folk the biggest threat to humanity right now is the miniscule portion of the population (less than 1%) who would like to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

Alternatively (complementarily?), it could also be the "woke mind virus" that saviour DeSantis (alternative name DeSadist) is determined to stamp out. Both in Florida, and if enough [insert noun here as any of mine would be both snarky and rude] vote the "right" way, the entire United States of America.

So, whatever issue you picked from the list above (you silly nincompoop), you obviously don't see what will REALLY be humanity's demise.

p.s. I'm working on a longer post, but thought I'd publish this right away to give you time to reconsider the actual cause of the upcoming doom and prepare accordingly. ;)

and they're back...

Hello dear reader, it's been a while I know. About 6 months or so? 

After my last post in November my Mom started to decline even more, and at the end of February passed away at the ripe old age of 95. Her family was both saddened AND relieved as she was suffering miserably. Obviously it's taken a while to adjust.

(If interested, I first wrote about her dementia diagnosis and the earlier stage of the caregiving journey back in 2018, and an update in the first half of this post in 2022. The best ONE word to describe the entire process? Heartbreaking.)

And while I'm not making any promises to blog on a regular basis, I do hope to do so at least sporadically. I'll be following up on my last post soon because tomorrow is Pride month's halfway point, and boy has there been a backlash! 

Also, if even Canadian wildfire smoke turning New York City's skyline orange doesn't convince climate-change deniers and global-warming-is-a-hoax conspiracy theorists, what will? 

Back soon!

where has the last year (or two!) gone?

It's been a whole year and a day since I last posted (which means I've now been officially vegan for fourteen years!), and while I meant to get back into blogging more regularly, that obviously didn't materialize. Not that I don't have a bucketful of posts in my drafts folder (34, to be exact, going all the way back to 2011 for heaven's sake), but I just realized too that I only posted TWICE last year. So, what happened?

In part, looking after my mom has taken up a lot of my time and energy. Back in 2018, I posted about her dementia diagnosis and my taking a one-year leave of absence from work to become her caregiver. Well, I never did return to work after that leave of absence, and Mom's condition deteriorated quickly enough that in 2021 she finally went into long-term care. (Was supposed to go in March of 2020 but a pandemic rudely intervened.) And if I naively thought that all my tasks and worries would be over now that she was getting 24-hour care, ha! Nope, that's when an extra workload begins, but that's another story as is life in long-term care during COVID-19. 

Mom will have been at her current facility for 1½ years come September when she turns 95. When she first arrived she was still mobile and using a walker. Now she's completely immobile, stuck in a Broda chair, and her legs are contracted like a pretzel. She was still verbal and lucid enough, but now there are many times when her words are complete gibberish. She's often agitated, distressed, calls out for her mother (in Dutch, moeder, MOEDER!), and doesn't always recognize me, even though I'm in daily.

I can tell you as well that by having to witness her suffering and that of some of the other residents, I have become an even more staunch supporter of MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying - made legal in Canada in 2016) than I was before. Mom wouldn't be eligible for MAiD anyway as she can no longer give consent, and the faith-based institution she is in is dead set against it (the term "dead set" striking me as somewhat funny in this particular context), but I tell ya, I would want MAiD for myself even if it killed me. (Okay, gallows humour appears to be getting the better of me, snort.)

Seriously though, watching a parent go through this end-of-life hell is probably one of the toughest things one can do. And it makes you question why we're willing to grant pets (that most of our species considers to be inferior) a dignified and merciful ending to their suffering, while making it so difficult for people. It doesn't make sense.

So, that's a big part of why I've been absent. Another major reason is my bewilderment at how completely cockeyed our world has become, and the despair at the lack of power individual folk have in not being able to stop that trajectory. If we thought that Donald being elected back in 2016 was absurd enough, societal regression seems to have ramped up even more. I can't believe the times we live in, and it feels like it keeps getting worse. 

Last year I started a draft post of what was pissing me off, and some of the items included the number of vegans embracing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and retweeting fools like Theo Fleury, the passing of the horrendous Texas 6-week abortion ban, folk who still insist that global warming and climate change is a hoax despite the increasing in-your-face fires, floods, hurricanes and other "natural" disasters witnessed worldwide, the infantile and ridiculous obsession in the US with the right to keep and bear arms, and the seemingly unlimited American tolerance for gun violence no matter how many people and children get killed. 

So far in this year Ottawa was held hostage by the "FreeDumb Convoy" in February, we're currently in the seventh wave of COVID in Ontario and the umpteenth outbreak at my mom's LTC facility, the right to abortion healthcare in the US was stripped after 50 years by Supreme Court justices deciding that individual states have the right to enforce forced birth upon their citizens, the aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas illustrated how many Americans STILL worship guns above all else, 3600 people were killed by extreme heat waves in Europe in July, and of course the Russian invasion of Ukraine that has already displaced 14 million people and ended the lives of at least 20K. It's mind-numbing.

Animals haven't fared well either. Flooding in the province of British Columbia back in December killed more than 640,000 pigs, cows and chickens, but climate change denial lives on. In that same province, 2 animal rights activists were recently found guilty of Break and Enter and Mischief, while in a gross miscarriage of justice the farm owners faced no consequences whatsoever for their legal and illegal abuse of animals. After Ontario passed their "Ag Gag" law in 2020, federal "Ag-Gag" Bill C-205 passed its second reading before Parliament dissolved as a federal election was called. Now, an almost identical bill reintroduced by the same member, John Barlow, will again be up for debate. 

Even species more favoured by humans, like cats and dogs, are sadly being surrendered in record numbers to animal shelters. Blame it on inflation or lifted COVID restrictions enabling people to work at their workplace instead of at home, but many supposed guardians of these animals are abandoning their caregiving promise.  

I ended up abandoning my what-pisses-me-off post because it was getting too long, and too damn depressing. It's hard to know how to make a difference, and what words to use to reach those who don't seem to care or want to know about how humans are succeeding in destroying our environment, animals, and each other. As one reader of this blog once commented, it's so tiring saying the same thing over and over. Exactly.

And there are times when I think that if our human species is that hell-bent on destroying themselves and everything around them, well, so be it. When I was lamenting the choices in our last provincial election, someone said to me that we get the government we deserve. If that's true, then in the same vein humans collectively get the environment we deserve as well. But future generations will be stuck with solving all the needless problems they didn't create and don't deserve, and animals certainly don't deserve the extinction of themselves and their habitats.

So where does that leave us? What can we do? I don't have the answers of course, and I find it maddening to keep having to watch our species not only messing things up, but implementing laws and policies that were more typical 70 years ago. I mean, we might as well be living in 1952 given the extreme right-wing conservative push-back in too many places. The prime minister of Hungary (considered a hero by far too many conservatives) has openly lamented Europe becoming a "mixed race" society, and doesn't even seem to recognize the inherent racism of his views.

And while we watched reproductive rights being stripped in so many other countries, who would have thought that nine individuals (but especially three) could screw over millions of people in the US? I had a letter to the editor published, by the way, warning that Canadians shouldn't be complacent about our abortion rights as too many groups and politicians here are stoked by the unjust overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

As I said, all this nonsense going on perplexes and bewilders me to no end. But it does make it clear that we as vegans have to fight on all fronts and on behalf of ALL animals (including human ones) if we're going to help this planet become less topsy-turvy than it is.

That's it for now from me. Hopefully it won't be another year before I reappear again!

birds and babies and chipmunks, oh my!

Mom had American robins nesting in her pine tree this year, so I decided to put my camera to use and create a "Birds of Spring" album for her. Here are a few of my favourite shots.  

new year, old battle

Can you believe 2017's here? At the beginning of each new year I like to start with an encouraging/optimistic post, and my favourite of that kind is one I sometimes feel could be reused every year. This year, however, no such post is bubbling up. 

I'm still struggling with the disappointment of the US election and the reality of the Donald being in power, and I resent the fact that December 19 (the anniversary of my cat's death) will now always be linked to his official election by the Electoral College. My antipathy towards this doofus was made clear in prior posts, and while you may wonder why the election of an American president would bother this Canadian resident so much, it's because I fear that social justice for all creatures will take a huge step backwards. His cabinet picks so far bear this out.

I will outline why the election was a bad one for animals, and then hope to be done discussing this despicable man once and for all. It's the only way I can cope I'm afraid, and as childish as this outlandish man is himself, I may have to resort to shutting my eyes and ears whenever I hear his name on any kind of media. I know, that means I won't be hearing or seeing much over the next four (two?) years, snort.

Stress and sadness over other non-political issues have also been key this past year, and while I posted earlier about burnout, acknowledging and addressing it are two different things. I hope to recover a bit more joy and enthusiasm before year's end, write the posts I've been meaning to, and focus on how to be a better advocate, because sometimes I feel that my having been vegan for the past eight years has accomplished diddly squat for those I'm fighting for.

So, who has Donald picked so far and why is that bad for animals, human and non-human alike? Well, in a nutshell, and with few exceptions, Trump has surrounded himself with old, ultra-rich white men who have shown no interest in protecting the environment, animals, or humans who don't fit their own demographic. Far from draining any kind of swamp, Trump is simply making it swampier and more dangerous for those who don't look like him. 

Flooding the swamp he promised to drain with people who are anti environment, pro oil, pro gas, climate-change skeptics, pro big business, pro animal agriculture, pro factory farming, anti animal-rights, and anti public health care folk who tend to see everything in black and white, they wouldn't recognize a nuance if it bonked them on the head. The only regard they seem to have is for dollar signs. To people, sentient beings of all kind, and the planet itself, they're saying a big FU.

Trump's own two sons show complete disregard for wildlife by participating in the "sport" of trophy hunting, something that Donald is actually proud of. And given that the elder Trump is babysat by his own kids, their influence on his stance where animals are concerned can only be suspect. No, I'm afraid that the trumpnoxious (Trump-style brand of obnoxniousness) President-elect, his silly trumptirades (usually conducted on Twitter), and his downright scary-as-hell cabinet picks are filling me with nothing but trumpidation (the specific trepidation felt by almost everything the Trumpster says and does). The only silver lining is that perhaps things really do have to hit a rock bottom we didn't even envision before the world wakes up to the nightmare that the human species has created.

The stakes have NEVER been higher. And if we thought it was a battle before to have the rights of sentient beings recognized and respected, to have veganism be more than a scoffed-at movement consisting of a few, than I would say it's looking more like a war. As I said, I don't feel particularly encouraged or optimistic right now, and that's something I hope will change over the course of this year. In the meantime, let's all soldier on, because every single living being is counting on us. 

Not a great way to begin the year and end this post I know, so please reread my way-better-way-to-begin welcome of a few years ago. :)

we animals... (and another quick quiz)

...deserve to rot in hell.

Never has one book filled me with so much loathing for the human species.* And it's not that I'm unfamiliar with the information We Animals contains, so maybe it's the images, as gripping and often non-graphic as they are, that set me on edge. The book IS excellent, and I still highly recommend it, but unfortunately, it fills me with a disgust and despair that differs in degree from anything else I've read or seen. Maybe because it's so encompassing, detailing the numerous ways in which humans can be cruel, callous, and ignorant, that evokes my strong reaction. The result though, even after getting through a few more pages than before, is cursing so prolific that even I'm embarrassed, and a wishing of terrible things upon my fellow humans. Not exactly peaceful, or compassionate, and definitely not helpful.

It makes me wish that if there were an afterlife it'd be reserved for non-human beings only, as too many of them have already suffered a lifetime of hell in their too short, and too miserable, lives. It makes me wonder why the majority of believers are convinced they'll be going to heaven (is there anyone who actually thinks they're hell-bound, and what the hell is up with religious mobsters for Pete's sake?), and it makes me even more pessimistic than I already am. It makes me feel that there's no hope (which is why I have to get through these awful beginning chapters and get to the more hopeful ones), and that as long as humans are alive, animal exploitation won't end. It makes me think that only self-inflicted extinction of the human species (under a watchful/wrathful? eye of Mother Nature) will end the horror we inflict on all beings.

I'm assuming my reaction is not what the author was aiming for, and not what most readers have or will experience, so my response is likely not typical and that's a good thing. So for the sake of my blood pressure, temper, and indiscriminate ill-will toward other innocent and not-so-innocent human beings, I'll do what I often do in situations like this -- make a virtual visit to go see Esther and the rest of the HEEFS gang. A distraction no doubt, but probably better for me, you, and everyone else. :)

Oh, here's an interesting Essential Species Quiz and a post by the same author talking about misanthropy in a way that makes quite a bit of sense to me.

And if you think the word misanthropy should have no place in a vegan vocabulary, how else would you respond to this poor excuse of a human being who runs a whole hog barbecue restaurant called Arrogant Swine (choice words come to mind about both the name and concept, but I'm trying to be polite here), and had this to say about vegan barbecue:

"Vegan BBQ is as nonsensical of a term as pork-chop sushi or composing a garden salad out of candy bars," Ho said. "BBQ centers around the philosophy of contextual communal feasting. Smoked seitan is violently antithetical to that. Rather than call to mind the excessive feasting of laborers at the end of the fall harvest, it's an anemic dietary constraint. Rather than a celebration of abundance, it's a solution to a problem no one wanted solved."

Sounds to me like he's feeling quite threatened by the idea of vegans encroaching on his perceived territory, and is himself spewing nonsensical verbiage (um, philosophy of contextual community feasting?) as a lame defense of his repulsive occupation. But I don't want to end this post on a sour note, so here's a sweet image of how hogs and other animals could/should be treated -- as part of a family, human or otherwise.

* obviously not all members of it, and I do recognize that some groups of members are more culpable than others...

who's gonna save our planet?

Often, I'm sad to admit, the pessimistic side of me thinks no one.

And most of the time I'm grateful to be over the age of fifty so that I won't have to watch as our Earth implodes due to human self-destruction. As I said, pessimistic. On especially cynical and misanthropic days, I even think it may serve the human species right if (due to stupidity, selfishness and greed) the planet it abuses and takes for granted will sooner, rather than later, cease to exist.

But then that wouldn't be fair to all the other species. Or future human generations who didn't create the mess that most of us (and by most, I specifically point the finger at other former-hippy-turned-capitalist-consumer boomers) will leave behind for younger folk to solve.

So when I heard wise-beyond-his-years Henry Marr (or wise because the years haven't descended yet?) implore others to smarten up already, a small sliver of hope pierced my sometimes-hardened heart. Maybe, just maybe, enough youngsters will eventually set things right that us oldsters have so screwed up. Is this kid vegan?

Probably not, but if enough kids like him are passionate about something that will have an impact on the environment, or any of the other social justice issues that at heart are about oppression and power imbalance, then there's a chance that all the bits of action added up can contribute to lasting change. Cuz it sure is gonna take more than my generation to save the bruised planet we're leaving behind for others.

Here's Henry in his own words:

 

If you want to follow this trying-to-save-the-planet young hero on Facebook (and in case you think hero is overstating it, check out some of the decidedly non-heroic comments contributed by adults on the YouTube video above), here's his page:

https://www.facebook.com/emotionalenvironmentalist/

Keep up the good fight, Henry. We're counting on you! :)

would it really be so bad if the human species became extinct?

And if the answer is yes, then why are we working so hard to achieve exactly that?

The graphic in a previous post shows how different species will gradually disappear (or not so gradually given that nearly 1000 species have gone extinct in the past 500 years already) if we don't change our ways soon. Because while past mass extinctions occurred primarily due to natural causes, one species in large part is causing the current ecosystem crisis. Poaching, habitat destruction, global warming and excessive use of water (even if you're not ethically opposed to eating other animals, from a water use point of view alone animal agriculture needs to be scraped off our plates already) all contribute to the demise of fellow species.

Now let's say you actually don't care about other species dying off and are only concerned with human survival. Then wouldn't it be ironic if the species thought to be the most intelligent became extinct due to its own stupidity? Because that's exactly the driving force (that, and greed) threatening to drive us off this planet. 

What's fascinating though is that while other species could function just fine or even better without Homo sapiens, our species is fragile enough that our very existence depends on the beings we consider vastly inferior to ourselves. Like bees. And bats. Imagine that! We need bees and bats (among others) to survive, so perhaps it's time to put aside our smug superiority complex and realize we're not only risking the extinction of other species, but of ourselves as well. Let's be clear: humans need this earth if they want to survive, Earth does not need us.

Going back to the title question, I have to admit there are times when I feel human extinction would be an overall gain for the rest of the species co-habiting our lovely planet. That sentiment could certainly be construed as misanthropic, but our species is so anthropocentric that overall we don't seem to give a damn about how much cruelty and death we inflict on others, and on darker days I feel it would serve us exactly right to get a taste of our own bitter medicine. So, let's get our collective act together and behave in ways that would make human extinction a true tragedy for all species. Agreed? 

Note: Watched the 2007 documentary The 11th Hour after drafting this post, and even though the many experts offered excellent ideas, it was striking that none of them mentioned animal consumption. To be fair there were two images of factory farming in the film, but no one actually said, let's stop eating animals. Disappointing, but not surprising. Guess I'll have to watch Cowspiracy for that!

earth day 2015

Hard to believe that Earth Day has been commemorated for 45 years now, and I have to admit that the more cynical part of me wonders how much we've really achieved in that time. Given the ongoing problems with global warming, pollution, oil spills, other environmental degradation, overpopulation, misuse of natural resources, species exploitation and extinction, the colossal disrespect human animals show towards this earth is overwhelming. Arrogance, greed, and an unwarranted superiority complex seem to trump common sense, decency and compassion when it comes to how humans interact with other species and Earth herself. So let's just hope we do better in the next 15 years, because 45 years from now it may well be too little, too late.

p.s. apparently, this is my 250th post :)

image credit: Patrick McDonnell's Mutts comic strip

the inimitable and quotable Farley Mowat

Read the following this morning, and liked it so much I decided to look for more. :)

For those not familiar with Farley Mowat, he was a crusty but popular Canadian icon (he hated that label but I'm gonna use it anyway) who authored forty-one books (which I'm embarrassed to say I haven't read any of yet), a noted environmentalist, a lover of nature (not all environmentalists necessarily love nature I've come to suspect), an important critic, and an influential figure.

  

And while he wasn't vegan (although I like to think he eventually would have become so), he nonetheless was a champion for other sentient beings and certainly recognized the destructiveness of the human species.

For two in-depth articles on this rascally one-of-a-kind national treasure, click here and here, but I'll let Mr. Mowat have the last word:

“It is to this new-found resolution to reassert our indivisibility with life, to recognize the obligations incumbent upon us as the most powerful and deadly species ever to exist, and to begin making amends for the havoc we have wrought, that my own hopes for a revival and continuance of life on earth now turn. If we persevere in this new way we may succeed in making man humane ... at last.” 

sometimes down, sometimes up, such is Typepad

Well! As some of you may have noticed, Typepad had a few hiccups of late. Actually, it got hacked, and blogs with their own domain name such as havegonevegan, were looking abandoned. If you tried to comment, or even read, you probably got the message "domain unknown." Unfortunate, and I'm sorry for any inconvenience. It looks like it's been fixed now, but you never know, and I can't swear it won't happen again. But please DO know that I would never ditch this blog without giving you fair warning, or leaving some kind of farewell message, as that just ain't my style.

So, back to regular programming. You all know what day it is today, right? :)

The Earth is what we all have in common. --WENDELL BERRY

Indeed. And all includes all humans (not just those living in North America), all members of Kingdom Animalia (yes, that includes insects), and members of the plant kingdom. We all call this place home, use her resources without always giving back, and leave our collective footprints for better or worse, so let's start sharing this planet nicely and wisely already.

meat out, water in

Two days of note this week: Meatout, celebrated March 20, and World Water Day on March 22. How the two are interrelated is illustrated nicely in the infographic below:

So let's take meat (and all animal products) out of the picture altogether. It takes far too much water to produce animal-derived foodstuffs, and from an environmental perspective, it just doesn't make sense. But let's say you don't give a toss about the environment, and let's say you don't believe we should be wasting time and energy on animal rights when there are so many more pressing and important human issues. Fine, then let's start with water.

Water. We need it, we're made of it, and no single living entity can survive without it.

It's a basic thing, right? So why isn't it also a basic right? Again, let's forget for a moment about those pesky animals that vegans are always going on about. What about the right for all humans to have access to clean safe water? And if so many around the world are going without, is it ethical to be pumping all that water into food items that aren't healthy and aren't necessary? And what about water privatization? Not surprisingly, there are corporations who want to make money off of a substance that should be a basic human right. Perhaps the air we breathe is next?

So even if the only thing you care about in relation to water is that all people on this planet have enough to drink (we're not even talking about the starvation issue here), then one of the first steps you need to take is to go vegan. It's time we rethink the ethics of water, reconsider our current consumption mode, and acknowledge that water isn't a market resource, but part of a natural living ecosystem that all beings depend upon. 

happy (b)earth day

earth hour

One hour. One measly little hour. This one hour translates to 1/24th of your day, 1/168th of your week, and 1/8760th of your year (if my calculations are correct, snort). Earth Hour will be celebrated from 8:30 to 9:30pm on Saturday, March 31, 2012. Please take this time to show a little love for this lovely planet we're allowed to live on, the ultimate mother of us all, in a way. Think about how we treat our hostess, all her other guests, and give thought as to whether our manners could improve. ;)

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. --WILLIAM JAMES

springing into action

Well, not quite. After having found my groove again (snort, thanks veganelder), I ended up working full-time for a spell (debating whether I should fight the flu shot requirement or not) and didn't have the energy to blog, or do anything particularly useful for other animals. But today is the first day of Spring, yay, so I hope to be back in action soon. In the meantime, here are some other dates to keep in mind this week: 

March 20: Meatout

March 22: World Water Day 

March 23: One Life -- although not a vegan documentary, I'm always hopeful that films of the Planet Earth genre will at least inspire more respect for other species

March 19-25: Canada Water Week -- discover your water footprint!

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Also, for any Canadian reader interested in working with an animal sanctuary, there's an Executive Director position available with the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada main farm in Puslinch, Ontario. I would encourage you to apply! :)

why Mad Men gives me hope

For those of you not familiar with this excellent show, Mad Men is a drama set in the advertising world of the 1960s. Smart, stylish, wonderfully acted, and with a pace that tends to emphasize character over action, this series is notable for capturing the sexism, racism and homophobia of that era. Also striking are the commonplace behaviours that can come across as shocking to today's viewers. Seeing a pregnant woman smoke and drink is jarring to say the least. In fact, the copious amounts of smoking and drinking by almost all characters both at home and in the workplace is a reminder of how much things have changed. 

But my favourite example so far of change in public attitude is through an episode where the main characters go on a lovely picnic in a pristine park, and upon leaving shake out their blanket and leave the garbage behind on the grass. I cannot tell you how jaw dropping this incident was, but the huge number of comments this little snippet in the episode garnered all across the Internet tells me that a lot of people were aghast. And that shows how much attitudes can change over a relatively short period of time. Public littering, while still done, is not considered proper behaviour anymore, and that value, even if it doesn't always translate into behaviour, has been pretty much ingrained into our consciousness by now. 

So I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. Mad Men demonstrates that collectively we have changed in how we view and treat each other. Yes, sexism, racism, homophobia and environmental abuse are still problems, but at least they're recognized as being problems, and I'm confident that one day future generations will be just as appalled at how badly we used to treat animals as well.

earth days (Patrick McDonnell - Mutts comic strip)

we are all one

October 15th was Blog Action Day, with the topic being Climate Change. Obviously, I missed it, but that doesn't have to stop me from talking about it now, snort. I have to admit (being a previously proud misanthropist) that in the past I didn't care too much about climate change. As far as I was concerned, global warming was something humans helped to create, and therefore they deserved whatever consequences were coming. I felt bad for other species and for the planet itself, but people were simply gonna get what they had coming! But then I became vegan, and one unfortunate aspect of veganism is having to extend compassion to ALL living creatures including humans who behave badly, so now I'm forced to feel bad for human animals as well. ;)

I'm getting a bit better at it, and would like to share a video sent by a friend that does a good job of explaining why we're all in this together, and why we have to start caring now. Enjoy!

earth day

Happy Earth Day! Did you see the cool new badge? Click on it and find out how you too can contribute to one million acts of green.

My local grocery store finally got in the act today and from now on will charge five cents for every plastic bag given out. A good idea for those who don't already use their own cloth bags and maybe it will inspire less use of plastic overall. A ban on certain pesticide products is in effect here in Ontario as of today as well, and that's another step forward. Hey, have you heard about the new Disney film called earth? I really want to go see it, but I don't think it's showing at a theatre I can get to. Pity.

So I decided to post this entry on each of my blogs, as it's relevant to all three. Being environmentally friendly can be cost effective in many ways; not only can it help your wallet in the short run, in the end, the less damage we do to this planet the less we'll have to spend to clean and fix it up. Making sure our habitat becomes safer is good for all the species our earth has to support, and veganism's emphasis on compassion for all ties in neatly with environmental concern. Again, Happy Earth Day however you decide to celebrate, and think green all the way!