aprilstarchild | (no subject)

Current Mood: pissed off

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I finally got around to seeing all of Earthlings (

jenhowell has youtubed chunks of it on her journal). I've dreaded watching it, because hey, I'm already vegan, right?

I'm glad I saw it. I'm sure as hell going to get more active. I think education is a huge thing--if more people knew what was going on, they would eat/wear a lot less animal products.

Nothing like watching pigs be beat for not obeying, hung upside down by their feet, and then having their necks sliced open so they'll bleed to death, to make you glad you don't eat pigs anymore.

The breeding sows are kept in tiny cages, so small they can't turn around, and have floors of concrete or metal grating. They are kept almost constantly pregnant, because they want to get as many litters of pigs as possible. The piglets have their tails and ears cut off without anesthetic, because they're kept in such crowded conditions, that they start biting at each other due to stress.

Pigs are smart--people who've kept them as pets say they're at least as smart as dogs, and just as affectionate. Would you want any of that happening to your dog? Why is a pig different? Just because it doesn't have a name? Does an animal only have value because a human cares about it?

In many states, there isn't a lot of regulation when it comes to waste, and pig shit is put into giant cesspools, that make the air nauseating for miles around, and leak into groundwater. During hurricanes, all the pigs drown, and all that pig shit ends up in the flood waters.

Do you really like ham and bacon that much? Is it worth it?

And that, of course, is just pigs.

If I could convince every member of my friends and family to watch Earthlings, I would. More than any other book or video on the same subject matter, I would want them to watch this one.

Yes, that means all of you.

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Damn. This tasty peperoni pizza is suddenly not so tasty.

There is actually soy pepperoni which is amazingly good! Though I haven't had "the real thing" in many years, I could swear it tastes almost identical. It lacks the grease or quite the same texture, but the flavor is all there.

People often associate veganism with deprivation, but I honestly never feel deprived anymore. In fact, I tend to enjoy food more now, knowing that no animals were harmed to produce it. Food science has advanced to the point, too, where nearly every taste and texture one might miss is available in vegan form.

I believe it. I actually was vegan for a short time, in high school, around 12 years ago. I suspect it was more difficult for me then than it would be now. Aside from convincing my wife that I'm not crazy. I'll check out these videos...

Be prepared to brace yourself in terms of the videos. I've been vegan for three years, and I'd read about a lot of the practices shown (and worse ones even!), but I was still just floored by some of the things I saw in "Earthlings."

That's great that you were able to be vegan in high school. I didn't come to any of these issues until I was 25. Though I was able to go vegetarian quickly (like immediately after reading a Vegan Outreach pamphlet) it took about a year for me to go vegan. I imagine it would have been a lot tougher in high school; I know I wouldn't have had parental support.

Being vegan is amazingly easy now--I read an article in Newsweek of all places once, about how the amount of vegan junk food has increased exponentially the last few years.

There's a store called Food Fight! (http://store.foodfightgrocery.com/) that's mail order (they also have a store in Portland), and they have damn near anything you could want. A surprising amount of stuff is available at Fred Meyer. They have soymilk at Safeway and Winco now!

According to the blood type diet I should avoid Soy, and according to my own observations soy's not that great for me, but rice products would be ok.

Just for right now though, let's not talk about the nasty things done to the cows that gave me this egg nog. At least the coffee's free trade and organic.

I might be more likely to avoid cruel animal products (most, I know) than all animal products, aiming for organic and free range things. I'm ok with animals dying to feed me, but the more I think about it, the more I'd prefer that they didn't suffer before that.

The problem with organic rules is that it only regulates what they're fed and what medications they're given. It doesn't provide any rules for how they're taken care of.

And "free-range," last I checked, had no legal definition. Seeing as it's the farmers who decide what's free-range and what's not, I don't put a lot of trust into it.

I've heard of that blood-type diet before, and to be honest, I haven't seen any studies that would support the idea. If you have, let me know. There are certainly vegans/vegetarians who are allergic to soy, but it does make things trickier.

Peter Singer wrote a book called The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter (http://www.amazon.com/Way-We-Eat-Choices-Matter/dp/157954889X/sr=8-1/qid=1164730122/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-0232758-0738312?ie=UTF8&s=books), in which he follows the diets of several families, and I think he gives information on organic meat in the process.

I second the recommendation for Peter Singer's recent book. I think it gives the most comprehensive, up-to-date and well-researched information for someone who's interested in changing their diet to reflect their values. I think "Earthlings" is important, too, but I think Singer's book can give you a sense of "what should I do next?"

I've heard some reports that people who can not handle processed soy products do just fine with traditional soy products such as tempeh, tofu and miso that people have been eating for thousands of years. I've heard that some soymilks can be okay too.

More processed products seem to be what give people issues with soy.

Veganism is not all about soy, however. There are rice and almond (which I like better) milks. There are lots of beans, nuts and wheat gluten proteins (not to mention that protein is not really an issue - that's Vegan Myth #1). And most of all, there are vegetables. I didn't think I liked vegetables before I went vegan. I kind of resigned myself to eating them, because I figured my tastebuds were less important than those animals' lives. To my surprise, I now love nearly every vegetable, unless it's cooked in some crazy way I can't stand.

Kale is actually a delicious snack food to me now. I know that sounds sick and perverted, but hey, why not? It's actually awesome that one of the healthiest foods on earth (containing vitamins C and A plus calcium and iron) is like chips to me to now. Even brussel sprouts are awesome if you cook them per the directions in Vegan with a Vengeance

I guess the point is, veganism is not all about soy. It's perfectly possible to be a vegan without soy.

***

In answer to your other suggestion that you would like the animals not to suffer before dying - I understand this perspective in a way, because my boyfriend felt the same way for a while and is still thinking about it.

But ask yourself these questios:

Isn't it suffering in and of itself to slaughter an animal and to slaughter that animal way before its time? (Slaughter right now for any animals is not painless. Organic and free-range animals often travel to the same slaughterhouses as other animals, often in the same sorts of unsafe/harmful trucks. I think there are some farmers who may kill their animals on-site, but that is few and far between, and even then, I think the animals probably know what's up, a form of suffering in itself. Also, ask yourself - would it be cruel and cause suffering for someone to kill their pet dog and eat it for Thanksgiving? If that is wrong, than why is it right to kill a pig?)

Also, here are two examples of how suffering and the animal agriculture industry are hand in hand:

Eggs - half of the chicks are killed at the hatchery, because the males and females are bred differently for eggs and meat. So you have half of the chicks being gased (the kindest way), suffocated in plastic bags or run through a woodchipper alive (this was found to be a standard industry practice in a recent California court case, hence, not "cruel") No matter what kind of eggs you're eating, the hens came from these hatcheries, with these cruel practices. And as April said, free-range means basically nothing. You pretty much have to research individual farms to determine a decent source of eggs - see Singer's book. Even so, the hens will be killed when they've stopped laying "enough".

Milk - No matter what dairy you're at, anywhere, the baby calf is taken away from its mother almost immediately so that humans can get all the milk. Not only is that weird and unnatural (to be drinking the milk meant for another species and separating a mother and child), but it's cruel. Cows actually bellow for their calves and miss them. And the calves are either taken for milk (if female) or VEAL (if male). And we all know about veal. Veal production might not even exist except for the dairy industry. It's a way of maximizing profits. The other male calves are simply killed. So dairy pretty much packs suffering in right up front.

I'm not trying to judge you, but just prodding you to think about some of these complications.

For me it comes down to - is it really NECESSARY, as in do I absolutely NEED to eat foods that cause pain, suffering and death to other beings that have recognizable feelings? If I don't NEED these foods, I must just WANT them. And is a want for a different food that I'm used to or prefer really equal to these animals' greater need to live and to experience some modicum of freedom and dignity?

To my mind, if you really can't divorce yourself from animal products, then by all means seek out more humane sources, but I would question whether there are really more than a handful of people out of every 1,000 people who could find no way to live healthily without any animal products. I would also question whether it would really be impossible for any but a few to really enjoy eating without animal products. And if we can live healthily and enjoy food without causing harm to other living creatures, who are no different than a cat or a dog or any other animal we see and love, than why shouldn't we? What in the world should stop us?

Alright. I'm done. Hope I haven't driven you over the wall.

http://www.lightlife.com/pepperoni.html

Tasty stuff. No pigs required. :^)

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