No One Has Ever Bought Oat Milk By Mistake

Recently, someone asked me, “Why do vegans make their foods look and taste like meat if they don’t want to eat meat?” Quite simply, it’s not the food product itself many vegans eschew, it’s the torture, suffering and death of sentient beings we don’t want to support.

I know many people who chose to go vegan, not because they didn’t like meat itself, but because they understood the industry’s vile methods of food production, and didn’t want to participate in it. Once you’ve truly been awakened to the reality of the animal agriculture industry, once you have bore witness at a slaughterhouse, once you have learned of the tortuous practices of farmers, transportation companies, and processing plants, the thought of eating meat is stomach-turning.

And yet, we might still crave that pizza…

What to do, what to do – right, let’s take our food and nutrition knowledge, our technical expertise, and our flair for creation and make a plant-based food that emulates our old favourites, so we can enjoy the flavours we love without the blood on our hands.

Seems pretty straightforward, and I’m not sure why non-vegans don’t get this. Even if they don’t get it, what difference does it make – it’s literally harmless to them or anyone else.

Or is it?

This is a debate currently in front of various bodies of government in the US and EU: more specifically, the labelling of plant-based foods using traditionally meat-centric names. It appears the animal agriculture industry and their cohorts, which includes some politicians (surprise!) take issue with plant-based products using meat-centric names because it might cause people to be confused and buy the wrong thing. This would accidentally subvert profits from the animal agriculture industry, upsetting the status quo and causing consternation about misleading the public.

I kid you not.

So what I take from this is these big multi-billion-dollar industries think you, the general public, are TOO STUPID to realize a veggie burger is NOT a meat burger. Or that soy milk is not from a cow. For realz.

Meanwhile, as stated in the following article from Euractiv.com, ““Only one in five consumers say that these terms should never be used on plant-based products. On the other hand, we have one in four consumers who said that they see absolutely no issue with the use of these terms,” Camille Perrin, senior food policy officer at  BEUC, said during a EURACTIV event on Thursday (15 October).”

As an Animal Rights Activist (ARA) there is no shortage of meat-eating dolts out there who are uninformed and uncaring about the drawbacks for consuming meat, both from a health perspective and a humanitarian perspective. I see them all the time at protests, driving by yelling, “I love bacon!” and “For every animal you save, I’m going to eat two more.” Yeah, real bright sparks. Quite frankly, if they are the one per cent who get fooled and buy plant-based burgers by accident, I’m just going to laugh. Clearly, their intelligence levels are below par, and therefore, no amount of labelling will help them. But the majority of people will be able to discern, simply by reading the name, that a veggie burger is not a beef burger.

And let’s talk about this naming conundrum shall we? Speaking of burgers – a hamburger is NOT made of ham. A hot dog is not made of dog meat. A sausage is simply food product minced into a cylindrical shape and inserted into a casing. The dictionary meaning of filet is “1 : a ribbon or narrow strip of material used especially as a headband. 2a : a thin narrow strip of material. b : a piece or slice of boneless meat or fish especially : the tenderloin of beef.” It describes fabric FIRST, then applies that meaning to a piece of meat.

If you really want to get down and dirty with labelling, how about this: a hamburger is “ground animal flesh shaped into a patty”; cheese is “ruminant breast milk fermented with the stomach lining of a baby cow”; Hot dogs would be “pig feet, snouts, ears, anuses and other off cuts minced into a smooth paste and shaped into a cylinder”.

I mean, I’m just sayin’.

And all of it is made by abusing and torturing sentient beings who did not ask to be here, and simply want to live their lives with their babies in peace – much like you and I….in fact, EXACTLY like you and I.

The fact is the plant-based food industry is growing in leaps and bounds, even non-vegans partake of plant-based foods for health or just a change in diet now and then. And animal agriculture is a sore loser. They don’t like it. So rather than get on the bandwagon, concede defeat, and diversify into plant-based products, anticipating a solid future in that industry, they are fighting hand to hand and down and dirty to discredit, disrespect, and disparage their plant-based counterparts in the food industry.

They are currently focusing on such inanities as labelling an item, and when that falls flat, they will find something else, but we know the industry is on a solid decline as more and more people are becoming awakened and want change.

For me, I enjoy my burger, patty, disc or whatever it’s going to be called because it tastes great and no one died. However, I have a feeling the industry is going to end up “eating their words” on this one. Pun intended.

Lions, Tigers and Zoonotic Diseases – Oh My!

Whether you blame the Wet Markets in China or a communist conspiracy theory, one thing we can all agree upon is the Covid19 is a zoonotic-caused pandemic.

It’s not the only virus to pass from an animal to a human, either. SARS, MERS, Mad Cow Disease, H1N1 (Swine flu), Avian Flu – all originated in animals, passed the species barrier, and mutated to pass from human to human afterwards, becoming novel viruses with which we had no natural immunities.

Each one seems to get progressively more serious, and I have to wonder when human kind is going to get the hint. And it’s not a subtle hint either; it’s a kick-in-the-face,-fall-flat-on-your -back-into-a-quagmire-of-quicksand,-bloody-and-broken,-and-eventually-get-sucked-into-the -murky-abyss-of-world-wide-epidemic kind of hint.

Helloooooo!

Even before these viruses became a household word, the health of humans was compromised by animal products to a degree. Heart disease, high cholesterol, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and more could be linked to animal products: meat, dairy, eggs, processed meats. And because we have advanced medically, we are able to combat these diseases without making huge changes to our meat-centric diets.

But Mother Nature had other ideas. If we weren’t going to get the hint that way, she had to throw something really direct our way so we couldn’t ignore it.

BUT WE STILL DID!

What the fuck do we need to open our eyes? I bet if a holy being himself floated down from the sky and showed us graphs, charts, and pictures, we STILL wouldn’t believe it because…well…bacon…

You don’t have to be vegan to eat plant-based. The two are intrinsically different in concept. Being Vegan is a lifestyle: we don’t eat any animal product or by-product and even avoid use of animal by-products like leather, wool, etc. (as best we can) due to compassion for the living sentient being being sacrificed, the health of the planet at large, and our own health.

 “Veganism is a way of living,” according to the Vegan Society, “which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.”

Someone who eats plant-based chooses to consume little to no animal products for health reasons alone, and typically these folks consume more whole foods as opposed to processed or prepared. But there is no set rule for being plant-based.

Based on this information, and this latest pandemic explicitly caused by eating animals, it’s hard to figure out why more and more people aren’t becoming plant-based. With all the panic-buying, grocery stores are sold out of meat (as well as toilet paper) and yet MEAT CAUSED THIS.

Even if you don’t care about the animals, do you care about your children? About their health? About your aged parents’ health? Are you willing to risk their lives on the next novel virus which eating animal flesh will prompt? What if it’s worse than Covid19 with a higher mortality rate, one that affects middle aged folks, rather than primarily the elderly? What if?

Are you willing to live in the “what if?”

Endlings

Endlings: TV show or reality? It’s both, actually. And it’s pretty fucking serious.

The term “Endlings” was coined in the scientific journal “Nature” in April 4, 1996. Correspondence between various commentators was published where it was suggested a term be created to describe the last living member of a species. Endling was chosen.

Now let me emphasize an Endling is not the last few hundred of a species’ kind, it is the absolute complete final one – ONE – of a whole species. No further of its kind will be born. The species is caput after the Endling dies.

Think about that for a minute.

I looked it up. Five billion species are already gone. That is calculated at over 99 per cent of all species. Now, I’m no mathematician, and I must admit anything other than the basics completely confounds me, but this seems like a whole lot. So I’m just going to copy and paste what my best friend, Wikipedia, said: “Estimates on the number of Earth’s current species range from 10 million to 14 million,^[5] of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described.^[6] In 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one thousandth of one percent described.”

Wiki also said this: ” According to the 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services by IPBES, the biomass of wild mammals has fallen by 82%, natural ecosystems have lost about half their area and a million species are at risk of extinction—all largely as a result of human actions. Twenty-five percent of plant and animal species are threatened with extinction.”

I hope that clarifies it for you, because it doesn’t for me. That being said, what I DO get out of this is the fact that our plants and animals are dying off AND IT’S ALL OUR FAULT!

Now the TV show part: a company called Sinking Ship Entertainment has come out with a series called Endlings, which is geared for families and children 9 to 12 years old, and tells the story of a group of orphans who find out they are not alone in the universe after the extinction of the last elephant on earth. It actually sounds kind of cool, and is probably effective in teaching children about these issues – but don’t get the two confused. Endlings the TV show is fiction.

An Endling outside of TV is a very real, very serious, problem.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says of the upwards of 41k species on their “red” list, more than 16k are endangered. (That is almost 1/2 of them!) This is both plants and animals, peeps. According to EndangeredEarth.com, ” The species endangered include one in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70% of the world’s assessed plants on the 2007 IUCN Red List are in jeopardy of extinction.” And many more are becoming extinct which have never been identified by scientists.

Animals have become extinct over millennia without any help from us. This is nothing new. Climate changes, survival of the fittest, catastrophic environmental events, all these natural incidents have contributed to the loss of many species, some we never knew. But the current extinction crisis is well documented as being man made. The loss of biodiversity is happening way too quickly to be anything else. In fact, it’s happening at a similar rate to our technological progress over the centuries. As we progress, so our world deteriorates. Now that’s math I understand.

I hate to say it, but I feel like our attempts at clean up are too little, too late. Huge changes need to be made to fully reverse the cataclysmic catastrophe we have triggered. David Suzuki has a list of changes we can make in our lives to curb climate change. From obvious things like “greening your commute” and “using less for less waste” and “using energy wisely” to voting in the upcoming election and demanding politicians put climate change first.

But one of the quickest most direct actions is eating less to no meat. Changing our diets to one that is plant-based. The other suggestions are great and all but will only slowly help our planet because we are so used to the ease and convenience of our mod cons. Going plant-based in diet, on the other hand, significantly and more importantly IMMEDIATELY impacts our earth.

I know, you’re thinking holy fuck, will this chick ever get off the vegan soapbox? Well, no. No, I won’t. Because of the animals. HOWEVER, not everyone cares about that aspect of veganism (how? wtf?) but I’m pretty sure EVERYONE cares about our planet.

So you say you’re an animal lover, but you eat animals. By the same token, you love our world, and you want to preserve it, heal it, and keep it healthy, but you eat animals…

See what I did there? Yeah, I probably pissed you off, and you can curse me all you want, but the facts are there. CNN, BBC, The UN, – all mainstream non-partisan organizations – have all released articles and reports reflecting the massive positive changes possible by adopting a plant-based diet – at the very least, going flexitarian and reducing the amount of meat in our diets. Not only would we be saving our health, but we would be saving the health of the planet and all the animals and plants on it and around it. Yes – around it! The air too!

It’s so huge it makes me scared, but it’s so easy to get a good start fixing it my heart aches because people just really, really want their Big Macs and steaks. And I just don’t know why these are so fucking important when cutting them out would do so much for our world and everyone and everything in it.

So I’m gonna keep making a whole whack of noise about this, peeps, because it is THAT important a thing. But it is also THAT easy a fix.

Recycle, reuse, REDUCE.

We Gotta Start Somewhere

I saw a meme today, peeps. It was on IG and it intrigued me because it seemed kind of harsh, but I’m kind of a softie, so I thought I would read what other people thought of it – and holy fuck! Some people are just MEAN!

This was the meme:

It’s basically saying people who choose Vegetarianism (as opposed to full-on Veganism) are doing more damage to the movement than those who eat meat, because their “partialism” (now I just made that word up and I think it’s a great new word!) causes people to think Vegetarianism is doing as much good for the animal world as Veganism – which technically it is not.

Are Vegetarians, as this meme indicates, no better than carnivores in the bigger scheme of protecting animal rights? Is it actually worse to be a vegetarian? I don’t think it is. I think it is a step towards a greater good. But let’s have a look at specific meanings first, shall we?

According to Wikipedia, “Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals.”

By contrast, Wikipedia says “Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat, and may also include abstention from by-products of animals processed for food. Vegetarianism may be adopted for various reasons. Many people object to eating meat out of respect for sentient life.”

That’s in a nutshell. There is wayyy more information for each on Wikipedia, and the links are there if you’d like to have a look.

So, I see both lifestyles may be adopted out of respect for sentient life, religious reasons, moral reasons, environmental reasons, and health reasons. Vegans choose to use or consume absolutely no animal products or by-products for ethical reasons, and Vegetarians might still use some by-products, such as dairy or leather. So far, so good – I can see Vegetarians perhaps don’t go all in, but surely their actions count for something – and surely they can’t be AS BAD as those who eat meat and utilize all animal by-products. Well there is a faction of Vegans who believe this is the case.

What the fuck?

I don’t think that’s right, and certainly it isn’t fair.

Personally, I don’t eat meat or dairy, and I don’t purchase new leather or other animal by-products BUT I still have some leather items in my wardrobe – things that I am not able to replace immediately – Am I a bad Vegan?

And wait – there’s more! As mentioned in a previous post, plant-based farming can result in the deaths of many wild animals through the use of traps, or machinery, destruction of habitats, etc. So knowing this, and choosing to eat plant-based foods, logic dictates that would make MOST Vegans bad too.

Where do we draw the judgmental line, peeps?

I’m doing my best, ffs! And so are a ton of other Vegans AND Vegetarians. We are bound by the constrictures of our society as to how effective we are, regardless of how committed we are to our beliefs.

I have nothing to be ashamed of in using my pre-purchased leather goods or eating foods in which unintentionally, an animal died. Field hands and farmers have been hurt and killed on the job – we still eat the corn or beans.

Shit happens, peeps!

So ethically, as a Vegan in the world, in this life, my behaviour is considered acceptable, but Vegetarians are not….hogwash and hooey, I say!

The comments on the IG post made it abundantly clear Vegetarians were not given the same sanction as Vegans who still use pre-purchased animal-based items – and I wanted to know why?

One word, peeps! INTENTION.

If the intention to do harm to another being is not there, then it’s all good. However, a Vegetarian still uses or consumes some animal products, possibly knowing the cruelty involved, thereby giving the idea that some animal oppression is acceptable. While I agree it is NOT acceptable to knowingly kill or hurt an animal for our personal use, I also agree Vegetarianism is a step in the right direction, and should not be vilified or maligned.

Statistics show a Vegetarian can reasonably be said to prevent approximately 100 animal deaths per year. A Vegan, according to Peta, is said to prevent the death of 198 animals per year. Although it appears a Vegan “saves” more animals, the 100 animal deaths prevented by being Vegetarian is not too shabby either. It’s 100 more PER PERSON than would otherwise be saved.

Could a Vegetarian take it a step further? Of course! And they just might – unless judgers out there turn them off of belonging to this niche. Who wants to connect with and be part of a group of nasty, judgmental, downright intolerant people? Whether the group is doing good in the world or not?

Humans are pack animals. We want to belong – we want our tribe to accept us, love us and protect us. We want encouragement to progress, not condemnation for not moving fast enough. So I made this point on the IG meme:

You see, my compassion extends beyond non-human animals – it encompasses all sentient beings. This is what I believe Veganism is truly all about.

There is enough cruelty in this world, enough conflict, enough abuse, without inserting it into our attitude towards and treatment of people who are AT LEAST making an effort to help. We all come to our truths at different stages in our lives and in different ways. We all have individual paths to walk, perhaps governed by an omnipotent power or perhaps predicated by a past life – WE DON’T FUCKING KNOW!

So we have to stop fucking acting like we have all the answers and try to teach each other better with kindness, compassion and by example. Humans are impressionable and perceptive. If we see certain behaviours are working – and some are not – we will figure it out, in our own way and in our own time. Successful movements don’t happen overnight. Someone has to make a start.

Someone has to refuse to move to the back of the bus.

Those 100 animals the Vegetarian saved are happy someone did.

We all gotta start somewhere to get to our destination. It doesn’t matter where we start as much as it matters that we do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is Being Vegan An Impossible Dream?

Being vegan: simple, right? No animal or animal by-products consumed or used, pretty clear.

But is it really?

This one really blew my mind, peeps, burst the perfect bubble of veganism in which I lived. How could I not realize this? How could I be so ignorant? Well it’s no consolation, but none of us is exempt, so I’m in good company.

The facts are: plant-based farming also kills animals!

What the ACTUAL FUCK??

Well, you know me, I had to get to the bottom of this! So I put my pencil behind my ear, slapped my glasses on, picked up my mouse (computer mouse, peeps, !) and began surfing. (Also not real ocean surfing, web surfing – if you know me at all, you know I would never, EVER go deeper into the ocean than my ankles. I was traumatized enough by having to step on mussels on the PEI beach, never mind facing up to bigger sea creatures – but I digress)

Apparently, the methods used to grow and harvest plant agriculture can be deadly to wild animals, specifically field mice, but it may also include other animals who venture into the fields for food. Snakes, voles, moles, rabbits, birds, none are excluded as possible victims of the harvest. Some have argued there are more wild animals killed in plant-based agriculture than factory farming kills domestic animals, which is patently ridiculous, as the numbers published do NOT take into account the number of wild animal deaths which occur naturally per acre, such as predators, old age, disease and environmental factors. The published numbers only reflect the TOTAL per acre. And seeing as much of our plant-based farming is used to feed said agricultural animals, it’s rather a moot point, anyway.

Unfortunately, meat supporters are using these figures to undermine the ethics of plant-based/ vegan diets. These reports are being thrown in our faces left and right, with a yodel of “nanner nanner boo boo” just for good measure, and vegans are left to stammer out weak sounding justifications whilst fighting confusion at the thought that their beliefs and lifestyle are not what they thought it was.

Two words, peeps: collateral damage.

Sounds harsh, I know, but it’s something we actually deal with daily and not just in our diets.

I mean, think about it: you wake up, brush your teeth, have a coffee, drive to work, hit an old lady at the crosswalk,….wait, what? Yes peeps, in the course of you living, breathing, working, doing everything normally in your best life, shit still happens.  And it can happen to anyone.  You didn’t intend to hit the old lady, it wasn’t planned, premeditated, it wasn’t a life goal, but it happened anyway.

Ever drive over a squirrel in your car? It’s heartbreaking! I have done it, I was traumatized for days! But that squirrel, like the little old lady, was collateral damage.

Typically, it’s a military term. Wikipedia states, “Collateral damage is any death, injury, or other damage inflicted that is an unintended result of military operations…”

Did you know Buddhist monks are so concerned about hurting or killing even insects, they they pray as they walk in case they step on any living creatures unknowingly. Even just walking down the street you might be killing something!

As much as these associated deaths are painful to face and accept, they were unintentional. In fact, they occurred as a result of trying to do the right thing, and end animal abuse and slaughter completely.

Two more words, peeps: bigger picture.

We have to keep the bigger picture in mind. As vegans, our goal is to put an end to society thinking of animals as lesser beings; to encourage cessation of utilizing animals for our own gain, including food. We want to see a world in which no animals are harmed in order for humans to live. We want to see society respecting our earth and everything on it. It’s a tall order, and it’s going to take a very long time.

After all, it didn’t take us only two weeks to get to this place of pollution, climate change, species extinction, and domination. Sadly, people and animals will die or be hurt in the process – not intentionally – but just the same, it will happen.

What we must do is work towards a process where our farming methods will improve, and fewer and fewer casualties are experienced. This is more likely to occur if animals are respected as equal beings in this world, rather than inanimate commodities. I hate that living creatures are hurt in plant-based farming, but I hate that living creatures are hurt, killed and eaten even more. I hate that people can’t see it for what it is: murder.

So as far as I’m concerned, peeps, veganism is still the right path. The end goal is compassionate treatment of all living beings. Once that concept is universal, things will start to fall into place like confetti on wet pavement.

 

 

Why Veganuary?

The month of January is often a time when people make resolutions to themselves to improve their lives. Most of these resolutions go unfulfilled – usually because the project feels bigger than them once they get into it. Often, the challenge is too big, the immediate rewards too small, and the support non-existent.

Choosing to go Vegan is one of those commitments that is totally overwhelming to many people, despite how they feel about the cruel treatment of factory-farmed animals and the effects on the environment. Many people are able to disconnect from the facts: they can’t watch a video of a live male chick being put into a grinder simply because he has no value if he can’t lay eggs, but they can tuck into their eggs benny without a thought. This is called “cognitive dissonance” and humans are masters at it.

They don’t feel like people do……really? That looks like fear to me.

We sign petitions against the Yulin Festival, where dogs are rounded up, imprisoned, and slaughtered for traditional dinner fare but don’t give a thought to the geese force-fed tubes of food down their throats to painfully fatten their liver for foie gras or cows hung upside down while alive, watching in abject terror as their throats are cut and their lifeblood empties onto the filthy concrete below them while we at our steaks.

See? Cognitive dissonance.

This is a Canadian plant.

People can eat plant-based diets strictly for nutritional reasons but that is not necessarily Vegan. Being Vegan is a lifestyle, not just a diet. Being Vegan is a choice bound in the ethics and morality of not harming any other living, sentient beings. This includes not eating them, not wearing them, not using them and their by-products for any use whatsoever. No leather car seats or handbags and shoes. No down-filled parkas. No fur-lined collars. No make up used to test on animals. No candies using gelatin made from hooves and bones.

Not a daunting endeavour from where I’m sitting….or for this poor baby pig either.

Wow there’s a lot out there Vegans willingly forgo in the name of compassion.

Veganism seems like a pretty daunting endeavour!

This is why I like the idea of Veganuary, for those who would like to go Vegan, but find the commitment daunting. (Link to the Veganuary plan included here.)

Let’s draw up a good old-fashioned pro/con list to put things in some perspective. I love lists. Putting everything down in black and white (made even more fun using coloured GEL PENS – with sparkles!) really helps me keep organized and feel less overwhelmed. The fact that I forget the lists at home notwithstanding, it’s the actual drawing up of the list that is key.

Pros

• According to PETA 198 animals are saved (that is not produced for slaughter) each year by one Vegan. WOW!
• Improved health: no cholesterol, lower blood pressure, reduction of the risk of heart disease and diabetes, weight loss, improved skin and hair, more energy, lower risk of developing many cancers.
• Helping the planet and the environment: most greenhouse gases emitted are caused by animal agriculture, not fossil fuel-based vehicles.
• End world hunger: livestock takes up 80 per cent of agricultural land by either raising it or raising the food needed for the livestock. If that food were used for humans, it would end world hunger.
• Rainforests and animal habitats would not be destroyed to create agricultural land to raise or feed livestock.
• With an appropriate plan in place, farmers, field workers and labourers would still have jobs and earn a living without factory-farming.
• Animals currently on the endangered list would repopulate due to habitat retrieval.
• Oceans would become replete with sea life once again.
• Our air and water would detoxify.

Wow. That’s some good stuff. Now the cons.

Cons

• …………………..
• no bacon. NOT TRUE! bacon can be recreated in many meat-free carcinogenic-free ways. Not a valid con. Next
• Our agricultural animals would go extinct. The farm animals we have were bred to be docile and caged. It would be more difficult for them to exist in the wild, but not impossible. There are many docile animals who live, eat and procreate successfully in the wild. Obviously we would house our domesticated animals and care for them  while gradually allowing their numbers to adjust through natural processes and in time, they would develop appropriate methods for survival. Survival of the fittest has always been nature’s way long before humans interfered.
• We need animal protein and fats to stay healthy. ALSO NOT TRUE! Many of our largest mammals are vegan, and I don’t think any of us would want to take them on to prove their muscles aren’t just fine, thankyouverymuch! We do not need animal protein. Protein is protein. Building blocks of our muscles yes. Plant-based protein is cheaper, easier to get, cholesterol free, delicious, and cruelty free and more beneficial as there are no cholesterols or carcinogens.

Ok. These are just some of the pros and cons. I think they are the most important ones, or at least the ones most addressed by omnivores.

I also think in looking at this list the choice is a no-brainer. #govegan.

Veganuary is not just a time but it is also a very do-able plan allowing those who are vegan-curious or a bit timid to give it a try with no risk. The Veganuary plan is online, offers recipes and nutrition tips, has tons of information, and tons of support! It explains why there is no humane slaughter, why free range is a myth, and provides oodles and oodles of excellent fact-based information.

One month. One site. One life: yours.