I made this Photoshop image, and then thought to myself,"If mermaids were real, would there be laws against harvesting them for food because they look half human?"... Ridiculous thought, I know, but really, where is the line drawn?We like to think we don't eat dogs, but many places in the world do not have a qualm about it. Most of the people I know also think it's criminal to kill dolphins (after watching The Cove), but they go and eat a tuna sandwich for lunch.
So why is it that some animals are our pets and others our dinner? I talked to my friend the other day about a barBQ he went to, where 9 animals (mostly goats, a pig and something else he couldn't identify), were fire-roasted with stakes through them. Nowhe's a meat eater, fair enough, and a good friend, but he couldn't eat those animals because they had legs, ears, faces etc.It freaked him right out because they had to break their legs to tie them up. He instead chose to eat some chicken, without those parts showing.
I suggested to him that maybe it was a more honest way of eating because that is, in fact, what he eats every day.The only difference is that he doesn't make a connection with the animal because it looks nothing like its original form. The pig is not staring at him through the cellophane. There are no chicken claws poking out of his burger.
So if cows could speak English, French, Spanish or whatever language we speak, I'm pretty sure we would be horrified with what they had to say. I don't want to create a whole negative stream of comments, so let's keep it positive. Which brings me to a whole other thing...PREACHING TO PEOPLE NEVER EVER WORKS. Trust me, the best way to create change is to just be you. Everyone around you will notice how different your life is, and even if they don't fully adopt a vegan lifestyle, you will have planted a seed that will eventually have an effect on them.
SO the moral of this post is:know what you're eating, educate yourself, set aside your ego, and don't eat mermaids if you find any.
"What could be simpler than a hamburger? Take a ground beef patty, throw it on a grill, wait a few minutes as the fat sizzles, maybe add some cheese, and stick it on a bun. It’s a thoroughly American operation that takes place countless times a day all around the country. The average American, in fact, eats three hamburgers a week. And with more meat available than ever before, today’s beef costs 30 percent less than it did in 1970, making it that much more attractive to consumers looking for a quick, cheap meal.
But in Modern Meat, FRONTLINE goes inside the world of the modern American meat industry and shows that this once simple product, the hamburger, is no longer so simple.
Nor can you assume that it’s safe. While sweeping changes in the meat industry — making it vastly more centralized, high-tech, and efficient — have led to the low prices, the transformation has also introduced new risks. In “Modern Meat,” FRONTLINE speaks with scientists and industry observers who say that pooling thousands of cows in feedlots makes it easier for bacteria to spread from one animal to another.
“Cows tend to produce feces [and] feces is primarily bacteria,” says Glenn Morris, a microbiologist at the University of Maryland and a former USDA official. “In the larger feedlots,” he adds, “there’s a greater chance for the passage of microorganisms back and forth. All of that contributes to the spread of microorganisms like E. coli.” (Taken from topdocumentaryfilms.com)
New York Newsday - Noel Holston
"This is one Thursday night when 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' won't be the most gruesome hour on TV. Tonight there's 'Modern Meat,' Frontline's unflinching survey of how the hamburger patties get to your favorite fast food restaurant.
If the slaughter house footage doesn't do your tummy in, the sight of 2,000 pound bins of spare cattle parts being dumped in giant grinders just might. But the trip through a 'disassembly' plant, as one observer labels a high-tech butchering operation, is actually less off-putting than the visit to a huge Colorado feedlot, where thousands of cows await their rendezvous with sesame-seed buns, standing knee-deep in their own manure.
The intention here is not to scare viewers away from 'Modern Meat,' just to ensure that they know what they'll see and what questions it might raise. This is really an important public-service documentary, and its goal isn't to turn us into a tofu nation but to make sure we understand where our next burger is coming from. ..."
Rocky Mountain News - Dusty Saunders
"If Frontline were not a prestigious fact-finding public television series, a viewer might be tempted to dismiss Modern Meat as a tabloid TV scare. But as it normally does, Frontline offers documentary evidence and commentary that will make you wonder about the safety of the meat you regularly eat, particularly hamburger. ...
Frontline, by the way, doesn't have to worry about any network censorship challenges because it's not interrupted by commercials from noted fast-food chains, which will be a bit unhappy when viewing Modern Meat."
New York Post - Linda Stasi
"...[G]ood reporting...but where the show falls down is in exposing more of the impact from hormone and antibiotic filled cattle upon growing children who eat the meat from these animals.
...Frontline talks with the industry insiders on both sides of the, er, cattle fence, and gives a decent, well-rounded account that will still leave you retching -- or maybe renewing your college vow to go vegan."
The Denver Post - Joanne Ostrow
"Where's the beef? Frontline's got the beef...and from the opening sizzle of fast-food burgers on a meat grill, you know 'Modern Meat' isn't going to be an appetizing tour.
Grotesque, nauseating and ultimately very informative, the hour covers contamination, new federal safety regulations and high-tech meat industry innovations that have changed the composition of the typical burger, leaving it more open to the spread of bacteria. ...
The history of meat inspections, the power of the $80 billion-a-year U.S. meatpacking industry and its lobbyists, the threats of globalization and bio-terrorism...it all adds up to [a] sickening but superior report. ..."
The San Diego Union-Tribune - Robert P. Laurence
"Electronic Media's list of who really matters in TV journalism blithely ignores the man who, week in and week out, has provided some of the most substantial beef in the medium.
He's David Fanning, executive producer of Frontline, which this week takes a look at the American meet industry, specifically hamburger." (taken from PBS.org)
Here is a film trailer for "Shall we Gather at the River?":
This film blew me away. It confirms, without a doubt, what many have insisted for years now: That the business of cancer is a criminal, money-motivated mega-industry, making unprecedented amounts of money each year in the name of "ending cancer".
Please share this link.
Here are some interesting things we found out about Cancer Inc. ...oops, I meant to say The National Cancer Institute:
1. The pink ribbon campaign was originally started by a woman named Charlotte Haley, who used peach coloured ribbons as a protest against the National Cancer Institute for only spending 5% of it's annual budget of $1.8 billion on cancer prevention. 2. "The co-founder and major sponsor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month is AstraZenica (formerly known as Zeneca), a British-based multinational giant that manufactures the cancer drug tamoxifen, the most widely prescribed breast cancer drug. Until 2000, the company was also a leading manufacturer of agricultural chemicals, including the carcinogenic pesticide acetochlor. When Zeneca created National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in 1985, it was owned by Imperial Chemical Industries, a multi-billion-dollar producer of pesticides, paper and plastics. The company was named in a 1990 lawsuit by the federal government for allegedly dumping DDT and PCBs into the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors. After buying up cancer clinics around the country, Zeneca merged with the Swedish pharmaceutical company Astra in 1999 to form AstraZeneca, the world's third largest drug company." (quotation from the book Not Just A Pretty Face, Not Just A Pretty Face Website) 3. Here's the vegan connection:
Pesticide authority Lewis Regenstein writes:
"Meat contains approximately 14 times more pesticides than do plant foods; dairy products 5.5 times more. Thus, by eating foods of animal origin, one ingests greatly concentrated amounts of hazardous chemicals. Analysis of various foods by the FDA shows that meat, poultry, fish, cheese and other dairy products contain levels of these pesticides more often and in greater amount than other foods." (taken from the Diet For A New America Website) 4. Nixon declared the War on Cancer back in the early 1970's. The National Cancer Institute has raised billions of dollars since then with their 'walks for cancer', 'runs for cancer', 'bike for cancer' etc. and yet cancer is a more massive epidemic than ever before.
So what we've learned here is that The National Cancer Institute has created the cancer-causing chemicals, runs the treatment centers, spends millions of dollars a year on ad campaigns to get people to "walk for the cure", which raises billions of dollars for them, they've got control over the studies, and they make a huge amount of money from the drugs they manufacture for cancer patients. A perfect full circle. Do you think they really want to find a 'cure' for cancer and get rid of this massive cash cow? There are some great books out there, loads of studies, articles and information on-line as well. These chemicals are in everything we eat and drink, and put on our bodies, so let's educate ourselves about what's really going on. Awareness is everything.
This is a shameful example of power and control at all costs. Take a few minutes to watch the two-part short film, and really understand why none of us should be wearing Nike anything.
Here is an interesting little show about the food industry and it's hidden... or missing ingredients. In this case, "blueberries". You may not known about some of these sneaky tactics corporations use to get you, the consumer, to buy their products.
I was surprised, but not entirely, because we have been duped so many times in the past by swashbuckling marketing gurus. I think I'll stick with my real blueberries and make my own meals instead of buying pretend blueberry muffin mix.
Plastic is something we live with every day. Unfortunately the animals who share this planet with us have to live with it too.
Many birds and animals eat the plastic thinking it's food, and tiny pieces of plastic can kill by clogging up their internal organs. Plastic is used as packaging for practically everything we buy. What we really need are more products which use biodegradable plastic that will fall apart in the sun and rain, eventually becoming harmless.
Thankfully there are companies out there like SAWeco Plastics, which sell eco-friendly plastic packaging to manufacturers. All of their packaging is made from recycled plastic. The company is based in Canada and is a distributor for a network of eco-friendly companies which sell everything from recycled/biodegradable plastic stretch film, reusable grocery bags and USA bubble wrap. They even sell biodegradable bags for dog owners, and kitty litter!
So kudos to companies like them who are getting their act together!
This is Joshua. He's 18 now, six foot three, very physically active, into music, skateboarding, camping and hanging out with friends, and... he's vegan. Yes, I initially chose this lifestyle for him, but he immediately embraced it and now I hear him preparing food in the kitchen with friends, answering their questions about why he makes pancakes with almond milk, or why he makes his chocolate pudding with avocados and raw cocoa. They are always amazed with the dishes he creates.
We don't make vegan food anymore, we just make food. It's not really something we think about because it comes so naturally after so many years. Similarly, people in Thailand don't call what they make Thai food, it's just people outside of Thailand that call it that.
I have been criticized in the past by a few people for "forcing" Josh to eat the way I do, but I'm his parent, and parents feed their kids meat, dairy, or whatever cultural food they were raised with. I happen to be vegan, but if he chooses to eat differently in the future, that will ultimately be up to him. However, given the facts about what the other side of vegan entails, and presented with awesome vegan alternatives, kids get it- there is absolutely no need to "force" this upon them.
As a teenager, I expected Josh to turn into a "junk food vegan" (you can call yourself a vegan even if all you eat is french fries, Oreos, Fruit Loops, potato chips and white bread every day). He has been eating pancakes a lot lately, but he will not make them unless there are fresh fruit to go on top. And when he makes a sandwich or veggie burger he piles on loads of avocado, romaine lettuce, tomatoes and red peppers, so I'm pretty impressed.
All in all, I am extremely happy about my decision to raise Josh on a vegan diet. No parent is perfect- we all try our best, and want the most healthy and vibrant life for our kids :) It's up to us to shape the formative years of these little humans in our care... so let's grow vegans at home!
