It’s pretty freaky growing up human. We get taught alot about right and wrong and sometimes it just doesn’t fit with what we feel. Truth is we have to make up our own minds about most things. The excitement of learning to be ourselves is part of the fun in life on a planet that is sometimes really weird. And the more truth we discover, the more we can discover ourSelf.

Most people today would tell you that although eating animals has an ugly side (called factory farming) it’s necessary. 200 years ago in London most people would have told you that though slavery has its ugly side, it’s necessary. Sometimes we need to reevaluate the situation, just like 200 years ago the world was examined and improved. I think this is a responsibility of a human.

Anyways, this teeny little question has totally massive implications for the planet and all its people. So inform yourself:

Hunger

An unimaginable mass of food is grown for animals. By the time that we eat them, only about 10% of this energy and nutrition has been carried to our plates. Of all the grains and cereals grown in the world, about half is fed to animals. We already have 1 billion starving people. The world’s consumption of animal products is predicted to double within the next 40 years (if current trends continue). What does this mean for billions of the world’s poorest? It means less food. There are improvements needed besides what we eat, but it would be a head start to avoid meat and diary.

Climate Change

Climate change is real, deal with it. By the way, that’s not going to happen without a complete change of eating habits. Methane is created by organic processes like decay (forests cleared for animal feed and grazing) and digestion (the gasses belched and farted by the animals themselves – yes I know it’s getting cliché, but like that other cliché, the polar bear swimming around looking for ice to climb on, it’s real).

Animal production is responsible for half or more of the climate change problem, using realistic ways of adding up the problems (a high global warming potential for Methane) and the latest info from the best climate nerds like James Hansen. By using more and more land (animal agriculture already uses 30% of the ice free planet surface) carbon that could be sucked into vegetation and soil is kept in the atmosphere.

It’s not a matter of reducing emissions. If we continue to emit even at less levels than today, we’re still screwed because we’re still adding to the problem. All the technology in the world, even if we want it to and actually attempt to make it work for climate change, will be meaningless if we continue to eat the way we do, and if the developing world joins us, which they are. Without going veggie, plant-based diets, we have no chance of leaving a world worth living in. Climate change will destroy the world as we know it.

Ethics

Here’s the really subjective part. You need to forget what you think you know about which animals are okay to eat and not. Who decided this and why? Is killing a pig really different from killing a dog? We have empathy when our pets are in pain. We know whales are intelligent and peaceful creatures and we kick up a fuss when someone goes around spearing them. But what about the BILLIONS of animals that are abused in dark, dank and dirty metallic environments, bred for one purpose, to spend his or her last moments in a death queue, and for no reason because we don’t actually need to eat animals at all. It’s indisputably proven, not in medical journals or by prejudiced people, but in real life by the millions of healthy vegans and vegetarians in the world.

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But each year the sea ice is thinner and younger. It’s now a wavering thin layer of seasonal ice that is retreating more and more to the pole each summer.

The bad news for Earthlings like me is the heat that the Arctic ice used to reflect is now being absorbed into of the ocean (24-7, all summer) causing even more melting. Less ice, warmer water, more sun, less ice, warmer water… It’s a vicious circle up there that’s completely freaking out anyone who’s paying attention.

Once the ice is gone we can expect climate change to enter a new nastier phase (as if it wasn’t already bad enough with millions of climate refugees already on the move).

Gigatons (an amount so large it cannot be spellchecked) of methane are ready to be released into the atmosphere from the permafrost and ocean bed as these warming trends feed back on themselves. There’s supposed to be as much as there is in the atmosphere right now. So the arctic has it’s own feedback loops and then there’s a feedback loop between the artic and permafrost. We’re all fried.

Or are we? Why would I be sacaring you like this if there weren’t a damdiddily thing you could do about it?

As it turns out I’m not that sick and there is (wow) something you can do and you can even start right now at no cost at all (enough with the italics). In fact the same solution will help alleviate food shortages and chronic illnesses like heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Read on. Read more. Okay, so you didn’t click the links.

Be Veg!

Veg is short for vegan: a person who eats plant-based food only.

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I’ve touched on this before but now more than ever it’s time to cast aside stale ideas in favor of a deeper common sense, aka, wisdom.

Ideas are useful because we can’t examine everything all the time in order to know the reality of it. Some things we need to take for granted to get on with life. Ideas are packages, formulas, conclusions already reached, inspirational directives that sit atop infinite calculations and careful and philosophizing.

Everyone uses ideas, in fact our mind operates an idea called the ‘neuromatrix’ which fills gaps in sensation so that we always feel we have a body even when parts of it are not there. And our mind fills in blank spots in our vision automatically, using preconceived ideas about what should be there, irrespective of what is actually there. Society itself is made of ideas, and to operate smoothly many people must abide these ideas. Hence it is offensive to some to shovel peas onto a fork, they must be speared onto the prongs individually. Generational gaps are often guarded by ideas. But where do ideas stop and common sense begin?

Ideas can sometimes just be too convenient.

There is a point at which they become dangerous misrepresentations of reality. Some ideas are particularly useful, they are putty over holes and boards over gaps in our personality. Don’t want to understand something? Find the right idea and slap it on the whole matter, no need for worry, someone will always share your idea.

Ideas can be defence mechanisms when they conflict with other’s ideas or with reality. Sometimes it’s easier to set up an idea as a fence than it is to face reality and change ourselves.

But, as it’s said, the truth hurts, but it heals. When you find yourself feeling threatened, take a closer look at your mind and be careful of emotional reactions set off by threatened ideas. It may feel as if a piece of your brain is being removed when an idea goes. But it’s always just the junk we’re too attached to, or have mistaken for our own selves.

Peace.

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I read here on World Changing that after the age of 50, Europeans . . .

. . . are only about half a likely [as Americans] to suffer from chronic illnesses such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and even cancer. They are only half a likely to suffer from depression and anxiety, and they spend only half as much on average as we do for health care. Studies show their better health results from more exercise, more socializing with friends and families, less stress and more sleep; all of these are made possible by having more time.

I wondered . . .  ‘heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cancer… these are the exact conditions that are directly linked to animal flesh consumption.’

I thought further . . . I wonder if, by chance, Europeans eat half as much animal flesh as Americans?

A few clicks on Earthtrends and I discovered they almost do!

Americans eat 1.6 times the animal flesh that Eurpoeans do! I think this must account for the higher portion of the diseases which are scientifically linked to animal flesh consumption – just as much as – or more than – the lifestyle factors mentioned.

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A University student here in Australia has recently posted his observations from field trips to slaughterhouses here in Australia. I’ll post you some excerpts, just for the record:

To try and answer your questions:

“What percentage are stunned properly, if at all?”

For cattle I watched the kill area for about 10 mins and in that time they slaughtered about 5-6 cattle and of those one was not stunned properly. Another one was thrashing so much when her throat was slit she fell off the table. I don`t know if she was stunned properly or not. I suppose that makes it about 1/5 not stunned properly that I saw but it was only a 10 minute sample.

“I have heard stories from a very reliable source, who used to work in an abattoir (cattle), that eyes are “shot” out and just left hanging down their faces. ”

In the one I was at they used a metal bolt gun stunner – they eyes were left in. I am sure it happens though.

“What percentage of chickens pull their heads up and don’t get zapped or have their throats slit before they tumble into the boiling vats? ”

A lot of chickens were flapping madly when throats were slit – there was no one monitoring the stun area and there is no vet at the chicken abbatoir. I would estimate a good 30% are not stunned. There are also some chickens where the throat is not slit properly and they do not bleed out properly and so go into the scalding tank still alive – these are called “red chickens” as they are still full of blood.

“How do the kill the sheep?  Are they supposed to be stunned?  How do they get through all the wool when they slit their throats? ”

They hold an electric stunner to their head for a prescribed length of time. This renders them unconcious for about 30 sec (I think its 30 sec). The knife has to be very sharp to get through the wool – also Halal slaughter requires one slit to the throat only. The person cutting throats that I saw had a blunt knife and was sawing at the throats – he was repremanded by the vet.

“Kangaroos?  Don’t they come in already dead?  Shot?  Are you going to tell me that live kangaroos are coming in to an abattoir to be killed? ”

No sorry I should have said kangaroo processing plant not abbatoir/ Yes they are shot – must be a single head shot for human consumption. There is no regulation for pet food. Any Joeys with mums killed  have their heads hit on a rock/ the ground to kill them.

. . .

Anyhow…..I thought I would post a few other things I forgot to say about the abbatoirs – Don`t read if you don`t want to as it is horrible.

- When the workers pull the chickens out of the crates to hang them by their legs there are sometimes dead chickens and these are thrown into a bin. When the vet from uni looked into the bin there were at least 4 chickens in there alive huddled there – other dead chickens were being thrown on top of them.

- When the chicken crates are used they then go through an industrial washer and sometimes there are live chickens still in them that were “forgotten” and they get put through the washer too. If they survive they can often be found lying on the ground at the back of the shed – in a terrible state as you can imagine.

- Mortality of the chickens in the crates gets up to 5% – this is a lot when you consider how many chickens are there – for example if there are 30,000 then 1500 die from heat, stress etc before they are slaughtered.

- The stunner at the cattle abbatoir is set for a particular size cow and if a larger one comes through then in may not work well enough. If a cow is stunned twice and it doesnt work then they have to go and get a rifle out of a locked box and then shoot the cow. As you can imagine this takes time and meanwhile the cow is standing there, having recieved two blows to the head.

- Both sheep and cattle have a full view of the slaugheter floor, blood, and other dead animals while they are waiting to be stunned.

- The cattle race up to the slaughter point is in the slaughter room so the cattle can hear and smell eveything for a good length of time before they are killed.

- Fetal Calf Serum – When cows which are pregnant near to term are slaugheterd the uterus with the calf is sent to another room where the calf is taken out (dead), hooked up on two metal hooks and bled into a big bottle. The serum is sold to pharmaceutical companies to be used for diagnositic tests and vaccines etc.

There are penalties if the cow is pregnant (due to welfare implications because the calf obviously doesnt die straight away and is in distress when the mum is slaughtered) but now apparently some corporations which own farms are delibrately getting the cows pregnant before slaugheter so they can get more money for the calf serum. As they own the farms and abbatoirs they get no penalities.

. . .

Well I went to see the pigs be killed today. I don`t actually know how I am holding things together atm I am an emotional wreck.

I will post what I saw today as people have said that it has strengethened their reslove and I hope it can lend weight to arguments with meat eaters.

Today it was like seeing Earthlings in real life about a foot away from you. A pig thrashed off the killing table onto the floor and lay on the ground in her own blood kicking and thrashing for about 2 minutes less than an quarter of a meter away from me. The vet assured me she was dead and the kicking was only reflexes. I hope this was true.

2500 – 3000 pigs a day are slaughtered at this abbatoir. That is 21,000 a week.

We went to look at the pigs in their pens before they were killed and so many of them were lame and had big abscesses on their sides. One pig looked as though he had ripped a trotter off he was so lame he could barely walk and was trembling all over. I told the vet and showed him the pig and he said if the pigs cannot walk up the race to the slaughter floor they are shot in the pen.

In terms of what people have been commenting about the desensitisation I think this is 100% accurate. Our tutor told us back at uni that he has become desensitised and doesn`t see meat as an animal – just a package in the supermarket. I pointed out that this kind of disengagement is what happened with the Nazis and the Jews.

There you have it.

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If given the chance to develop naturally, pigs are pleasant, intelligent and freidnly animals. Unfortunately we raise this beautiful animal in dirty and stressful confinement, and think less of him. Pigs also love their family, and during the course of a pigs’ life he is torn away from many of his close ones. Pigs are like every other animal including humans. They are meant to run and roam. If it were you, you’d gnash your teeth on those metal bars too.

Tradition sometimes dictates many terrible and unnecessary things. Killing animals is one of them. We degrade ourselves for no reason. Why follow so blindly and give our bright souls up to spilling blood at will?

Isn’t there a better way to live life?

There is and anyone can do it starting today. Stop eating animal flesh and join the club of love and life. People can be stronger and healthier on a plant-based diet. I haven’t eaten any type of meat, fish or egg for seven years. I haven’t eaten any milk or cheese for three years. I can’t express in writing how great this feels.

Eating the flesh of pigs causes incredible sufering not only to pigs but also to humans. The largest study of nutrition and disease ever, ‘The China Study’ has shown that it is the animal flesh and milk we take that causes many types of cancer, heart diesease and diabetes. As we eat more, we die younger. Hospitals are full of patients because of the animals we eat.

Many religions advise us against killing animals. Take a look at this video, it will blow your mind. It includes relevant passages from many of the world’s scriptures.

You can read the excerpts here, or watch the following video:

Here are some other resources you’ll find interesting:

• Stop, Look and Listen: Recognizing the Sentience of Farm Animals (.pdf)
• What is Animal Sentience (Compassion in World Farming)(html)
• The Hidden Lives of Pigs (html)

And finally, the past has created the present, but the present is creating the future. Be creative and bold in your visions of tomorrow! Anything is possible. God bless.

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Did you know that last year we produced food for more than 10 billion people?

I shook my head when Ban Ki Moon recently said that food production would need to double by 2030. Surely more production would be the last option, after mitigating wastages.

Apparently…

Rising use of biofuels, trade restrictions, increased demand from Asia to serve changing diets, poor harvests and increasing transport costs have all been blamed for the price rise.

Which are likely all part of the problem. I’d like to throw in something else which was just lightly skipped over (not only in this article but in the entire conference in Italy…)

Animal Food.

Yep. Surreptitiously mentioned as ‘changing Asian diets’. As if the west did not consume grossly disproportionate numbers of animals.

Michael Pollan, Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, interviewed by Yale Environment 360:

Most of this grain we’re talking about is being fed to animals. So meat-eating is a tremendous part of this problem too, and specifically the meat eating increase that we see in places like China and India. They want to eat meat the way we do. Well, here in America, we’re eating over 200 pounds of meat per person per year. When you factor in people not eating meat, that’s an obscene amount of meat. That’s meat at three meals a day, just about. So one way to take pressure off these grain stocks is to start eating the grain and not feeding it to animals and not feeding it to cars. We have to remember that the arable land in this world is a precious and finite resource, and we should be using it to grow food for people, not for cars and animals.

I’m not just making a fuss because I avoid eating animals myself. The fact is that nearly seven times the amount of cereal used for biofuel production is wasted in animal food. Globally this year about 2126 million tonnes of cereal will be grown. Less than 5% of this will be used to produce biofuel but around 35% of this will be wasted by the inefficiency of feeding cereal to animals (source).

So while the solution partly lies in economic and political areas, the problem can be less serious if we all start eating less meat this year. 1/3rd less serious if we take up a healthy plant-based diet instead. Oh, and if we do, climate change will also be less serious – far so. Land deforested for grazing and feed-cropping can be revegetated and farmed animal numbers can dwindle to a few helping us plough the 1/7th of current agricultural land that will be needed to feed the world. (Estimates only – I tried to be conservative! You get the picture.)

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