Vegetarian Star

Animal Factory by David Kirby

Journalist David Kirby recalls the night he slept near a pig farm during his investigations of factory farms.

Kirby wasn’t able to fall asleep that night, as all he heard were pigs fighting, screaming and squealing at each other, a sound he described as “kids being tourtured.”

Those three years of experiences that led to his book, Animal Factory, are just a few that he shared in a recent Time magazine interview, “The Problem With Factory Farms.”

What Exactly is a Factory Farm?
We collectively refer to these facilities as factory farms, but that’s not an official name. The government designation is CAFO, which stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. Basically it’s any farm that has 1,000 “animal units” or more. A beef cow is an animal unit. These animals are kept in pens their entire lives. They’re never outside. They never breathe fresh air. They never see the sun.

What happens to the wastes from factory farms?
The manure is liquefied. It gets flushed out into an open lagoon, where it is stored until farmers can use it on what few crops they do grow. There’s just so much of it, though. I’ve seen it sprayed into waterways and creeks. These “lagoons” filled with waste have been known to seep, leak, rupture, and overtop. This stuff is untreated, by the way. We would never allow big open cesspools of untreated human waste to just sit out on the ground near people’s homes and schools. And yet because it’s agriculture, the rules are different.

Read the entire interview with Kirby at Time.

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A big slice of vegan birthday cake goes out to the following vegetarian or vegan celebrities.

• Kal Penn (33)

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• Slice Of Vegan Celebrity Birthday Cake To (Drum Roll)

Doc Martens. Credit: Tarquin on Wikimedia Commons

Doc Martens celebrates its 50th year in manufacturing the famous 14 and 18 holed shoes this month.

The company started out very eco-friendly, as Dr Klaus Märtens and Dr Herbert Funck constructed the first pair from recycled discarded rubber from former Luftwaffe airfields.

Years later the company began making vegan versions of Docs, but the production of those shoes were halted when it relocated factories to Asia.

Relax.

There are other vegan shoes in the sea.

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A NYC Evening For The Oceans

Here’s your chance to meet Captain Paul Watson and benefit the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

NYC Evening for the Oceans will be held on April 30 between 7:30 PM and 11:30 PM at Collective Hardware at 169 Bowery between Broome and Kenmare in Manhattan, New York City.

The cost for the evening is $100 and tickets must be purchased in advance. The event poster says, “No ticket sales at door,” so you won’t even be able to offer them tins of nutritional yeast to sweet talk your way in that night.

Besides meeting Watson and the crew, attendees will enjoy food from vegan restaurant Candle Cafe.

Items will be auctioned and donations will be accepted.

For more information and to order tickets, visit the event’s website.

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Lindsey Shaw‘s character Kat Stratford in the ABC Family’s 10 Things I Hate About You played some dirty meatless politics on this week’s episode.

In an effort to get the school to adopt Meatless Mondays, Kat teams up with her rival William Blankenship, to convince the student council to give the vegetarian day a go ahead.

Turns out, William was using Kat as well for his own very unveggie political agenda.

Patrick, the quite loner with an interest in Kat, never liked her getting cozy with William.

Kat would have made more progress hooking up with Patrick, who’s already eating soy dogs.

Everyone in school fears him, and they would have been scared away from the chicken finger line.

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Conservative Ann Coulter used the recent announcement from Justice John Paul Stevens to retire from the Supreme Court to poke fun of progressive schools that include vegetarianism and/or animal rights in the curriculum.

Hey, some do, such as the one Emily Deschanel attended.

Using an instance where Stevens disagreed with giving vouchers to parents to send their children to private schools, Ann wrote:

“He said, because the program did not forbid parents from using the tuition payments at religious schools, the state was using “public funds to pay for the indoctrination of thousands of grammar school children in particular religious faiths.” That money should have been used to indoctrinate children in subjects such as animal rights, Gaia theory, anti-Americanism and fisting etiquette!”

Don’t know how many parents would appreciate the opportunity to transfer their children to another school, private or parochial, but we’re sure they’re are plenty of parents who want more money into the school lunch system so their children aren’t resigned to eat the pre-formed patty of several animals parts and greased up fries.

BTW, have you contacted your local representative to let them know you support H.R. 4870, which could potentially bring regular vegetarian meals in school districts nationwide?

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Gwyneth Paltrow‘s husband and Coldplay singer Chris Martin is one cheap vegetarian.

Although Gwyneth tries to constantly introduce higher end organic foods to her husband, he refuses and wants to spend as little money as possible.

“Chris is terrible. The cheaper the better and I think he’s transferred it to (son) Moses. When I try to give my husband a piece of (organic chocolate) Green & Black’s, he’s like, ‘Get that stuff away from me,” Paltrow said.

That’s a bummer, considering organic chocolate comes with all the goodness of all the antioxidant benefits of flavonoids found in cocoa minus the head lice shampoo.

Yes, that’s right.

Lindane is a chemical that is used in head lice treatment that was banned in U.S. crops, but may still be used on cocoa plants in other countries.

And in the U.S., the EPA still allows various levels of pesticides to be used in chocolates like Methyl Bromide, Pyrethrins, Hydrogen Cyanide, Naled and Glyphosate, which have been shown in animal studies to produce health ailments like thyroid problems, headaches and nausea.

Save pesticides for the head bugs and opt for organic chocolate companies, many of which also offer fair trade and vegan varieties.

Here’s a list to get you started.

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Carrie Underwood and fiance Mike Fisher have ditched the traditional wedding cake and opted to be sweet tooth locavores and serve cupcakes made by a bakery near her hometown instead.

The rest of the reception menu has been decided on as well, as Carrie told Ellen DeGeneres, “We pick out food, and we know where we’re going to be. The big hurdles, but everything else we’re easy about…We don’t care.”

Because Carrie’s a vegetarian, she’s sure to have plenty of meat free options besides cupcakes.

If you’re in need of a vegan cupcake (along with sugar and gluten free), BabyCakes bakery has you covered East Coast or West.

The bakery that originated in New York City and now with a shop in LA, offers cupcakes, cookies, brownies and now even donuts that are completely free of animal products.

BabyCakes’ owner, Erin McKenna, started the company because she had multiple sensitivities to foods like wheat.

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