Comments Off on Wayne Pacelle, Humane Society CEO, Declares Victory Over Hudson Valley Foie Gras
On his blog, president and CEO of the Humane Society,Wayne Pacelle, is declaring victory over foie gras supplier Hudson Valley Foie Gras.
A federal judge in New York ruled in favor of the HSUS in a water pollution lawsuit against Hudson Valley.
The judged ruled Hudson Valley violated the Clean Water Act numerous times and in several ways and HVFG will have to pay $25,000 per day per each future violation.
In addition, HVFG must pay $50,000 towards an environmental project to the Middle Mongaup River–where all of its toxic mess ended up!
“Factory farming interests like to claim that they represent rural people and rural values, but that’s a canard,” writes Pacelle. “Rural people increasingly are in the forefront of the movement against factory farms, since they often experience the problems most acutely, especially the downstream environmental effects.”
Both ladies are clients of Greener Pup LLC., a company created by Kari Whitman, a dog rescuer and environmentalist.
Greener Pup features dog beds made from recycled fabrics and stuffing crafted from recycled plastic bottles.
Whitman gave tips for making your own doggie bedding in Modern Dog, and she recommends using animal friendly fabrics as well, such as pleather and artificial suede, Ultra Suede.
Whitman says she was “practically born recycling” and adopted a cow when you she very young.
A barn made from recycled materials probably took some time to build!
Comments Off on Michael Pollan In “Time Magazine” 100 Most Influential
Michael Pollan has been named of the most influential people of 2010 on Time Magazine‘s annual list.
Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, who’s criticized the unfit conditions for humans and animals in factory farms, can still be considered a vegetarian’s ally, despite his reluctance to go any further than advocating less meat.
“Unwilling to accept the food industry’s account of where beef comes from, Michael bought a steer in Kansas to follow the life cycle of a kernel of corn from the laboratory to the feed bin to the restaurant where the beef is served. It’s a harrowing tale, and since the moment I heard him tell it, I have not served corn-fed beef of any kind. I was Pollanized — and I am not alone.”
“In the Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc. and in his books Food Rules and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael, 55, tells complex stories in an engaging voice. When he speaks live, I’ve seen thousands grip their seats as they realize what our food system has become and how badly we need to fix it.”
The full list of Time’s Most Influential People can be viewed here.
Prince Charles has been an outspoken proponent of organic farming for some time, and he recently gave the Times Online a glimpse into the Highgrove farm and garden.
He denies the notion that organic farming isn’t a sustainable way to feed people, citing that although organic food costs more, people were paying three times as much for their food 30 years ago.
“Organic production costs more because of the effort and the management and the time that has gone into it,” he said. “Yet 30 years ago people were spending 30 per cent of their income on food, now it’s 10 per cent, so it’s all relative.”
Perhaps their health care costs were cheaper three decades ago too, as now mass produced and processed foods have contributed to obesity and other lifestyle related diseases, the effects of such wreaking havoc on both human and animal health.
“I’ve always felt that if you rely on endless inputs, artificial, chemical, goodness knows what, and if you treat animals like machines, it is not durable in the long term because nature will rebel. If you imagine that dairy cattle will produce quantities of milk that Nature never intended, and feed them on food that Nature never intended them to eat, like these huge feed lots in the United States and elsewhere which I think are an abomination and immoral, you will have a problem with type 2 diabetes. You’re producing cheap food but you’re actually creating more expense elsewhere in the chain.”
Comments Off on Social Distortion’s Mike Ness Vegetarian Dimension
In the words of the dysfunctional Jerry Springer contestant, Social Distortion’s Mike Ness says, “You Don’t Know Me!” (Feel free to insert finger snap.)
That’s what the musician told Spinner during an interview.
“My writing and my stage stuff, that’s just one side of me,” Ness said. “There are so many others people don’t know — being a vegetarian, my spiritual beliefs. There are dimensions to anybody.”
Ness has recorded a PSA for vegetarianism for PETA, so it’s not like he’s hiding in the closet or anything.
Maybe he just needs to speak up a little more. Watch his “Meat’s Not Green” video below.
“Our wildlife, what is left of it, we’re going to lose if we don’t man up and step up and be responsible,” Ness says in the clip.
Comments Off on Paul McCartney Angers British Beef Association Over BBC Show
The British Beef Association has got a beef with Paul McCartney.
After making comments on a BBC radio show about the livestock industry contributing to climate change, the association demands the BBC give it air time to respond to the allegations McCartney made.
The association claimed this would be in the interests of the BBC’s “reputation for balance and accuracy,” according to Spinner.
McCartney told BBC, “It started off with the United Nations saying the livestock industry is a bigger demon, as far as global warming is concerned, than the whole of the transport industry put together.”
“I wrote to millions of people like Gordon Brown and the leaders of this and that country and saying, ‘Do you think this is an interesting idea?'”
“Since then, it has caught on and I understand that [chef] Gordon Ramsay has said that one meat-free day a week is a good idea and I understand that [fellow chef] Jamie Oliver too has said that it’s a good idea, so that’s why I got involved.
The BBC has not responded as to whether the British Beef Association will get their turn.
