Comments Off on Jonathan Safran Foer “Quitting Meat Is A Process”
Jonathan Safran Foer "Eating Animals" Interview
Author Jonathan Safran Foer says that for people, including himself, going vegetarian is a lot like Mark Twain described quitting smoking.
“Mark Twain said that quitting smoking is among the easiest things one can do; he did it all the time. I would add vegetarianism to the list of easy things. In high school I became a vegetarian more times than I can now remember…”
Whether you’re trying to go vegetarian, vegan, or flex the process can result in multiple attempts to “get it right” whether the failings are brought on by cravings, environment, financial issues or pure convenience.
The strictest of vegetarians would like to call anyone who even ingests the occasional animal byproduct no longer vegetarian, but is that the best approach to take?
“But I wonder if more of the difficulty doesn’t come from the ways that we talk and think about change. When it comes to meat, change is almost always cast as an absolute. You are a vegetarian or you are not. It’s a strange formulation, and it’s distracting. (Those who profit from animal suffering and environmental destruction want us to think in dichotomies, rather than practical realities.) Imagine someone asking you, “Are you an environmentalist or not?” For most of us, caring about the environment isn’t an on-off switch, but a set of daily choices that we try to respond to as best we can. I buy energy-efficient products, and turn off lights when leaving a room, and recycle and so on. But I also fly on airplanes. Does my occasional flying completely undermine my identity as someone who cares and tries? Should I, faced with my inability to live consistently, make no efforts to live better?”
Is being a vegetarian a continuous “process” that none of us should expect to get 100% correct?
Tyra Banks recently aired a show where a woman couldn’t stop talking about how much she loved her pet capuchin monkey.
With the recent news update on Charla Nash, the woman who was mauled by a chimpanzee formerly in the entertainment industry, the idea of a monkey as a pet is making some animal activists go bananas.
PETA took the time to write to The Tyra Show, warning that viewers could be tempted to buy their own pet monkeys after viewing the episode.
As PETA states on its blog, “And while capuchins are much smaller than chimpanzees, they are still very strong and very fast, and they have extremely sharp canines that can quickly do a great deal of damage to an unwitting person.”
The Tyra Show has added a disclaimer, albeit small print and in italics, on its website now stating, “Please note, PETA has contacted the show and does not recommend keeping monkeys as pets,” after a synopsis of the show that featured the monkey owner which described the segment as “The Trend in Tiny Pets.”
Now if only Tyra would feature a show detailing “The Dangers of Pet Trends.”
Sherri Shepherd came out of the fur closet this Tuesday on the daytime talk show to model a full length fur coat!
What’s even worse, Shepherd was laughing and joking about it.
There’s absolutely nothing funny about killing an animal, electrocuting it and sometimes even skinning it alive to obtain it’s coat in the vain name of fashion.
And it took more than a handful of animals to make Sherri’s coat.
“It takes 40 minks to make one fur coat like the one Ms. Shepherd wore on the show. These animals are kept in cages so small they literally go insane from running around in circles. Animals that are caught in the wild have their limbs clamped shut in iron traps. They are sometimes left for days bleeding, freezing and starving, often trying to chew off their own limbs, desperately trying to escape. When “fur animals” are slaughtered, they are killed by being vaginally or anally electrocuted. On some farms their heads are simply slammed against concrete floors. All this barbarity is so that their fur doesn’t get damaged. Sometimes it takes two or three electrocutions/head slammings before the animal dies. Even then, some survive and are skinned alive. Isn’t that luxurious, something to laugh about?”
It’s time Ms. Shepherd educate herself and take on another view about using fur for fashion.
Comments Off on Meatless Mouthful: Mary Max Thanksgiving Web Resources
“I’d also like to take this opportunity to gently encourage those of you who are planning to eat a traditional holiday meal to reconsider and instead extend your compassion to the 46 million turkeys who are cruelly raised and slaughtered just for this day by choosing to celebrate with a vegetarian Thanksgiving (that can still be really fun and delicious!). After all, how can we sincerely honor the themes of Thanksgiving (i.e. peace and gratitude) with a slaughtered sentient being in the middle of the table (http://www.goveg.com/factoryFarming_turkeys_farms.asp)?
Comments Off on Jones Tofurky & Gravy Soda Benefits PAWS And Vegheads
Jones Tofurky And Gravy Soda
The Skinny Bitch gals said that “Soda is liquid Satan”, but Jones Tofurky & Gravy Soda may be a little less devilish.
The veggie turkey and gravy flavored product inspired by Tofurky can makes veggie soda drinkers happy and benefit the animal charity PAWS at the same time if the limited edition gift packs are purchased.
Each limited edition gift pack of faux turkey soda includes the following:
— 1 Bottle of Jones Zilch Black Cherry
— 1 Bottle of Jones Zilch Pomegranate
— 1 Bottle of Jones Zilch Vanilla Bean
— 3 Bottles of ToFurkey
— 1 ToFurkey Metal Lunch Box.
Yes! A lunch box!
For every pack sold, $1 will be donated to PAWS, People Helping Animals.
“Some people are crazy for turkey around the holidays… others not so much. For those of you with veggie leanings, Jones teamed up with the good folks at Tofurky® to bring you a meatless option.”
“We created this special soda for all you veg-heads out there. Best served with mashed potatoes and a couple of laughs, we hope you enjoy drinking it as much as we enjoyed making it.”
Comments Off on Paul McCartney “Less Meat = Less Heat” European Parliament Talk
Sir Paul McCartney is scheduled to speak at a European Parliament hearing on December 3 2009 to discuss how eating less meat can fight global warming.
The Global Warming and Food Policy: Less Meat = Less Heat will feature both Paul and Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, urging legislators to encourage people to fight climate change, which includes eating less meat.
The hearing takes place from 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. in Parliament’s plenary chamber and will be chaired by Vice-President Edward McMillan-Scott.
A press conference featuring Paul and Dr. Pachauri will follow.
Hope the Parliament listens to the two notable speakers.
In 2006, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organizationconcluded that producing the world’s beef and pork generates 18% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions versus the 13% generated by all the world’s cars, planes, trains and boats.
Environmentalist Al Gore is being asked by PETA to go vegetarian for 30 days.
Today during one of the signing events for his latest book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, Gore is being met by an almost naked (of course) activist dressed as Mother Earth.
Don’t ever recall any of our mothers dressing that provocatively, but oh, well.
“More and more, we are hearing about the damage that meat production does to our water supply, the forests, and the global climate,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said.
“In light of these reports, we are asking Mr. Gore simply to try going vegetarian for 30 days. During that time, he could save eight animals’ lives and maybe even his own!”
Gore has already reduced his meat intake and agrees that vegetarianism should be embraced more by those who have an interest in preserving the planet.
