Posted by nzvs
03-07-2008
Yes says Raj Patel: growing food for animals is a waste of resources
in an overcrowded world.
Sunday June 22, 2008
Observer Food Monthly
America is the most overweight country on earth. Only three out of 10 Americans
have a normal body weight. I should have guessed that one of the side effects of
moving to the US would be bloating.
Since leaving London for America a decade ago, I've put on a couple of stone. It's
easy enough to blame the food environment here. This is, after all, the land where
Reagan pronounced tomato ketchup a fruit and, more recently, where French fries
and chocolate-covered cherries were legally dubbed 'fresh produce' under a US
Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulation known as the batter-coating rule.
Read the full article here
Read more...
Posted in Environmental Concerns, Animals
Posted by nzvs
26-05-2008
Take a moment to e-mail a message
to Oprah Winfrey.
Dear PCRM supporter,
On her TV show yesterday, Oprah welcomed bestselling author and spiritual counselor Kathy Freston to talk about her new book Quantum Wellness. In her book, Kathy describes the 8 pillars of wellness, practices she believes are the staples of an engaged life.
There's one wellness practice that Kathy says should be observed above all others. "The mother of all pillars is conscious eating," she says. "It doesn't only make a difference to our own personal health and well-being, but conscious eating means you stay aware of where your food comes from, how the animals are treated, and how the environment is affected by the foods that you eat. You take in the energy of whatever went into creating that food."
Read more...
Posted by nzvs
12-05-2008
PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian of the Year Contest - Winners Announced. Check out the winners' profiles and the top two reasons that the 1,000+ contestants gave in response to why they turned vegetarian
Posted by nzvs
28-04-2008
Bears rescued from cruel bear baiting contest
Two bears in Pakistan have been saved from multiple violent attacks by powerful dogs after WSPA member society, the Wildlife Society of Pakistan (WSP), prevented a bear baiting event last month.
Read more...
Posted by nzvs
02-04-2008
24 Team Vegan members ran the annual 'Auckland Round the Bays fun run and walk' (along with 70,000 or so others!) A great day for it and an amazing experience, not just to run as a team for the first time, but to run in such a huge community event - it is virtually impossible to run the entire event with such a massive crowd gathered behind the start line (which stretched back for ages), and quite a sensation when everyone starts to move.
Sixteen of us started as a big group altogether (photo above), while another speedier group headed right to the front for a fast start.
The team tops worked great - in fact even walking to our assembly point before the run, we had someone come up to us saying 'wow are you vegans - I've been vegan for 31 years I didn't know there was a team', so we may have gotten a new recruit before we even started! But we definitely also need some branding on our backs, which would be especially good when passing the teams running for meat and dairy companies! (Which there were lots of - especially from Fonterra).
No official times are available yet, but fastest was the teams trainer Michael Bourke who ran the 8.4 km in around 36 minutes.
Great day, and great stuff everyone!!
For photos see the gallery section of the website.
http://teamvegan.net.nz/
Posted by nzvs
02-04-2008
Humans inherently owe animals
Full story: Daily Evergreen
Because other animals are unable to communicate and conceive of themselves collectively, they cannot tell us to stop killing them. They are the silent victims whose voices can never be heard. And because they cannot protest our exploitation of them, we excuse our behavior as a process of nature. Yet, if we are moral animals, we are obligated to take notice of the harm and suffering we cause other beings. "The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk, but, Can they suffer?" Jeremy Bentham wrote, forming the foundation for his ethical philosophy in the 1700s. I know many people who love their pets, recognize their emotional states and intelligence, but still support the slaughter and consumption of nonhuman meat. Because they are aware of their complicated biological and emotional lives, dog and cat lovers would never consume their pets - even if they were factory-farmed and cheaply available. Yet, if animals are not cute, furry and domesticated, it is acceptable to farm, kill and eat them. Our moral consideration should not stop merely at our level of familiarity. |
| Daily Evergreen - March 4, 200 |
Posted by nzvs
02-04-2008
Minds of their Own
Animals are smarter than you think.
By Virginia Morell
Photograph by Vincent J. Musi
In 1977 Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University, did something very bold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out to find what was on another creature's mind by talking to it. She brought a one-year-old African gray parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language. "I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world."
When Pepperberg began her dialogue with Alex, who died last September at the age of 31, many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought. They were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the ability to think or feel. Any pet owner would disagree. We see the love in our dogs' eyes and know that, of course, Spot has thoughts and emotions. But such claims remain highly controversial. Gut instinct is not science, and it is all too easy to project human thoughts and feelings onto another creature. How, then, does a scientist prove that an animal is capable of thinking—that it is able to acquire information about the world and act on it?
Read more...
Posted by nzvs
02-04-2008
http://www.alv.org.au/
This website has links to campaigns that New Zealanders can join- make your voice heard now.
Posted by nzvs
03-03-2008
Full story: AFP
Don't eat meat, ride a bike, and be a frugal shopper - that's how you can help brake global warming, the head of the United Nation's Nobel Prize-winning scientific panel on climate change said [January 15]. The 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), issued last year, highlights "the importance of lifestyle changes," said Rajendra Pachauri at a press conference in Paris. "This is something that the IPCC was afraid to say earlier, but now we have said it." A vegetarian, the Indian economist made a plea for people around the world to tame their carnivorous impulses. "Please eat less meat - meat is a very carbon intensive commodity," he said, adding that consuming large quantities was also bad for one's health. |
Posted in Environmental Concerns
Posted by nzvs
03-03-2008
Make Your Voice Heard For Whales Today
As Japanese whalers continue their cruel and bloody hunt in the Southern Ocean, I write to you with this urgent request to help protect these incredible animals.
WSPA is calling on our supporters to add their name to a global petition which asks the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to shift its attention to whales - not whaling.
The IWC, which manages whale populations worldwide, could then devote its time to protecting whales and encouraging whale watching rather than focusing on allocating kill quotas to whaling nations.
Thousands of whales will be slaughtered this year alone, and many will endure slow and painful deaths. So please, make your voice heard for whales today.
You can find out more about the cruelty of whaling and sign the petition here.
On behalf of the animals, thank you.
Posted in Animal Action
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