Earth Song

I happened to watch the video for Michael Jackson's "Earth Song" this week. It'd been so long since I had seen it, but it comes closer than anything I have seen in a long time to showing the kind of desperate, heart-breaking, incomprehensible grief and intensity I feel over the devastating destruction of the planet and abhorrent suffering of all living beings.  Such a grief and anger and helplessness that goes beyond expression and comprehension.  HOW CAN ANYONE ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN, to choose greed and self-interest over the protection and sanctity of lives, of LIFE?  I don't understand.  I only hope that more and more people are inspired to do something, anything!  Each action, no matter how big or small, makes a difference and fights back!

Pittsburgh Walk for Farm Animals 2011

I am so excited to be participating in raising funds for the 2nd Annual Pittsburgh Walk for Farm Animals 2011 next month! On Saturday, October 1st, Pittsburgh will host its second Walk for Farm Animals to support the lifesaving rescue, education and advocacy work of Farm Sanctuary! Please help me reach my fundraising goal of $300! Any amount donated, whether $1 or $100, is hugely helpful. Visit my fundraising page or look for the widget on my blog sidebar to the right to contribute. Any amount is welcome! :)

For 25 years, Farm Sanctuary has relied on the Walk for Farm Animals to support its life-saving mission to protect farm animals from cruelty, inspire change in the way society views and treats farm animals, and promote compassion. The Walk for Farm Animals takes place annually in more than 75 cities across the United States and Canada to celebrate and promote compassion for farm animals and raise funds to enable Farm Sanctuary to continue its vital work. Last year, Pittsburgh was the 6th BIGGEST WALK ON THE CONTINENT, had 150 walkers and raised over $13,000! This year, our goal is to have 300 walkers and raise $30,000. Please help us move closer to the #1 spot this year!

Our local Walk coordinator, Kim Piper of Sunstone Soap, states, "Our goal is to walk together as a compassionate community while we have fun, raise money and help better the world for all beings!" Please join us! All members of the community (regardless of dietary lifestyle- non-vegans and non-vegetarians are absolutely included) with a love for animals and a desire to end their needless suffering at the hands of factory farms are invited to walk, volunteer, donate, or help in some way.

How You Can Help:

* Sponsor me in my fundraising efforts as part of Pittsburgh's Walk, donating what you can to help me reach my goal of $300! All donations go directly to Farm Sanctuary! Visit my fundraising page via this link or via the widget on my blog sidebar.

* Register to walk in Pittsburgh or your own city!

* If you are unable to walk, register to "Sleep In" as a Virtual Walker!

* Donate a vegan food item to our post-Walk picnic! Please contact me to arrange this.

* Donate a gift card, retail item, or handmade good to our "Moopon" sale! Please contact me to arrange this.

* Spread the word about the Walk, Farm Sanctuary, and the plight of abused and neglected farm animals!


Thanks so much for your support!

World Week for Animals in Laboratories 2011- What You Don't Know Will Hurt Them

Every day, millions of animals are tortured in research labs, enduring painful tests that cause intense physical, mental, and emotional pain. During World Week for Animals in Laboratories Week 2011 (WWAIL), please take time to honor the lives of these animals and consider ways that you can play a part in reducing their needless suffering.



Tens of millions of animals like primates, bunnies and other rodents, cats, and dogs are dissected, infected, injected, gassed, burned and blinded in the name of science. Completely against their will, they are forced to suffer unspeakable experiments. In the US alone, 28 million lab animals suffer each year; 18 million of those are killed. But those are just the ones we know about, as federal law does not require the reporting of such numbers. Add in Canada, England, and the Netherlands, and nearly 5 million more endure the same horrid existence.



Given recent growth in awareness of the plight of animals at the hands of humans, it's shameful and surprising that there are no laws in place to prevent cruel testing on live beings. The laws that are in place (like the Animal Welfare Act) set guidelines merely for how animals are treated before and after the actual testing. Animal testing is not required by law, yet companies persist in the immorality of it despite viable alternatives to it that reduce suffering, reduce the number of animals "needed" for testing, or eliminate using animals as subjects altogether.



Please learn the truth about animal testing and choose to support only companies that do not test. Shop and support cruelty-free.

Leaping Bunny Compassionate Shopping Guide

Directory of Cruelty-Free Companies

Other ways you can fight animal cruelty in the form of animal testing:

* Learn about it and stay informed. Visit these websites for more information about animal testing (all were sources for the info in this post):
The Truth About Vivisection
Vivisection Information network
National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS)

* Spread awareness at every opportunity to friends, family, etc. via Facebook and Twitter, blogging, and emails.

* Take action politically- contact your officials through letters encouraging them to support legislation against testing and for improvement of animal welfare legislation. Know your candidates' views on the issues and vote for those who are on the side of the animal welfare and advocacy.

* Join and/or follow the activities of animal advocacy groups.

* Sign petitions online, an increasingly powerful tool in the fight against animal cruelty and other issues. Good places to start: Care2's Petition Site has a comprehensive list, as does Change.org.

* Write to companies, universities, and other entities that emply animal testing to encourage them to stop testing. Let them know that you won't support or patronize them unless they stop. You can start with this list of major companies that test.

Animal Rights- Divisiveness or Unity?

I've been witnessing quite a lot of infighting among vegans in the animal rights movement between those who call themselves "animal welfarists" and those who call themselves "animal abolitionists".

"Welfarists" put forth that first and foremost animals should be treated with compassion and in ways that prevent their mistreatment and suffering. They assert that even small improvements in animals' lives are important steps in moving toward alleviating suffering, such as passing laws to improve conditions on factory farms. On the other hand, "Abolitionists" vehemently support the immediate and total liberation of animals from being used by humans. They assert that no intermediary steps are acceptable in working to achieve this goal, and actually perpetuate animal suffering by allowing people to feel that subjecting animals to use for humanity's purposes is "okay" as long as they aren't hurting as much or have access to more fresh air.

Some would try to label me a "welfarist" over an "abolitionist", but I reject both labels. They add to the divisiveness in our community and ignore that each vegan or vegetarian falls along a spectrum of beliefs and ethics and choices. In my opinion, there's room for everyone. We all ultimately share the same goal: free animals from suffering. The essence of the disagreement is the most effective path to make this happen.

The truth is, the welfarist and abolitionist stances are not mutually exclusive. Making inroads toward lessening suffering, as welfarists express, is better than maintaining the status quo of treating animals without love, respect, and kindness. But only as long as the end goal of eliminating suffering altogether is not forgotten. And in terms of the abolitionist approach, if it were up to me or anyone with an ounce of compassion, of COURSE the optimal solution is to abolish suffering of any kind- people included- immediately and completely. I think all vegans believe that to the core. And indeed, there are those in society who might feel better about eating eggs if they know that the chickens have grass to run around in. However, smaller steps are preferable to no action, and the reality is that in the world today most of the population will not or are unable to commit 100% immediately to liberating all animals from suffering at the hands of humans. That probably won't happen for a very, very long time. The all or nothing approach is unrealistic and allows for no forward movement- in fact, it obstructs it. So what to do until the day when freeing animals totally from the bonds of slavery, abuse, and suffering?

Horrible suffering by animals at the hands of humans exists. The eradication of all suffering will not happen for a terribly tragic length of time. Subsequently, reducing suffering until this is possible is the ONLY solution. Looking into the faces of those being neglected and brutalized and subjected to painful deaths and denying them some relief of that suffering because some activists claim it doesn't go far enough is so not acceptable! If suffering must exist, we must minimize it by advocating for better living conditions and more humane treatment until that suffering can be ended. It's not about what activists believe is the most viable solution, but about doing all we can to reduce the suffering of the exploited. Taking no action because "ideal" action can't be achieved does not benefit the beings who are hurting and struggling NOW! Acting together does! Divisiveness and judgement accomplish exactly nothing.

WE in animal rights, no matter what our stance on how to liberate animals, are aware and see the truth and are willing to open our hearts and minds to commit to end suffering, but WE are a very small minority (sadly). In today's world, animal exploitation and consumption continues to grow. Society will not hear a message that makes veganism and/or ending animal suffering seem extreme and judgemental, an unattainable goal they must to put into action in their everyday lives or else it's pointless. Setting people up for failure is not the way to get their attention and gain their support. That's like walking up to someone and telling them that if they don't accept such and such a religion they will go directly to hell. Most people will not *hear that*.

In making the message more universal, more openness is created in those who hear it. An attitude of embracing intention and small action vs. no action welcomes involvement and fosters a feeling of relation. People who hear "your action doesn't matter if you don't commit 100% and do it *this* way will react to the hostility and turn a deaf ear. Effective action must consider the environment in which it will be taken. And that means accepting and reinforcing the steps everyone makes toward compassionate living, looking for common ground as we work towards a day when all beings will live as equals. This is how we and our movement will grow.

Here's a very similar article, much better expressed. :)

Animal Cruelty in the Wool Industry

There's an insidious evil in wool production that is usually justifed as a necessary practice- it's called "museling". Museling is an insanely cruel procedure whereby the flesh is removed from around the . Sheep owners claim it's the only way to stop , yet often flystrike happens anyway. What results is an open, festering, excruciating wound. Australian wool producers make up a huge proportion of those employing the use of museling, causing the horrible, inhumane, and senseless suffering of millions of lambs every year! Despite a promise from wool industry leaders to stop the heinous practice by 2010, very little, if anything, has changed there. This demonstrates that the only viable solution is government intervention and legislation to permanently and completely ban museling as soon as possible.

Watch this video for a more indepth explanation about why banning museling is so critical:



Sheep are sentient beings, thinking and feeling animals that, by many in the wool industry, are subject to unspeakably cruel and unusual suffering! That museling is allowed to go on when there are humane and effective alternatives to flystrike available is incomprehensible and inexcusable.

Please help to end this barbaric practice and the continued infliction of pain and terror on animals who look to humans only for care and protection. The wool industry must be forced to follow through with ending this senseless mutilation! The lives of millions of Australian lambs hang in the balance, waiting to be rescued from miserable lives. Please act now and commit to boycott merino wool, or better yet, all wool!

Pittsburgh Walk for Farm Animals 2010!

I am thrilled to be part of the upcoming Pittsburgh Walk for Farm Animals 2010 next month! On Saturday, October 2nd, Pittsburgh will host its very first Walk for Farm Animals to support the lifesaving rescue, education and advocacy work of Farm Sanctuary! This event takes place annually in more than 75 cities across the United States and Canada to celebrate and promote compassion for farm animals and raise funds to enable Farm Sanctuary to continue its vital work. One of the amazing walk organizers, Kim Piper of Sunstone Soap, states, "Our goal is to walk together as a compassionate community while we have fun, raise money and help better the world for all beings!"

Please consider walking with us! Everyone compassionate about animal welfare is invited, and non-vegans and non-vegetarians are absolutely welcome! You can walk solo, create your own team, or join my team called "Team Craftastic." :) When you go to register for Pittsburgh's walk, you will be given the option of choosing a team. Register here by clicking ‘Get Started’ & selecting the Pittsburgh Walk. Advance registration is only $15 and includes a t-shirt. Or visit my page and follow the registration links. I hope you'll join me!



You can also help by sponsoring me in the walk. Any amount donated, whether $1 or $100, is hugely helpful. Visit my fundraising page or look for the widget on my left blog sidebar to contribute!

If you would rather, you can also donate by sending to me directly via PayPal- let me know if you'd like my email address for that.

You can also donate a prize for the event, whether handmade, a gift certificate, or other item. Contact me to arrange this.

GIVEAWAY ALERT: Every fan of my Facebook Fan Page who donates toward the Walk for Farm Animals via my fundraising page will be entered in a giveaway to win two 5x7(ish) art prints of your choice! Yay!

Just donating any amount gets you one entry. Every $10 donated gets you another entry. So a donation of $10, for instance, would mean one entry for donating and one entry for $10 and so on. :) Just "like" my Facebook page and comment there to let me know you've donated!
ANY AMOUNT IS WELCOME! :)

Thanks so much for your support!

Activism Out Loud: Should We Numb Farm Animals so They are Immune to Pain?

I just read an article in early September’s New Scientist magazine about research into numbing animals raised for food so that they don’t feel pain. Researchers are working to genetically alter the DNA of farm animals so that when they are exposed to pain and suffering, they aren’t “bothered” by it. What do you all think about this?

Personally, I feel this is simply a way to justify and continue animal abuse, neglect, and torture. It creeps me out, feels eerie, and feels viscerally immoral and ethically wrong. It may *seem* well-intentioned, but I think it’s a guise to continue using animals to meet human needs in whatever way suits them, no matter the consequences to the being, and to keep money flowing!!! Animal rights awareness is the factory farmer’s worst nightmare- this is such a crock of sh**! What do you want to make a bet that the meat and dairy industries are backing this research? I imagine altering perception and experience of pain and suffering in human slaves just so heinous practices and inhumane treatment could be continued. Why would anyone think this is okay to do to animals?

An editorial about this in this same magazine issue sums up my view pretty perfectly:
Yes, logically speaking, pain-free animals make sense. But only in a world that has already devalued animal lives to the point where factory farming is acceptable. Our visceral reaction to pain-free animals is actually a displaced reaction against the system that makes them necessary.

Too many of us are too attached to the pleasures of affordable meat to consider the plight of factory-farmed animals. If the proposal to create pain-free animals achieves anything, it is to force us to confront the pain and suffering that our diets inflict. End factory farming, and the "problem" of pain-free animals goes away, too.

And more fodder for discussion: Cloning Animals for Meat & Milk

Quote of the Week

"...when we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings.

~Sogyal Rinpoche

The Web Out Loud: What's Worth Paying Attention To This Week?

My latest finds worth paying attention for the ethical web surfer: great articles, awesome sites, and other juicy tidbits!

Articles

Animals Don’t Want to Eat GMOs, So Why Are We?, healthychild.org

There is No Vegan's Dilemma, PowellsBooks.blog

4 Million Pounds of Space Junk Polluting Earth’s Orbit, ecoworldly.com

In-vitro meat: Would lab-burgers be better for us and the planet?, cnn.com

Monsanto's Global War on Farmers, organicconsumers.org

New Film on Ocean Acidification Reveals Unseen Face of CO2 Pollution, solveclimate.com

Elephants Pass Self-Awareness Test Passed Only By Humans, Gorillas, and Dolphins, ecoworldly.com

Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism, MelanieJoy.org

Activism

Protest Ringling Brothers' Animal Cruelty! Sign PETA's petition calling on the USDA to seize the abused, neglected, and heartbroken elephants Ringling hauls around the country in filthy boxcars and forces to perform under the constant threat of punishment. Watch PETA's undercover videos from RinglingBeatsAnimals.com if you need convincing.

Tell your Senators that the path out of world poverty isn't through Monsanto and GMO crops. Sign this CREDO petition to promote helping farmers in developing countries produce and distribute their own food, rather than implementing an Obama administration goal to use genetically modified seeds and chemicals as tools to fight hunger.

Cool Sites

Your Daily Vegan: the daily vegan spin- Your source for all things vegan: intriguing facts, thoughtful editorials, intelligent quips, food talk, news bits, and so much more, all in one place.

Green Lashes and Fashion- Love this blog by a fashionista with a compassionate conscience! Stay informed about ethical fashion, natural beauty, green living, and vegan/vegetarian food- way cool!

Environmental Graffiti- A veritable playground for the eco-conscious, planet loving, ethical, and off-the-wall. An "eclectic mix of the most bizarre, funny and interesting environmental news on the planet... on behalf of all environmentalists who don’t take themselves too seriously and compile it into a daily blog." What lured me in initially were breath-taking, brilliant photos of animal life, like these.

Other Stuff

T-shirts upcycled from plastic bottles?
Two companies, be present and A Lot To Say, launched tees made from recycled plastic last week! They are super cute on top of being super green! be present states on their site that 3-5 plastic bottles are diverted from landfills with every tee made, and A Lot to Say calls their 100%-recycled-bottle tees "eco-revolutionary." Maybe plastic is fashionable after all. ;)

I am in love with this bike! Madsen's Cargo Bikes are dream cycles for those who rely on or choose biking for doing errands like grocery shopping and even moving! I swoon every time I see one... If only I could even think of affording it... ;)

Quote of the Week

"The life spark in my eyes is in no way different than the life spark in the eyes of any other sentient being."

~Michael Stepaniak

Silentlotus Creations: Charity of the Month!

Every month, my Etsy shop SilentLotus Creations donates 10% of sales to a cause related to animals, marginalized populations, human rights, or peace and justice. August' profits from sales of my handcrafted jewelry and original art will be donated to It's Meow or Never Animal Rescue and Sanctuary. The sanctuary is a non-profit, no-kill animal shelter that rescues animals in immediate danger from Animal Control, police departments, animal shelters that euthanize, and other situations.

It's Meow or Never not only runs an almost always full shelter that cares for and adopts out pets needing a new forever home, they also fund spaying/neutering and vaccinations, feed and shelter feral cats, and offer helpful resources to pet owners and animal advocates. Fund raising for much needed land and a new adoption/sanctuary facility is also in the works. 100% of donations is spent on caring for rescued animals, and the rest is personally funded by founders Michael and Madonna.

Their currently-full shelter not only accepts monetary donations (auto donations accepted as well)- supporters can sponsor an animal or make purchases of It's Meow or Never's wishlist items, made easy with the click of a PayPal button right on their site! Handcrafted pet items like dog biscuits and kitty beds made by sanctuary volunteers are available in exchange for a donation. Help also comes from It's Meow or Never's Etsy shop, where all profits go toward shelter operation costs! Visit their blog for more info, and to meet some of the sanctuary's animals.

Vegan Out Loud: Why Vegan?

I've been vegan for over 11 years now. Originally, I went vegetarian without knowing much about it other than that it involved choosing not to eat animals. I became vegan a year or two later for health reasons (milk allergy and lactose intolerance), again, not really knowing much about it. My understanding and knowledge about being vegan has grown a thousandfold since then. Once I started meeting other people who were veg/vegan, my whole idea about it changed. Through reading, asking questions, and listening well, I became more educated about veganism and the impact on the planet and on animals themselves of consuming living creatures for food and utilizing them for human purposes. I choose it as a lifestyle now for deep ethical, spiritual, and moral reasons. Every year I have been vegan, my veganism and the ethics, morals, and beliefs that have formed around it and because of it have grown more complex and more deeply ingrained.

Today I am vegan because I want to try my best to honor and respect all beings as equally deserving of compassion, love, and freedom. Being vegan is about intentionally living compassionately and with love toward all beings, and choosing a way of being in the world that has as little and as positive an impact as possible. I am vegan to give back to Earth, to help to heal it rather than take from it. I am vegan to maintain a healthy mind, body, spirit, and soul. As best as I can, I want to live as an example of how to walk tenderly, harm minimally, love fully, and lead with a compassionate heart, and to learn from others who are doing the same. Living compassionately spreads love. I am vegan to hopefully help to counter all of the fear, hatred, and cruelty out there with peace, kindness, and openness, while also attempting to make up for my own negative crap I send into the world.

My reasons for being vegan aren't all pretty and all about love and peace and happy-happy, joy-joy, though. There's an ugly, insidious part of it. Every day, millions of animals endure intense, incomprehensible suffering or die lonely, prolonged, painful deaths at the hands of humans who treat them as worthless objects. Animals have souls, too. They are sentient beings that think and feel and hurt, develop lasting communities and families, and build strong attachments and loving relationships. Most of us live in a society where exploitation of animals for human purposes is not only condoned and justified but also turned a blind eye to, the experience of many other marginalized populations around the globe.

On farms, in rodeos or circuses, in puppy mills or fur farms, trapped in a pharmaceutical lab or the home of a callous pet owner, or hunted in the wild, so many animals are destined for lives filled with chronic abuse and neglect, hurt and confusion, grief and loss, and mistreatment of unimaginable proportions. And related industries like factory farming wreak havoc and destruction on the health of the environment and people. Most experience horrible, prolonged, painful deaths. I feel that any use of animal products on my part says that I'm okay with this, puts a stamp of approval on animal cruelty to further human ends and reinforces living beings being treated as objects. And from an energetic standpoint, the last thing I want to put in my body is any animal product that carries with it the trauma of a life and/or death of tragic suffering. For me, being vegan is a way of giving the animals a voice and honoring their lives so that they are no forgotten- they so desperately deserve and need that. I definitely do not live a "perfect" vegan life, if there is such a thing. I am fallible, and I find it hard as hell and pretty near impossible to be 100% vegan 100% of the time. But I try with all of me to do so.

It's kinda been a natural progression to move toward eliminating everything reasonably possible from my life that isn't compassionate, including materials used in creating my art and jewelry. Anything else feels 'unnatural' and incongruent with who I am, what I care about, and the impact (or lack of one) I want to make in the world. Plus, I put so much of my true self into creating things that to me (and hopefully others) are pure and convey beautiful things. Cruelty isn't beautiful. Materials that are derived from cruel methods or that dishonor other beings aren't beautiful.

Living a vegan lifestyle is strongly aligned with my spiritual and religious beliefs. I am a yogi and a Buddhist, as well as an advocate of rights for all beings, humans and animals and plants and the planet. Animals, human beings, and the planet- all are one, and in essence, of the same energy and spirit. I also don't think humans are any less valuable or have any less potential to be pure of heart and spirit than animals- we're all created equal and are all sacred beings. We just have much more of a chance and likelihood to become deluded or or lost and disconnected from love and compassion. Anyway, all of that stuff is entwined with being vegan for me, really hard to separate out.

I don't judge people for not living a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. At any given time, everyone falls on a spectrum in terms of global awareness and what compassion means to them. That tends to change for people as they go through life and have different experiences. Each of us makes the decision that is best for us at the time, something only we can know. In my opinion, it's compassionate awareness, living from the heart, and deep understanding of the impact of choice and the consequences of inaction that are most important- how we live our lives tends to naturally follow intention and thought. The heart is never wrong.

Pigs Have Feelings, Too, and Other Reasons Not to Eat Them

In this powerful article, GoVeg.com reminds us that there are plenty of reasons not to eat pigs! Please note that some of the videos linked to here may show graphic images of animal cruelty.

1. Porking You Up
It’s a fact—ham, sausage, and bacon strips will go right to your hips. Eating pork products, which are loaded with artery-clogging cholesterol and saturated fat, is a good way to increase your waistline and increase your chances of developing deadly diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, asthma, and impotence. Research has shown that vegetarians are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease, and they have 40 percent of the cancer rate of meat-eaters. Plus, meat-eaters are nine times more likely to be obese than pure vegetarians are. Every time you eat animal products, you’re also ingesting bacteria, antibiotics, dioxins, hormones, and a host of other toxins that can accumulate in your body and remain there for years. Learn more about animal products and your health.

2. Pigs Have Feelings Too
Ninety-seven percent of pigs in the United States today are raised in factory farms, where they will never run across sprawling pastures, bask in the sun, breathe fresh air, or do anything else that comes naturally to them. Crowded into warehouses with nothing to do and nowhere to go, they are kept on a steady diet of drugs to keep them alive and make them grow faster, but the drugs cause many of the animals to become crippled under their own bulk. Learn more about cruelty to pigs. Check out these videos from pig farms in Oklahoma, North Carolina, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

3. Pigs and Playstations
Think that you can outplay a pig on your Playstation? You may be surprised. According to research, pigs are much smarter than dogs, and they even do better at video games than some primates. In fact, pigs are extremely clever animals who form complex social networks and have excellent memories. Eating a pig is like eating your dog! As actor Cameron Diaz put it after hearing that pigs have the mental capacities of a 3-year-old human: "[Eating bacon is] like eating my niece!" Learn more about [the hidden lives of] pigs.

4. Pigs Prefer Mud, Not Crud
Pigs are actually very clean animals. If they are given sufficient space, pigs are careful not to soil the areas where they sleep or eat. And forget the silly saying “sweating like a pig”—pigs can’t even sweat! That’s why they bathe in water or mud to cool off. But in factory farms, they’re forced to live in their own feces and vomit and even amid the corpses of other pigs. Conditions are so filthy that at any given time, more than one-quarter of pigs suffer from mange—think of your worst case of poison ivy, and imagine having to suffer from it for the rest of your life. Learn more about what happens to pigs in factory farms. Check out the mange-ridden pigs on these South Dakota and Nebraska pig farms.

5. Farming Family Values
Factory farms are pure hell for pigs and their babies. Mother pigs spend most of their lives in tiny “gestation” crates, which are so small that the animals are unable to turn around or even lie down comfortably. They are repeatedly impregnated until they are slaughtered. Piglets, who are taken away from their distraught mothers after just a few weeks, have their tails chopped off, their teeth are clipped off with pliers, and the males are castrated—all without painkillers. Learn more about cruelty to pigs.

6. The Manure Is Blowing in the Wind …
A pig farm with 5,000 animals produces as much fecal waste as a city of 50,000 people. In 1995, 25 million gallons of putrid hog urine and feces spilled into a North Carolina river, immediately killing between 10 and 14 million fish. To get around water pollution limits, factory farms will frequently take the tons of urine and feces that are stored in cesspools and turn them into liquid waste that they spray into the air. This manure-filled mist is carried away by the wind and inhaled by the people who live nearby. Learn more about how factory farming damages the environment.

7. Bacteria-Laden Bacon and Harmful Ham
Extremely crowded conditions, poor ventilation, and filth in factory farms cause such rampant disease in pigs that 70 percent of them have pneumonia by the time they’re sent to the slaughterhouse. In order to keep pigs alive in conditions that would otherwise kill them and to promote unnaturally fast growth, the industry keeps pigs on a steady diet of the antibiotics that we depend on to treat human illnesses. This overuse of antibiotics has led to the development of “superbacteria,” or antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. The ham, bacon, and sausage that you’re eating may make the drugs that your doctor prescribes the next time you get sick completely ineffective. Learn more about the effect of eating meat from sick, diseased, and drugged animals.

8. Hell on Wheels
More than 170,000 pigs die in transport each year, and more than 420,000 are crippled by the time they arrive at the slaughterhouse. Transport trucks, which carry pigs hundreds of miles through all weather extremes with no food or water, regularly flip over, throwing injured and dying animals onto the road. These terrified and injured animals are rarely offered veterinary care, and most languish in pain for hours; some even bleed to death on the side of the road. After an accident in April 2005, Smithfield spokesperson Jerry Hostetter told one reporter, “I hate to admit it, but it happens all the time.” Learn more about cruelty to pigs during transport.

9. Killing Them Without Kindness
A typical slaughterhouse kills up to 1,100 pigs every hour, which makes it impossible for them to be given humane, painless deaths. The U.S. Department of Agriculture documented 14 humane slaughter violations at one processing plant, where inspectors found hogs who “were walking and squealing after being stunned [with a stun gun] as many as four times.” Because of improper stunning methods and extremely fast line speeds, many pigs are still alive when they are dumped into scalding-hot hair-removal tanks—they literally drown in scalding-hot water. Learn more about what happens to pigs at slaughter.

10. Ditch the Bacon and Get Fakin’
Save pigs from hell and yourself from bad health by feasting on faux pork products instead. Stuff a sandwich full of Yves brand veggie ham slices, or throw some Lightlife Smart Bacon into a sizzling skillet—the freezer and “health food” sections of your local grocery or health food stores are packed full of these and other tasty substitutes. Check out VegCooking.com for hundreds of recipes, product recommendations, vegan meal plans, and a shopping guide. Think before you eat another sausage link—order a free vegetarian starter kit full of delicious recipes and celebrity features today!

Activism Out Loud: FUR HURTS!

The consequences of the fur industry are deeply & horribly morally, ethically, and spiritually TRAGIC. Using fur in any form to make toys, car accessories, fashion, or whatever, whether off the runway or from a local vintage/resale shop, perpetuates humans using other beings for their own selfish purposes, no matter the cost of life. Being a consumer of any item made from fur justifies the horrific, unimaginable, unspeakable suffering of beings who feel and think and experience pain, condoning an industry of needless death and the devastation of innocent lives.

I struggled down to my core with my own pain and tears after seeing these photos (thank you to FB pal Jess for sharing them), but I knew I had to share them. I know the images are shocking and graphic, but the truth is sometimes. I shut my eyes to them as I post here. How could I stay silent about this? The animals need someone to speak for them and tell their story... They need someone to see them, to remember them. Right now, it's me. And you...

Think about these images the next time you reach for that nice, fluffy fur product bleached cleaned of blood to disconnect it from the death that made it possible, from the tortured souls whose lives were taken and discarded meaninglessly. Hardness of heart becomes evident with indifference to the pain and suffering of another living being- that indifference can be seen in what people eat and wear (Earthlings on Facebook).

Any questions?

Persia White in an ad for PETA's FurIsDead.com.

From all-creatures.org.

From EARTHLINGS - Official Animal Cruelty Awareness Group on Facebook.

From care2.com: "The aftermath of a seal killer. Hit seal bleeding tears from its eye. The seal cannot move and air from its nose is causing bubbles to be blown out its nose from its own Blood. This seal is still breathing. The seal crying a tear out of its own blood is still alive: It's not enough only to sit and feel mad or sad, and do nothing, vow to take a stand and spring into action."


Please take just a minute sign this petition: http://www.animalsaviors.org/petition.html.

Cows are Too Sweet to Eat!

The "Top Ten Reasons Not to Eat Cows" from GoVeg.com. And check out the myth behind "Happy Cows" from HumaneMyth.org.


photo from mothercow.org