Tag Archives: go vegan or vegetarian!

By Rebecca Libauskas

Yes, you can “de-calf” your coffee! art: PETA

In elementary school, we performed a well-known song with the refrain “Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.” I loved the message. But I’ve never understood why our society doesn’t apply this concept to all species.

Every day, we have multiple opportunities to choose nonviolence and extend peace to all sentient beings — and one of the simplest ways to do so is to opt for delicious and healthy vegan foods instead of meat, eggs and dairy. By refusing to take anything that rightfully belongs to animals, we walk a path of peace that benefits everyone. So, for the International Day of Peace (September 21), let there be peace on Earth — and let it begin with vegan living.

Everyone deserves peace. Yet we’re conditioned to treat some species with care and others with indifference — or violence. Pigs, chickens, cows, fish and other animals who are used for food experience pain, happiness, distress and misery, just as our beloved animal companions do. Yet they’re abused in ways that would be illegal if dogs or cats were the victims. Pigs, for instance, may be conscious and feel pain when they’re scalded with hot water during slaughter and when they’re piglets, their tails are cut off without pain killers.

East Fork Farms, Indiana, investigation…

In slaughterhouses, there’s no peace for animals or for the people who work there. According to Occupational Safety and Health Administration data, severe accidents are common and human body parts are severed every week. Reports also reveal a distressing lack of concern for workers’ well-being, including when they’re forced to work despite being sick or injured. These and other serious problems reveal the need for systemic change, including a shift to vegan food production.

Going vegan not only spares animals fear, violence and death but also helps the Earth. In a world ravaged by the climate catastrophe, it’s hard to feel peaceful. A recent American Psychiatric Association survey revealed that 67% of Americans are experiencing some degree of climate-related anxiety. The best thing anyone can do to help save the planet is to reduce the demand for animal-based foods by going vegan. A recent comprehensive study by the University of Oxford revealed that by eating vegan, individuals decrease their food-related climate-heating emissions by 75% and reduce their contribution to the destruction of wildlife by 66%.

Eating less meat helps the planet.

Research shows that choosing healthy vegan foods also reduces the risk of chronic diseases that can ravage our bodies and minds, which can be overwhelming and anything but peaceful. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, compared with meat-eaters, vegans enjoy a reduced risk of dying from heart disease, lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes and obesity. Its findings conclude that nutritionally complete vegan meals are beneficial in preventing and treating specific diseases. Going vegan empowers us to take charge of our health while advocating for a better world.

When we stop inflicting violence on animals, peace follows. We know this innately: A study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science shows that young children are less likely to view animals on a farm as “something” to eat. Only after age 11 do they start thinking of animals as food. What if we were to resurrect our natural wisdom and empathy? We can.

For many of us, going vegan starts a ripple effect of compassion and peace that extends beyond our plates. Our view of animals changes: We no longer find excuses for using them in painful, deadly experiments. We think about the suffering and death behind wearing leather, wool, or feathers. We’re heartbroken, not amused, when we see animals confined and exploited for entertainment — including Lolita, the orca who recently died after more than 50 miserable years of confinement. We realize that animals are not commodities and have a natural right to the freedom to do what is natural and important to them.

😢

We sow the seeds of compassion, justice and peace by going vegan. So on this International Day of Peace — and every day — let peace begin with what we put on our plates.

Animal Issues

🔥Fighting wildfires with our forks🍽️

August 28, 2023 admin

By Jade Napierala

In a scene reminiscent of those in California, Texas and Louisiana, lives were forever changed as a spate of fast-moving wildfires swept through West Maui. The historic town of Lāhainā, once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, was consumed by the firestorm, leaving behind only memories. It was the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history.

Most wildfires in Hawaii, where I live, are accidentally caused by humans. Although the exact source of the Maui fires is under investigation, higher temperatures, a “thirsty atmosphere” and whipping winds from Hurricane Dora caused them to rage out of control. Regions previously unaffected by wildfires of this magnitude have become much more vulnerable in recent years due to the human-induced climate catastrophe.

Eating less meat will help save our planet – earth. art: PETA

Scientists warn that if we are to change course, we will need to slash our greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by the early 2050s. Going vegan is the single best step in helping to curb the destruction humans are inflicting on the Earth.

Raising and killing animals for food requires more fossil fuels than producing vegan foods does, and burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide. Animals crammed onto factory farms generate enormous amounts of methane when they digest food. And animal agriculture is responsible for more than half the nitrous oxide emissions worldwide. Together, these potent greenhouse gases contribute significantly to the climate catastrophe.

A study by the University of Oxford found that individuals who go vegan can reduce their food-related emissions by up to 73%. Meat-eaters are responsible for almost twice as many dietary greenhouse-gas emissions per day as vegetarians and about two and a half times as many as vegans.

And going vegan helps save the planet in other ways, too.

So many great ways to go vegan!

Animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation: Roughly 80% of the Amazon rainforest, a vital powerhouse for converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, has been cleared —veither for grazing or for growing food for cattle raised for their skin and flesh — and now it’s emitting more carbon dioxide than it’s able to absorb.

If you don’t enjoy cooking, supermarkets like Trader Joe’s have an abundance of pre-made vegan meals, sides – even desserts!

In the U.S. alone, growing crops to feed billions of animals, keeping those animals hydrated and cleaning filthy factory farms and slaughterhouses consumes trillions of gallons of water annually. For perspective, National Guard helicopters dropped 150,000 gallons of water on the Maui fires.

In short, eating meat puts our home and that of countless other species in danger.

Hawaii boasts unique flora and fauna found nowhere else on Earth. Around 90% of the state’s 10,000 native species are endemic, making their populations less capable of recovering after major fires. Two-thirds of the state’s threatened and endangered species are in fire hazard areas, and native ecosystems are not equipped to adapt to wildfires.

And the damage doesn’t stop at land’s end. Wildfires disrupt the entire landscape, causing erosion and sediment runoff into coastal waters. Sedimentation can obstruct sunlight and smother the tiny animals who make up a coral reef, ultimately harming its growth and health.

Catastrophic coastal fires such as this one have the potential to blanket the ocean with ash containing toxic pollutants from burning houses and cars. The ash also brings organic matter to the sea, leading to an overgrowth of algae. The algae eventually die and decompose, depleting the oxygen, which causes marine life to either leave or die. Areas once brimming with life become dead zones.

Fires ravaging Hawaii. Ocean temperatures off the charts. Earth’s hottest month on record. Any one of these events would have been seen as an oddity a decade ago. The planet is in trouble—life as we know it is in danger. We must all take personal responsibility for the climate catastrophe. We can start by keeping animals off our plates and opting for planet-friendly vegan foods.

Vegan nachos!

Animal Issues

✨Try Soy, Almond, Oat🥛, Coconut🥥 or Cashew🥤 Milk Today!🌅

August 22, 2023 admin

By Scott Miller

Cows! art: PETA

Plant milk is nutritious. Plant milk is environmentally friendly. Plant milk doesn’t exploit animals. Plant milk —oat, almond, soy, coconut — is better than cow’s milk.

Only humans (and companion animals fed by humans) drink the milk of another species. If hamsters consumed giraffe milk, people would find it bizarre. Yet grocery stores still sell — and many people inexplicably still drink — white liquid secretions from a cow’s udder. Humans are also the only species that consumes milk beyond infancy. High school cafeterias don’t serve baby food. But encouraging teenagers to ingest bovine juice is still seen, by some, as “normal.”

Fortunately, society is changing. Vegan milk is skyrocketing in popularity, while sales figures for cow’s milk are at an all-time low.

No wonder the dairy industry has gotten desperate, even trying to copyright the word milk. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration denied that ridiculous request, allowing vegan brands to call themselves hazelnut milk and rice milk. Meanwhile, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to require dairy milk cartons to be more accurately labeled as “bovine mammary secretions.” Or, cow’s milk could simply be called bilk. “You’ve just been manipulated by the dairy industry. Got bilked?”

Still, the multibillion-dollar dairy industry has its allies. Some coffee chains, for example, add an upcharge to their nondairy milk offerings. Customers have to pay more for doing the right thing. If businesses truly valued their customers, they would do the right thing and charge less for vegan milk. Meanwhile, the greater cost of the price hike comes at the expense of our planet.

Dairy milk is environmentally destructive, as cows — who require much more land and water than plants do — emit copious amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, helping to drive the climate catastrophe:

Cutting back on meat and dairy products helps decrease greenhouse gases.

Or to put it more plainly, drinking dairy milk requires bovine burps, cow farts, fecal waste and methane. Soy milk and hemp milk are sustainable and help keep the Earth habitable.

Gen Z bought 20% less cow’s milk than the national average last year.

Younger Americans in particular are choosing to drink less cow’s milk. Generation Z bought 20% less cow’s milk than the national average last year, which benefits the lives of Generation C — Calves! On dairy farms, baby cows are taken away from their mothers within hours of birth. They are fed milk “replacers” (including cattle blood) so that their mothers’ milk can be sold to humans.

The cruel cycle continues. Cows produce milk only during and after pregnancy, so roughly every nine months, cows on dairy farms are forcibly impregnated in order to continue their milk production. Suffering inside cramped, filthy enclosures, these complex, sensitive individuals are manipulated into producing nearly 10 times as much milk as they would naturally.

Drinking dairy milk isn’t just sickening. It also makes you sick. “Bilk” has been linked to an increased risk of some types of cancer, and it steals calcium from your bones. Studies have found that people who consume a lot of cow’s milk have a higher rate of bone fractures. Trying to safeguard your bones by drinking dairy is like paying a bully “protection money” when they are the ones you need protection from.

Cows on factory farms spend their days in filthy, unsanitary conditions. They’re pumped full of antibiotics to keep them alive and producing “product,” leading to a surge in drug-resistant bacteria.

Nobody would grow fruit in a sewer, yet we look away from the rancid, disease-ridden process that exploits cows for their milk. And in the end, when their bodies have given out, they’re sent to slaughter. The dairy industry isn’t good for anyone.

So drink oat milk. Try a glass of flax milk. Treat yourself to a macadamia milkshake! And leave bovine mammary secretions to the cows!

This summer try some vegan ice cream!

🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇

FOR YOUR BACK TO SCHOOL PERSONAL CARE AND MAKEUP NEEDS!

Animal Issues

Confessions of a Reformed Wildlife “Rescuer”

June 8, 2023 admin

By Michelle Reynolds

Baby wildlife may be cute but they’re a part of the outdoor world – not potential pets. art: PETA

Our household has baby fever. The songbirds who reside in our oak tree are expecting. We threw a shower of sorts by putting out a bowl of water in the Florida heat, and we are watching the nest eggscitedly. Then there’s the other new arrival, affectionately (if uncreatively) dubbed “Baby Bun.” The newest member of the neighboring rabbit family is now joining his parents for dinner at the Reynolds’, meaning extra cuteness for us and extra frustration for our dog, who doesn’t like waiting to go out while we check the yard to make sure Baby Bun isn’t around.

Leave the babies to their mommies!

During spring in particular, I have to fight the urge to do more to “help” wildlife … since human interference usually doesn’t. I was the girl who wanted to feed wild animals and bring every “abandoned” baby home. But I’ve since learned that the best way to help baby animals is usually to leave them alone.

Animals in their natural environment know their needs better than we do. Wildlife rehabilitators advise against taking animals from their homes unless they’re obviously injured (as a result of an attack by a predator or otherwise), trembling, lethargic or dependent on a parent who was killed nearby. If they can fly or run away, they’re usually fine. The most they’ll need is to be watched from a safe distance for a few hours or days.

And contrary to what I once believed, adult birds won’t reject a baby who has been touched by humans. If you see a fallen baby bird with few or no feathers, put them back in the nest. If you can’t find or reach it, make one out of a basket or strawberry container (both have small holes in the bottom so rainwater can drain), hang it in a sheltered spot close by and watch for the parents to return. Fledglings — young, mostly feathered birds — may flap on the ground as they learn to fly. It’s OK. Their parents are usually watching. If they’re in immediate danger, move them to a tree or shrub, and if they’re hurt or sick or the parents don’t return, contact a wildlife rehabilitator. A nationwide list is available at PETA.org/WildlifeRehab.

❤️

If you spot a turtle about to cross a road, then it’s time to act. Pick up small turtles, and use a sturdy stick to nudge large or snapping turtles gently onto a flat surface. Carry them in the direction that they were heading. They know where they’re going and will turn around if they’re rerouted. Similarly, it’s critical to act if you see a seemingly dead turtle. Because of their slow metabolism, injured turtles can suffer for weeks before dying. Pinch a toe or touch the corner of an eye. If you see any signs of life, rush the victim to a veterinarian or an animal shelter.

Fawns spend most of their time alone, nearly motionless. They’re often mistaken for orphans because mother deer only nurse them a few times a day. Babies don’t need assistance unless they’re visibly injured, wandering alone, calling out or lying flat on one side. In those cases, contact a rehabilitator.

Spencer, yesterday, late afternoon. Leave nature to nature … photo: R.T.

When cottontail rabbits are about 5 inches long, they’re self-sufficient. If a nest of newborns has been disturbed, place the babies back in it and leave them there unless they’re injured or you’re certain that their mother has been killed. Cottontails usually feed their young only twice a day — at dawn and dusk — to avoid tipping off predators to the nest’s location. If you’re not sure whether the mother has come back, place a piece of string over the nest and check later to see if it has been moved.

More than a rat with a cuter outfit!

Young squirrels are often found after their nest has been blown down from a tree. The mother will be looking for her young. To reunite them, place the babies in a box at the base of the tree. If she feels safe, the mother will usually retrieve her young and carry them to a secure location. If a baby squirrel is hurt, weak or shaking, use gloves to place them inside a warm, safe, newspaper-lined box before calling a rehabilitator.

Although it may be hard for those of us whose heart is in the right place, it’s usually best to leave animals in their right place as well.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Try a vegan burger this summer! Explore vegan or vegetarian cookbooks at your neighborhood library and cook up some new, tasty treats this grilling season!

Animal Issues

🌸Mother’s Day Reflections: How Motherhood Differs for Humans and Factory Farm Animals🐖🐄🐣

May 10, 2023 admin

By Amy Snyder

Love and respect all animals! art: PETA

The day my daughter was born was one of the happiest days of my life. I spent five hours in labor and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I had been paranoid that something would go wrong, so I was overjoyed that she was healthy. Our bond was instantaneous: I spent my days and nights holding and feeding her, never wanting to let her go.

Now, if I were a cow in a factory farm, my precious infant would have been taken away from me shortly after birth, and no amount of bellowing would have brought her back. In the dairy industry, newborn calves are taken from their mothers so that that the milk meant for them can be “stolen” by humans.

Think about it: Cows produce milk for the same reason humans do — to nourish their young. For cows exploited in the dairy industry, birth is nothing to celebrate. Female calves are turned into virtual milk machines like their mothers. They’re artificially inseminated soon after their first birthday and forced to churn out babies every year, only to see them taken away. It’s a never-ending cycle of trauma and cruelty.

When a cow’s milk production wanes, usually when she’s only 4 or 5 years old, she’s worthless to the dairy industry. She ends up at the slaughterhouse, bloodied, dangling by a hind leg with her throat cut.

Even the thought of my baby being taken from me, never to be seen again, brings me immeasurable anguish. I’m sure you can understand why I’m so thankful not to be a cow!! Male calves aren’t exempt from misery. They are often slated to be someone’s dinner. Instead of playing and making friends, they’re chained in cramped stalls and raised for veal. Fed a formula that’s low in iron so they’ll be anemic, their flesh stays pale. Normal muscle growth is stunted to produce tender meat. These youngsters are usually killed when they’re between 3 and 18 weeks old. I wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone.

My heart breaks when I think about how it’s inflicted on other mothers and their babies simply because they aren’t humans.

Mother pigs exist in ghastly gestation crates — cages that are just 2 feet wide and too small for them even to turn around or lie down comfortably!

Pigs are as intelligent as dogs.

And although mother hens cluck to their chicks before they even hatch and the chicks peep back through their shells, they’ll never spend a single minute together since the eggs are taken by humans.
Being a mom has its challenges and heartaches — don’t get me wrong. But I didn’t have to endure heart-wrenching torment in the dairy, meat or egg industry.

We should all be outraged that mothers, human or not, are subjected to the agony of losing their offspring, especially for something frivolous and unnecessary. We have so many vegan options nowadays, including oat and almond milks and all the dairy-free foods that can be made from them.

So this Mother’s Day and all year round, please show compassion for all mothers by choosing tasty vegan foods, as my daughter and I do!

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

VEGAN BAKER’S CHEAT-SHEET💗:

❤️

Animal Issues

🦃What does “Turkey Day” mean to you?

November 24, 2022 admin

By Ingrid Newkirk

❤️

So many turkeys are killed for Thanksgiving each year — about 46 million in America alone — that some Americans refer to the holiday as “Turkey Day.” They fixate on the taste of turkey flesh and place the bird’s basted corpse at the center of the table, as if the mass slaughter of an animal were integral to the celebration. Most of us agree that we should treat other sentient beings with compassion, yet for many, Thanksgiving tends to revolve around eating a slaughtered bird. This is classic cognitive dissonance — when our actions are inconsistent with our beliefs.

I get it. Like many people, I, too, “loved” animals but ate them and thought nothing of it for years. I was a meat-eater’s meat-eater, following my gourmand father’s dietary path: I was wild for liver and onions and raw oysters, balking only at tongue (because it was so obvious what it was) and calf’s brains on toast, one of his favorite dishes.

But things changed for me, thanks to a book I picked up on a vacation: Ruth Harrison’s eye-opening ANIMAL MACHINES. It laid out the horrors endured by those living beings we call “animals,” a word that often casually excludes humans as if we were in some other category of life, perhaps mini-gods.

Regardless of all that’s been written and filmed since 1980, when PETA came into existence hell-bent on exposing what turkeys go through before their drumsticks reach the table, many members of our species remain unmoved, even when they hear that their fellow animals (for we, too, are animals) are petrified when they’re grabbed in the factory-farm sheds, stuffed into crates, trucked through all weather extremes, and then hung upside-down by their legs in the slaughterhouse just before their throats are slit. Yet Ralph Waldo Emerson was right when he wrote that “however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.”

Turkeys on factory farms suffer, suffer, suffer …

I still haven’t nailed the perfect strategy that will change hearts, minds and old habits of convenience and let the other animals simply live. Some people go vegan for their health, some for the environment, others because they’re swayed by images of the unspeakable things we do to animals to get sausages, nuggets, omelets, cheese and turkey flesh on the table.

May I suggest that this year, we observe “Turkey Day” by focusing on turkeys’ many admirable qualities rather than on the taste of their flesh? They are caring parents and spirited explorers who enjoy moving along to music, having their feathers stroked, eating fresh fruits and vegetables, and spending time with their friends. One retired poultry scientist describes turkeys as “smart animals with personality and character, and keen awareness of their surroundings.”

And like all other animals, including humans, turkeys feel pain, grief, love and joy. Why not give them a break this November and celebrate ThanksVegan, PETA’s fresh new take on the Thanksgiving holiday? Anyone wishing to take a step or even a leap into vegan living will find free downloadable vegan starter kits, recipes, tips and much more on PETA’s website – PETA.ORG.

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

REMEMBER, THIS HOLIDAY SEASON: OFFICE PARTY SECRET SANTA GOODIES, STOCKING STUFFERS, TEACHER APPRECIATION PRESENTS … ALL THESE CHRISTMAS GIFTS CAN BE “CRUELTY-FREE,” low-cost – AND CONVENIENTLY BOUGHT AT YOUR LOCAL CVS, WALGREENS, TARGET, TRADER JOE’S AND THE DOLLAR TREE. Here are 15 cruelty-free companies – meaning they don’t test their products – soaps, hand creams, body lotions, shampoos, cosmetics – on animals, primarily white bunnies! Also, there are no animal-derived ingredients in their personal care products. I would add DOVE and SUAVE to this list. Recently, I bought their deodorants – they’ve got THE PETA’S BUNNY LOGO AND CRUELTY-FREE STAMP OF APPROVAL! 🐇- Rose T.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Animal Issues

They still die, piece by piece

November 7, 2022 admin

By Daniel Paden

Make your Christmas stocking stuffers CRUELTY-FREE! art: PETA

Two decades after an article in The Washington Post, titled “They Die Piece by Piece,” detailed the horrors animals faced in slaughterhouses and exposed federal officials’ paltry enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA), little has changed. The meat industry and the agency entrusted with regulating it continue to fail animals miserably. Clearly, the best way to prevent farmed animals from suffering is to leave meat off our plates.

The article’s headline quotes a slaughterhouse worker’s description of how still-conscious cattle were butchered in 2001. Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) own reports recount how cows and other animals still endure agonizing deaths.

In Minnesota last December, workers shot a conscious cow in the head three times, slit her throat, cut into her and injected a chemical into the wounds. The cow clenched her teeth in pain until a rifle shot finally ended her suffering.

In Illinois in August 2021, a pig hanging upside down on the slaughter line was crying out after being put through a carcass-washing cabinet. A worker cut the conscious pig’s throat. Then the pig was plunged into a tank of scalding-hot water and thrashed and screamed before finally being shot.

Both slaughterhouses were allowed to resume killing animals a day after these incidents, having submitted some paperwork to the USDA to get its stamp of approval.

Meanwhile, the more than 9 billion chickens, turkeys and other birds slaughtered annually in the U.S. are not protected by the HMSA. No law requires that they even be stunned before their throats are cut. Birds are routinely drowned in scalding tanks.

Inhumane treatment of turkeys!

At one slaughterhouse, workers left 25,867 chickens overnight on trailers in an open shed as the windchill plummeted to minus 32 degrees. More than 9,000 of the birds died, and many were frozen to metal cages. At another facility, more than 30,000 chickens were denied food and water for more than 24 hours, killing more than 1,600 birds.

But USDA leadership took no enforcement action in their behalf.

What The Washington Post reported three presidencies ago remains true: The USDA makes rare use of the serious sanctions at its disposal. Since 1978, HMSA violations have been punishable by imprisonment of up to one year and/or a fine of up to $1,000. However, the USDA has evidently never filed criminal charges against a licensed slaughterhouse.

As a result, one slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania continues to operate despite 20 violations of law since February 2018. In June 2019, workers there shot a conscious cow three times in the head. In January 2020, a cow who had been shot three times and was hanging on the slaughter line was crying out loudly and looking around. A worker ignored that and cut her throat.

In August 2020, another cow at the same facility endured three rifle shots to the head. Three months later, yet another cow was still standing and looking around after two blasts to the skull. In June 2021, the victim was a pig who remained standing after being shot between the eyes.

Business continues as usual at that slaughterhouse — with the USDA’s blessing — and at others where animals suffer and die in violation of the HMSA. Former USDA Supervisory Veterinary Medical Officer Lester Friedlander said in 2001 that violations were “out of control.” They still are. And chronic violators, emboldened by the agency’s toothless responses, have no reason to expect significant consequences.

Any hope that “humane slaughter” might be something other than an oxymoron should fade given the USDA’s abysmal failure to enforce the HMSA in meaningful ways. If you don’t want sensitive, intelligent animals to keep dying “piece by piece,” please stop eating them.

This Thanksgiving try a holiday roll … skip the turkey!

Animal Issues

A Dutch city banned meat ads – US cities should, too!

October 17, 2022 admin

By Heather Moore

Vegan holiday roast with sage stuffing. Trader Joe’s grocery store in Shrewsbury has many kinds of vegan Thanksgiving and Christmas “roasts” for you to discover! art: PETA

The Dutch city of Haarlem, which is home to about 160,000 people, is set to become the first city in the world to ban meat advertisements in public places in an attempt to reduce meat consumption and combat the climate catastrophe.

This move begs the question: “What are U.S. cities waiting for?” The average American eats about four times as much beef as people in the rest of the world, and beef production alone causes massive amounts of greenhouse-gas emissions.

Help slow down climate change, eat way less meat and way more vegan and vegetarian meals!

Do we really need to be bombarded with billboards, commercials and other advertisements prompting us to eat cruelly produced, cholesterol-laden foods that cause climate change and other environmental problems?

❤️

Global food production generates 35% of all planet-warming emissions, with animal agriculture, including organic, pasture-fed beef and lamb, causing twice the amount of greenhouse gases as fruit, grain and other vegan foods.

That’s largely because farmed animals produce a lot of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. A United Nations report states that reducing methane emissions is one of the easiest ways to curb climate change and urges meat-eaters to choose vegan meat rather than animal flesh.

Studies have found that that vegan meat has a 93% smaller carbon footprint than beef, and researchers estimate that consuming vegan beef rather than cow flesh could reduce the number of cows raised for meat by up to 12 million.

Switching to vegan beef would also reduce the carbon footprint of food production in the U.S. alone by as much as 13.5%. And that’s not all. Scientists predict that a 50% reduction in the consumption of chickens and pigs by 2040 would be equivalent to taking 8 million cars off the road for a year.

The University of Oxford estimated the environmental impact of 57,000 different foods in the U.K. and Ireland and concluded that vegan foods tend to be 10 times better for the planet than animal-derived ones, not to mention that they’re often more sustainable as well.

There’s no question that vegan foods are healthy and nutritious, whereas animal flesh, eggs and dairy are high in unhealthy cholesterol and saturated fat. And animal-based foods are also devoid of fiber, complex carbohydrates and other nutrients essential to good health.

Going vegan means pigs, chickens, chicks, lambs and cows don’t lead horrific lives on American factory farms, many abused and tortured.

As Haarlem clearly realizes, raising cows, pigs, chickens and other animals for food exacerbates the climate catastrophe. With the Earth in crisis, the last thing we should do is encourage people to eat more animal flesh. That’s as counterproductive as advertising liquor at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

For the sake of our planet and our health — and the animals who suffer immensely when raised and killed for food — U.S. cities should follow Haarlem’s lead and prohibit companies from advertising meat.

Americans don’t need ads that will prompt us to eat unhealthy, environmentally destructive and inhumanely produced foods. We need ads that will prompt us to eat nutritious earth- and animal-friendly foods — vegan ones.

🍂🍂🍪🍂🍂🍂🍪🍂🍪🍂🍪🍂🍪🍂

THERE’S AN INFINTE NUMBER OF DELICIOUS VEGAN RECIPES TO TRY!

Vegan nachos!

🌽🥦🥔🍆🫑🥜🥕🥑🍠🥬🥒🥔🥦

THE HAPPY PEAR are twin brothers from Ireland who are amazing vegan chefs! Check out their cooking and baking tutorials on YouTube – and be amazed!
https://youtu.be/F84NdEYXiBs

🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂
A VEGAN BAKER’S CHEAT SHEET ❤️:

💙💙💙💙💙

Animal Issues

Go, Jim, go!💙💙🎻🌺 … and … O Canada!🍀🌸🌹🌷💐

July 31, 2017 admin

Congressman Jim McGovern

Bipartisan Group of Lawmakers Increase Veterans Service Dog Program Funding By $2 Million

editor’s note: I’ve made some sentences bold. – R.T.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved last week a bipartisan measure from Reps. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Martha McSally (R-AZ) to increase funding for the Wounded Warrior Service Dog Program by $2 million.

The measure was passed as part of the FY 2018 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill and was also led by Reps. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Walter Jones (R-NC), and Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ).

“With so many veterans returning from war bearing both physical and emotional scars, we must do all we can to provide treatment that works. The Wounded Warrior Service Dog program has helped countless veterans and military families. Providing grant opportunities for groups professionally engaged in this field is critical to ensuring that our military and veterans receive the care they deserve,” Rep. McGovern said. “I am proud to join with Republicans and Democrats on this bipartisan measure to increase funding for this program and continue to support our veterans as they come home from serving our country.”

“Those who know and love animals like I do understand that they have a unique ability to bring service and healing to our wounded warriors,” Rep. McSally said. “Therapeutic service dog training program is an important program, and by increasing funding more service dogs will be placed with veterans. I was pleased to support this amendment.”

“For many service members suffering from PTSD and TBI, training service dogs to help other service members and veterans can be an effective, non-pharmaceutical therapy that gives comfort and purpose,” said Rep. Shea-Porter. “I am happy our bipartisan work has secured $2 million to expand this and other programs, which are having a positive impact on so many lives.”

“Our men and women in uniform deserve the best care when they return home from service,” said Rep. Jones. “By individually training service dogs for the physical or emotional needs of an individual veteran, the Wounded Warrior Service Dog Program has helped countless service members and military families with their transition and healing process – I could not think of a better program to support. Thank you to all of my colleagues for backing this exceptional program that helps our nation’s heroes.”

“Service dogs have a proven therapeutic role in helping wounded warriors heal. As a representative of military communities in South Jersey and proud dog owner, I applaud this bipartisan effort to fund a program that provides our heroes access to the care they deserve and the treatments they need,” Rep. LoBiondo said.

Administered by the Department of Defense, the Wounded Warrior Service Dog Grant Program supports non-profit organizations whose mission is to address physical and mental health needs of service members and veterans with assistance from service dogs. This program was funded at $1 million in Fiscal Year 2015, $5 million in Fiscal Year 2016, and $5 million in Fiscal Year 2017. With the passage of this amendment, the House bill aims to fund this program at $7 million for Fiscal Year 2018.

Many of our service members and veterans return home from the battlefield suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), blindness or impaired vision, the loss of a limb, paralysis, impaired mobility, loss of hearing, and other mental and physical disabilities. Sadly, too many also struggle with suicidal thoughts and the inability to reintegrate into the social framework of their families and communities. Working with a trained service dog is a promising form of therapy and assistance for these veterans and service members, one that has already been proven to help civilians who confront similar mental and physical disabilities.

Through a highly technical regimen that can take up to two years, non-profit organizations customize the training of each dog to assist its future owner. Depending on the owner’s needs, these dogs can be trained to retrieve medicine from a refrigerator, turn the lights on and scan an empty house before the owner enters, guard an owner’s back in a public setting, and even wake an owner up from a nightmare.

In its three years of existence, the Wounded Warrior Service Dog Program has allowed non-profit organizations to train and pair over 250 highly sophisticated service dogs with veterans in need. The additional $2 million would help place an additional 45 to 60 service dogs with veterans industry wide.

🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶🐶

Make America great: follow Canada’s recommendations!

By Heather Moore

Know what would really make America great? If we followed in Canada’s footsteps and revised our national food guidelines to favor plant-based over animal-based protein.

Our neighbor to the north’s new dietary recommendations, which will likely be issued by Health Canada next year, are expected to specify plant-based foods as the preferred source of protein and to call for the regular consumption of fruit, vegetables, whole grains and other vegan foods.

At least one news outlet has speculated that — because Canada is so culturally diverse, much like the U.S., and because many ethnic groups can’t digest cow’s milk — dairy products won’t be included in the new recommendations at all.

While it remains to be seen if the Canadian government will officially urge citizens to eat beans not beef, many media outlets have already reported on one anticipated — and sensible — guideline: Don’t eat foods that contain mostly saturated fat (i.e., meat, eggs and dairy products) and opt instead for healthy plant-based foods, which also tend to be more environmentally friendly.

That’s sound, science-based advice — not industry-pandering. Canada is one of the world’s largest beef producers, and ranchers and feedlot operators likely didn’t break into a chorus of “O Canada” when they heard that government officials were planning to promote plant-based foods. But it’s the right thing to do, and hopefully Health Canada will hold firm to its mission.

I also hope the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee will implement strong guidelines favoring plant-based foods. America’s fruited plains and amber waves of grain are overrun with animal factories and slaughterhouses, and we’ll all be healthier if we stop eating animal-based foods.

We know this. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in Chicago — the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals — has pointed out that people who eat mostly plant-based foods are less likely to suffer from obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer.

A 2016 position statement by the academy revealed that people can reduce their risk of developing diabetes by 62 percent, suffering from heart disease by 29 percent and succumbing to any form of cancer by 18 percent just by going vegan. Vegan men reduce their likelihood of developing prostate cancer by 35 percent.

The U.S. advisory committee has acknowledged that a diet high in plant-based foods is “more health promoting and is associated with lesser environmental impact.”

But meat industry groups spent hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting to keep “eat less meat” from appearing in the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans — that’s why they allow fatty, cholesterol-laden animal-based foods.

Other countries have already taken steps to promote more nutritious, vegan foods. Last year, for example, the Netherlands began advising people to eat a lot less meat — no more than two servings per week — and to replace it with plant foods. The United Kingdom also encourages residents to cut back on animal protein. Brazil puts an emphasis on native plants and minimally processed foods.

The U.S. will have to consider similar guidelines as public-health problems — and Americans’ waistlines — continue to expand. Let’s all avoid the “red tape” and opt for vegan foods well before our dietary guidelines are scheduled to be revised.

Doing so will help local farmers who grow flavorful, health-promoting fruits and vegetables — like red delicious apples, sweet white corn and juicy blueberries. It will also support innovative vegan businesses, such as Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods and Memphis Meats, three California companies that have made headlines for producing mouthwatering plant-based meats. Most of all, it will benefit our health, the environment and animals — and that will help make America a truly great nation.

🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱

TRADER JOE’S GROCERY STORE ON ROUTE 9 IN SHREWSBURY – just over the bridge – is a GREAT PLACE TO BEGIN YOUR VEGGIE ADVENTURES! Organic fruits and vegetables, nondairy icecream and yogurt that is SO TASTY💙, frozen dinners, sauces, mock meats, spices, cakes, cookies … ALL SO INEXPENSIVE and yummy! Love shopping here! – Rose T.

Trader Joe crackers – $1.39 – a staple at Rose’s shack. Center: Vintage thermos David C. gave Rose. She’s made a centerpiece of it so Davey is always hanging out in her kitchen☕☕! pics: R.T.

You can order these cute undies at PETA.ORG!😉

Animal Issues

Obesity shouldn’t be the new normal!🍔🍗🍦!

July 10, 2017 admin

Rose today! She lost 30+ pounds by cutting ALL meat out of her diet – go vegetarian! – and working hard for her biz and around her apartment! Get moving!!😄 pic: R.T.

By Heather Moore

Population growth has taken on a whole new meaning: A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that nearly a third of the world’s population is overweight and that about 10 percent is obese. A global group of researchers crunched the numbers and found that obesity contributed to 4 million deaths, primarily from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney disease and cancer, in 2015 alone.

To put it another way, a recent Vox article estimates that obesity now kills more people than do terror attacks, traffic accidents and Alzheimer’s disease combined. Experts predict that it could also someday account for more cancer deaths than smoking.

That is, unless more people go vegan.

Obesity and obesity-related diseases can largely be attributed to the consumption of meat and other animal-based foods. That’s partly why the population of the U.S., where oversized burgers, chicken nuggets and cheese-laden pizzas reign supreme, has an ever-growing girth. According to the study, which spanned 195 countries, America has the most obese adults, at 79.4 million, and the highest percentage of obese children and young adults. So much for treading lightly on the planet.

Hopefully, these findings will prompt more Americans to eat healthy vegan foods. Researchers have pointed out that our eating habits are the primary problem, not our inactivity. It certainly won’t kill us to move a little more, but we really need to eat a lot less.

Obesity has become the new normal in America, and it’s causing a health-care crisis. Despite what many people want to believe, there is no such thing as “fat but fit.” Researchers at the University of Birmingham in the U.K. found that overweight people are much more likely to suffer from heart attacks or strokes—even if they’re “metabolically healthy,” meaning that their blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels are in the “safe” range.

Double chin up, though! Two new studies show that people can lose weight just by eating plant-based foods. One study of diabetic patients, conducted by researchers with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C., suggests that by eating almost exclusively vegan foods, people can lose twice as much weight as those who follow the typical low-calorie diets recommended for diabetics.

After six months, participants who ate almost all vegan foods had also boosted their metabolism and reduced the amount of fat around their muscles, which is significant for those with diabetes.

Another study, carried out by researchers at Spain’s University of Navarra, found that people who eat plant-based foods can almost halve their risk of becoming obese compared with those who eat animal-derived foods.

The study participants — 16,000 healthy adults, who were tracked for an average of 10 years — completed food questionnaires and were scored on the types of food that they ate. Points were awarded to those who ate vegetables, fruits, grains and other plant-based foods and subtracted from those who ate meat, dairy, eggs and other animal-derived foods. Participants who ate the most plant-based foods were the least likely to become obese.

The results of these studies aren’t exactly surprising. Vegan foods tend to be low in fat and calories and high in fiber and complex carbohydrates, which help boost metabolism, so you can burn more calories, making it easier both to shed pounds and to maintain a healthy weight.

So if your heft is weighing heavily on your mind, try this tasty, simple solution: Go vegan!