What means little to you could mean the world to someone else
So many people believe that the treatment of animals in factory farms is unethical but demanding those products and supporting the factory farms and eating the animals is ethical. I don’t understand how supporting something you believe is unethical can be ethical. So I ask: How is this ethical? One common answer I got was this:
“Because if I stopped eating meat, which would take significant effort because I love my meat, I’m not convinced it would make a difference. Slaughterhouses would still exist and animals would still be treated in those ways. There are billions of meat-eaters in the world supporting the factory farming industry, and I don’t believe one person giving up meat will make any difference in the grand scheme of things.”
This belief in the powerlessness of individual actions is terribly daunting. It is this very frame of mind that will stunt change and progress in our society by excusing people from acting according to their ethical beliefs. I couldn’t find a good way to explain how one person’s actions can make a surprisingly significant impact (especially by becoming a vegetarian or vegan, considering the average American consumes 99 animals a year, and the meat industry loses money on producing excess meat so they aim to produce the minimum amount to meet the demand). But I found it. I just came across a story that demonstrates the impact small actions can have…impact that is too often overlooked. The story goes like this:
One day a man was taking a sunrise walk along a beach. In the distance he caught sight of a young woman who seemed to be dancing along the waves. As he got closer he saw that the young woman was actually not dancing, but picking up starfish from the sand and tossing them gently back into the ocean.
“What are you doing?” the man asked.
“The sun is coming up and the tide is going out; if I don’t throw them in they’ll die.”
“But young woman, there are miles and miles of beach with starfish all along it–you can’t possibly make a difference.”
The young woman bent down, picked up another starfish, and placed it lovingly back into the ocean, past the breaking waves.
“It made a difference for that one,” she replied.
This story describes perfectly an incredible phenomenon: as single individuals it is very hard to make a big impact on the “greater scheme of things,” but it is unbelievably easy to have an enormous impact on the life of other individuals. Now, this impact can be good or it can be bad, it can be purposeful or passive or even subconscious, it can mean almost nothing to you but the world to someone else.
(Story compliments of Animals in our Hearts )
Be the change you want to see in the world
“Be the change that you want to see in the world.”
– Mahatma Ghandi
“All beings Tremble before violence. All fear death, all love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt?
-Buddha
“I don’t have any understanding of a human being who doesn’t respect the beauty of life and that goes for all creatures that have thoughts, feelings, and needs.”
-Alecia Silverstone
“To be a vegetarian is to disagree–to disagree with the course of things today. Starvation, world hunger, cruelty, waste, wars–we must make a statement against these things. Vegetarianism is my statement. And I think it’s a strong one.”
-Isaac Bashevis Singer
“I tremble for my species when I reflect that god is just”
-Thomas Jefferson
“Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is–whether its victim is human or animal–we cannot expect things to be much better in this world… We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing we set back the progress of humanity.
-Rachel Carson
“You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
“There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is.”
-Isaac Bashevis Singer
Life can be deeply enriched by compassion, love, respect, trust, and tolerance.
Why is it that animals have embraced these concepts while man has cast them aside? Man claims dominion and prides in dominance, and that may well be. But is the slaughter of those less powerful than ourselves really the way to happiness?
Oprah Winfrey Goes Vegan!
Unbelievable. Oprah is going vegan for a 21-day cleanse! Way to GO Oprah!!
“This is definitely the biggest vegan-oriented news of the year, and quite possibly the decade.” –vegan.com “The Cattlemen and dairy folks must be crapping their knickers right about now.” -Erik Marcus
According to Oprah, so far so good! In her blog she wrote: “So this first day wasn’t hard at all. For breakfast, I had steel-cut oatmeal with fresh blueberries, strawberries, chopped walnuts and a splash of soy milk and some agave nectar. For lunch, chunky mushroom soup with wild rice and pecans. As a snack, a handful of roasted almonds. And for dinner, a baked potato drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper with a salad of shredded lettuce, cranberries, pine nuts and tiny orange slices with a vinegar and oil dressing.” Mmmm…doesn’t sound too bad to me! In fact, sounds delicious!
Move over Milk… your century in the spotlight is over. You are gross, hormone-y, and meant for baby cows! I think my point is expressed nicely here:
Did you know humans are the only species to drink milk past babyhood and moreover to drink the milk of another species? Yeah. “Weirdo’s” is a definite understatement.
Got Milk?
Got Vegan?
Veganism. It does the body good.
Kumar Never Ate Meat at White Castle
Thats right, Kumar from “Harold & Kumar go to White Castle” is a grind core vegitarian. Who woulda thunk! In fact, Kumar, whose real name is Kal Penn, said “I think fast food is disgusting. I was a vegetarian when I first shot the film, and I generally eat organic as much as possible.” What was he eating throughout the movie, you ask? Veggie burgers!
Words of widom
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase the
chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the
evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
Albert Einstein
A moment for the cows
Cows are a lot like dogs. But Calmer. With slightly softer eyes. This is one of the lucky ones saved from factory farms and from slaughter. She’s a sweetheart…she’ll come up to you and sniff inquisitively, of if she trusts you she will nuzzle her nose into you. If only they were all this lucky…
Humane Society investigations have revealed the brutal mistreatment of these gentle animals time and again. Please take a moment to watch what these animals endure day after day until being slaughtered for our food.
More horrific cruelty uncovered
Mercy for Animals just uncovered a horrific video documenting extreme abuse, neglect, and suffering at a California egg farm– the largest egg distributor in the Western US. The video was recorded with a hidden camera on an undercover investigation earlier in 2008, and is just one of many undercover accounts of cruelty going on at factory farms that have been surfacing across the country. More info in the LA Times article.
Attention Carnivores & Vegetarians! Abuse in the egg and milk industry is something worth your consideration. I have been a vegetarian for 10 years, but little did I know, I was still supporting some of the worst abuse in the industry. I have recently become aware that the production of eggs & milk causes as much (and in many cases more) suffering than the production of meat itself. This awareness nauseates me, because I have been have been supporting and paying this industry my whole life, even as a vegetarian.
It’s time for a change. It’s time for a change in meat production operations, but considering that can’t happen quickly enough, it’s time for a personal change–one that I have complete control over and one that can be immediate–it’s time for me to change my consumption habits and to embrace a vegan lifestyle. It is my time to stop eating the products that have been made from or pumped ouf of animals that never had a chance to enjoy a moment without suffering or a moment of freedom.
Want to help without changing your diet? Certainly possible! Erik Marcus (vegan.com) is fronting an effort to require surveillance cameras in slaughterhouses (SlaughterCam’s). This would be an easy, inexpensive, and reliable way to insure accountability in slaughterhouses. Support this effort by signing the petition and join the Facebook group!
Mmmm. . . dinner anyone?
Bluch! And here are yet another three reasons why I don’t eat food that had a face:
Seriously, people. Those do NOT look delicious… no matter how long you cook them.
For all you boys
Prince Fielder, first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers, is a vegetarian! Following the footsteps of Kansas City Chiefs Tony Gonzalez who became vegan last year, Fielder is embracing a compassionate lifestyle after being exposed to the horrific mistreatment of farm animals. Fielder is putting up with rediculous levels of sass, but it certainly isn’t hurting his game, as he smoked two home runs pitched by “one of baseballs best young left-handers,” Cole Hamels of the Philidelphia Phillies. Check out the NY Times article here!
A Search for Compassion 
