When I was six years old, at a summer fair with my mother, I came across a table on animal rights, with photos (maybe a video playing too?) of how animals are treated and killed in slaughterhouses. I don't remember this myself, or at least I don't think I do. It feels like one of these phantom memories, lodged in your head from hearing a story so many times, you can *almost* remember it yourself... And apparently, I instantly decided I would stop eating meat. And I gave almost all meat up instantly. "Almost all" because, well, I was six, so hotdogs and McDonald's chicken mcnuggets were hard for me to give up. However, even the allure of those wore off, and by age eight I was completely vegetarian.
As you can tell, it was originally for ethical reasons. As I got older, I went through various reasons (health, ethical, environment, meat just didn't appeal to me), but whatever the reason I gave when I was asked why I was vegetarian, I have been since age eight.
I got used to all the stupid questions and comments pretty quickly, and just learned to smile vaguely and ignore anything I found insulting.
Recently though, there's been lots of talk I've seen online among more radical people: very anti-vegetarian stuff coming from anti-civ anarchists, that I honestly find slightly hurtful. I think it stems from Lierre Keith, author of The Vegetarian Myth, doing lots of talks recently, bringing up a lot of very interesting things to think about, but also making a lot of people very angry and defensive (even to the extent of harassing and harming her). But, here's the thing: I want to read her book!! I've listened to parts of her talks with interest. I want to learn more. Yet, I'm vegetarian. And I don't plan to stop being vegetarian anytime soon. The anger directed at ALL vegetarians is completely misplaced, as far as I'm concerned. Attack the vegetarians and vegans who have actually been assholes, not ALL vegetarians and vegans!
This goes against something I find very important, and try very hard to do myself, and that is to attack the ideas/beliefs/institutions, not the people. Or if I really do feel a need to condemn individuals, I make sure it's the specific individuals who I feel have done wrong, not others who simply share some of the same beliefs and ideals.
But getting back to the topic of my vegetarianism. If I believe as other anti-civers do, that agriculture (the destruction of all life on a piece of land to plant monocrops) is harmful and unsustainable, why do I have the diet I do? Well, it's been something I've been thinking about a lot lately, and I think I've come up with the basics of it. Firstly, it's both habit at this point, and something I feel good with. I don't feel a lack because I'm not eating meat. When I'm eating healthy vegetarian food I feel healthy! Secondly, if I was ever to eat meat, it would only be meat from animals I knew had been treated well and killed with respect. That's both expensive and often hard to find, unless you hunt yourself. Which brings me to another reason I don't eat meat: I have this feeling that whatever I eat should be something that I myself would be willing to harvest or kill. Pulling up a carrot is just as surely killing as shooting a deer, and I recognize that fact where I think too many others don't. But I can bring myself to kill a carrot where I can't bring myself to kill a deer, so I eat carrots where I don't eat venison. I wouldn't kill a chicken, so I don't eat chicken. My feelings may change at some point, but that's where things are right now.
I try to eat as much organic, locally grown produce as possible, both for health and sustainability reasons (really, the two are the same things! Unsustainable practices means unhealthy or dead humans.), and this year I want to grow more veggies myself. I'm also experimenting with my diet this summer, seeing how I feel cutting out virtually all grains and processed foods from my diet. But for now, meat is not going to be a part of my diet, and I'd really appreciate it if I wasn't made to feel bad about that fact!
Peace,
Idzie
P.S. I want to make sure, because I'm not sure how what I said about others views on eating meat came across, that all the anti-civers I've ever met (online and in real life) are strongly against factory farming and animal abuse. Most just see eating meat, that's either hunted or raised kindly, as part of a sustainable diet.
Showing posts with label vegetarianism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegetarianism. Show all posts
Friday, April 2, 2010
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Montreal
I love downtown Montreal so damn much, especially in the Summer.
I went downtown yesterday with my mom, Emi, Ty, and Nick (Ty is here visiting again). The Fringe festival is going on right now, so there was plenty of activity. As I think of what to write, the sensory impressions are what come to mind first. The smell of cigarettes, weed, and good food. The sound of cars, music, laughter and voices. The sight of a numerous amount of people. Dyed bright hair, dreadlocks, bright summer dresses, studded everything, cool piercings...
We headed down in the afternoon, and as we walked along the streets, the first thing I noticed were the colours. The bright purple of someones railings; street art splashed on multiple walls, bright colours, faces, abstract scenes. I can't understand why some people don't see the value in such art. To me it's a beautiful art form, and the artists who create it are no less talented than their more traditional counterparts!
We passed a small garage sale on our way, and I bought another pin for my purse. I'll have to post a picture of my small but ever growing pin collection sometime soon.
In the square where the folk music was being played, we hung around briefly. Cigarette smoke hung in the air, and the twang of bluegrass folk sang in my ears. Since it wasn't really our type of music, we left my mom there to listen while the rest of us threaded our way through the band booths, poster plastered temporary walls, and eclectically dressed people. Some sounds we did like were the Fringe fest Cabaret, a motley group of people who wandered through the streets in pirate/gypsy-esque costumes, playing plaintive gypsy tunes. We passed them several times, and always enjoyed their music (and the juggler, in Ty's case). There isn't any feeling quite like wandering down the street with friends, the sun beating down and warming my back, watching the people that pass, taking in the sights, sounds, smells...
When we headed back to meet my mom a little while later, we were all slightly hungry, so after applying a few temporary tattoos supplied by one of the shows, we started on the twenty minute walk that would bring us to a cafe that was selling vegan food by donation. It was a lovely little fair trade, vegetarian cafe, with friendly people. We happily consumed millet pie, ginger cake, and spiked fruit juice with much happiness, at least on my part!
Afterwards, we wandered around for a while, Ty bought a new hand drum, and we headed home, sweaty, tired, and sore-footed. The day ended on a worse note than it had started on, but overall, it was still a good day.
Next Saturday, we're going downtown to see the fireworks (every year Montreal hosts an international fireworks competition, so the shows are truly spectacular), and we'll be there again at least once more this week for an outdoor concert.
I love this city. I really do. And I love long Summer days wandering it's streets, taking in everything, and just enjoying the vibrancy that is all around me. I'm biased, of course, but I truly believe that I live near one of the greatest cities there is!
Peace,
Idzie
I went downtown yesterday with my mom, Emi, Ty, and Nick (Ty is here visiting again). The Fringe festival is going on right now, so there was plenty of activity. As I think of what to write, the sensory impressions are what come to mind first. The smell of cigarettes, weed, and good food. The sound of cars, music, laughter and voices. The sight of a numerous amount of people. Dyed bright hair, dreadlocks, bright summer dresses, studded everything, cool piercings...
We headed down in the afternoon, and as we walked along the streets, the first thing I noticed were the colours. The bright purple of someones railings; street art splashed on multiple walls, bright colours, faces, abstract scenes. I can't understand why some people don't see the value in such art. To me it's a beautiful art form, and the artists who create it are no less talented than their more traditional counterparts!
We passed a small garage sale on our way, and I bought another pin for my purse. I'll have to post a picture of my small but ever growing pin collection sometime soon.
In the square where the folk music was being played, we hung around briefly. Cigarette smoke hung in the air, and the twang of bluegrass folk sang in my ears. Since it wasn't really our type of music, we left my mom there to listen while the rest of us threaded our way through the band booths, poster plastered temporary walls, and eclectically dressed people. Some sounds we did like were the Fringe fest Cabaret, a motley group of people who wandered through the streets in pirate/gypsy-esque costumes, playing plaintive gypsy tunes. We passed them several times, and always enjoyed their music (and the juggler, in Ty's case). There isn't any feeling quite like wandering down the street with friends, the sun beating down and warming my back, watching the people that pass, taking in the sights, sounds, smells...
When we headed back to meet my mom a little while later, we were all slightly hungry, so after applying a few temporary tattoos supplied by one of the shows, we started on the twenty minute walk that would bring us to a cafe that was selling vegan food by donation. It was a lovely little fair trade, vegetarian cafe, with friendly people. We happily consumed millet pie, ginger cake, and spiked fruit juice with much happiness, at least on my part!
Afterwards, we wandered around for a while, Ty bought a new hand drum, and we headed home, sweaty, tired, and sore-footed. The day ended on a worse note than it had started on, but overall, it was still a good day.
Next Saturday, we're going downtown to see the fireworks (every year Montreal hosts an international fireworks competition, so the shows are truly spectacular), and we'll be there again at least once more this week for an outdoor concert.
I love this city. I really do. And I love long Summer days wandering it's streets, taking in everything, and just enjoying the vibrancy that is all around me. I'm biased, of course, but I truly believe that I live near one of the greatest cities there is!
Peace,
Idzie
Friday, December 12, 2008
RISE AGAINST
So, I don't even know if I've mentioned it previously on this blog, although I've certainly thought a lot about it, but about a month ago I bought tickets to a show by one of my ABSOLUTE favorite bands, and that is, of course, Rise Against. Well, last night was the concert. And it was great. I love that band soooo much. Their message, the fact that they're all vegetarians, and most importantly (of course) their music. The passion, enthusiasm, and energy I get from it is just amazing. I was really excited seeing them live, with my sister and our friends Nick and Tim, and of course we watched from the floor (this is only the second concert I've been too, and I was on the floor for both. I can't help but think you'd miss out by sitting in the stands). Traffic was AWFUL getting there, so we missed the first opening band, but the second opening act, Thursday, wasn't bad. I didn't really like the singers voice, but the music was cool. Rise Against supports PETA (I don't like PETA but I figure the band has good intentions by supporting them) so during the break before RA came on, Nick and I wandered over to their table, signed a petition requesting all meat be labeled with it's environmental impact, and got these awesome Meat's Not Green buttons. I was so shocked when Nick said he wanted to go vegetarian, his parents just won't let him! When I think of what he was like when I first met him, I can see his opinions have changed so much! We've certainly dragged him away from the mainstream (MWUAHAHA). Anyway, when Rise Against finally came on, the crowd went wild! And I was thrilled that they opened with one of my favorite songs, Drones, and played nearly all of my favorites by them. The only complaints I have, and the first one is pretty major, is that the volume ratio between voice and instruments was off. I could hardly hear his voice at times! Another thing that wasn't so great was getting shoved by a couple dozen people as they pushed through the crowd (can't you just find a spot and stick with it, dammit!) and getting stuck with an extremely drunk guy beside me, who bashed into me multiple times. Luckily, Nick was kind and took that spot, then the guy went away, most likely to find more beer. But back on topic, I'm really glad I went. Crowd enthusiasm was great. At one point Tim (lead singer) had everyone chant RISE while pumping their fists in the air (I don't remember if it was Nick or Emi who called it a communist moment, but both agreed it was really cool :-P), when the crowd was urged to sing certain bits themselves, everyone sung loud and clear, and for Hero of War, a very sad folksy anti-war song, the whole crown sung along to the entire song. It was beautiful. As always seems to happen with things, it was over too soon. When we were talking about it afterward, I was saying to Emi how the crowd seemed more enthusiastic here then for the Linkin Park concert we went to last year, and she disagreed. We finally realized that the difference was that for Linkin Park, the crowd liked the music. They got exited for certain songs, but weren't great for crowd participation. Whereas for Rise Against, the crowd loved THEM as a band, and loved their very political message.
We were supposed to get picked up by my mom at 11:00, but the concert ended a bit before 10:30, so we called to let her know then wandered off to find a warm place that served food. Sadly, the concert was at a university building, surrounded by other university building, and lots of residential streets beyond that, so finding anywhere to go took lots of walking (in what felt like at least -15c, with lots of ice on the sidewalks, and snow). We discovered that Subway closes early, much to our unhappiness, and the only open coffee shop we saw was packed. We finally bought some food from a grocery store and then headed back to the coffee shop, which had thankfully become less crowded. I should mention why my mom hadn't arrived at this point, and the reason she hadn't was traffic. How can there be awful traffic at past 11:00 at night? She finally arrived at a bit past 11:30, with hot chocolate and chai waiting in the car (I love my mom!), which made our cold selves happy. I was saying later on to Emi how awful it must be to be homeless. Spending an hour outside in the Winter, finding anyplace warm we can to stay, getting suspicious look when we try and hang out in the warm grocery store... Can you imagine knowing that no one was coming to get you?? O_o Emi and I both agreed it made us want to donate large amounts of money to homeless shelters.
I think I've rambled on enough now. Since no camera's were allowed at the concert, I'll leave you with these photo's taken off of Rise Against's website.
Peace,
Idzie
We were supposed to get picked up by my mom at 11:00, but the concert ended a bit before 10:30, so we called to let her know then wandered off to find a warm place that served food. Sadly, the concert was at a university building, surrounded by other university building, and lots of residential streets beyond that, so finding anywhere to go took lots of walking (in what felt like at least -15c, with lots of ice on the sidewalks, and snow). We discovered that Subway closes early, much to our unhappiness, and the only open coffee shop we saw was packed. We finally bought some food from a grocery store and then headed back to the coffee shop, which had thankfully become less crowded. I should mention why my mom hadn't arrived at this point, and the reason she hadn't was traffic. How can there be awful traffic at past 11:00 at night? She finally arrived at a bit past 11:30, with hot chocolate and chai waiting in the car (I love my mom!), which made our cold selves happy. I was saying later on to Emi how awful it must be to be homeless. Spending an hour outside in the Winter, finding anyplace warm we can to stay, getting suspicious look when we try and hang out in the warm grocery store... Can you imagine knowing that no one was coming to get you?? O_o Emi and I both agreed it made us want to donate large amounts of money to homeless shelters.
I think I've rambled on enough now. Since no camera's were allowed at the concert, I'll leave you with these photo's taken off of Rise Against's website.
Peace,
Idzie
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Several things of note...
The poll that has been open for what feels like forever has now ended! The results are as follows:
Erm, actually, I voted twice by accident (I figured it was OK to vote once, because really, I proofread my blog so that counts as being a reader of this blog, right?). It glitched and said I hadn't voted but after I voted again I was like 'wait a minute...?' Anyway, moving on.
In blogger buzz they talked about the iLike gadget, and since I already have it on Facebook and like it, I decided I'd add a playlist to my blog as well! So you can now listen to clips of my favorite songs if you so wish. :-)
Something else I should probably make my readers aware of is that I'm no longer vegan. I had a war with myself, trying to decide if I should wait out the entire month as I'd originally planned, or go back to being vegetarian after only two weeks since I'd decided I didn't want to stay vegan. Finally, the lure of cheese made up my mind! So I'm now back to being vegetarian, but I'm no longer drinking straight milk (even after adding a tiny bit of milk to my water and hot chocolate powder I felt sick), and no longer eating eggs. I am eating baked goods tht contain milk and/or eggs, and I'm also (as I may have mentioned earlier) eating CHEESE! I love cheese. :-)
I'm now off to a friends house. I don't think I've posted pictures in a while, so I'll try and get that done soon...
Peace,
Idzie
Vegetarian | 11 (33%) |
Vegan | 5 (15%) |
Small amount of meat | 8 (24%) |
Meat lover | 9 (27%) |
Erm, actually, I voted twice by accident (I figured it was OK to vote once, because really, I proofread my blog so that counts as being a reader of this blog, right?). It glitched and said I hadn't voted but after I voted again I was like 'wait a minute...?' Anyway, moving on.
In blogger buzz they talked about the iLike gadget, and since I already have it on Facebook and like it, I decided I'd add a playlist to my blog as well! So you can now listen to clips of my favorite songs if you so wish. :-)
Something else I should probably make my readers aware of is that I'm no longer vegan. I had a war with myself, trying to decide if I should wait out the entire month as I'd originally planned, or go back to being vegetarian after only two weeks since I'd decided I didn't want to stay vegan. Finally, the lure of cheese made up my mind! So I'm now back to being vegetarian, but I'm no longer drinking straight milk (even after adding a tiny bit of milk to my water and hot chocolate powder I felt sick), and no longer eating eggs. I am eating baked goods tht contain milk and/or eggs, and I'm also (as I may have mentioned earlier) eating CHEESE! I love cheese. :-)
I'm now off to a friends house. I don't think I've posted pictures in a while, so I'll try and get that done soon...
Peace,
Idzie
Monday, November 24, 2008
Slight changes...
Not much is going on really. I added links to my other blogs in the sidebar of this blog, and it took me far more effort than it should have. Being the silly that I am, I didn't realize I could add links by simply adding a 'Links List' gadget, so instead had Emy spend half an hour trying to figure out the XML using her limited knowledge of HTML that she hasn't used in years. I think she was ready to smack me when I discovered the links gadget. I also changed the template for my trash blog, to one I found on a blog template site recommended to me by Sheila , which is really cool. I'm also still really looking forward to using my new camera (see below post)!
Something I've been thinking a lot about lately is how people treat their pets, and how I specifically treat the animals I share my house with. And I'm not really happy with how I treat them. I'm trying to be more respectful, to keep my temper even when Winston (80 pound Airedale terrier) won't stop headbutting me in the back of the knees, or Flora (bouncy little Fox terrier) won't stop yapping. That's a hard thing to do. But I think I'm making headway! Winston especially is really stubborn, and when you yell at him, it doesn't always even work. It seems if I ask him nicely to do something, he actually does it a bit faster! And I've been trying to be more respectful with the cats too. Instead of randomly cuddling them without seeing if they want to be cuddled first, I've been sitting or lying next to them and just talking. If they want cuddles, they get up and move closer. I think we're both happier that way.
And now for a vegan update. I went vegan a couple of weeks ago, and at this point I'm finding it harder than expected. The big stuff isn't bad. It's not really hard to avoid straight milk, cheese, and eggs, but I never realized how many things have dairy or eggs in them!! Baked goods, candy, pasta sauces, other sauces, chips, crackers... And the list goes on! I ate a piece of toffee today that had butter in it, even though I knew it had butter in it, and now I'm feeling guilty that I'm not feeling guilty. Arrrg! I think that when this month is up, I'm going back to vegetarian. However, I am glad that I'm doing this. It's really made me think about what I eat in a new way, and I don't think I'm going to be consuming nearly as many animal products as I was. Milk on cereal is something I'm not doing anymore (hey, good soymilk tastes the same anyway), ice cream always makes me feel sick unless it's good stuff like Ben & Jerry's so I'm cutting that out (yes, even though it made me feel sick I'd still eat it sometimes), eggs dito, and olive oil tastes better than butter anyway. So all I'll really be going back to eating are all the things I'm currently avoiding that have just a tiny bit of dairy or eggs in them, or baked goods.
And now I'm off to make supper... I haven't really been cooking much, so I think I should tonight. I'm going to use the canned base of a roasted garlic and red pepper sauce, then add sauteed onions, black and green olives, and baked spinach and jalapeno tofu pieces. And I'll serve that over twirly pasta of some sort... I think I should find out if I'm cooking for just me or everyone now.
Peace
Idzie
Something I've been thinking a lot about lately is how people treat their pets, and how I specifically treat the animals I share my house with. And I'm not really happy with how I treat them. I'm trying to be more respectful, to keep my temper even when Winston (80 pound Airedale terrier) won't stop headbutting me in the back of the knees, or Flora (bouncy little Fox terrier) won't stop yapping. That's a hard thing to do. But I think I'm making headway! Winston especially is really stubborn, and when you yell at him, it doesn't always even work. It seems if I ask him nicely to do something, he actually does it a bit faster! And I've been trying to be more respectful with the cats too. Instead of randomly cuddling them without seeing if they want to be cuddled first, I've been sitting or lying next to them and just talking. If they want cuddles, they get up and move closer. I think we're both happier that way.
And now for a vegan update. I went vegan a couple of weeks ago, and at this point I'm finding it harder than expected. The big stuff isn't bad. It's not really hard to avoid straight milk, cheese, and eggs, but I never realized how many things have dairy or eggs in them!! Baked goods, candy, pasta sauces, other sauces, chips, crackers... And the list goes on! I ate a piece of toffee today that had butter in it, even though I knew it had butter in it, and now I'm feeling guilty that I'm not feeling guilty. Arrrg! I think that when this month is up, I'm going back to vegetarian. However, I am glad that I'm doing this. It's really made me think about what I eat in a new way, and I don't think I'm going to be consuming nearly as many animal products as I was. Milk on cereal is something I'm not doing anymore (hey, good soymilk tastes the same anyway), ice cream always makes me feel sick unless it's good stuff like Ben & Jerry's so I'm cutting that out (yes, even though it made me feel sick I'd still eat it sometimes), eggs dito, and olive oil tastes better than butter anyway. So all I'll really be going back to eating are all the things I'm currently avoiding that have just a tiny bit of dairy or eggs in them, or baked goods.
And now I'm off to make supper... I haven't really been cooking much, so I think I should tonight. I'm going to use the canned base of a roasted garlic and red pepper sauce, then add sauteed onions, black and green olives, and baked spinach and jalapeno tofu pieces. And I'll serve that over twirly pasta of some sort... I think I should find out if I'm cooking for just me or everyone now.
Peace
Idzie
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Vegan. For a month, at least...
I've been thinking for a while now about becoming vegan... I've been vegetarian for nearly ten years now. When I was six (so my mother tells me), we were at some type of street fair, and one of the tables was a setup on animal cruelty. Apparently my six-year-old self was so moved by compassion for what I saw that I declared I would no longer eat meat. Being the wonderful unschooling mom that she is, my mother supported me entirely in that. I didn't stop eating chicken fingers and hot dogs until I was eight, as those were my favorite types of meat, but from eight on, I haven't eaten any meat whatsoever. Because of my vegetarian diet, I learned a lot about nutrition at an early age. We as a family have never been much into following the Canadian Food Guide, seeing as the dairy industry (among other industries I'm sure) actually puts pressure on the government to say you need more dairy then you really do (I mean think about it, cow milk is made for extremely fast growing calves, not fully grown or slowly growing humans. Plus, you know how you always hear about dairy being an excellent source of calcium? Well, the type of calcium found in dairy is very hard for your body to absorb. Other sources are much better.), but thanks to my mom I had the three important groups of foods I should always eat firmly in my head: Grains, vegetables, and protein. As long as I had those three categories at virtually every meal, I was good. Grains and vegetables are pretty self explanatory, and as for protein that could mean cheese, tofu, legumes (lentils, chickpeas etc.), or fake meat substitutes that were based on soybeans. As I got older, I got more sophisticated in my knowledge of dietary requirements, finding out which essential nutrients are found in which foods, which supplements I should probably take since I didn't get adequate amounts from my diet, and other such things. I hardly think about my diet anymore, since it's become such a habit. Still, for every single meal, I notice whether or not I've included the three major food groups of grains, vegetables, and protein!
Anyway, that went way off topic in the story of how I became vegetarian, bt back to the vegan thing. I went through a stage where I decided it "wasen't cool" to be vegetarian because of animal rights (yes, I'm embarassed about that stage. What can I say, it's past now), so said it was just health reasons and habit, which was parcially true. But the only way I could "not care" about animal rights was to deliberately not find out about the awful things that animals go through to become food for us humans. Now that period of time is behind me, and I'm proud to say I care very much about animal rights. I wouldn't want to be kept in a tiny cage that I couldn't even turn around in, neglected and tortured, and then killed so someone could eat me, so why the hell would I put another living creature through that? And in the last few months, I've been thinking about the rough time other animals go through to produce other animal products like dairy and eggs. I don't think I want to put animals through that either. I've thought of trying to go free range only, but cows, even when free range, are awful on the environment, and it's nearly impossible to find eggs from chickens that are kept organic and free range! I think perhaps the huge chicken industry in Quebec makes sure no small competitors can survive... So I decided to make a commitment to myself: To be completely vegan for one month. At that time, I can see what I've really missed, if I think I'm missing anything important in my diet, or other important considerations. Overall, vegetarians have a much lower rate of heart disease than meat eaters, and vegans have a much lower rate of heart disease than vegetarians! Veganisn is quite healthy, as long as you pay attention to what you're eating, and there's only one vitamin/nutrient you miss as a vegan so need to take a supplement for (I can't remember what it is... Which means I should take out a book on veganism from the library next time I'm there). So wish me luck with my vegan month. And I hope I don't miss pizza too much!
Here are some photo's I took of our cats yesterday. Minni ("officially" my cat) is the brown one and Henry is the black and white one, and both of them are marvelous, loving, and beautiful creatures.
Peace,
Idzie
Anyway, that went way off topic in the story of how I became vegetarian, bt back to the vegan thing. I went through a stage where I decided it "wasen't cool" to be vegetarian because of animal rights (yes, I'm embarassed about that stage. What can I say, it's past now), so said it was just health reasons and habit, which was parcially true. But the only way I could "not care" about animal rights was to deliberately not find out about the awful things that animals go through to become food for us humans. Now that period of time is behind me, and I'm proud to say I care very much about animal rights. I wouldn't want to be kept in a tiny cage that I couldn't even turn around in, neglected and tortured, and then killed so someone could eat me, so why the hell would I put another living creature through that? And in the last few months, I've been thinking about the rough time other animals go through to produce other animal products like dairy and eggs. I don't think I want to put animals through that either. I've thought of trying to go free range only, but cows, even when free range, are awful on the environment, and it's nearly impossible to find eggs from chickens that are kept organic and free range! I think perhaps the huge chicken industry in Quebec makes sure no small competitors can survive... So I decided to make a commitment to myself: To be completely vegan for one month. At that time, I can see what I've really missed, if I think I'm missing anything important in my diet, or other important considerations. Overall, vegetarians have a much lower rate of heart disease than meat eaters, and vegans have a much lower rate of heart disease than vegetarians! Veganisn is quite healthy, as long as you pay attention to what you're eating, and there's only one vitamin/nutrient you miss as a vegan so need to take a supplement for (I can't remember what it is... Which means I should take out a book on veganism from the library next time I'm there). So wish me luck with my vegan month. And I hope I don't miss pizza too much!
Here are some photo's I took of our cats yesterday. Minni ("officially" my cat) is the brown one and Henry is the black and white one, and both of them are marvelous, loving, and beautiful creatures.
Peace,
Idzie
Monday, July 7, 2008
Fun with 'environmental studies'
My mother brought home a very interesting magazine today. On finding Veg News at the health food store, she was sure I would enjoy it! And I have. I've been a vegetarian for nine years and counting, having decided I would no longer eat meat at age six (except for hot dogs and chicken nuggets), and having been completely vegetarian since age eight. With magazine in hand, I sat outside in the sunlight reading about animal cruelty, health problems associated with the consumption of meat, and most worrying of all the environmental impact of the meat and dairy industry. The animal-agriculture industry puts out more green house gas emissions than ALL of the cars, trucks, trains and airplanes in the ENTIRE world. That's a ridiculous price to pay for a burger. All was not so heavy reading, however. I also enjoyed the section on vegetarian musicians, listing people from many obscure bands, but also quite a few more well known ones (Death Cab For Cutie, Black Sabbath, Fall Out Boy). I now have lots of cool sounding bands to look up. Yay! Along with just reading Veg Times, I also had an extensive conversation with my mom on the environment and how we can help to protect it, the deplorable animal cruelty that is a regular part of our mass production food system, activism, and how people who are activists or concerned with one of these problems, are usually also concerned with helping society as a whole. Being strong proponents of social freedom and global responsibility as well as working for animal rights etc. I'm going to try very hard to lead a responsible life in every way, and not to add any more nasty stuff to our world if I can possibly avoid it. The more I learn, the more I'm convinced that everyone must change their lifestyles considerably if we wish to survive as a species. On that note, I decided recently that I want to get involved in some form of activism, to try and help change things for the better.
After reading for a while, I happened to step into the backyard, just to find that things had gotten beautifully wild since I last explored it! Here are a few pictures I took that show just how much of a jungle it is back there...
The jungle between my shed and house.
I have no clue what this plant is, but it sure did grow tall!
The plants are taking over the compost bin!
After photography and supper, I walked down to the dock with some local friends, hung around at one of their houses for a bit, then headed home. I think I'll make tomorrow more interesting...
Listening to today: I Kissed A Girl by Katy Perry, Land Of Confusion cover by Disturbed
Reading: Veg Times August 2008 issue
After reading for a while, I happened to step into the backyard, just to find that things had gotten beautifully wild since I last explored it! Here are a few pictures I took that show just how much of a jungle it is back there...
The jungle between my shed and house.
I have no clue what this plant is, but it sure did grow tall!
A field of mint...
Our gorgeous grape vine.
The plants are taking over the compost bin!
After photography and supper, I walked down to the dock with some local friends, hung around at one of their houses for a bit, then headed home. I think I'll make tomorrow more interesting...
Listening to today: I Kissed A Girl by Katy Perry, Land Of Confusion cover by Disturbed
Reading: Veg Times August 2008 issue
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