Now is here
August 17, 2009
The passing of time… Its astonishing when you think about it. It doesn’t feel real, and yet its quite possibly one of the most reliable things in the universe. Its one of those things scientists never found much need to “prove.” Yesterday was yesterday, now is now, tomorrow is tomorrow, and the moment you read the word “tomorrow” has already passed.
It hurts like hell sometimes, but sometimes its the most liberating feeling. Because even though time isn’t something you can grab onto and claim, its all yours to do whatever you want with. So often we get caught up in the game of life, racing against the clock, and ourselves… one can only wonder if there is a way to escape it. No, I’m talking about time travel… though I’m not ruling it out as a possibility. But there is a practice that many of the wisest souls on earth have come to understand: mindfulness. By living life in each and every moment as it passes, instead of trying to make it to the next before its time, we can go from hopelessly trying to outrun time. Tomorrow is still imminent, but it begins to look a lost less dreary when you realize you have your whole life of today to live before that time gets here, and then when it does, every moment is still yours to do as you choose.
That is free will. That is freedom, and its terrifying. But then again, all the great things in life are.
k·a·l
Nonsynonymous
November 2, 2008
Pro-life means more than just anti-abortion. I don’t know how they came to be known as one in the same, but they are synonymous. Anti-abortion is just that: the opinion that abortion should be abolished. Pro-life much more broad spectrum. When I say I am Pro-life, I’m saying that all life is precious. It encompasses more than fetuses. Its about young men and women in combat, its about animals in slaughterhouses, and its about starving children in Niger.
In my opinion, the terms coined for these issues are inconclusive. Pro-choice and pro-life mean so much more than pro-abortion anti-abortion.
Words are powerful. Say what you mean, not what society wants you to think is what you mean.
k·a·l
Rediscovering Your World
November 2, 2008
If you could step into another world, and meet its inhabitants, eat its food, hear its music, breathe its air, you would return to your own world with a different respect. A wider horizon, if you will.
Or, imagine your own world as a foreign place. Treat everything you experience as fresh. Monotony makes even the most incredible things seem dull. But you can revive the human experience.
Try to humble yourself for a moment, and realize that you are only a tiny speck in the whole of your world. When you begin to understand that, and then you look up into the sky and realize that your world is only a tiny speck in the whole of the universe, you become really humble. The amount of detail in every aspect of our universe is nearly incomprehensible.
Recently I began reading a book on this subject called The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life by Thomas Moore. So far I’m enjoying it thoroughly.
k·a·l
Favorite of the Week: Musician
July 7, 2008
Beginning today I will be posting one thing that has caught my eye in the past week from. I always love stumbling upon new things, from interesting books to exotic fruit. What I really enjoy finding are new musicians and artists, so I’m kicking off the weekly highlight with a musician I just found today.
Her name is Irma, she lives in France, and her voice is heavenly. Her original songs are excellent, and most of her covers are better than the originals. I hope you’ll check her out, I’m sure glad I did: http://www.youtube.com/user/nevermind150788
k·a·l
Section V – Conclusion
Vegetarianism, or at least a major change in the food industry and the way we perceive what we eat, is not foolish – it’s a solution. It can mean healthy people, a healthy earth, happy animals, an end to world hunger, and a step towards a more peaceful planet. We are meant to be the stewards of the earth, and protect its inhabitants. For those still unable to become full-fledged vegetarians, a step in the right direction would be to at least drastically reducing the amount of meat consumed. Any meat that is produced by an animal that is drugged with chemicals, raised in an unnatural and gross habitat, or brutally slaughtered should not be available to consumers. Many Christians believe that God gave us animals for food, which is difficult to argue. But how is it holy to consume the meat produced in such a way that causes such suffering, and how many would be willing to slaughter that animal themselves, or even witness the gruesome process of mass slaughter, and then eat that meat. “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.”-Proverbs 12:10. And would God condone widespread destruction of his creation caused in order for these mass-killings to take place. Mass production is not an option – not if the human race wishes to sustain an liveable environment on this planet.
So, what can be done to transition our culture into a more suitable diet for ourselves and our planet, and what can be done to decrease the amount of destruction caused by the production of food animal products? We can create laws that enforce natural, clean living conditions for food animals to reduce suffering, as well as the amount of chemicals used to keep animals alive. We can require humane methods of slaughter, as Sweden has. We can reduce the amount of meat produced, and practice soil fertility management instead of wastefully over exerting land until it is barren. We can make a difference, and we must.
We are meant to be stewards of the earth, and protect its inhabitants. Are you doing your part?
Albert Einstein summed it up brilliantly when he said “Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
Section IV – Animal Cruelty
All of these issues are profound, but one that has always rested heavily upon the hearts of many vegetarians, even before global warming or E. Coli were discovered, was that of animal rights. Maybe if they had tears, people would care more, pay more attention. But the truth is, they do have tears – people are just too blind to see them. Recent studies show that elephants demonstrate signs of empathy, but one has to wonder, are humans losing their own grasp on empathy? Every year 15,000,000,000 land animals are brutally slaughtered for food. Ten times the amount of intentionally caught fish are killed in fishermen’s nets accidentally, including thousands of dolphins. “So what?” you might say. “Animals are lower on the food chain, less intelligent, and weaker.” Perhaps, but if that is the case, why do we not feed on the flesh of infants, mentally ill, or debilitated humans? Though animals are less intelligent, most truly underestimate the intelligence of their dinners. Leading animal behaviorists all around the globe tell us about new studies that show chickens have abilities some more advanced than those of cats, dogs, and some primates. Even pigs are smarter than most 3 year old children, and are often compared to dogs by behaviorists because they are so friendly and loyal. Most Americans mourn over lost pets, but do not think twice about sitting down to a steak dinner.
In some countries, dog meat is considered common. Most Americans recoil at the idea of eating dog, but they have no problem eating other meats because do not see those animals as individuals. How would you feel about sitting down to a nice plate of Fido?
They say that if slaughterhouses had windows, no one would eat meat.
The traveling and living conditions and slaughter process are all grotesque, but the living conditions of animals being prepared for slaughter are almost vile enough to make death seem welcome. Modern animal food farmers use growth hormones and artificial lighting, which results in chickens and other poultry that outgrow their internal structure, resulting in crippled or broken legs and necks. 95% of poultry suffer injuries before being killed, 30% suffer broken bones. Cattle on feedlots are fed unnatural diets to fatten them up as quickly as possible. These diets cause numerous problems for their digestive systems and other organs leading to a great deal of pain. Food animals are given numerous amounts of drugs to keep them alive in conditions they would not normally be able to survive. The air wreaks of ammonia and feces. Chickens raised for meat, live in filthy sheds, along with tens of thousands of other birds. Such extreme crowding quickly leads to spreading diseases.
Food animals are forced (often thrown) onto cramped transport trucks, where they will spend a great many miles in all weather conditions. Industry reports say that more than a million pigs die in transport each year, and 420,000 become crippled before they even arrive at the slaughterhouse. Many animals die of heat exhaustion in the summer and in the winter become frozen solid. Even the most docile animals go mad and attack their crate-mates, some even become cannibalistic. To prevent birds from injuring each other they are mutilated. Their beaks and toes are seared off without anaesthetic, which is equivalent to having your fingernails pulled out. Pigs’ tails are cut off, and sometimes their teeth as well, without any pain relief.
After arriving for slaughter, chickens’ legs are shackled, while other animals are stunned. Their throats are then slit, and they are immersed in scalding hot water to remove feathers and hair. Many animals are still awake when their throats are cut open (usually due to problems with stunning), and many are scalded to death in feather and hair removal tanks. Roughly 200,000 cattle per year are still conscious by the time they get to the water tanks. Some are even still conscious during the skinning process. Birds are exempt from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, so they are not stunned, and often skip the throat slitter.
For some, “being put out of their misery” does not come until after a brutal life of serving the food industry. Though the consumer is not eating “animal flesh,” the lives of those supplying them with eggs and dairy is not far from their brothers and sisters who are being slaughtered for their flesh. Commercial laying hens are crammed into battery cages with up to 3 other birds, unable to spread their wings or stand up. These battery cages are stacked on top of each other so feces and urine from the upper cages fall through to the ones on the bottom. These chickens also have their beaks cut off to prevent injury to other birds. Commercial hens are kept for two to three years (less than half their average life span), until their production begins to fall. At this point they will be sent for pet food, since their bodies are too beat up to be used for much else. Male chicks are gassed, suffocated in plastic bags, or ground alive because they are unable to lay eggs and were not bred for their meat.
Commercially farmed dairy cows live a bitter life also. Their lives are spent in muddy and manure-caked lots. Cows lactate for 10 months after they have given birth to a calf, so they are routinely artificially inseminated to keep them lactating. Cows naturally produce 10 and a half pints of milk each day for their offspring, but the intense commercial farming exhaust their systems to the point that they produce up to 10 and a half gallons per day. In a natural environment, cows can live up to 20 years, but dairy cows are slaughtered for ground beef after as little as five to seven years, as soon as their milk production begins to decrease. Their calves are taken away usually at a mere 12 hours old to be sent for veal production. Veal calves are squeezed into small, dark crates, destined to live only a few months. These crates are designed to be so tight that the calves are almost completely immobilized, to keep their flesh tender. The majority are fed a mostly liquid diet of milk-replacer, but some are forced to live on pigs blood, chocolate, and dried milk, while humans enjoy their mothers’ fresh milk. Their diet is low in nutritional value in order to keep their flesh white, so they often suffer from diseases like pneumonia and anemia. So even for those who eat dairy but do not eat meat, they contribute to the suffering and slaughter of both dairy cows and their offspring.
If a person is not part of solution, that person is part of the problem. But for those who disagree this saying, consider this: it is not as if people are simply turning a blind eye and walking away. They are taking part in the problem actively if they are eating commercially processed meat, or even dairy and eggs. Just because a person does not do the dirty work, that does not mean they are not responsible. One has to question, how can an entire society accept the travesty of our methods of food animal agriculture, simply because it is our culture? Or is the lack of awareness really that widespread? Theodor Adorno once said “Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: they’re only animals.”
Mad cow disease, ironically, was caused because cows were being fed animal by-products, such as ground up slaughterhouse waste (such as meat from sick animals that survive long enough to be slaughtered, cows blood, and poultry feathers) became infected and were packaged and sold anyways. This, as well as many other gross and unnatural practices, was what led to 188,000+ cases world-wide. This demonstrates that in the case of meat, one really is what one eats; our consumption of the ill-treated creatures led to our own suffering.
The Environment – Previous <<< | >>> Next – Conclusion
Section III – The Environment
The environment has been impacted greatly by the meat, egg, and dairy industry. In 2007 the scientists of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. published a report titled “Livestock’s Long Shadow” on the devastating environmental damage it has caused. This report shows that the greenhouse gas emission from the production of meat is far worse than that of all the vehicles (including planes and ships) on Earth combined. Scientists at the University of Chicago say that a typical American omnivore is responsible for almost 1.5 tons more carbon dioxide per year than a vegan, and that it is 50% more effective to become vegan to reduce pollution than it is it drive a hybrid car. That is because greenhouse gas emissions from driving a Hummer 40 miles is equivalent to eating just 1 pound of meat. But 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide is nitrous oxide, 65% of its emissions come from the food animal farming. And what is the number one source of methane emissions? You guessed it – the food animal industry. All of this is why becoming vegetarian is the single most beneficial act for greenhouse gas emissions.
But there are more environmental concerns than just greenhouse gasses. What about energy, land, and water conservation? Vegetarianism is the way to go to help all of these issues and more. Consider the amount of energy it takes to produce meat. Feed mills require a large amount of energy to operate, as do the farms the where animals live and the slaughterhouses where they die. Grain takes a relatively direct route in travel, whereas meat must be transported from farms to slaughterhouses, the meat to meat-processing plants, and then transport the processed meat to grocery stores. There is also a large amount of energy used to freeze that meat in stores, as well as while being transported.
Our earth’s resources are being depleted so quickly that we cannot even keep up. Continuing to clear forests for raising cattle in the U.S. at the current rate would result in complete deforestation of the country within 50 years. 2.9 million acres of rainforest (and its inhabitants) were destroyed in the 2004-2005 crop season in order to feed food animals, especially chickens. One of the most common crops grown in the rainforest is soy, most of the United States’ food animals are fed soy that was grown in the Amazon and other rainforests. 80% of the world’s soy is fed to factory animals, but almost all of the soy that is used to make vegetarian products, is gown in the U.S. domestically, not in the Amazon. Due to animal farming, the UK has lost 95% of flower meadows, 50% of ancient woodlands, 40% of heath lands and 50% of wet lands since 1945. Due to animal farming, America has lost roughly 1/3 of it’s prime topsoil in the past 200 years (around 7 inches), but it takes 200-1000 years to develop one inch of topsoil. 85% of U.S. topsoil loss is directly associated with raising livestock. These figures mean that the planet is heading downhill fast. So fast, in fact, that if something is not done to conserve precious farmland soon, all we will be left with is barren land and hungry children.
Almost half of all the water used in the United States goes to raising animals for food. According to Frances Moore Lappé’s book, Diet for a Small Planet, you can save more water by refusing a single pound of meat than you can by not showering for an entire year. Blood and excrement from slaughterhouses flow into our rivers and pollute our seas.
World Hunger - Previous <<< | >>> Next – Animal Cruelty
Section II – World Hunger
Meat is not only detrimental to our own health, but it can also mean that a large amount of people are shorted, and are unable to meet even basic dietary needs. In an age of ipods, hybrid cars, and high speed internet, one would think the earth’s inhabitants would be pretty well off as far as basic needs for survival go. But that is far from the case – 840,000,000 people are going hungry. In third world countries, 10% of babies die before they even reach their first birthday. The appalling thing is – there are people more interested in if there ever was life on Mars than they are about keeping much of the fragile life sustained on our own planet. Meat is a luxury, and there is nothing unethical about luxury. But it has gone too far – the current rate of production and consumption of meat is starving the less fortunate. It spreads the gap between social classes even farther; it robs the poor to feed the rich. 80% of starving children reside in countries with food surpluses. Yes, surpluses. But because food animal farmers use the surplus grain to feed their animals (most of which is exported to wealthier counties like the US and Europe), the children go hungry. The US imports 40 million pounds of meat to the U.S. every year from Guatemala, yet 75% of children there under the age of 5 are malnourished.
There is plenty of food to feed the planet, so why are countries like these still dealing with starving children? The answer shows that we, as a species, simply cannot continue to live the way we do. The average human requires 2,000 calories to live each day. If every person on the planet receive 25% percent of those calories came from meat or other animal products, only about 4 billion people could be nourished. If every person on the planet received 0% of their calories from animal products (veganism), over 6 billion people could be nourished. So, still worried about getting your protein? Not to worry. According to the USDA, one acre of land will produce 20 pounds of usable protein if used raising beef. That same acre would produce 356 pounds of protein if the cows were replaced with soybean crops. Or maybe you are worried about getting that full feeling you get after eating meat. Consider this: one acre yields 165 pounds of beef or 20,000 pounds of potatoes. The comparison is astonishing, but even more so is the effect on the land.
The Shocking Paradox of Using Animals for Food
Section I – Human Health
How wonderful would it be if there was a simple, easy, effective way to solve some of the worlds toughest issues. Global warming, world hunger, and cancer. Though it may not be a complete solution, there is one thing that everyone can easily do to take their part in fixing all of these pressing issues and more: stop eating meat. It is a proven fact that vegetarianism is one of the best things you can do for the environment and your health. If animal factory farms and slaughterhouses vanished, world hunger would soon follow. It is a way to help others without needing to sacrifice your own well-being.
It is popular belief that it is difficult to meet health requirements on a vegetarian diet, but according to the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada “appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.” In fact, vegetarians live, on average, 8-10 years longer than meat-eaters. A vegetarian diet is proven to reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, impotence, asthma, hypertension, and obesity. Meat-eaters are known to have more trouble with grogginess and depression, as well. There are two reasons for this: commercially processed meat is laden with numerous chemicals such as antibiotics, heavy metals, and hormones. In an attempt to remove harmful bacteria from meat, manufacturers have been granted permission by the FDA to irradiate meat, which is even more desperate than it sounds. Radiation of meat creates radiotoxins, some of which have never been identified, and are therefore classified as “unknown.” Carcinogens like formaldehyde are among some of those classified as “known.” Vitamins A, B1 through 12, C, E, K, amino acids, and essential fatty acids are all depleted by radiation. If the FDA believes we must go to such great lengths to protect ourselves from meat, surely it is not safe for us to eat in the first place. In lab studies, rats suffered from numerous problems after consuming the radiated meat: enlarged and bursting hearts, respiratory problems, severe damage to lymphocytes, death, and possibly more. In fact, the studies had to be abandoned because the animals died too quickly or were unable to eat after just 35% of their food was radiated. In most studies, all the rats died within 65 days or less. Symptoms like inability to move and heart enlargement were so common that researchers refer to it as “hemorrhagic syndrome.” Over 300 studies were ignored by the FDA. In these studies, staggering amounts of lab animals got cancer after consuming the radiated meat. Somehow, after all of this, the FDA approved beef radiation. Amazingly, radiated beef does not even have to be labeled as so if it is not the only ingredient in the package.
The second reason meat causes so many health problems is due to the fact that it is not nearly as digestible for humans as plant material. The common notion is that humans are omnivores, but our bodies were not designed to ingest meat. You don’t generally see people gnawing at raw carcasses with their bare teeth – in fact the idea of that would cause many people to lose their appetite entirely. Now maybe you are thinking, “But I have canine teeth, doesn’t that mean I was meant to eat meat?” No, not at all. Even horses have canine teeth. Our canine teeth are short and blunt, like many herbivores. Omnivores have curving, long, sharp canines, like carnivores. The same goes for molars, incisors, and jaws; our teeth resemble those of herbivores much more than they do those of omnivores. Herbivores have an enzyme in their saliva and have stomach acid with a higher pH level than that of carnivores. Humans also have that enzyme, and their pH levels is much higher than that of an omnivores (and therefore much weaker). This is why we cannot digest raw meat, but even cooking meat is not sufficient. William C. Roberts, M.D., editor of American Journal of Cardiology states “Although we think we are one, and we act as if we are one, human beings are not naturally carnivores. When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for humans beings, who are natural herbivores.” Dr. T. Colin Campbell, director of the Cornell-China-Oxford Project on Nutrition, Health, and the Environment goes as far as to say “In the next ten years, one of the things you’re bound to hear is that animal protein … is one of the most toxic nutrients of all that can be considered.” And as if meat itself is not harmful enough alone, 70% of all food poisoning is caused by contaminated animal flesh, according to the USDA.
A balanced diet does not have to include meat.
On the contrary, many critiques of the vegetarian diet argue that humans require animal in their diet in order to receive all dietary needs. But according to staff members of the Mayo Clinic, “No matter what your age or situation, a well-planned vegetarian diet can meet your nutritional needs. Even children and teenagers can do well on a plant-based diet, as can older people, and pregnant or breast-feeding women.” A study of 4,746 Minnesota adolescents published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine shows that vegetarian adolescents were more likely to meet the government’s most important dietary recommendations. “Daniel and his friends refuse to eat from the king’s table which has meat on it, but eat vegetables instead. After ten days they are found to be healthier than those who eat at the king’s table.” -Daniel 1:3-16
Vegetarianism – Coming Soon
June 23, 2008
Today I will have finally finished my research paper on vegetarianism and the meat, egg, and dairy industry. Since I have not been able to add to this blog because I’ve been busy trying this get it done, I’ve decided to post it here. My hopes are that those of you reading will maintain an open mind, even if you decide afterwards that you will continue with your current diet and lifestyle. I feel its important to get the word out – not ‘convert’ others. I will be posting it one section at a time over the next four or five days, since it is a bit lengthy for a blog.
In addition to those supporting the argument, for those of you fervently against vegetarianism for whatever reasons, please feel to comment. I’m always interested hearing in new counter-arguments and other’s opinions. I will also try to answer any questions on the subject to the best of my ability.
Excerpt:
“Continuing to clear forests for raising cattle in the U.S. at the current rate would result in complete deforestation of the country within 50 years.”
k·a·l
