In a sleepy lagoon off the coast of Japan was once a shocking secret. A secret that a few desperate men made sure would be no longer kept hidden from the world: thousands of dolphins were, and still are, being captured and sold to the world’s theme parks. Those who don’t make the cut are horrifically tortured and slaughtered—their mercury-laden meat sold under the guise of being “acceptable” flesh for consumption to an unsuspecting Japanese public. It’s a real life horror story—one that is now well and truly public.
The men who risked their lives to tell the world about this atrocity include Louise Psihoyos, a director with a cause who has not only caught the world’s attention, but also the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences, with his film, The Cove, which is up for best documentary at the Awards this weekend (March 7).
The Cove begins in Taiji, Japan, where former dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry has come to set things right after a long search for redemption. In the 1960s, it was O’Barry who captured and trained the five dolphins who played the title character in the international television sensation “Flipper.” But his close relationship with those dolphins – the very dolphins who sparked a global fascination with trained sea mammals that continues to this day — led O’Barry to a radical change of heart. One fateful day, a heartbroken Barry came to realise that these deeply sensitive, highly intelligent and self-aware creatures so beautifully adapted to life in the open ocean must never be subjected to human captivity again.
It wasn’t until years after this realisation that Ric met Louie and the idea for The Cove was born, and more importantly, put into action.
With Jim Clark, Louie also created The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS), in 2005. The non-profit organization provides an exclusive lens for the public and media to observe the beauty as well as the destruction of the oceans, while motivating change.
I recently caught up with Louie to talk about what it took to plan, shoot and promote the eco-thriller film. Stay tuned for an interview with Ric O’Barry in the coming days.
Firstly Louie, congratulations in such an incredible documentary. How long did it take to make from idea to final print?
The film took about three and a half years to make, but Laurie David, who produced An Inconvenient Truth told me a year ago that when you’re done making a documentary you’re only halfway there. The film came out a year ago this week and I’m still out promoting the movie. But fortunately most of the traveling is going to film festivals around the world that are in amazing beautiful places meeting great people who are passionate about films so I’m learning a lot at the same time, and not just talking about our film. And at the film festivals the film has been received very well, mostly standing ovations. Even at the Tokyo Film Festival the response was amazing – we had as much media coverage as Avatar.
How did the idea evolve?
I had just started a non-profit organization called The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) with the help of my dive friend, Jim Clark who is an extraordinary visionary. When president John F. Kennedy called for Americans to put a man on the moon back in 1961, it was Jim, at age 26 created and sped the computers to make that possible. Jim is now an inventor and a venture capitalists, kind of a serial entrepreneur. He founded Silicon Graphics, which was the Apple Computer of it’s day, the chip Jim built allowed objects to be constructed in 3-D which allowed movies like Jurassic Park to be made. The day he quit that business he started Netscape, the first commercial Internet browser which was the first avenue that many of us got on the so-called information super highway. The third billion-dollar company he created he joked that he started to prove that the first two were not just luck, but I used information from that medical website to save my mother’s life last year. When Jim funded OPS to make films and create still images to try to create awareness about ocean issues, I reminded him that saving the oceans wasn’t going to be a billion dollar industry and he told me, “I’m not worried about making money, just make a difference.”
There is much responsibility in being entrusted with funds from a friend and a man I regard so highly with so many personal accomplishments but making a difference is the driving motivation for OPS to do everything we do. I always told the film crew that we’re not making a movie, we’re starting a movement to save the oceans. This higher goal informs all of our decisions.
How did you come to meet Ric O’Barry?
Two months after starting OPS I was at a marine mammal conference in San Diego and Ric O’Barry was supposed to be the keynote speaker at the event of mostly PhD speakers. I was looking forward to hearing someone from popular culture speak after a week of quite a few fairly boring talks. But at the last moment, the sponsor of the event, SeaWorld, cut him from the program. I was curious why so I called Ric and he said that they wouldn’t let him talk because he was going to speak about the captive dolphin industry and the world’s largest slaughter of dolphins on the planet.
I had never heard about the captive dolphin industry nor killing of dolphins so I asked him who was doing anything about it and he said right now it was just him and he was going next week, would I like to come to Taiji with him. Driving into Taiji was like driving into a ready made horror film set. On the surface they appear to love dolphins and whales, there’s even a sign coming into town with Anime-style drawings of dolphins that says in English, “We love dolphins.” However right in the center of town lies the Cove. This is in a Japanese National Park, where even Japanese people can’t get into because of the steel gates, keep-out signs, barbed wire, dogs and guards. This is the cove where these crimes against nature and humanity occur – right in the middle of a nature preserve!
Only a day after I watched The Cove, a documentary about dolphins being captured and horrendously slaughtered in the Japanese town of Taijii, a good friend Tweeted “killer whales have rights”. Over on Google News, it was being reported how a killer whale—a member of the dolphin family—at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida had killed its trainer.
As television screens around the world tonight flash news of this tragedy, it brings an immensely important issue to light: animals in captivity and the cruelty that is imposed on them in order to perform in the name of the almighty dollar.
President of SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Jim Atchison said the company was investigating the incident and would review its operating standards. How’s this for a review, Jim: release the animals back to their natural habitat. Get a job doing something that doesn’t hurt and exploit animals.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees, guests and the animals entrusted to our care,” he said. If this were truly the case, Jim, you wouldn’t be caging animals in bodies of water that are nothing more than a puddle, surrounded by slabs of cold concrete—no resemblance to their ocean home (never mind that we humans have done our best at turning that into a junk yard too).
It’s not the first time these beautiful animals have back-lashed against their human torturers. The video above was shot in Southern California in 1972 (click here to view if the above doesn’t load). As part of a publicity stunt a park secretary took a “joy ride” on the back of an 8,000 pound killer whale. A whale that had its breaking point. It attacked the girl. She survived. But what about the whale? More torture ahead?
Something urgently needs to change. That change can only start with you and me. Governments won’t change it. Theme parks won’t change it. Circuses won’t change it. The public needs to stop supporting these ridiculous displays of cruelty masked as “entertainment for the whole family”.
Ric O’Barry, who was a dolphin trainer for the Flipper television series in the 1960s and appears in The Cove, says that parks and zoos “want you to think that God put (dolphins) there or (that) they rescued them … if people knew the truth, they wouldn’t buy a ticket.”
In the wild, orcas and dolphins swim up to 100 miles per day, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). But captured dolphins are confined to tanks that may be only 24 feet long, 24 feet wide, and six feet deep. They navigate by echolocation—bouncing sonar waves off other objects to determine their shape, density, distance, and location—but in tanks, the reverberations from their own sonar bounce off the walls, driving some dolphins insane.
Jacques Cousteau said that life for a captive dolphin “leads to a confusion of the entire sensory apparatus, which in turn causes in such a sensitive creature a derangement of mental balance and behaviour.” Tanks are kept clean with chemicals that have unknown side effects. Because of high chlorine levels in their tanks, dolphins at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium were unable to open their eyes, and their skin began to peel off.
Killer whales, or orcas, are members of the dolphin family. They are also the largest animals held in captivity. In the wild, orcas stay with their mothers for life. Family groups, or “pods,” consist of a mother, her adult sons and daughters, and her daughters’ offspring. Members of the pod communicate in a “dialect” specific to that pod. Dolphins swim together in family pods or tribes of hundreds. Capturing even one wild orca or dolphin disrupts the entire pod. To obtain a female dolphin of breeding age, for example, boats are used to chase the pod to shallow waters, where the animals are surrounded with nets that are gradually closed and lifted onto the boats. Unwanted dolphins are thrown back. Some die from shock or stress, and others slowly succumb to pneumonia when water enters their lungs through their blowholes.
Helping doesn’t have to mean donating hundreds or thousands of dollars in the hope someone else will fix the problem. Helping starts with word of mouth. Tell your friends, your neighbours. Heck, even tell a stranger if you feel the urge. Capturing, breeding and torturing these majestic, wild animals for a few kicks and giggles and a lot of cold hard cash is no longer tolerable. It really never has been. We—you and me—are the only chance these beautiful animals have. Please, do your bit, however big or small, to make a difference in the lives of these animals.
Head to PETA, check out the Oceanic Preservation Society for tips on how to help, or sit down and have a chat with your kids to explain why sea parks, circuses and the like are not cool. It all makes a difference.
Also, check back in the coming days to read my interview with The Cove’s Ric O’Barry and Louie Psihoyo.
At some point in our lives, if not often, we feel and/or face fears. Fear of what others think of us, fear of dis-ease, fear of terrorism. It’s how we decide to act (or not) every day that can move us closer or further away from our true, fear-less, nature. Sometimes, a little guidance can be a big help…
1. Stop eating animals.
Just as we feel fear, so too do animals. While they may not function with the same mental intellect, we are emotionally linked. When a cow or sheep is held in putrid, cramped quarters or goes to slaughter, it too feels fear—a negative emotion that is, no doubt, transferred on some level to the person who eats the animal. As a human race, we are feasting on fear every time we eat a piece of, particularly factory-farmed, animal flesh. A question to contemplate: does the amount of animal products consumed by humans contribute largely to our everyday fears? Check out Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals.
2. Identify it for what it really is: False Evidence Appearing Real.
As human beings, we are essentially controlled by two emotions: love and fear. We act out of one or the other. The beautiful thing? We have the ability to choose the thoughts we think and by guided by the emotions we feel. While much of the fear we feel is pre-programmed into us as an instinctual response to potential danger, much of the every day stuff we fear isn’t dangerous at all. We have simply convinced ourselves what we’re fearing is real.
3. Stop watching the news.
Reading and particularly watching the news is hypnotising. Watch enough negative stories and you’ll soon be in fear of walking out of your own front door. If you think about it, I mean really think about it, is there any reason we should repetitively see and hear about stabbings, murders, acts of terrorism and the like? Does it make you feel safer? Does it foster a feeling of love? Of course not, and it’s not meant to. Rather, it invokes a fear response, which in turn makes us hand over our power to those who we think can “save” us, including governments and doctors, when in fact each of us is responsible for our own reality, as well as our own health and wellbeing. If you’re an avid news watcher, put down the remote for two weeks and monitor how different you feel. A study by David L. Altheide states: Fear is bigger news than mere crime or even violence. Fear has become a standard feature of news formats steeped in a problem frame oriented to entertainment. Entertainment abhors ambiguity, while truth and effective intervention efforts to improve social life reside in ambiguity.
4. Research natural healing therapies.
There are natural herbal and homeopathic remedies that can help with overcoming fears. To quote website nativeremedies.com: “Fear becomes a problem that needs to be addressed when it turns into anxiety, panic or phobias. Herbs such as Melissa Officinalis, Lavandula Augustifolia, Chamomile and Passiflora Incarnata are just a few examples of a natural approach to overcoming fears by reducing stress, calming the nervous system and relaxing a fearful mind. Many natural remedies for fear and anxiety combine a number of calming herbs to achieve the best results for overcoming fears and addressing all the different symptoms of a panicked response.” Also explore natural healing treatments such as Reiki, Emotional Freedom Technique and hypnotherapy.
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There are so many good reasons to read the label on any cosmetic product you intend to buy. I used to think, albeit naively, that if a product was for sale then it must have been put through rigorous testing and deemed safe for human use. But alas, that wishful thought was just that—wishful.
Amongst the thousands of cosmetics brands on the market today, a good number contain chemicals toxic to our health. Just like food in the supermarket, if you can’t pronounce a word on a label, chances are it was brewed in a lab not in nature. Many of these ingredients are used as fillers; cheap additions that give the illusion of more product, without hurting the manufacturer’s bottom line.
Just because a lipstick, face cream or the like is expensive also doesn’t mean it’s any safer than the alternative $2 bottle in your local drug store or chemist. In fact, that cheap bottle may be a hundred times safer than the cream that comes in the fancy packaging.
With cosmetic safety regulations lacking in many countries, it’s up to ourselves to be our own judge and jury when it comes to what we’re willing to buy and then put on our skin—our body’s largest organ. Anything you slap on the outside ends up on the inside. If you’ve read this blog before today you’ll be familiar with the phrase: “if you can’t eat it, don’t wear it”.
If you’re starting to wonder exactly what chemicals are lurking in your bathroom cabinet, be sure to check out The Cosmetics Database.
In the book Natural Organic Hair and Skin Care, cosmetic chemist and herbalist Aubrey Hampton is quoted as saying: “Buyers in department, drug, discount and supermarkets don’t know anything about the chemicals that go into cosmetics, and assume their customers don’t know much either.”
These chemicals have only been proven safe with animal testing. If you put them in your product you rely on or accept those tests. Also, many of these chemicals pollute our environment because they aren’t biodegradable. This affects all species. You won’t know this if you don’t read the label.
Besides the cocktail of chemicals that make up many beauty products on the market today, there’s also the very real issue of animal testing. Just because a manufacturer didn’t test on an innocent being, doesn’t mean the manufacturer they bought their chemical ingredients from wasn’t tested on an unsuspecting monkey or rat. What it boils down to? Labels also lie.
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It breaks my heart to see animals suffer. But the reality is, because we humans made meat and dairy a diet staple—regardless of its countless ill effects—animal torture and murders happen every single day, on just about every country on earth.
Despite this, the reality is, every single person can be the change that can turn things around. Yet, sometimes the reality we need to see in order to “get it” is downright heart-wrenching.
As eco-consciousness is spreading, so to are the numbers of people opting to go vegan (and vegetarian). Still, more needs to be done to get the word out.
I came across this video (below), which is a collection of celebrity PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) videos—celebrities who have spoken and are speaking out, about what really goes on behind the scenes in slaughter houses and in the fur trade. Whether you love or loathe PETA, you’ve got to appreciate their ability to get attention-grabbing celebs to promote living meat and fur free (such as Khloe Kardashian pictured above).
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As 2009 draws to a close, I want to celebrate a few powerful reasons to become vegan: our little (and big) fellow earthlings who make this planet of ours truly remarkable.
Here’s to those who made the transition to veganism in 2009 and those who will take the leap in 2010. May your new year be filled with countless blessings and a whole lotta love!
A sneak peak at Life’s Wild Animal Photos of the Year…
“Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!”
~ Theophile Gautier
“Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”
~ Albert Einstein
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
“An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.” ~ Martin Buber
And just because… (I’m so cute!)
“We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”
~ Immanual Kant
The cruelty that is the business of circuses needs to stop. The latest news of inhumane treatment is fully focused on The Ringling Bros. who tear babies away from their mothers.
PETA has released never-before-seen photos of trainers cruelly wrestling baby elephants using ropes, sharp hooks, and electric shocks in order to force them to learn circus tricks.
One of the quickest ways to put an end to this intolerable cruelty is to not support circuses, or any businesses that use animals as a showpiece or lock them in cages, far removed from their natural way of living (including pet stores).
To help get the word out to put an end to animal suffering in circuses such as The Ringling Bros. click here.
Some facts about elephants
• Elephants are among the world’s most intelligent species. Their brain is larger than any other land mammal.
• They display grief, learning, allomothering, mimicry, art, play, a sense of humour, altruism, use of tools, compassion, self-awareness, memory and possibly language.
• The elephant has one of the most closely knit societies of any living species. Elephant families can only be separated by death or capture.
• Aristotle was quoted as saying elephants are “the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind”.
• The elephant (Asian and African) has a very large and highly convoluted neocortex, a trait also shared by humans, apes and certain dolphin species. Scientists see this as a sign of complex intelligence.
• Parents teach their young how to feed, use tools and learn their place in highly complex elephant society.
• The cerebrum temporal lobes, which functions as storage of memory are much larger than that of a human.
• Because elephants are so closely knit and highly matriarchal, a family can be devastated by the death of another (especially a matriarch) and some groups never recover their organisation.
Why is this allowed to happen?
I want to share this profound excerpt from the preface of Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm by C. David Coates, kindly highlighted in a recent comment from JC (thanks JC!).
As humans, I believe our potential is limitless, as long as we focus our attention on actions that work with nature, not against. Clearly, as C. David Coates explains so well, we seem to have lost our way when we made it our mission to act as a god, rather than work with God.
Aren’t humans amazing animals? They kill wildlife – birds, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice and foxes by the million in order to protect their domestic animals and their feed.
Then they kill domestic animals by the billion and eat them. This in turn kills people by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative – and fatal – health conditions like heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and cancer.
So then humans spend billions of dollars torturing and killing millions of more animals to look for cures for these diseases.
Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals.
Meanwhile, few people recognize the absurdity of humans, who kill so easily and violently, and once a year send out cards praying for “Peace on Earth.”
~Revised Preface to Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm by C. David Coates~
Ex-Beatles’ Paul McCartney, who was famously quoted as saying “if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian”, now has a tune to encourage people to stop eating meat—at least on Mondays.
Check out his Meat Free Mondays website to send in your own little ditty, or just to get the lowdown on how eating animals affects the health of the planet and the people. Then, I say, let’s make every day a Monday!
As Christmas day nears, I’ve been thinking about jolly ol’ Santa and his love for milk and cookies … how his turning vegan could be the biggest gift to vegan activists everywhere.
Imagine the influence he’d have. Children worldwide would be begging their parents for freshly-made almond milk with a side of raw vegan truffle balls, forget the cows, thank you very much.
So, without further adieu, here is my letter to Santa this year—10 reasons he should go vegan. I just hope he gets it on time…
1. Your cholesterol levels, Santa, would be back to normal. No more need for those pesky GP visits and poisonous pharmaceuticals;
2. Your energy levels would skyrocket, especially if you adopt a mostly raw diet. Raw, live foods are packed with enzymes, which are the givers of life. Kids everywhere want to see you around for a long time to come. Eating raw and vegan is healthy for you, animals and the planet.
3. Santa, I know you love animals. What bigger gift could you give to them than not eating or wearing them?
4. I don’t mean to be rude, Santa, but being overweight is a serious risk to your health. Did you know tummy fat raises your risk for high blood cholesterol by about 50 percent? A healthy vegan diet will have you at your optimal weight in no time.
5. Most cookies are laden with butter and processed sugar. Many of the mass-produced kind are even worse, with ingredients made up of numbers and boasting names impossible to pronounce. Santa, do you know where your cookies came from?
6. Drinking cows milk has been linked to all sorts of dis-eases, including asthma, osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes and more. Making milk from nuts is a cinch and doesn’t require harming animals or using massive amounts of the earth’s energy.
7. I hate to be the one to break it to you Santa, but that big fur collar that keeps you warm as you deliver your presents once belonged to real, live animals — defenseless creatures who were tortured and skinned without a second thought. I’ve also been told that fur has formaldehyde in it, which has been known to cause cancers. I don’t want you getting sick, Santa.
8. I know eating on the run must be tempting to a busy man like you, Santa. But I think you should know that fast food meats have thousands of additives that are addictive and fattening. Much of the meat on menus today are also full of pesticides and hormones.
9. Bacon and pork may be tempting, but did you know that pigs are more intelligent than dogs? Word has it they are intelligent as a three year old. I know you’d never eat a three year old, would you, Santa?
10. Those fancy leather seats in your sleigh may be comfy Santa, but did you know how many cows died to make them? If you compare your ride to the average Mercedes Benz, my guess is around seven.
So Santa, if you’re reading this, I urge you to take the pledge. Go vegan in 2010. Imagine the energy you’d have delivering presents next year. Those rosy cheeks would have a truly healthy glow, Mrs Claus could learn new culinary skills, whipping up raw vegan recipes to share with the elves. I’m certain Rudolph would be grateful too, knowing for certain he won’t be re-named venison when it’s time for retirement.
And to PETA, I think I’m onto something. I’ll let you take it from here.
If we vegans get tired of talking protein, we can always switch the subject to iron. One of my favourite ways to ensure I get a good amount of iron is by drinking blackstrap molasses (stir a teaspoon or two into a cup of warm water).
This by-product of sugar cane processing is also packed full of other nutrients that are beneficial, no matter your diet of choice.
Check out some of these health-boosting benefits:
• As many a meat eater may tell you, animal meat is loaded with iron. What they likely won’t mention is that blackstrap molasses provides more iron for less calories and is totally fat-free.
• When you’re pregnant or menstruating your need for iron increases. Two teaspoons a day gives about 15 per cent of the daily recommended iron intake. Add raw green to your diet to really pump up your iron.
• Blackstrap molasses is a great source of calcium. Calcium is essential to life (and doesn’t come from cows milk as the marketing hype suggests). I recently heard that, besides strengthening bones, calcium binds and removes toxins from the colon and helps with prevention of migraine attacks.
• It’s also an excellent source of copper and manganese and a great source of potassium and magnesium.
My blackstrap molasses of choice is from Wholesome Sweeteners. It’s fair trade, organic and of course, vegan.
If drinking molasses isn’t your thing, check out these delish-looking gingerbread cakes from fab recipe site Vegan Yum Yum, just in time for Christmas. When I make my batch, I’m going to substitute crushed flax instead of the egg replacer. I’m also not into margarine, so will check out some more natural vegan alternatives.
Gingerbread Cakes
Makes 9 small layer cakes
2 Cups Flour
2 tsp Ginger
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Molasses (unsulphured, like Grandma’s brand)
2/3 Cup Hot Water
1/2 Cup Earth Balance Margarine
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Ener-g Egg, optional
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1/4 Cup Earth Balance Margarine
1 lb Confectioner’s Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Zest from 1 Lemon
Preheat oven to 350º F.
Mix the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl until well combined.
Prepare two 8×8 baking pans as follows: grease the pans with margarine. Lay a square of parchment paper down in the inside of the pans, cut to fit the bottoms. Grease the paper as well. Use some of the try mixture you just made to flour the pans, shaking/tapping out any extra.
Whisk molasses and hot water together.
Cream the margarine and sugar. Whip the mixture with the optional Ener-g egg until light and fluffy.
It seems this is my week to write about actress Natalie Portman. Since penning the article about the protein myth and how being famous doesn’t make you an expert, I’ve noticed there’s a lot of debate about whether Nat is a vegan or vegetarian.
From here, I got to wondering why we vegans care so deeply about celebrity diet choices, particularly once they’ve mentioned they’re one of “us”. And why we want to let meat eaters know their diet choices aren’t optimal for their own health, the health of animals and the planet.
My reasoning came down to this: it’s because we have learned and lived what it means to be animal-flesh-and-product free. It’s like finding the buried treasure, the golden ring, the never-seen-before episodes of Seinfeld. It’s so damn exciting that we want to let the world know, wake up the sleepy and declare our new found clarity and meaning to anyone who’ll listen. And we also want celebrities on our side. They have a bigger reach, they can influence more people. People actually listen to them.
But I also believe the every day person (like little ol’ me) can reach millions too, through tolerance and understanding, but also more importantly leading by example. Everyday actions that come from a kind place add up to be big actions of positive influence. Look at Oprah. She took one step at a time, doing what she believed in while practicing tolerance and understanding. Her little steps added up to be a worldwide phenomenon. Her success, it seems to me, came out of a deep desire to help others and her willingness to let others see her faults. To show that she is human, just like you and me. Most of us vegans were meat eaters and dairy drinkers too at some point in our lives, unless, of course, we were lucky enough to have vegan parents ourselves.
So that’s just it. Just because I’m vegan doesn’t mean I’m right about everything, or have the answers to the world’s diet woes (although I’m certain I could guide and greatly help those who ask for it). And just because Natalie Portman is on her journey between vegetarianism and veganism doesn’t really matter either. It’s the kind actions we take, every day, that add up to make a big difference. If we all lead by positive example, who knows, eating animals could be a habit of the past sooner than we think.
But for the record, in Natalie’s words herself, and thanks to Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals, she is indeed vegan.
I may live in New Zealand, but I’m actually an Aussie—a proud one at that. Proud, that is, until we Australians began slaughtering our most recognisable icon, the beloved kangaroo.
These days I’m ashamed of my countrymen who take the lives of these beautiful creatures with guns, knives and clubs for monetary greed and personal gain, all under the guide of “pest eradication”. Have you ever known another country to proudly display a “pest” on its Coat of Arms? Or on the tail of its national airline? Me either.
So what happens to these majestic animals once they’ve been killed? It’s a long list. Here’s an excerpt from an article on the Australian Wildlife Protection Council:
Kangaroo paws are made into bottle openers, and stuffed heads into wall mounts. In the orient, you can buy “the Golden Ball Purse,” a small coin purse made from a kangaroo’s scrotum. In England, golfers can pay to sport a furry, fuzzy natural hide golf bag. In Germany and other parts of Europe, people have developed a taste for kangaroo meat. Italians make shoes from the leather. Americans wear these and other leather products made from kangaroo, often without knowing it. The hides are desired for the softness of the leather and there is the added advantage of no expensive feeding costs before slaughter. Never mind the extreme cruelty to many millions of wild animals or the mismanagement of wildlife for great financial gain. All of us, not just Australians, are part of the problem.
Six million kangaroos were killed in 1999 alone. Now, according to reports, our lovable Skippy is facing extinction. It has got to stop.
Even though I’m not living on home soil, I want to be able to help those who are standing up for these beautiful animals.
Here’s my Top 5 ways to help save the kangaroo:
1. Write to groups such as the Australian Wildlife Protection Agency and ask how you can help them get the word out.
2. Arm yourself with accurate information from websites (ActNowForAnimals, StopKangarooKilling.org, SaveTheKangaroo.com, AnimalLiberation.org) dedicated to the cause, to learn everything there is to know about this barbaric sport. Then blog about it to spread the word.
3. Boycott and write to restaurants, businesses and companies that sell or use kanagroo fur, skin, meat or any other body parts in their products. Some of these include:
• Adidas (sign a petition here);
• Kangaroo Export Import International;
• Country Hide and Skins;
• Macro Meats Gourmet Game;
• Packer Leather;
• Aussie Game Meats;
• Southern Game Meat;
• Aussie Best;
• Australian Bush Store;
• The Leather Shop.
4. Write to the Australian Government;
5. Support the the call for the European Union to ban all kangaroo products.
Who knew the Coat of Arms was a menu?
Al Gore told an Australian journalist he knows meat is bad for you and the environment in a recent television interview (check it out below). Good start, Al. So as one of the world’s most recognisable “environmentalists” I can’t help but wonder why Mr Gore still eats meat if he really cares about this environmental crisis he speaks of? Am I missing something?
I’ve just happened upon Jeffrey Masson (thanks Vegan Society of NZ), author of many literary gems including The Face on Your Plate and New York Times bestseller When Elephants Weep (see below). Check out his website here, where you’ll find all sorts of interesting info for vegans and non-vegans alike, including insights from the author himself:
“I believe that in 500 years (maybe less) people will look back on us and wonder about many things. No doubt behavior we consider normal today will inspire horror in our more enlightened successors. War, for example. But I also think they may believe our disdain of insects is incomprehensible. Perhaps they will marvel that we could so easily cut down trees and perhaps even flowers.”
My only hope is that it doesn’t take 500 years for Jeffrey’s predictions to come true.
Not that long ago, I used to work as a magazine beauty editor. A seemingly glam job to the outside world (particularly to 20-something girls who have a love affair with make-up and mascara). But for me, it was one of the most toxic gigs I could have signed up for—and not just because of the chemical-laden products that landed on my desk daily.
As a beauty editor, you’re part of a well-oiled production line, where publicists schmooze you and hundreds of free beauty products line your bathroom cabinets. It doesn’t really matter if the product, well, sucks. If the packaging suits your page colour theme you’re on a winner.
A lot of these beauty products are loaded with chemicals, and some, perhaps most (depending on whether it’s listed on the label or not), are tested on animals. So it’s a no-win situation for beauty addict or animal.
When I went vegan, I stopped putting chemicals into my body and onto my body. Buh-bye beauty products. So long moisturiser, ta-ta deodorant (regarding the latter, if you’re eating a raw, organic wholefood diet and drinking fresh spring water, the need for covering up smelly pits isn’t needed, because you simply don’t smell anymore. Who knew!).
Besides the fact that what you put into your body reflects on the outside, there are some great beauty tips and tricks that I use, sourced from my very own kitchen cupboard. No animals or beauty buffs harmed in the process. Here’s just a few:
Moisturiser: Mix two parts water, one part olive oil in a spray pump. Shake and spray all over after a bath or shower for a moisture infusion.
Facial scrub: Mix a small amount of baking soda and water together to make a smooth paste. Lightly rub over the face and rinse.
Toner: Add half vinegar, half water to make a pore-tightening toner.
Bath salts: For a great detox, sprinkle a cup of epsom salts in your bath water.
Smoothing dry heels: Cut a lemon in half and apply.
The golden rule I live by? Never put anything on your body that you can’t eat.
Pic courtesy martinhoward, Flickr Creative Commons.
