Update June 6 2016: Please note I do not endorse this site “How Do I Go Vegan” or the page associated with this resource. My reasons are explained in Vegan Trove Episode 24 and Episode 25. I now have my own vegan resource How To Go Vegan Podcast
In Vegan Trove podcast episode 18, I briefly explore a newly created abolitionist vegan resource : How Do I Go Vegan
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This Earth will grow cold,
A star among stars
and one of the smallest,
A gilded mote on blue velvet-
I mean this, one great Earth.
This Earth will grow cold one day,
not like a block of ice
or a dead cloud even
but like an empty walnut
It will roll along
In pitch-black space.
You must grieve for this right now –
You have to feel this sorrow now –
For the world must be loved this much
If you’re going to say “I lived”
Nazim Hikmet (Excerpt poem “On Living” Feb, 1948
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I’m not one for making dramatic statements at all but for the last few years I’ve been reading various (non-sugar coated) scientific reports on climate change, and in view of the dire reports on methane emissions escaping the East Siberian Arctic shelf (I’ll get to that shortly), as well as the sixth mass extinction which is currently underway — I think it’s pretty clear that our brief time as a species on this planet is coming to an end and soon. I think some of my friends probably think I’m far too pessimistic when it comes to what I -and some others- see as near-term human extinction but that’s OK. I don’t really mention it much any more because I don’t think most people want to hear it or think about it. Most of us know on some level something terrible is going to befall us as a species but most think it’s going happen toward the end of the century. On the rare occasion I have raised the issue of near-term human extinction to anyone, they either go quiet, glaze over and it goes into a black hole, or they say to me: “No I think it’s going to be very bad for our children and their children.” Have you had that experience? Some people just don’t want to think about it and that’s understandable. But at the same time if we had a terminal disease, wouldn’t we want to know? I would. I think it’s important that we are at least given the information. Of course we are all terminal because we are organic organisms and we are all impermanent 😉 but what’s been happening in the Arctic in recent years puts a different light on everything. What it means is that most likely none of us will get to live out our natural lives – however long that might have been for each of us individually. What it means is that everything, the “history”, music, books and so forth, every trace of humans will vanish. Even the huge pile of swirling plastic in the ocean will vanish eventually. Eventually the pyramids will vanish, Stonehenge will vanish, there will be very little trace of us. There will be no one left to remember, or to tell.
If one looks at the most recent (non-sugar-coated) scientific information coming out in recent years about METHANE emissions, particularly research on methane emissions from the EAST SIBERIAN ARCTIC SHELF, one really has to be in some kind of major denial to think this is not going to be apocalyptic for all species on the planet including ours. One has to be in some kind of major denial to believe scientists will be able to “fix it”, or that corporate-dominated government has any intention of addressing it let alone being able to “fix it”. I think we’ve just seen too many Hollywood films, too many Hollywood heroes saving the day. Sadly there will no miracle fix. There will be no miracle geo-engineering that will save us. There will be no Rapture. There will be no time or the capability of colonising another planet. There will be no bunker big enough or resourced enough to last over a few 1000 years or more. There will be no extra-terrestrial intervention on our behalf. Jesus will not be returning to save us. There will be no hero. There will be no one who will be able to save us from ourselves and what is –in all likelihood — going to happen. And even if all GHG emissions stopped tomorrow, it is literally too late. It was too late in 2000. Sadly it’s true as Pulitzer prize recipient and (ethical) vegan Chris Hedges said in his essay “This time we’re taking the whole planet with us.” We have managed to do what the inhabitants of Easter Island did before their civilisation collapsed except we have done it on a global scale. Of course the planet will still go on without us. New, diverse and different species will evolve once again in a few million years and the planet will thrive once more, but just *without us*. And I suppose that’s where the silver lining is. Let’s be honest, our human species as a whole (I’m sure some would agree) is clearly dysfunctional and inherently violent. Putting aside how appallingly we treat one another (perpetual wars, rape, incest, paedophilia, stealing each other’s resources, imprisoning, oppressing the vulnerable based on race, sexual orientation, gender etc, murdering each other and so forth), look at what we have been doing to 100s of billions of nonhuman individuals each year whom we have bred into existence for totally trivial reasons to be used as food, clothing, entertainment etc. And those we haven’t domesticated, we hunt, torture, imprison or murder. But as I said there’s a silver lining, even when talking about our own species extinction. When we are gone, future nonhumans will not have to experience our violence anymore.
The first is from the Lima Peru climate conference. It talks about the millions of square miles under the East Siberian Arctic shelf which is CURRENTLY releasing large amounts of methane due to the melting of the ice. There’s 500 to 5000 GIGATONS of methane under the shelf. (A gigaton is one billion tons). Even if only 1 to 2% of the #methane under the East Siberian #Arctic shelf was released – which can easily occur as the sea continues to warm – we will see a catastrophic increase in global temperatures e.g 5 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius. That would be an increase from 440ppm (as it is now I believe) to 800 – 1000ppm which is untenable for life. Sadly the vid also contains some unrealistic “hopium” toward the end on how we can possibly prevent this. Of course they say it would require global co-operation and a cessation of fossil fuel use, but since drives to increase fossil fuel exploration and drilling are increasing continually, any cessation is unlikely, not to mention that most of us continue to consume animal products (I’ll address that issue later).
What many of us don’t realise is that what we are experiencing now in relation to global warming was put in place around 40 years ago. That’s the lag time. In 2000, it was – to be frank – all over for us. Some serious action needed to be taken in the mid ’70s, early ’80s. In 2007 the Clathrate gun was fired ( read Malcolm Light’s 2013 report). Now we are in a state of RUNAWAY GLOBAL WARMING. And thanks to government and mainstream media ( both owned by corporations) we won’t be talking about this much or doing much at all. Just token gestures, future promises, meagre efforts, more protests, unending futile conferences held by bloated environmental organisations (also funded by corporations). And this is why we will most likely be extinct in the next 2 or 3 decades because as a species we are unable to work together, or grasp what is occurring. I mean people in my own state can’t even stop using plastic bags when asked, even though they understand the consequences. As a species we are unable to act as a group. On the whole we are inherently selfish animals. And we are clearly ruled by an oligarchy whom – in their hubris – very mistakenly think they will be immune to the collapse.
We think in a blinkered way about global warming. We often hear the prediction that it will be our children and their children who will suffer greatly, but no, it will be much sooner than that if we pay attention to the science and what is happening *right now*. And what is particularly sad for me as a vegan is that we are not even really all that concerned over nonhuman extinction, except in relation to how it effects us and that we won’t have these animals to look at for our own entertainment. That’s how dysfunctional we are. Most of us don’t even care about the 99.99% of the planet’s population who are nonhuman and that their lives and their home is being destroyed.
In any event, human extinction (and most other species extinction) will most likely occur as early as the next 3 decades and the lead up to total industrial civilisation collapse will be apocalyptic: more resource wars, widespread food and water shortages (already happening now), widespread severe and unending drought (already happening now), plagues, more catastrophic climate events, prolonged extreme temperatures (already happening now), till eventually toward the end temperatures will be so severe that plant life will not be able to survive it and we (humans and non-humans) will starve.
Did you ever think when you were young, that you would be here to witness the end of our species?
I have to mention the failing which accompanies any climate change presentation — the elephant in the room — and that is the omission of the issue of animal agriculture and human overpopulation. Animal agriculture contributes at least 51% of greenhouse gases. Let’s consider that “a person who is vegan will save 1,100 gallons of water, 20 pounds CO2 equivalent, 30 square feet of forested land, 45 pounds of grain and at least one sentient animal’s life every day” (from Hedges’ essay “Saving the Planet One Meal at a Time”). So if we stopped consuming animal products we would not only be reducing our tremendous contribution to climate change, but we would end our participation in the tremendous violence against non-human animals, that latter being more important. So although we won’t see any real action any time soon (if ever) from corporate-dominated government, there is something we can all personally do right now. Our actions will not prevent the inevitable, but becoming vegan (not only adopting a plant-based diet, but eschewing all forms of animal use) certainly is the morally right thing to do for other sentient beings. ( Please read this Hedges essay “Saving the Planet One Meal at a Time” and “Apocalyptic Capitalism)
The other elephant in the room is human overpopulation. We are in overshoot and collapse. No matter what is done to mitigate climate change, if human populations keep increasing as they do (362,000 babies born per day according the UN), then it will make no difference what is done. And it doesn’t look like anything at all is being done to even discuss the issue of human overpopulation, let alone address it. In fact we just continue breeding and it’s business as usual.
Finally it’s our choice if we want to ingest the “hopium” put out by media, governments, conservative and corporate funded scientists and even those who present this video. I guess if we need to have hope that it won’t go as badly as is described here, then that’s what we need to do. We all deal with these issues differently. We can either decide to cruise along and ignore it or downplay it, or we can face it, think about what it means, and adjust our life accordingly. If we haven’t already we can find what’s meaningful in our lives, enjoy each and every moment, do our best to be kind to others and continue to push for justice.
I’ll share three other videos on this topic which are quite good. The first presentation
explains the science for the everyday person. It’s a year or so old now. You can skip the first 5 minutes.
If you’re not vegan, please consider becoming vegan. It’s much easier than you think. It’s better for us and for the planet and if we truly claim that we want to lead a nonviolent life, then it’s the least we can be. Please start here.
Disclaimer: Please note I do not necessarily endorse opinions, links or ads on external sites or by persons presented in this blog
Friends, I’ve been very busy the last few weeks and unfortunately I will be till probably mid July so I haven’t been able to do a podcast for a while, but I thought I would share an experience I had today. Please watch this short vid:
Many cows over the fence in the large pasture have been crying day and night for the last 2 days. For those who are not vegan, this is a regular occurrence on any farm that supplies animal products (meat, dairy etc) to supermarkets. The farmer who recently sold his 100 acres said he was “simplifying” his herd. That’s code for “taking them away to be murdered because he needs to reduce the numbers since selling his land”.
So the farmer has separated the mothers from their calves and the mothers were being taken away to be killed. The calves will never see their mothers again because the mothers have been murdered. And I can imagine the mothers were crying and extremely distressed all the way to the slaughterhouse right up until they were murdered.
All this tragedy and violence takes place simply because we think animal products “taste good”. We certainly don’t need them to survive or be healthy. Distressing events like this one take place regularly, not just when farmers sell their land. It is a normal occurrence on any farm, particularly dairy farms.
I decided to go out because being witness to this tragedy was too distressing, and upon my return the calves were gone and the mothers were gone. If the calves were not killed too, then wherever they are, they are still crying for their mothers. This is the unspeakable bereavement which occurs every day everywhere all over the world. To do this to sentient beings is morally wrong.
The truth is, most of us are living unconsciously. We live unconsciously, and we do not think about, or wish to think about the tremendous violence we participate in because we create demand for animal products. We need to ask ourselves: Do we really think this is OK? Do we really think it’s justifiable? And we need to consider, if we need to ask ourselves this question, then it probably isn’t OK.
A friend of the farmer knew I was vegan and said to me, “you think differently but in this place, this is how things are”. I replied that one does not have to be vegan to see that there is something very wrong about removing crying children from their distressed mothers and then murdering them. I can guarantee if I lined up a group of non-vegans in front of these crying calves for 2 days, most people would probably find the experience distressing and would probably consider this terribly wrong. And yet because all we see in supermarkets are neat little packages of “meat” and very attractive containers of dairy products, we do not need to think about (nor to we want to think about it) or see what goes on behind these products.
Please go vegan. It’s a first step to a nonviolent life. If you’re not vegan, please start here www.VeganTrove.com/becomingvegan
Is publicly humiliating people on our social media pages in our vegan education efforts helpful or a counterproductive? I speak about this prevalence of this on social media in relation to abolitionist vegan education as well as related issues including claims by a small few that it is racist to promote veganism for the animals.
There’s new trend of rescue animal sanctuaries selling animal products from their refugees of domestication to the nonvegan public, thus reinforcing the public’s nonveganism. I discuss this and also the interrelatedness of all forms of discrimination which are just faces of the same ignorance.
How to become vegan : http://www.vegantrove.com/becomingvegan
Disclaimer: Please note I do not endorse opinions, links, individuals in my podcast or mentioned in external links.
Thanks for listening. Please subscribe to my podcast for future updates. Tune in next time. 🙂
In part 2, I discuss the promotion of violence within certain animal advocacy circles and how the small few who promote violence often contradict themselves and are deeply misanthropic.
(NOTE: Friends I have been trying to rectify what appears to be a glitch with the comments section. Until now I thought the comments section was available to the public as the settings on my site indicated they were, but I found on today that it’s not. I will try and fix this soon if possible. )
In part 2, I discuss the promotion of violence within certain animal advocacy circles and how the small few who promote violence often contradict themselves and are deeply misanthropic.
Please join me for part 2 which will be posted shortly.
Disclaimer: Please note I do not endorse individuals, opinions, links mentioned in the podcast or on external sites.
In episode 13, I take a brief look at yet another new gimmick “Meat-Free Week Australia” (just one in an increasingly long line) and the problems associated. I share an excerpt by Prof. Gary Steiner about anthropocentrism and a couple of works about the “humane” myth.
Disclaimer: Please note I do not endorse opinions, links, individuals or ads on external sites.
Please subscribe to this podcast 🙂 In this episode, I discuss a couple of quotes which talk about why promoting veganism is not “elitist” and I speak about the position “every little bit helps” and where this comes from and where it is leading us.
“Ethical veganism,” which I use interchangeably with “abolitionist veganism,” goes beyond a vegan diet and rejects direct animal consumption or use of any kind. An ethical vegan has a vegan diet and rejects consuming animal products but also does not wear or use any animal products. An ethical vegan rejects the commodification of nonhumans as property. An ethical vegan is committed to the abolition of animal exploitation. Moreover, ethical vegans recognize that an animal-based agriculture harms other humans as well as non-humans and sees the connection between human rights and animal rights. Ethical veganism is the moral baseline of the animal rights movement. Ethical veganism represents a commitment to non-violence in one’s daily living.
One counterargument to the claim that vegan advocacy is maximally conducive to veganism goes something like this: granted, welfarism cannot lead to abolition; but how do you know that vegan advocacy can? But this is like asking: why should we promote a clear, coherent, and unequivocal (vegan) message as opposed to an unclear, incoherent, and equivocal (welfarist) message? Furthermore, imagine all of the animal movement’s institutional resources had been spent not on welfarist reform and “happy” meat campaigns, but instead on clear and unequivocal vegan education. Does anyone seriously think that had the animal movement done this there would be fewer vegans today?
Someone who is undeterred by my rhetorical questions, who thinks, that is, that it may be preferable to present an unclear and incoherent welfarist message as opposed to a clear and coherent vegan message, will probably fall back on some version of the “if you ask for 100%, then you get nothing” defence. But as Gary Francione points out, what reason do we have to believe that if we promote veganism we will get nothing? For if people are concerned about the animal issue, then, even if they don’t go vegan, they will do something; and if they are so unconcerned about this issue that they would do nothing when presented with a vegan message, then what reason is there to believe that they would do something (89%?) if presented with a “happy” meat message? Moreover, as Francione points out, if we present people with a vegan message, then, even if they don’t feel ready to go vegan straightaway, we will at least give them something to which they can aspire. But if we tell them that they can be “conscientious omnivores”, that they can discharge their moral obligations to animals by eating “happy” meat and “cage-free” eggs, then that is all they will do.
Thus, in opposition to the vacuous mantra: “If you ask for 100%, then you get nothing”, I would say: “If you do nothing, then you get nothing”. In other words, if we do not campaign for abolition – if we do not clearly, lucidly, and uncompromisingly advocate it to the public – we will never get abolition.
Please read my disclaimer about individuals, links, or sites mentioned in this podcast:
In episode 11, I speak a little about “enriched cages”, “free range” eggs and “Meatless Mondays”.
I invite you to check out links to a number of excellent blogs about these issues I discuss. They can be found in the information section.
There’s many videos online displaying “enriched caged” systems, some by the industry. I do not know where the following video was taken but it looks like an industry video. I could not see any information associated with it.
The truth is that ALL use is abuse. No amount of trying to pretty up animal exploitation will ever hide what we all know deep inside — that using nonhuman sentient beings as “things, as resources is morally unjustifiable and needs to end.
The Egg industry claims that egg sales have skyrocketed since “Meatless Mondays” was introduced. Please reject “Meatless Mondays”. It makes moral distinctions between animal products as if one is worse than another when they are all a result of tremendous violence. If we make an ethical decision to reject something that is morally wrong, then we must reject it all, and not just on certain days.
Please go vegan. It’s the only morally consistent solution. It’s much easier than you think. It will be one of the best decisions you make in your life. Your only regret will be that you didn’t go vegan sooner. Here’s a good vegan resource
The music intro was an excerpt of “Carolan’s Dream“. Turlough O’Carolan, (1670 – 25 March 1738) was a blind early Irish harper, composer and singer.
Disclaimer: Please note I do not endorse opinions, links, individuals or ads on any external sites.
Consider the lives of “free-range” hens. “Free-range” egg producers generally purchase layer hens from the same hatcheries as traditional egg producers. Half of the chicks born in the hatcheries are males who are “disposed of” often in cruel ways, including being thrown live into machines that grind their bodies up or into trash bags and/or large dumpsters where they either starve or suffocate to death. Further, since “layer hens” typically are not sufficiently productive after two years, they are sent to slaughter at that time. The “free-range” egg industry relies heavily on the routine mass-slaughter of animals to be economically feasible.
The lives of “free-range” layer hens before slaughter are generally a living hell. The “free-range” egg label means only that the birds are permitted some access outdoors, even if it is only a miniscule fraction of the space of the large shed in which they live. Because of intensive overcrowding in these sheds, and because chickens are social animals who have a literal “pecking order”, their sensitive beaks are cut with a hot blade (to cauterize the blood flow) so they cannot hurt each other in trying to establish an impossible order in such crowded conditions. Also due to the crowding in a large, often poorly lit shed, the conditions of a typical “free-range” facility are filthy with excrement on the floor in which the hens live and extremely poor air quality due to the lack of ventilation. In addition to the harsh living conditions, the hens are genetically designed to be enormously productive in laying eggs, which causes them to be less healthy than traditional hens. The poor health of layers is largely due to the fact that chickens who are not exploited eat most of their eggs (in natural conditions, only a small percentage of eggs hatch), replenishing the nutrients they lose in the eggs they produce. When their eggs are taken from the hens, the hens lose the opportunity to replenish the nutrients lost in producing the egg. Genetically-designed, highly productive layers lose even more nutrients and end up even poorer in health because they lose more eggs to humans than natural hens.
The egg production of hens peaks when the hens are around seven months old and drops significantly at around 15 months old. To get an extra six months of production out of the hens, “free-range” producers will engage in a practiced called “forced molting” to imitate the conditions of the winter-spring transition. In forced molting, the hens are starved for several days up to 14 days and the lighting in the shed is dimmed. Hens can lose up to 30% of their body weight during this starvation process and some of the weaker hens – already malnourished from not being able to consume their own eggs – are killed as a result. Several weeks after the forced molt ends, production is back to normal.
After the “free-range” hens are “spent”, a condition in which they can no longer produce eggs at a commercially-viable rate and in which their health has deteriorated significantly from both the wretched living conditions and from losing nutrients from egg production/loss, the hens are transported to slaughter. Both transportation and slaughter can mean some of the most intensive cruelty the hens have yet experienced. They and their bones are very weak from giving so much nutrition for so long without replenishment from eating their own eggs. When they are handled roughly in transportation and slaughter, their bones are often broken. Also, layer hens are generally not used for human meat consumption; the meat is of very poor quality due to the poor health of the hens. “Free-range” hens end up at the same slaughterhouses as any other chicken where they are often intentionally tortured – hurled against the wall and stomped upon – by frustrated workers in poor working conditions with low pay. Even if the “ free-range” chickens are not intentionally tortured, some miss the electric “stunning” bath and neck blade (from struggling upside-down in their leg shackles) and instead are boiled alive in the de-feathering (scalding) tank.
Commercially-viable egg production, regardless of the label (“free-range”, “cage-free”, or “organic”), is extremely cruel to chickens. As mentioned above, hens who are not exploited eat most of their eggs as a natural way to replenish many of the nutrients they lose in producing eggs. Even in the best conditions imaginable, such as in a sanctuary or in the wild, it is unhealthy and exploitative to the hens to take their eggs from them. When we add the extremely cruel living conditions that “free-range” hens endure along with the mass-slaughtering that is required to keep egg production economically feasible, consuming eggs simply makes no sense at all for anyone concerned about the treatment or slaughter of animals.
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I hope you found this episode somewhat informative. Please join me next time. 🙂
