Living Without Meat

Check out my guest post about meat and the environment (with a side of promotion for the Humane League) over at Allie’s Answers!

Last night I babysat three of my favorite kids who are ages 2, 4, and 6. We had some very interesting dinner conversation!

The oldest, a girl, was trying to find a creative way to say “stupid” without actually saying it, thus avoiding getting in trouble.

“That’s stu-apple-did!” she said, smiling proudly.

After a few minutes of repeating this to test me, while her younger sister, the 4-year-old, repeated, “I think it’s booty-ful,” (”booty” is outlawed in this household), she realized she was saying something close to “apple stew.”

“I’m going to make some apple stew!” said the oldest.

“What’s in apple stew?” asked her sister.

“I imagine it would be similar to applesauce,” I added. “Because that’s how you make applesauce - by cooking apples in a big pot.”

But the chef-to-be had other plans. So here is a 6-year-old’s recipe for how to make apple stew:

“You cook 10 apples with 4 bananas, then add some whipped cream. But it’s not really a stew, that’s just the name. It’s really more of a dessert.”

And there you have it. Apple stew, the creation of a budding young chef. If I had more time with them, and all of the ingredients, I would have let her put this concoction together as dessert.

I think it is very important to let your kids try things out in the kitchen (so does their mother, so I know she would have been okay with me doing this). I am a healthy eater that is fearless in the kitchen, and I believe that it is because my mom let me play around with foods. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. I remember making “cookies” one time by melting two or three different kinds of chocolate chips together, adding some mint flavoring, blobbing it on a piece of wax paper, and letting it freeze. Nothing special, but I learned how to make and use a double boiler!

I am embarrassed to confess that I just watched some of E!’s 101 Celebrity Slimdowns, but I have to admit that in order to share some of the awesome things that the comedians and fitness pros said.

At least two people included on the list - Alicia Silverstone and Tobey Maguire - had veganism connected to their weight change (I am proud to say that I did not watch all 101 weighty stories). Alicia went from average girl skinny to celebrity woman skinny when she became vegan. On the flip side of the scale, Tobey’s story was about how he muscled up for his role as Spider-Man.

It’s more accepted by the general public (read: non-veg folks) that vegans are skinny than that vegans can be ripped. So I was certainly pleased when the commentators response was fairly positive.

Two male comedians commented went for the easy target, tofu, but did so in a very animal rights-ish way: Tofu is nasty. I mean, not as nasty as killing, plucking, cooking, and eating an animal, but it’s pretty nasty (quote paraphrased from memory).

Aussie speaker, trainer, and nutritionist Susan Powter pointed out that it is harder, but not impossible to gain muscle mass on a purely plant-based diet: People think you can’t bulk up and can’t get protein from a vegan diet, but they’re wrong (again, paraphrased from instant recall).

If you still don’t believe that you can lose fat and gain muscle on a strict vegan diet, check out these pages:

* VeganFitness.net
* Vegan Bodybuilding blog and Vegan Bodybuilding Web site
* The Vegan Fitness Team

As of yesterday, February 23, U.S. MTV viewers will be shown two vegetarian ads produced and paid for by Compassion Over Killing (COK).

Erica Meier of COK excitedly announced the new ad campaign, saying that “viewers around the country will see, perhaps for their first time, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the cruel world of factory farming - and they’ll be further directed to visit our website TryVeg.com for more information.”

The 30-second TV ads, “Exploring Your Food” and “A Side of Truth,” will run for the next five weeks. Watch them, and COK’s five other pro-veg ads, online by clicking here. COK began their ad campaign in 2004, and have since done test runs on MTV of select ads in target cities. At just pennies per viewing, the ads have “proven to be a strategic and cost-effective way to expose the hidden horrors on factory farms and encourage people to explore compassionate eating habits.”

COK is hot right now in the animal rights movement! Earlier this month, COK teamed up with Mercy for Animals and the Animal Protection and Rescue League to launch a campaign urging BOCA to stop using eggs in their veggie burgers and other products. Check out this campaign at BOCAEggFacts.com. Before targeting BOCA, COK had success urging Morning Star Farms to use less eggs, thus making more of their products vegan not just vegetarian.

COK is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that makes a nationwide impact with their efforts. Learn about all of their current and recent campaigns at COK.net.

I wrote an article called “How to Detox at Home“ today at eHow.com. Go check it out to find out more about detoxing or just to support me!

Victoria’s Secret is no longer hiding in closet. The lingerie and beauty product brand is getting loud and proud about veganism. Pink Body is a new line of Victoria’s Secret cosmetics - including fragrance, body wash, lotion, chapstick, and more - that is being promoted as green. All products in the line are 100 percent vegan, natural, and organic. It doesn’t get much better than that.

During the Pink college tour, brand representatives talked to young women about what they want in a product. Pink Body was the answer. From VS’s press release:

“INTRODUCING PINK BODY, a unique line of skin-loving and earth-friendly products created specifically for the pink girl. She spoke. We listened. The result? A more personalized approach to everyday body care using organic and vegan ingredients, powerful natural formulas and eco-friendly packaging.”

How awesome is that? A major company performed market research and determined that the 20-something generation of women want their products to be organic, natural, and vegan.

Eccentric Vegan compiled a great resource post, called “Dear Non-Vegans,” all about why meat, eggs, all other animal products are not healthy, humane, or environmentally friendly on Vegan Soapbox. I don’t often cross-post someone else’s writings, but this a very good list of information. So check it out:

10 billion land animals die every year for your unhealthy habits. In the US alone, 10 billion land animals are raised and killed for meat, eggs, and milk every year. For comparison’s sake: In the US, 3 to 4 million companion animals (pets) are killed in shelters every year.

Meat, eggs, and dairy are NOT healthy foods.
Proof:

• http://www.cancerproject.org/diet_cancer/facts/meat.php
• http://www.thechinastudy.com/PDFs/ChinaStudy_Excerpt.pdf
• http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodborneinfections_g.htm#mostcommon
• http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/11/20/131453/95

Meat, eggs, and dairy are NOT sustainable foods.
Proof:

• http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/fast-food-anoth.html
• http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.htm
• http://www.sustainabletable.com/issues/factoryfarming/
• http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/environment.html
• http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/31673/title/It%E2%80%99s_the_meat_not_the_miles
• http://www.humanemyth.org/faq/1127.htm

Meat, eggs, and dairy are NOT humane foods:
Proof:

• http://meat.org/
• http://www.humanemyth.org/
• http://www.vegansoapbox.com/8-disturbing-animal-videos/

PLEASE stop making animals suffer for your unhealthy, unsustainable, cruel habits.

My first letter to the editor was published this week in the Middle Tennessee State University student newspaper, Sidelines. Here’s the published version of what I wrote in response to their article about a MTSU student group, Solidarity, protesting the ARAMARK cafeteria:

ARAMARK’s cruelty

“It’s great to read about the empowering actions of the student group Solidarity. The Humane League has also been protesting ARAMARK.

Despite other options, ARAMARK knowingly chooses to use eggs from caged hens. Cages for egg-laying chickens are a cruel method of confinement that prevents hens from ever leading a natural life.

With battery cages, each hen has less space than a standard sheet of paper. Birds spend their lives without ever seeing the sun or feeling solid ground beneath their feet, and have their feathers torn off from constantly rubbing against cage bars.

ARAMARK’s competitors, like Compass Group, already made the socially responsible decision to switch to cage-free eggs. More than 350 colleges and universities have also switched to cage-free eggs.

Eggs from chickens contained in battery cages are a cruel practice that has no place in today’s sustainable market. ARAMARK should go cage-free.

Thanks, Sidelines, for letting me share! If you want more info about ARAMARK and cage-free eggs, check out the ARAMARK Go Cage Free campaign site.”

Hopefully this is my first of many published letters. Consider writing your own letters to editors. It doesn’t have to be a local paper, and student papers are more likely to print what you send them. Follow the guidelines for length, and make your point tie back to a previously published article. Then let me know if you get published!

Last night I attended the first (and hopefully now monthly) Vegan Drinks Philly. About 70 vegans, vegetarians, and veg-inclined people packed into the small bar room at the local vegan go-to restaurant Horizons. It was a fun, social, easy going, friendly atmosphere. And the most popular question of the evening was how did I get a job in the animal rights field. So in case anyone else is interested, here’s the path that I followed …

Almost two years ago I started writing for this site. I would say that having this on my resume, and being something that potential employers could easily review, was a major benefit. I was particularly complimented on interviews over the professional nature of my writing.

So that’s my first suggestion: take up a hobby that relates to animals or veganism and then present yourself in a professional manner while doing so. Volunteer with local shelters or rescues and always show up when you say that you will. Start a blog, but keep it more informative than personal, more article like than diary. And in everything that you do watch your language. Consider everyone that you interact with a potential employer and therefore offer them respect.

Once I decided that I was ready to move on to a full-time job benefiting animals, I began looking around online. There are some animal-based job searches, such as the Humane Society’s Humane Career Toolbox, but I found the most fruitful search to be going directly to the source. If you are willing to move, head to the Web sites of Farm Sanctuary, PETA, and HSUS. Check out what job openings they have. But don’t be discouraged if you don’t get a response. HSUS didn’t respond to me at all. PETA considered me, but said “no thanks.” Farm Sanctuary interviewed me in person, but went with someone that had more experience.

So my second big tip is to look for smaller, growing organizations, and be ready to work for pennies! Growing companies will not be able to pay as much but will also be willing to let you learn on the job - as long as you have the passion, professionalism, and at least some skills.

And finally, as with any job search, keep at it. It never hurts to send your resume, even you think you are not quite qualified.

Twilight brought about the vegan vampire phenomenon. In the book series and movie, vampires who chose not to suck blood from humans were “vegan.” Granted, they got their fix from animals, so they wasn’t really anything vegan about them, but I digress. The phrase “vegan vampire” became a popular one.

Now, Applehead Factory brings us the award-winning Tofu the Vegan Zombie, a cartoon starring the voices of Ellen Muth of Dead Like Me (of which a movie version was released this week) and Billy West of Futurama.

“Tofu is a friendly zombie, created from a botched experiment in Professor Vost’s laboratory. Monkey #5, one of Vost’s lab animals, stuffed a block of tofu into the zombie boy’s open skull after accidentally losing the brain. As a result, ‘Tofu’ eats only vegetables and grains and has no taste for human meat. However, if ‘Tofu’ ever loses his ‘tofu-brain,’ he turns into a dangerous zombie creature, craving human flesh.”

“Zombie Dearest,” the first Tofu episode, is now available to watch at Tofu the Vegan Zombie’s online home.

There has been a lot of chatter in the news about vegetarianism in schools. Here’s a few recent highlights; click on a title to read the article.

* “PETA Urges Obama to Give Kids Vegetarian School Lunches,” U.S. News and World Report

* “Some school cafeterias offer more meatless meals,” Morning Sentinel, Maine

* “Maine Schools Expand Meatless Options,” Bangor Daily News, Maine

* “Free Money for College Students,” Washington Post

* “Vegan Students Start Grass Roots Campaign,” Daily Illini, Illinois

* “Public School Offers Fees Discount for Vegetarian Students,” Telegraph, U.K.

* “Scholar Wanted: Only Vegetarians Need Apply,” Independent, U.K.

* “Schools Offer Vegetarian Fee Cut,” BBC News, U.K.

* “U.S. to Boost Healthy Lunch in Schools,” Green Planet, Italy

* “The School Lunch Revolution,” Health News, California

You can now earn your favorite organization a donation every time you shop or search online! Check out iGive to shop from 700 different online retailers, and iSearchiGive to search online.

Sign up now because for the entire month of February your choice organization gets 2 cents per search, instead of the normal 1 cent. After you become a member - for free! - place any size order with any retailer and your org will receive an additional $5 donation.

The iGive mall has stores where you can buy toys, clothes, shoes, food, purses, flowers, pet supplies, office needs, books, magazines, arts and crafts, computer products, travel related services, and much, much more. You can shop at Overstock, American Eagle, AT&T, eBay, Amazon, Netflix, Restaurant.com, Snapfish, Urban Outfitters, and hundreds more. You will even find great vegan options such as e.l.f. makeup and cosmetics!

To support the nonprofit that I work for, add the Humane League of Philadelphia as your cause.

Self Magazine recently put together three nutritious, meat-free (or almost) day-long meal plans. The vegan one is shown here; they also created a lacto-ovo vegetarian one and a flexitarian one.

Breakfast

• 1 cup oatmeal with 1/2 cup blueberries and 1/2 cup fortified soymilk



• 1 slice whole-grain toast with 1 tbsp peanut butter

Snack

• 4 cinnamon graham cracker squares
• 1 cup fortified chocolate soymilk

Lunch

• Hummus sandwich with 1/4 cup hummus and sliced tomato on 2 slices whole-grain bread
• 1 cup crudités dipped in 1/4 cup salsa
• 1 cup calcium-fortified orange juice

Snack

• 1/4 cup almonds
• Banana (or other whole fresh fruit)

Dinner

• 1 cup pasta (whole-grain if you like, but it’s not necessary) with 1/2 cup marinara sauce
• 2 cups kale steamed, then sautéed in 1 tsp olive oil

Dessert

• 1/2 cup lemon Italian ice with 1/2 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Total day’s calories: 1,963
52.6 g fat (11.7 g saturated), 306 g carbs, 37 g fiber, 77 g protein

Thanks to Eccentric Vegan for sharing this on Vegan Soapbox, along with some other great, similar links.

AFP, an independent news network, published this article today. I think it speaks for itself, so here it is as it appeared online.

Hamburgers are the Hummers of food in global warming: scientists

CHICAGO (AFP) — When it comes to global warming, hamburgers are the Hummers of food, scientists say.

Simply switching from steak to salad could cut as much carbon as leaving the car at home a couple days a week.

That’s because beef is such an incredibly inefficient food to produce and cows release so much harmful methane into the atmosphere, said Nathan Pelletier of Dalhousie University in Canada.

Pelletier is one of a growing number of scientists studying the environmental costs of food from field to plate.

By looking at everything from how much grain a cow eats before it is ready for slaughter to the emissions released by manure, they are getting a clearer idea of the true costs of food.

The livestock sector is estimated to account for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and beef is the biggest culprit.

Even though beef only accounts for 30 percent of meat consumption in the developed world it’s responsible for 78 percent of the emissions, Pelletier said Sunday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

That’s because a single kilogram of beef produces 16 kilograms carbon dioxide equivalent emissions: four times higher than pork and more than ten times as much as a kilogram of poultry, Pelletier said.

If people were to simply switch from beef to chicken, emissions would be cut by 70 percent, Pelletier said.

Another part of the problem is people are eating far more meat than they need to.

“Meat once was a luxury in our diet,” Pelletier said. “We used to eat it once a week. Now we eat it every day.”

If meat consumption in the developed world was cut from the current level of about 90 kilograms a year to the recommended level of 53 kilograms a year, livestock related emissions would fall by 44 percent.

“Given the projected doubling of (global) meat production by 2050, we’re going to have to cut our emissions by half just to maintain current levels,” Pelletier said.

“Technical improvements are not going to get us there.”

That’s why changing the kinds of food people eat is so important, said Chris Weber, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania.

Food is the third largest contributor to the average US household’s carbon footprint after driving and utilities, and in Europe - where people drive less and have smaller homes - it has an even greater impact.

“Food is of particular importance to a consumer’s impact because it’s a daily choice that is, at least in theory, easy to change,” Weber said.

“You make your choice every day about what to eat, but once you have a house and a car you’re locked into that for a while.”

The average US household contributes about five tons of carbon dioxide a year by driving and about 3.5 tons of equivalent emissions with what they eat, he said.

“Switching to no red meat and no dairy products is the equivalent of (cutting out) 8,100 miles driven in a car … that gets 25 miles to the gallon,” Weber said in an interview following the symposium.

Buying local meat and produce will not have nearly the same effect, he cautioned.

That’s because only five percent of the emissions related to food come from transporting food to market.

“You can have a much bigger impact by shifting just one day a week from meat and dairy to anything else than going local every day of the year,” Weber said.

For more information on how to eat a low carbon diet, visit www.eatlowcarbon.org

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I am just two weeks in to working with the Humane League and already can’t believe what an impact I am having! On my first day, I got the opportunity to hand out leaflets at my alma mater. The students were warm and welcoming of the information that I had to share.

I spend time each morning reaching out to teens and 20-somethings through MySpace. So far I have had eight people tell me that they are trying to become a vegetarian based on the videos and information that I shared with them. Plus, several more have expressed an interest in learning more about factory farming and vegetarianism. It has also been interesting to see how many people in this age group are already vegetarian. Many have been sending me encouraging words and thanks for doing what I am doing. We have received several requests for our Vegetarian Starter Pack from this MySpace outreach, as well as from my posting of ads on Craig’s List. After my initial postings, we received 25 requests and the numbers are going up daily.

By my second day, I was already contacting local and national vegan, vegetarian, “green,” and health-based companies about advertising in our upcoming Philadelphia Area Vegetarian Eating Guide. The response has been surprising – in a good way! I have three potential full-page advertisers, and a dozen others interested in a smaller ad. The money raised by selling these ads will help us pay for the printing of these brochures, so the more we sell, the more copies we can produce and distribute.

In between these larger projects, I have plenty to keep me busy! I am writing and submitting letters to editors and op-ed pieces. I have been contacting local public access networks about submitting programs on factory farming. One station has agreed to air one, and another has expressed interest in possibly setting up a regular time slot for us.

Yesterday I had my first meeting with a restaurant owner to talk to him about how and why he can make his menu vegan-friendly. He is excited to learn more and has agreed to include more options!

So far, this has been an incredibly positive experience for me and I know that it will only get better. Not only will my life change, but I will be creating change for animals.