McCruelty

I just got my FREE McCruelty Action Pack! It's got a bunch of stickers, leaflets and a poster. I'm gonna spread the word. In case you didn't know, McDonald's has a system in the U.S. for killing chickens that skins and boils them alive. There is a pain free way to kill chickens using gas, and McDonald's already uses this system in Europe for some facilities. This campaign by PETA is to have McDonald's end the horrific cruelty in the U.S.

The poster's going up in my office, for sure. I'm not so sure about the stickers and flyers. Any ideas?

OK, hold on now...

I know I just posted the other day that pointing out how gross meat is isn't helping. Well, I can't help myself with this one. I imagine most people reading my blog don't need convincing to stop eating animal products, but it always helps to have more information. I recently read an article about PETA's complaint filed to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) regarding the California Milk Board's misleading ads for milk products. You can read it here. I plan to file a complaint as well. There's a link in the PETA article.

I noticed these ads on TV recently, as well as billboards and magazines and also found them extremely misleading and troubling. It's one thing to sell products from mistreated animals, but another to completely misrepresent their treatment and lie to the public. Here's just one of many TV ads:



So, in reading the PETA article, I linked through to milksucks.com. Specifically, the page where it explains the unhealthy, unsafe amount of pus in America's milk supply. Yes, pus. Pus. Pus! An excerpt:

Posilac is now widely used by dairy farmers to increase the amount of milk that their already overburdened cows produce. Because cows are not built to produce this much milk, they are prone to a painful udder infection called mastitis. When they are milked, pus and bacteria from the infection flow right along with the milk.

Plus, just look at how cute this little girl is. She shouldn't be living her life in this box. I know giving up dairy is the hardest part of going vegan, but it's worth it!

6 minutes and 34 seconds changed my life

I found it. This is the exact interview I heard on NPR, November 1st 2009, that inspired me to quit eating meat and dairy, and ultimately, become a vegan. (Not the written article, but the audio that can be streamed or downloaded for free.) It's less than 7 minutes long. Whether you eat meat or not, I highly recommend listening to it. It will explain why the following quote from the end of the interview is so true.

"What we choose to eat when ordering in a restaurant, what we choose to buy at a supermarket, is, um, frankly the most important, or at least one of the most important decisions we'll make all day."
Jonathan Safran Foer

Finished the book. What now?

I finished Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals yesterday. It wasn't easy. I won't go into the details, but what goes on in factory farming is even worse than what I could have imagined. Which, of course, I wasn't trying to do in the past. What's great about the book, is he's very fair. He isn't just stringing together horrific details one after another, attempting to guilt the reader into becoming a vegetarian. It's clear that he wanted to see all sides. This gives the book a legitimacy that a more extreme book may not have. I recommend it to everyone. Even those who choose to eat meat should read it, just to know what they're eating.

I never thought I'd be the person who wanted to convert people to vegetarianism. I remember thinking that it wasn't anyone's business what I ate. I had all the excuses lined up so I wouldn't have to face what I was doing. I didn't want to hear it (sound familiar?). It was denial (see my post from a couple days ago where I go into more details of my denial). But, now my eyes are opened, and it's hard to turn a blind eye to something so common in everyday life that I find so disturbing. It's in TV commercials, restaurants, lunches at work, etc. It's bizzaro world. Maybe I'll get used to it. I'm new to this. Or, maybe I won't. Maybe it'll motivate me to do everything I can to change it.

My sister has been a vegetarian for a long time, and my Mom mostly has in her adult life. I can't remember even one time where they tried to explain it to me. And, I never asked. (Deeeeeee-nial!) Now that I think about it, I don't even know why Mom is a vegetarian. Maybe to them it was so obvious why they were, so if I didn't get it I didn't get it. I wonder, would I have listened had they talked to me seriously about it? Would I have shrugged it off? Did they, and did I forget? I don't know. Maybe no matter what, I wasn't ready to make the step until now. Which brings me to this question:  

What now? I want to reach out to everyone I know, inform them, and try to change the world in whatever way I can. At the same time, I know that I would be extremely annoying if I did that and I'd have no friends. I've decided for now that I simply will answer when asked why I'm a vegetarian. But, I won't be able to live with myself if I don't have a plan in the background to advance the cause of vegetarianism and bring an end to the cruel treatment of animals. If I were a cow, I would want someone to do the same for me. So, it's coming people. I don't know what exactly is coming, but I know why.

Reflections on my denial

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Eating Animals, and a particular section about chicken processing on factory farms reminded me of an experience I had earlier this year. And it highlights the denial I was living in before I stopped eating meat.

I was walking my dog on a Sunday evening, tired, and a bright green bird caught my eye. It was lying in a back alley. At first I thought it was dead because it was lying on it's back, but then I saw it move when I got closer. My pup gave it a sniff and walked away. I took a couple steps as if to continue walking, but I turned right back around. I knew I couldn't do that. I felt bad for the little guy, and I couldn't let him suffer in pain and starve to death. I considered stomping on him right then and there to put him out of his misery. It would have been awful, and extremely difficult for me. But, he looked alive enough that maybe he just needed a vet and would be fine. I couldn't kill him. So, I gently picked him up, trying not to cause more pain or put him in shock. He still was only really moving his head and his wings a bit, but he was pecking at my fingers. The little bugger. I took this picture as I was walking back to my apartment.

No vet would even look at the bird unless I claimed it was my pet, and based on my description (I thought his leg was broken, maybe some internal damage) the tests alone were going to exceed $1,000, let alone any treatment. After hours of calling various groups I finally found a rescue organization that was willing to take him the next morning, against their rules. Valley Wildlife Rescue. Based on their advice, I did my best to give him a comfortable home for the night. I bought some birdseed at Target because it was late at this point, had a little water dish, put a heating pad under the box, and an old t-shirt to line it. Within a couple hours, he was eating and moving around the box a bit.

I drove to the rescue the next morning, and was late to work because of it. I was so thankful, and they said they'd get back to me. Well, they were optimistic in the first couple days, saying they were stopping the internal bleeding, would x-ray him once he was stable. And they asked if I would adopt him. I'm not a bird person. I had a parakeet as a kid, but that's it. I wasn't looking to have a bird cage to clean up in addition to taking care of my dog. But, something about the little guy made me want to keep him. He was a little fighter. I found him and saved him. So, I was going to keep him. Well, I got the e-mail a couple days later. After an x-ray, they saw his spine was broken, he wouldn't have a good life, and they put him down. I never thought I'd be so attached to a bird, and I was upset. I think I even cried on the way to work the next day, just thinking about him.

This brings me to my denial. How was it that the suffering of 1 bird was enough for me to put all that energy into saving him, yet I was willing to eat the flesh of animals that have suffered far worse? I even would take spiders outside after catching them, never killing them. I didn't think about it, that's how. I knew it was horrible, but I somehow kept on doing it.

In "Eating Animals" he describes chickens being grabbed by their legs and most of the time they break them. Suffering. And I've noticed, when people ask me why I went vegetarian and I answer "I'm not down with torchering animals," they always say they don't wanna know any more. They're all in denial. I'm so grateful for hearing this interview and finally snapping out of it. The book is shocking. And all my omnivore friends have a million excuses of why eating meat is OK. Interestingly, none of them are in a hurry to read the book. Otherwise, they'd have to face what I've faced. I had to look inside and really see that I was doing something I felt was wrong. I'm not a person who would support suffering of any life on this planet. And I wasn't living in a way true to my own beliefs. And that's something I strive for every day in as many ways as I can. I can only control what happens in my future, so I can't feel guilt for what I've done. I feel relieved. A burden has been lifted. I'm now more myself than I've ever been. And I've never felt better. And that's what I tell all the nay-sayers who assume I'm feeling fatigued or sickly. When they ask how I feel now, I say "I've never felt better." And I mean it.

Emptied my fridge

I could have eaten meat today, but I didn't. I gave myself a pass. But I saw no reason to indulge in something I find unethical. I went to Sharky's with 2 friends from work for lunch. Instead of my usual chicken tostada salad, I got a tofu tostada salad. I couldn't finish all the tofu, and I thought I was gonna gag on it a couple times. I'm not big into tofu, and it won't be making it into my diet for 2 reasons: gag factor, and it's processed.

A small project after work was getting rid of all animal products from my apartment. And how embarrassing, it was mostly frozen. Chicken breasts, chicken empanadas, fish sticks, breaded shrimp, lasagna, organic turkey sausage, pot stickers, turkey lunch meat and tuna. I piled it on my counter and it looked like this:

Next, I gave all my meat products to my neighbor Jimmi James. He was very happy:

My last project was buying Eating Animals. It's 11:35, my order is just placed, so I just made it.

Tomorrow is my last day to splurge.

From an early age, I felt eating meat was wrong. Factory farming has especially disturbed me. But somehow, I was able to ignore this rational conclusion and go on eating meat. I would tell myself that I don't want to eat meat, but when I was hungry my animal side took over. (Interesting that my "animal" side enjoyed eating animals) At age 30, I'm making a lot of changes in my life, so it stands to reason this change happens now as well. After listening to an interview on NPR with Jonathan Safran Foer (author of Eating Animals), I knew my meat eating days were numbered. I've always loved meat: steaks, chicken, fish—I love it all. So, I'm going to document my struggles and triumphs in my new life of meatlessness.

I wanted to give myself a week of practice to see what it was like in my normal routine to change my eating habits. Well, I didn't make it 100%, but pretty darn close. On Friday night I had plans to go to a concert, and I had to stay late at work, and then traffic was horrible, and in my hurry to get home I stopped at Wendy's and got a 99 cent chicken sandwich. It was pretty damn good. Usually, I'd get a double burger, at least. But, besides that, 100%. And I think I had some shrimp stir-fry at some point. But it was healthy. I was expecting to have less energy, more cravings and fatigue. But, none of that.

So, tomorrow is my last practice day. My last day where I told myself it's forgivable to eat meat. Maybe I should eat a big-ass burger. Or splurge on a filet mignon. Or bacon wrapped dove wings stuffed with more bacon served on a bed of bacon. I don't think I will, though.

Tomorrow I WILL remember to buy the book that pushed me over the edge to vegetarianism: Eating Animals