There used to be a time when my grandparents grew beets, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, rhubarb, grapes, cucumbers, and beans in their backyard. They passed when I was in my teens, but I’ve never forgotten how superior it was to eat vegetables freshly picked and cooked.
Being that he came from another era altogether, my grandfather’s reliance on heavy fertilizers was non-existent. In fact, for the most part, he used compost and other common additives to enrich and protect the soil. He also weeded by hand and rotated plots in his backyard every year so as to allow the soil to replenish.
When my mother was a girl, my grandparents also kept chickens, which is something considering that she grew up on Canada Way on the Burnaby-New West border. They produced eggs and the family ate them. They lived in an old fashioned chicken coup and, as was normal, also ran around as chickens once did before being confined to cages in the tens of thousands on modern chicken farms.
The point that I’m making is that there was a time, and it wasn’t that long ago, that we had a hand in what we consumed, even in the suburbs of cities. People grew vegetables, herbs, and fruits, consuming them when in season and turning to stores that they had built up in the winter months, commonly pickling what could not be stored long-term.
Today, of course, we find ourselves living in a very different world, one in which we are all guilty of helping sustain the abuse of animals in the pursuit of testing foods – even health foods.
According to The Sunday Times in the UK, health food trends have led to a 300% increase in the use of animals for testing purposes in Britain. The animals used range from rats, mice, and guinea pigs to rabbits and dogs - all of them disposed of after the fact.
To ensure the safety of Teavigo (“green tea in its purest form”), the lives of dogs are sacrificed. I look at Benji and Casey and think of health food nuts taking Teavigo supplements, most of whom are probably entirely oblivious to the fact that animals were sacrificed in the testing process.
There are, of course, those that will argue until they’re blue in the face that testing on animals in necessary. In truth, it’s an empty argument, because the last time I checked animals weren’t used to test the effects of foods that have sustained humans, and animals, for millennia. A carrot is a carrot and a beet is a beet. Animals will eat them just as readily as human beings will, and that’s something that shouldn’t be overlooked. Nor should the fact that even in the testing of dog foods, some dog food companies do unconscionable things to dogs themselves to ensure that, if you can believe it, the product is ‘good’ for them.
The testing of cosmetics, animal foods, health foods, and a laundry list of other commercial products all lead to one end – the death of animals. You might find rats and mice repulsive, but who is anyone to say that we have the right to sacrifice them in an effort to produce better ‘health drinks’?
The use of animals in medical research is one thing, and in certain cases with regards to devastating diseases, a very unfortunate necessity at times. But even then, the utmost care should be taken with just how far we are prepared to go to sanction the use of living things for our benefit. It is a precedent that creates a very slippery moral slope, one that has led to the belief that the use of animals for a variety of testing purposes is completely acceptable.
My dogs can’t talk, and therefore are unable to convey their emotions in a fashion that, were they harmed or afraid, would reduce most individuals with a conscience to tears. All they are capable of doing is producing sounds of pain, and as a dog owner and lover, even those are utterly unbearable to my ears. To think that anyone could willingly ignore such cries of distress, even if limited to canine wails, is entirely beyond me.
Mahatma Gandhi once said – “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”. Given the variety of ways that we abuse animals in the attempt to secure fortunes, to cash in on health food trends, or whatever else, what does that say about us?
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I used to help my grandma in her garden too when I was a kid, something that long ago was turned into a plot of grass. We used to have borscht using mostly things from her garden for many a meal at her place.
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I couldn’t agree with you more. I became Vegetarian back in 1999 for because of my love for animals. I have been attempting a Vegan diet, which isn’t easy.
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The best thing in the entire world, was picking vegetables with my great grandma from her garden. She’d let me pick a bowl of raspberries for myself :). My mom tells me about when she’d pluck the chickens for her grandma.
I have a very hard time imagining how someone could actually hurt an animal, actually ignore those yelps and whines, but I know in my career as an Animal Health Technologist, I’m probably going to encounter it and if possible, stop it.
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My grandparents used to also grow vegetables and had chickens and a coup and they lived in New West near 10th ave.
Anyone that can ignore an animal’s cry of pain is soulless. Pure and simple.
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My backyard garden in Arizona was about 2/3 the size of your apartment. I planted my tomatoes in March and pulled them up in November.
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I agree with the way people treat animals tells a lot about them. There’s a guy I know who once threw a bunny into a cup holder when it was scared; he took it right from my hands… and another time he threw a squirrel in a fire pit. My friends all like this guy and I will NEVER trust him.
This post reminded me how my friend got foot and mouth from chickens and I find that funny. I don’t really know why I find things like that and scurvy funny.
I buy a lot of body shop products because they don’t test on animals. If I knew what food to avoid because they did test on animals I would too.
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We always had a garden when I was growing up, the fresh veggies were always great!
I don’t understand and will never understand those individuals that can ignore the cry of any living animal…
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Half our back garden when I was growing up was dedicated to growing fruit and vegetables. I remember at a very early age helping my parents to pick the fruit and veg and then to bag most of it up ready to be frozen and used at a later date. For some reason my Dad stopped growing his own food after he remarried even though my stepmother is an avid gardener when it comes to flowers and non-edible plants and they have a very large garden. I’ll have to ask him why some time.
One the things I want to do next year is make more of my food from scratch - it’s so much healthier and tastier and reduces the amount of (largely non-recyclable) packaging that processed food comes in. Sadly I don’t have a garden so I still need to buy the raw ingredients.
I really don’t understand what they’re doing to the food that they don’t feel safe testing it on humans but feel a need to test it on animals first - makes you wonder what kind of scary stuff they’re putting in there.
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My generation is the first in my family to not have a garden. Work & sports take up at least 80hrs/wk, so its just not gonna happen for me. But I do try to do my part: I don’t wear any cosmetics/perfume or use any other face-crap (that stuff is garbage and doesn’t accomplish 1% of what a healthy diet can do). And while I must depend on the grocery store, I try buy real food and not procesed stuff (ie. shop on the outer part of the store and avoid the aisles). Not a lot, but…
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Wow, one of my favorite quotes and an issue close to my heart - although you did open my eyes to the health food thing, never thought about that one…I’ll have to make sure I check my labels more carefully.
And if anyone wants even more eye openers, go to the PETA website - a grab a tissue.
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Thanks for that,
I only wish more people felt the same way. I am restraining my self from babbling for hours about this.
It’s simply amazing how we treat the animal kingdom. Is this all done to benefit the consumer, or the wallets of business men? Developing a cure for cancer is one thing, but testing a new Gillette shaving cream is ridiculous.
I read an article once on how it’s easier for children to purchase handguns rather than tomatoes in some poverty stricken urban cities in the U.S. Point being that a trip to the market is too far of a journey and the local confectionery’s sell Doritos and Beer.
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My grandma still grows carrots and beans and a few other vegetables. Store bought vegetables shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence as her vegetables. It’s like comparing cardboard to candy. One just tastes way better, to say the least.
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My Mother is a biochemist.. she has told me some horror stories of when she interned at a company in San Francisco who did do animal testing, my mother is a farm girl from Kansas-no surprise she raised animals and grew her own crops as a kid. She is also a vegetarian now..but she said that the animal testing that she saw there was the most deplorable thing she has ever witnessed.
I do eat meat.. although I eat more fish then anything. And I dont wear leather or fur.. I buy no leather products.. my shoes are made from cloth and rubber/wood and if there is anything that resembles fur, its fake as hell.
This year I plan on growing my own veggies.. I do grow my own fruit. And I did purchase a plot in our community co-op garden!
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I’ve been doing all my grocery shopping over the holidays at a little place in the Comox Valley called Edible Island foods. Much of the product comes from local suppliers who follow the same principles your grandparents and my grandparents followed so many years ago in tending their gardens. It’s my mission upon returning to Vancouver to find a store that’s much like that. Even “organic” vegetables in chain markets are sprayed with a large amount of chemicals to “clean” the fruit and vegetables.
I firmly believe that what we put into our bodies, we’ll get out of our bodies. There are so many good, healthy, ecologically-friendly food products we can consume and it makes me question why we don’t. It’s cliche to say that I’m turning over a new (green) leaf in my eating habits simply because it’s the new year, but the truth is that I have no excuse not to.
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We still do garden, a great big plot too. :D
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I miss having a garden - we had an amazing one when I was a kid, and I had a raspberry bush right underneath my bedroom window.
Anyhow, thanks for posting this/linking to that article - I had no idea, and I have been a vegetarian/supporter of PETA, etc. for twenty years. I wonder if, after all the 90s outcry over animal testing and cosmetics, the lab industry had to just find a new means of supporting itself and its employees (rather than shutting down). It makes me sad that what felt like such a victory for a while there just got sub/con/diverted into another version of the same thing. I don’t think there are laws (yet) about labelling food re animal testing, is there? Boo.
Toronto area folks might be interested in this:
http://www.foodshare.net/goodfoodbox01.htm
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As like many of the folks above, I grew up having a veggy/fruit/herb garden in my yard. THat being said, I also grew up in an area made up almost entirely of farmland.. Going to farmers markets to support locals was a norm- especially when we didn’t grow somethign that they had. I do miss that- There is somethign about growing and cultivating your own food source. Going out to my garden to water or weed and then pulling the goodies at harvest time.
I read that article about animals being tested in a search for “finding the benefits of health foods”. It was disgusting- it made me livid. I wish more people were aware of what goes on behind closed doors. I would hope people would think twice about purchasing products that promote these deplorable conditions for these animals. The problem is though- even to the considerate consumer, the manufacturer’s of some of these products are not going to advertise that they abuse animals in a quest for you to find your fountain of youth.
I mean, I do eat meat, but i try to be an educated consumer- as far as where and who I purchas emy products from.. I’m an animal lover and the thought of seeing a little creature in pain kills me.
Coming from a science backround- I can say I have witnessed what I htink to be ridiculous scenarios for when animal testing has been done. Even in university- for class experiments, we sacrificed rats (though in a very humane way) in order to conduct simple, insignificant experiments. I always left the room as I didn’t agree with what was happening. I didn’t see the point in letting some little animal- rodent or not, die for somethign that wasn’t important past writing a paper about it.
I agree that more should be done in order to protect the rights of these animals. The line has to be drawn on what types of experiments in which they can be used in.
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I grew up at my father’s vegetable farm and 80% of our diet consisted of vegetables. We used to live next to the garbage dump and in the old days almost all of the garbages were organic, we were never short of fertilizers. Composting was quite convenient. My father always made us trim and wash the vegetables before shipping.
Some vegetables attracted bugs easier than others so we used to plant alternate rows of garlic and the buggy vegetables. This was very effective and the stores were always marvelled at how nice our vegetables looked.
I don’t believe that animals should be used for any form of experiments. As we can see that a lot of drugs that are approved by Health Canada to be sold on the open market do not work. That means all of the animals were used in vain. Why we would want to make another life form suffer is beyond my comprehension. Most of the drugs are made not for the general good but for the profits of the drug corporations. Ever notice that the drugs most needed to save lives are the most expensive.
“All that is needed for the forces of evil to succeed is for enough good men to remain silent!” … Edmund Burke.
Hope 2008 will bring us closer to a peaceful benevolent world.
Happy New Year
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Hi Matt,
It is sick what humans do to animals….and now they are killed to make us more healthy? How about stop eating bad food.
I believe that how an individual treats an animal tells everything about their character. If you can love a child, you should be able to love an animal. If you couldn’t hurt a child or another human, you shouldn’t be able to intentionally hurt an animal.
They just found a bunch of dogs and their pupples in a vacant garage here in Buffalo…..with no heat, no food or water, stuffed in cages. How could someone leave them knowing that they would starve and/or freeze to death? I don’t know how people live with themselves. I feel bad when my plants are dry.
One of the dogs that they found died because she was laying on top of her pupples to keep them warm……2 survived.
You can call me a hippocrate because I do eat meat and have leather shoes….but I am trying to stop eating meat. I feel terrible everytime I eat a hamburger or bacon……I will do it though eventually. The problem is… that.just because I don’t eat it doesn’t mean that the rest of the carnivores in this world will stop. Will I be stopping a animal from going to slaughter? I guess I just have to do it for myself.
I will always remember you saying……that you hope they have sticks in hell……if your dogs won’t be in heaven with you……..and I agree……..maybe we will see each other down there.
I wish you the best in 2008 and always,
Love from Buffalo,
Michelle
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Funny you should bring up these two subjects today…
I was just reminiscing with a friend of mine about back when I was a kid, and lived in the boonies up north. We grew all of the veggies we ate, and I seriously miss it. There’s still nothing like eating cherry tomatoes warm from the sun on the back porch. I also owned a pig named Sparky…those things get HUGE.
Speaking of animals…I just got a mouse today (his name is Stewey). He kicks serious ass.
As for cosmetic testing: that totally pisses me off, and I make a point to look for the cute lil bunny on the back of my cosmetics that states that no animals were used in testing the product. They are, after all, beings just like us. It’s just so damn unnecessary.
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So weird that they find some way to test animals for those things. :-/
We’re big-time gardeners, and yes we’ve raised our own chickens too. It’s a chicken coop, not coup. ;) My husband practised his log house techniques by building one. God, I miss those days…
With luck, we’ll get back into the garden this summer (we moved to the city and back to the country again) and have chickens once more. We refuse to buy most of the chicken commercially available.
There is nothing- NOTHING - that tastes as good as sitting down to an entire simple meal you grew, raised & prepared yourself.
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What can I say besides I wholeheartedly agree. My animals are my family, I live alone and would have no concrete reason to peel myself out of bed every morning if not for them.
I rescued every one of them. Two of my dogs are from our local pound where after 7 days they are euthanized, no questions asked, no second thoughts and the other dog (Zita Dawn) was found on the street as a young’n suffering from malnutrition and skin infections. Luckily a like minded coworker scooped her up before she was hit by a car and I adopted her. She is one of my very best friends, I can rely on her like no one else.
And the cats, well they are all rescues too. One was a stray living under our backsteps (I guess she knew where to set up camp), three are from local shelters, 2 are from my work (vet hospital) and came
in owned but entirely unwanted, one is a stray who followed me home (Cyrus is a fantastic cat but I’m guessing no one claimed him because of his bowel troubles), one is a feral kitten I caught back in September (It took me 6 weeks to gain Peter’s trust, if anyone has any questions or concerns about feral cats in their neighbourhood, please visit alleycat.org , it’s not their fault they are born in the wild) and the last one was given to me by a neighbour at the tender age of 4 weeks. They didn’t want her anymore because she wouldn’t eat for them, of course they took her right from her mom far too young without a chance to learn how to eat. The first night I had Amelia I thought she was going to die. It broke my heart, the concept that such an innocent thing might die simply due to ignorance.
I spent the majority of this summer gathering just a few of the many many many many stray cats in my neighbourhood, covering their medical bills, adopting them out or getting them into no kill shelters. I helped 10 in all. A tiny fraction, no where near enough but even the smallest ripple can ignite a wave and now I have big plans for my neighbourhood in regards to animal welfare. If anyone living in Winnipeg is interested in learning about my cause in progress, let me know.
They are all so special. They are my purpose, they are the life pulse of my home. And quite frankly I don’t see how I’d function without them. The very notion that one of them could have pulled the short straw of fate and ended up in one of those torture factories makes my stomach flip.
Anyway this seems like as good a chance as any. I’m going to pull a Bob Barker and remind everyone to have their pets spayed or neutered. It’s healthier for your pet and your community.
What can I say I become a chatty cathy when my deepest passion is slightly encouraged.
And so a quote, compliments of Professor Charles R. Magel
“Ask the experimenters why they experiment upon animals, and the answer is: Because animals are like us. Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: Because the animals are not like us.”
And another compliments of Glenda Jackson.
“No one really needs a mink coat in the world… except minks.”
If it came to a choice of wearing fur or going naked. I’d go naked all the way.
I might be done now.
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Aw, this is making me all choked up, remembering when we lived on the island. My dad had a greenhouse and I used to go in there and water things for him. AND he composted!! What is composting you ask? …. Sad reality no one does this anymore.
Dale, I hope growing up, you at least got to have these types of experiences with your father.. Greenhouse type moments…… (fingers crossed it all works out).
Happy New Year to all my new buds I met on MG dot org….
Happy New Year to the MG website family (Patrick, Dale, Roy, Duane, Samar - sorry if I missed anyone else) and to your own families.
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Thank you for this post. As an aniimal lover myself, it is always great to know that there are other people who love their pets as much as I love mine. In my high schol days I wrote many reports on the animals for consumption industry and the atrocious conditions and treatment these animals are forced into. I believe that many people are just not educated enough about what these animals go through before ending up ontheir dinner table. Maybe more people would shop more cautiously if they knew more. I don’t expect the entire world to stop eating meat,wearing fur(although that would be a better world) but people definietly need to better educate themselves. I wil not buy makeup or hair products that have been tested on animals. If it’s been in a bunny’s eye it’s not going on my face. There are enough cosmetic companies that do not test on animals and the products are just as good, if not better than the big names that do test on animlals. You may pay a few dollars more but what a small price to pay when you think about that innocent rabbit or mouse that is used to test the safety of your makeup.I sleep a little bettter at night knowing that I’m not buying products made with cruelty.
Zitadawn ~ What a great post. I too have mostly rescues at home. I worked at a cat shelter for 3 1/2 years and could relate to your story of rescuing ferals and young kittens. My cat Curly came to me as a 2 week old with a hole in his stomach. He’s now a very happy and healthy 3 1/2 year old. It’s so great to know that there are people like you helping animals in your neighborhood. I can definetly relate to getting out of bed everday because I have pets. They really are my reason for getting through each day. Are you famiiliar with Best Friends? They are a great animal welfare organization in Utah. One of their mottos is: A better world through kindness to animals. Lets hope there is more of that mentality in 2008.
Cheers and Happy New Year to all.
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Oh god!!! I forgot to include Matt in the MG website family New Years wishes….
sorry
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To this day, my Dad refuses to let go of his little piece of paradise (his vegetable garden)…potatoes, carrots, parsley, garlic, onions, beets, peas, beets, tomatoes, apples, etc. When he was battling cancer, his only concern (other than who would care for Mom) was how his garden would survive without him. Although he could barely talk at times, he frantically gave instructions on how to do things.
Looking back, it’s only now that I really appreciate the benefits of his hard work and wish I’d made more of the stuff he passed along to me. At times he couldn’t give his produce away and ended up taking it down to the local food bank because we were sometimes “too busy” to come and pick it when it was ripe. Should’ve made it a priority but often didn’t because I didn’t fully grasp at the time how lucky we really were to have this stuff available to us. Took it for granted and often arrived too late…it had already ripened and just wouldn’t wait. “If I knew then what I know now…..”
Dad was always passionate about his gardening and he and the Japanese gardener next door swapped secrets and tips on how to yield the best “crops” over the back fence. Yuki grew the best asparagus (it’s quite a deal) and had a tree full of those delicious Nashi pears. …he taught Dad a lot. It was so sad when he passed away and the “new neighbours” just let his garden go to overgrown weeds that blew around the neighbourhood. Totally neglected what had been years of his toiling from sun up to sunset. The weeds eventually spread to Dad’s garden and, as he cursed and battled to pull them all, it only served to remind us of how much we really missed our dear friend Yuki.
Bottom line….simple = better. Why do we complicate things? Why do we buy produce that’s been treated to ship across the country (or from another) vs supporting local farms/gardens in our own communities that result in superior products? Richmond once boasted farms all up and down the main drags and they’ve all but disappeared as condos replace them. Land on the ALR is slowly shrinking as it’s removed for other uses….it’s something we can never get back. So sad.
As for testing on animals…if you’ve ever had a pet for a friend, look into their trusting, loyal eyes and tell me how it’s fair that we “use” them as test objects? In some instances (medical testing that could result in saved lives) it may be necessary to use rats/mice. But for food products? Cosmetics? Never. I can’t even imagine it.
If a food needs to be “tested”, what does that say about it? I have a rule of thumb when I do buy produce - if it’s shiny and perfect looking I tend to stay away from it. The imperfections say a lot…if an insect will eat it, it’s probably a better product. The shiny, waxy beautiful stuff is that way for a reason…it’s been treated to be more appealing. Have you seen the size of some of the fruits/veggies lately?….it’s not normal. And, for the most part, it’s tasteless too.
Animals are worth so much more than being tortured so that we get things right. If we did them right in the first place, it wouldn’t be necessary. Remember K.I.S.S.?
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I just watched DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE last night…im still speechless.
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My grandparents and great grandparents lived the same way, off their own farm land and ate very little meat. My grandparents are still alive and going strong in their 90s. Our generation, living off so many processed foods, are not likely going to have such longevity. I just celebrated 19 years of vegetarianism and animal advocacy and I thank you for bringing awareness to this topic. As long as money can be made from researchers seeking grants, testing will continue. Even if the tests have been done several times already, if there’s money to be made, it will continue. A focus has to be legislation in both our countries. PETA also claims that computer models can provide adequate test information and results. Happy new year to all!
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I’ve recently begun to stick to natural foods as well, manly because it’s a much healthier way to live.
I am trying to become one of the very few successful vegetarian, steroid free, drug and alcohol free, professional wrestlers. I’m actually finding quite easy.
I wish you all a very blessed and happy 2008.
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gl Daniel…refreshing to hear that someone’s actually going to do it the old fashioned way…talent and hard work. We’ll look for you.
(Personally, I’m a big fan of the Hart family)
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the crazy serbo croats still grow their own food in the garden and it’s delicious
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Those are a few of the many reasons why i Became a vegan about half a year ago. The audacity of human animals to think animals are just here for our disposal is disgusting. I would love to have a garden of my own, but living in alberta its a little difficult, but spring is coming up! And being vegans not that hard! I’ve found the only really hard part about it, is feeling so disconnected from the social norm, which, in this day and age, is not a bad thing :D its just lame when your friends want to go out for dinner and your stuck eating some shitty salad or something.
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ahhh FOOD! We used to have a garden when i was a kid and my brother and i would stay outside eating the beans, carrots etc. and would not need dinner as we ate all day long.
Being that my main focus through work now is food security (defn. a state in which all members of a community have access to environmentally sustainable, culturally appropriate, food to live an active healthy life through normal distribution routes) this entry excited me greatly.
There are so many benefits to growing food in your own backyard/community garden plot including increased nutrition (studies are starting to come out showing this) which leads to better physical and mental performance, community building, regaining a long-long connection to food and participating in a more sustainable food-system (i.e. less transportation pollution).
As well, there are many great reasons why to buy Local produce that include the above, but it also includes supporting your local farmer (organic or not, it all helps if it is local) as the smaller farms (less than $250,000 gross/yr) are in crises because of the shrinking land in the Agricultural Land Reserve, land in the ALR underutilized, the aging average age of a farmer with few people come up in their place, lack of skilled labour, lack of available water, lack of affordable land…
As it is right now, on Vancouver Island there is only a three-day supply of fresh food in the event that something happens to our transportation routes (please don’t take this fact as a doomsday statement but something to being to think about). As well, the Island also, 45 - 50 years ago produces approx. 85% of the food consumed, now we IMPORT more than 90%. And if you look at the average meal you consume, it basically took an average of 2300 kms to go from ‘field’ to table.
Not that I want this entry to be a lecture, but i think it is important to let people know of some great initiatives out there that focus on a) providing nutritious food to people who normally are not in a position to obtain it b) provide people with an alternative choice to the supermarket foods and c) increase food security, which in all means, affects everything from local population health, poverty, community (econonmic) development, and the environment to name a few.
Look up local ‘gleaning projects’ I know Richmond, Vancouver, Victoria, Courtney/Comox, Cowichan, Portland, all fruit-tree gleaning projects that collects otherwise unused backyard fruit and redistributes it to service proviers (i.e. food banks, community kitchens). As well, you can buy from your local farmers markets, Community Supported Agricuture (CSA’s), and just pay attention to the stickers on your food in the grocery stores.. Why buy an apple from New Zealand when we can get it from BC?
An excellent resource for environmentally friendly products (that includes products not tested on animals) check out http://www.ecoholic.ca/ and the book is incredibly informative on how to understand what the lables mean (or don’t mean).
Maybe if we started to eat whole, real food people would not need to supplement their diets with pills/powders and other foods touted to increase your health. I think there is a reason why real food enabled us to survive for thousands of years…
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Thanks Deb, I appreciate that. Chris Jericho is my favourite wrestler ever, but Bret Hart is a close second.
In my opinion the Hart family is a Canadian treasure and they are a great source of inspiration for me.
Patrick Pitt, I’m Croatian. But I’m not offended because I am crazy (craziness is actually quite beneficial when pursuing success in the wrestling business).
That being said I think you should know that purple monkeys are not very receptive towards inter-breeding with three headed kangaroos, but enough about my scientific experiments, I have to go strip the feathers of my emu so the mosquito-bee hybrids can do their damage. Oops, I’ve said too much.
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Quoting girl friday:
Yes I am familiar with Best Friends. It is so encouraging that such organizations exist.
I think it is so easy to forget or ignore or deny that each individual animal is just that, an individual, a spirit, a feeling being. I have found in my job the most depressing of attitudes towards animals, in my experience a lot of people consider their pets nothing more than a breathing decoration or hobby or status symbol or in the case of animal testing, a profit.
I don’t expect people to value an animal more than another person, but I would hope one would value an animal as another soul. This earth is fueled by understanding, respect and the simple act of embracing life is all of its many beautiful and astounding forms. And that is one of the most important lessons I have learned from the animals that share my life.
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*Off Topic Alert: Hey Daniel….also a big Jericho fan…he runs a very close second to the Harts for me. What a character he is…so entertaining & absolutely hilarious. Have you ever caught any of his “Off The Record” appearances?
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Be offended or not if you like Daniel - my in laws are all Yugo as well.
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It does seem the healthier products we buy are indeed that, “products” ; tested, mass produced and wastefully packaged.
We are urban dwellers and meat eaters. But, we are also parents and conscious of what we put into ourselves and the kids. My parents have 5 chickens each with a name and we eat fresh eggs. We have a plot in our community garden which has strict pesticide/fertilizer rules and my 2 and 4 year old love to help and each fresh veggies. We also get cool peppers and new veggies form our Bangladeshi plot mates! We buy organic meat(grown in the province) from our butcher and cloth diapered the babies.
Sounds pretty self righteous right? Well, honestly its the easiest way I’ve ever lived or consumed, I don’t have to wonder what is in my food or think about if the animal I’m eating or if it was treated ethically, or if the chemicals in paper diapers are going to cause sterility in my kids.
Next, getting rid of he plastic toys that have taken over from family who did not comply with our request for no plastic!
As for animal testing I can’t look my dog in the eye and imagine something ever harming her.
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One thing I’m really grateful for, is that my father still keeps a garden. He does it with the compost, weed by hand etc. You can taste the difference too, big time.
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My grandparents did the same thing and it’s always a pleasure to think back to being a part of it. Perhaps my favorite was the kohlrabi. Or the peas. It’s a toss up. Sadly, I think I lack the initiative to have a garden of my own. The appeal is there but part of me has become another lazy american consumer.
Regarding the Mahatma Gandhi quote, those are wise words and have referred to them numerous times. Thanks for putting it out there.
Not long ago I interviewed for a position with an amazing company that was right up my alley. Until I learned that they did animal testing. On site. And I would need to go to that portion of the compound. Needless to say I do not work there and cannot help but imagine what goes on behind the walls when I drive by. I know, but most others don’t. It makes my heart feel like lead.
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RE: “…A carrot is a carrot and a beet is a beet…”
Not so –– not any longer:
http://www.alternet.org/story/32317/
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSBRU00561520070419
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I feel compelled to write b/c like you, I enjoy the natural taste, texture and nutrients of fresh, grown produce…HOWEVER, what used to be, nolonger is. The fruits and vegetables our relatives used to grow in will never be again. My background is fitness training and nutrition consulting but I now I focus on educating people about wholefood nutrition. We live in a time where without a doubt, we need to supplement! The fruits and vegetables that we buy in the supermarket are not as nutrient dense as we’d like to believe but more importantly, they just don’t have what our bodies NEED to maintain good health. The next time you grocery shop, remember these words and take note of the quality of the produce. I write this with confidence. Health Canada states that we need 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily - who does that…seriously?? Oh and by the way, even if you do…you’re not getting all that you think you are solely based on the lack of nutrients in the current state of our soil, never mind the time it takes to get that “fresh” produce to your plate…all the way from Mexico! Yummmm, let’s talk fresh! Working in a gym, I was exposed to a whole lot of stuff and what I have since learned is that it doesn’t need to be complicated. I now talk to people about a product that offers a foundation to your everyday, that has 13 gold standard, published studies [and none on animals - I have two awesome labs! - but even if they used animals for testing, what could possibly be harmed by 17 different fruits and veggies; no sugar, sodium or water??? As for longevity…who doesn’t want to live forever?? As long as I can fend for myself, I am so here! And if eating the right foods, including Juiceplus, is going to keep me here…well, that’s pretty simple!
Oh and I do hope to teach my two young girls about gardening and harvesting however, I will have to build up my garden b/c the soil in my very own backyard isn’t good enough to eat out of. And in case you’re wondering, it’s quite a nice neighbourhood.
BTW: Shakes and Chester love to eat Juiceplus!
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“To think that anyone could willingly ignore such cries of distress, even if limited to canine wails, is entirely beyond me.”
I think very much as you do with regards to this sentiment (this whole entry, actually), but I’ve actually had conversations with people who maintain that animals cannot feel emotion and that any cries or actions of avoidance on their part are purely instinctual. That’s barely a step forward from Rene Descartes’ outlook in the freaking 17th century. I don’t really know what to say to people like that– how do you refute something that’s so completely far removed from everything you know to be true? It’s like trying to argue with someone who insists the sky is purple. I don’t even know where to begin… and it’s obvious nothing I say will have any effect.
I tried to grow veggies in my garden last summer and, um, well, I got some nice cherry tomatoes, but everything else was sort of a bust. My granddad was an avid gardener but he died when I was very young and my parents certainly didn’t pass along any green thumbs. Sigh. Maybe next year…