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Take 5 minutes, save 5 animals

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

The Humane League has discovered yet another way to engage in onlineadvocacy. The process is simple: You go to Take5Save5.com, which chooses a random Craigslist page for you, and post an ad stating that you have a free vegetarian starter kit to send it out to anybody who responds with their mailing address. Any addresses you receive are plugged into the form at Vegstarterpack.com. They do the rest.

Ads with cute pictures get more results!

Posting an ad on Craigslist is free and relatively painless–you have to register, but just once. In fact, 5 minutes is a bit of an exaggeration: with the exception of the registration process, it takes about half a minute to post an ad. Attach a cute farm animal photo (ads with pictures tend to get more attention than those that don’t) and hit “submit”. The whole process is remarkably easy, and survey results indicate that it works.

Okay, so you may be curious as to what my experience with Take5save5 has been like. I’ve already told you that it’s exactly as easy as they claim, but is it actually successful? Over the past couple of weeks or so, I’ve posted a total of 10 ads. I did them one at time–anything else and you run the risk of spamming Craigslist, which will result in your ads being flagged and removed. Even if you haven’t done anything wrong, however, you might get flagged: I found that it happened pretty frequently, despite the fact that Take5Save5 says it won’t. It’s a minor irritation, though, considering the fact that it only takes thirty seconds to post a new ad anyway.

Anyway, I posted 10 ads and got 21 responses. While some of those ads ended up being flagged, it usually didn’t happen until at least a couple of people had already contacted me! For maybe a minute of work a few times a week, I’d say that’s more than worth it. I’m definitely going to keep it up.

Has anybody else used Take5save5? What was your experience?

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Tags: activism, vegan, vegetarian

Eating Vegan at UBC, part 2: Sushi

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

So, this is a little embarrassing. Long, long ago, I started a series of posts on vegan food at UBC, but I never got past the first post. (I guess it was a series of post.) Well, it’s a new year, and time to get that series going again. This time, there will be more than one post. At least two! I swear!

OK, we’re going to start things off easy, with sushi. Lots of the work has already been done: in late 2009, the Ubyssey ran a column on sushi at UBC, and not much has changed since then. I’ll just add a couple of things here to veganize their work, so to speak.

1. Don’t bother with Osaka Sushi if you’re vegan: there’s mayo in everything. But the Honour Roll, Suga Sushi, and One More (my personal favourite) all have plenty of vegan rolls. I confess I’ve never been to Mio Japan, so I can’t say how much of their menu is vegan–they’re right down the stairs from One More, and if I’ve walked all the way to the Village, it’s probably specifically to go to One More or Curry Point (see last post). Does anyone else have anything to say about Mio Japan?

2. I’m much less keen on Suga Sushi than the Ubyssey’s reviewer is. I’ve eaten there a handful of times, and their rice often seems to be… funky. Two or three times, I’ve gotten rice with a strong, not entirely pleasant taste & odour. But that might just be my wimpy tastebuds–your mileage may vary. And on the other hand, they’re open through the winter break, unlike most of the other places on campus–so if you’re on campus between terms & craving sushi, this is the place to go (& that’s why I’ve gone back to their funky rice).

Next time: vegan options in the SUB, other than the Delly (which deserves its own post).

To read other posts in Eating Vegan at UBC series, click on the tag “vegan-UBC” below.

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Tags: food, vegan, vegan-UBC

More animal-friendly fighters

Sunday, July 3rd, 2011

Check out Matt Wiman's butt! Um, I mean, what's written there.

This is just a quick note on some animal-friendliness at Saturday night’s UFC event. First, Matt Wiman, who lost a close & controversial decision to Dennis Siver, had the Meet Your Meat and Food Inc websites on his shorts. Second, I learned from the broadcast that middleweight Aaron Simpson has now gone vegan. (He went vegetarian several fights ago, after reading Eating Animals.) Simpson won every round of his fight with Brad Tavares on Saturday.

It’s not news that there are vegans and vegetarians at the top levels of mixed martial arts & other sports–and I don’t know much about Wiman’s diet–but this stands out to me as clashing with even more false stereotypes than usual. Aside from the stereotype of vegans and vegetarians as anemic, limp-wristed weaklings (which should be quite thoroughly shattered by now), it’s interesting to see Wiman and Simpson taking an ethical stand on animal agriculture. It’s one thing to fight the misconception that you need to eat meat to be strong, but it’s even better to fight the misconception that it’s somehow unmanly to care about how animals are treated, or that only the overly sentimental are concerned with cruelty.

Here we have two people who make a career out of punching other people in the face, yet who find our treatment of farmed animals unconscionable. And they’re not alone, either. Mac Danzig is probably the fighter most famous for being vegan, and he’s another ethical vegan–it was his experience on a sanctuary that persuaded him to go vegan.

(From another angle, this also contrasts with the stereotype of professional fighters as boneheaded thugs. In fact, as professional athletes go, fighters tend to be highly educated & often quite thoughtful people.)

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Tags: athletes, eating animals, vegan, vegetarian

A visit to Nice Shoes

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

Anybody who knows me also knows that I love shoes, and I don’t discriminate. I like heels and wedges. I like flats. I like boots. I like open- and closed-toes. I have room in my little shoe-obsessed heart for all of them.

Okay, that’s not totally true. There is one kind of shoe that I just won’t wear, and that’s the leather kind. The idea of wearing someone else’s skin has always made me a little uncomfortable, and the more I learned about the cruelty of the leather industry, the more convinced I was that I wanted no part of it. Fortunately, it’s becoming easier and easier to wear beautiful shoes without compromising your values.

Enter Nice Shoes, the first vegan shoe store in Vancouver! They’ve got so many different styles and options that I almost couldn’t decide which pair I wanted to get. I ended up choosing Steve Madden’s Spiffy because I loved the old-fashioned look and the cute stripey laces.

There were also tons of chic purses and wallets, guitar straps, and even some really nice ties. (Unlike vegan shoes, vegan ties are tough to come by; most ties are made with silk.) They also had a few kinds of chocolate that I haven’t seen before–vegan versions of Milky Way, Snickers, and a couple of other “typical” chocolate bars. (I can’t quite remember which.)

If you don’t live in the area, no problem–they’ve now got an online store and the selection keeps getting bigger. Check it out!

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Tags: fashion, leather, Nice Shoes, silk, vegan

I No Longer Steal from Nature

Monday, March 28th, 2011

I found a lovely poem written by Arab poet Al-Ma’arri, who lived from 973 to 1057. (link) I’m such a huge fan of historical stuff and I just had to share this “ancient vegan wisdom”:

I No Longer Steal from Nature

You are diseased in understanding and religion.
Come to me, that you may hear something of sound truth.
Do not unjustly eat fish the water has given up,
And do not desire as food the flesh of slaughtered animals,
Or the white milk of mothers who intended its pure draught
for their young, not noble ladies.
And do not grieve the unsuspecting birds by taking eggs;
for injustice is the worst of crimes.
And spare the honey which the bees get industriously
from the flowers of fragrant plants;
For they did not store it that it might belong to others,
Nor did they gather it for bounty and gifts.
I washed my hands of all this; and wish that I
Perceived my way before my hair went gray!

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Tags: books, history, vegan

Animal By-Products on Fruits & Vegetables

Monday, March 14th, 2011

As vegans, we try our best to avoid all animal products in our diet so it might come as a shock to learn that the waxes on most fruits and vegetables found at your local grocery store contain animal by-products!

Waxes are used in the agriculture industry to help preserve fruits and vegetables by delaying ripening, preventing water loss, maintaining color and reducing fungal growths; all of which help to improve appearances on store shelves.

There are a several different types of waxes used:
• Carnauba wax which is derived from palm trees
• Petroleum based waxes such as paraffin, mineral oil, and polyethylene
• Shellac wax or lac resin which is derived from the glands of the lac insect
• Bees wax

Although plant and petroleum based waxes initially do not contain animal ingredients the oleic acids and emulsifiers such as stearic acid in the finished wax product can be animal derived. For most waxes proteins are added to create thickness which is usually soy or casein (milk protein) based but they can also contain chitosan which is derived from the exoskeletons of crustaceans.

The Government of Canada announced on February 14, 2011 that food labelling regulations are being revised requiring that manufacturers of pre-packaged products clearly identify allergens such as soy, gluten and casein. The revised regulations should make buying packaged produce less of a guessing game but that still leaves unpackaged produce unaccounted for.

So what is the best way to avoid these waxy coatings? For now your best bet is to shop at your local farmers markets where you can ask the grower if the produce has had wax applied. But not everyone has the option to shop at farmers markets (especially all year round). Alternatively, when shopping, check the signage; there should be signage stating if a wax is used or ask a store clerk to check the packaging it arrived in if it is still available. In the case of some fruits and vegetables you can peel the wax away with the skin or rind however where this isn’t possible or desired a simple wash can help:
1. Fill a clean sink or basin with warm water. Add 2 tbsp. of baking soda and 1 tbsp. of lemon juice and stir to mix.
2. Soak the vegetables in the mixture for a few minutes. Scrub the vegetables gently with a soft-bristled brush to remove the wax.
3. Rinse the vegetables in clear water to remove the baking soda and lemon juice. Lay the vegetables on towels to dry. If wax remains on the vegetables, try soaking them again for a few more minutes.

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Tags: fruits, vegan, vegetables

Eating Vegan at UBC, part 1: Curry

Monday, March 7th, 2011

In the last couple months or so, I’ve had multiple (non-vegan) colleagues at UBC ask what I can possibly find to eat on campus. I don’t think I gave a very good answer to any of them, mainly because I’ve never thought of UBC as a place where it’s hard to find vegan food. So I thought it might be a good idea to do a series of posts on what there is to eat on campus.

Now, there’s no way this is going to result in an exhaustive list of every vegan food item for sale anywhere at UBC, and it’s inevitably going to be skewed toward the parts of campus where I happen to spend most of my time (& to things I like to eat). But if you’re reading along & you know of some place that I’m missing, leave a comment or send me an email to tell me about it.

Also, I should point out that I’m more of a gourmand than a gourmet: I like nice food, but fanciness does nothing for me if I’m not full at the end of a meal.

I’m going to try to keep a theme to the posts in this series, but the themes are going to be somewhat haphazard, because there’s not an easy way to sensibly carve up the food on campus. For this first post in the series, I’ll be covering places to get curry/Indian food. The full entry is below the jump.

Click to continue »

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Tags: food, vegan, vegan-UBC

UFC fighter Jon Fitch’s diet

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

Jon Fitch is the #2 welterweight MMA fighter in the world in pretty much everyone’s book. (Georges St-Pierre, the consensus #1, is the only fighter to defeat Fitch in the UFC.) He’s known for a grinding fighting style, overpowering and outworking his opponents. Here’s a video he recently released showing what he eats in a typical day.

Guess what? It’s all vegan.

As Fitch says: “Nutrition from the right foods make up about 90% of our total health. So let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.”

On Saturday, Fitch fights former lightweight & welterweight champion BJ Penn at UFC 127.

Update: I just came across this post by Fitch himself over at MMA Fighting, where he explains what made him move towards veganism (The China Study played a big role). He also talks about things like strength and the protein myth. Have a look.

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Tags: athletes, nutrition, vegan

Boycott palm oil for the love of orangutans

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Palm oil is a saturated vegetable fat found in many processed foods and household products. As vegans, we scrutinize labels to isolate animal ingredients but we give palm oil a pass – because it’s vegan. Or is it?

The palm industry has taken over Borneo and Sumatra, clearing rainforests and important habitat for orangutans. Each year, an estimated 3,000 orangutans (out of a population of only 50,000) are killed by the palm industry. Aside from destroying the homes of these endangered great apes, the palm industry is relentlessly going after the orangutans and purposely killing them.

I heard an interview on Animal Voices (Toronto) with Helen Buckland of the Sumatran Orangutan Society where she talks about plantation owners telling their workers to bring back the heads of any orangutan they encounter. The interview can be heard here.

Orangutan bashing: Indonesian activists attending to an injured Orangutan that was attacked by oil plantation workers residents in Sampit, Central Kalimantan in May. Credit: Hardi Baktiantoro/AFP

Yes, this is really bad. But as a vegan who loves my Earth Balance and Dr. Bronner’s bar soap. I wasn’t ready to give up the products that make me so happy. So I set out like a concerned consumer in serious denial, to find my “ethical” palm oil.

My search for environmentally friendly palm oil, landed on RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil). RSPO runs a certification program that claims to “meet the world’s most stringent criteria for sustainable production.” This sounds great, except for one problem. Under RSPO, the palm industry is clearing more rainforest than ever and they are doing it legally because the government in charge of these areas really don’t care about rainforests being cleared. Furthermore, an RSPO certified company can subcontract all the dirty work out to other companies and claim no responsibility for any “unsustainable” activity. So in the end, any certified “sustainable” palm oil is still as bad for the orangutans as any other.

In my research I also came across COP (Centre for Oranguatan Protection), a wonderful grassroots organization on the ground saving the orangutans in Indonesia. I learned a lot about the struggle of orangutans by reading their blog here.

I’m over my denial now. I’ve officially given up palm oil and it actually is not that hard! Being vegan, I already read labels like nobody’s business. Now I’ve just added palm oil to the list of ingredients to avoid.

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Tags: environmentalism, orangutans, palm oil, vegan

Go vegan in 2011!

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

Teddy and Felipe, rescued dairy calves, at Farm Sanctuary.

Rescued dairy calves Teddy and Felipe at Farm Sanctuary.

Have you come up with a New Year’s resolution yet? Maybe it’s time to make a change that will improve not only your life, but the lives of many, many others–and the environment, too!

Think of it this way:

Raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. (Read more…)

Crops grown specifically for feeding livestock require a third of all arable land, and the land set aside for grazing takes up 26% of the earth’s terrestrial surface. 70% of previously forested areas in the Amazon Rainforest are used as grazing land. (Read more…)

The veal industry and the dairy industry are intimately connected–in fact, veal only exists because of the dairy industry. (Read more…)

For every egg-laying hen, there is a male chick who was ground up alive because he was useless to the industry. (Read more…)

Fish are far more similar to land animals than many people realize, and they suffer pain and fear, too–whether they are wild-caught or farmed. (Read more…)

Chickens are slaughtered at 45 days old, not even old enough to cluck. (Read more…)

“Humane” meat, eggs and dairy are not nearly as good as many people think, and have many of the same problems as “conventional” animal products. (Read more…)

Are you ready to take the leap? Pledge to go vegan in 2011 and have a happy, healthy, and humane New Year!

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Tags: environmentalism, Holidays, vegan