A couple of people on the HoB/D listserv posted these two links today.

The first is on the problem of plastic shopping bags (not off topic, since it affects wildlife).

And this one shows how to make reusable shopping bags.

What I found interesting on the first site, is that only 1% of the plastic shopping bags get recycled, and that “It costs $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for $32″. (Maybe it costs that much because we ship our garbage across the world, so it can be recycled into new products to sell back to us.)

My son mentioned that where plastic shopping bags have been banned, people buy more plastic garbage bags. If that’s true, it doesn’t really help to ban them. The only thing that might help, would be if people chose to find some other way to dispose of their garbage. (I find that I have more empty cereal box liners and chip bags than I have garbage to put in them. And if something doesn’t have to be bagged, I just toss it loose in the can.)

Here’s something else I found last winter, shortly before deciding to “give up plastic for Lent”.

And I can’t find the other thing I found then about what would happen if humans disappeared. But the animated thing I watched said that the only things that would remain hundreds of thousands of years after we disappeared would be sound waves and plastic. That did it for me.

Every Creature a Word of God

By Annika Spalde & Pelle Strindlund

160 pp., $18 postpaid (check to Vegetarian Advocates Press, PO Box 201791, Cleveland, OH 44120)

What does a spirituality that affirms God’s love for all creatures look like? Although there are many books on animal rights philosophy and theology, none has focused on Christian spirituality as the basis for an ethic of compassion for animals. Borrowing from a breadth of sources, including the Bible and Christian monks, mystics, sages, and saints, Annika Spalde and Pelle Strindlund have written a unique and compelling book. Christian authorities often emphasize doctrinal orthodoxy and obedience, but Spalde and Strindlund appeal to the many lay Christians who have a sense that God’s compassion is the core Christian message. However, Spalde and Strindlund show that many Christians so far have not applied this principal to nonhuman creation.

Perhaps the book’s most compelling argument resides in Spalde’s and Strindlund’s personal testimonies. They have been animal activists in a complete sense, frequently exchanging imprisonment for an opportunity to inform the public about the tragic plight of animals on modern factory farms. On several occasions, they and their companions have openly liberated animals — raiding factory farms and transferring animals to safe homes — and then accepting the legal consequences of what the law regards as theft. Their nonviolent actions, inspired by the nonviolent activism of Mohandas Gandhi in India, has resulted in their being physically and psychologically abused, but they believe that their own plight has been mild compared to the miserable lives of animals confined their entire lives on factory farms..

This book will inform, inspire, and challenge a broad range of readers, from those dedicated to animal protectionism to those who have not yet made the connection between “loving animals” and choosing not to eat them. On behalf of Vegetarian Advocates Press, I respectfully request that your publication will review this unique and important book.

Praise for the book:

“Gracefully combining balanced scholarship with personal witness, animal activists Annika Spalde and Pelle Strindlund have written a book that will enable Christians of all denominations to rediscover the powerful tradition of creaturely compassion that runs throughout their religious history.”
– Reverend Gary Kowalski, author of The Souls of Animals and The Bible According to Noah: Theology as if Animals Mattered

“Many books about animals, diet, and Christianity have been written for a general audience, but this one is now the best. The authors mix personal stories with Biblical insight and passionate argument to produce a book that is as creative as it is earnest and focused. This book is beautifully written and carefully argued. It would be the perfect book for a Bible study or church study group. Warning: it is an enjoyable read, but it might change your life.”
– Stephen H. Webb, Professor of Religion and Philosophy, Wabash College, author of Good Eating and On God and Dogs: A Christian Theology of Compassion for Animals

“In Every Creature a Word of God, Spalde and Strindlund have produced a remarkable volume on the appropriate Christian attitudes to the other animals with whom we share this planet. The book reflects wide learning in theology and the human-animal relationship; yet it remains entirely accessible to those interested in the subject matter but who lack the breadth of learning of the authors. I have no doubt this volume will prove to be extermely popular not only with Christians seeking a deeper understanding of the moral and scriptural implications of their own faith but also with those of more secular bent who want to understand the historical and ethical implications of Christianity toward animals.”
– Rod Preece, Professor Emeritus, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada, author of Animal Welfare and Human Values and Animals and Nature: Cultural Myths, Cultural Realities

I first saw this video on Grist’s food page (which is worth checking out — especially this one on the ban on slaughtering downers not keeping them out of the food supply). So I looked for the Mark Bittman video on You Tube where I could add it to my site, too. Please watch. This is a non-vegetarian speaking to our issues, in a way that I hope other non-vegetarians can hear.

Two minor quibbles:

1) Kindness to animals isn’t a red herring. Concern for the ways the 10 billion farmed animals in this country are raised in confinement, fed an unnatural diet laced with antibiotics and growth hormones, and slaughtered (not to mention the unnecessary animal abuse that every undercover investigation reveals to the public) are the very reason many people go vegan. And although I agree that we have to reduce the number we raise before we can worry about being kind to those who are left, because it is impossible to treat 10 billion animals kindly when they are slaughtered so horribly, it is the attitude that one will not support cruel industries that can help drive down the numbers of animals killed for their flesh. Health and environmental perspectives might work better with more people, because those involve implications that affect people personally. But I would not consider an intentional goal of a cruelty-free lifestyle, and refusing to support industries that profit from exploiting/killing animals to be a red herring at all — or even secondary. It is an ethical choice.

2) The other is locovore as a red herring. I live in Illinois, and understand what he’s saying that it’s easier for people in California to buy locally-grown food. But local is subjective. And if I have my choice of buying something like garlic grown in California or garlic grown in China, I would consider California to be more local. Same with spinach, and so much else that is imported from other countries. I’ll buy blueberries grown in Michigan, but not blueberries grown in Chile. Nevertheless, this Spring, I’ve decided to “grow my own food” — or at least a sampling of many different things, which are not only being grown veganically, but will be as local as I can get. (I also don’t trust farmers’ markets, because in my town at least, some of the sellers get their produce at wholesale, from the same suppliers that the grocery stores get theirs from.)
Not everyone has the luxury of local farmers markets, or grocery stores that label the country or state of origin. Stores like Whole Foods that do label the country or state of origin tend to be more pricey, and not close enough for people to be able to make the trip. (My local Whole Foods is about 25 miles away. The only good thing is that it’s in the town where I work, so I can rush over during lunch if I really need to get something there that I can’t get at the store in my own town.)

Other than that (and I do get his points), I am extremely happy to hear him say things I would want the world to know on so many topics, and love how he puts meat and junk food together in the same breath. And if meat-eaters would listen to him, and get back even to the level recommended by doctors of eating a half a pound of meat a week, instead half a pound of meat per day, it would greatly reduce the number of animals raised for slaughter by 6/7ths — more than if a few new people chose to go vegan — more than a few who might give up meat throughout Lent. And that reduction alone might be enough to dismantle factory farming.

From MSN: Oprah Winfrey goes vegan for 21 days

“How can you say you’re trying to spiritually evolve, without even a thought about what happens to the animals whose lives are sacrificed in the name of gluttony?”
– Oprah

From Farm Sanctuary Oprah Announces 21 Days Free of Animal Products

“Well, I feel like I got baptized in Vegan Land today.”
– Oprah

Read Oprah’s Blog (with some video links), Menus, Recipes and Talk with Others pages, here on her “21 Day Cleanse” page.

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Veg for Life’s page on Oprah includes these quotes on the issue of spiritual progress and diet:

The Dalai Lama

“Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not die, so do other creatures.”

Albert Einstein

“If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals.”

Mohandas Gandhi

“Spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants.”

Albert Schweitzer

“While so much ill-treatment of animals goes on…while so much brutality prevails in our slaughterhouses…we all bear guilt.”

Even though only one of them was a Christian, I think their quotes should be “food for thought”, especially (if only) during seasons like Lent, or whenever Christians give some thought to their spiritual progress. And this should fit comfortably with the Greek Orthodox view. (In my opinion, giving up all animal flesh and animal by-products during Lent should be the expected norm for anyone who observes Lent, not just one vestigial option that has been largely forgotten, ignored, not talked about in our churches, and/or that has been trumped by a vast array of other good things people choose to do instead. I really can not understand why this wasn’t mentioned as even an example, in the World Council of Church’s “Lenten Fast From Violence”, whose name strikes me as a literal call to cut out the most obvious form of violence. This is as close as I could find, which is environmentally-friendly, insofar as it benefits humankind on some level….)

The following Press Release from Farm Sanctuary was posted on 5/14, but didn’t migrate with my other pages. I’m readding it, since I’m disgusted with Chicago politics. Mayor Daley said this was the “silliest” ordinance they ever passed. I say, Amazon.com still sells foie gras from Evelages Perigord in Canada, which was the subject of this undercover investigation that exposed animal abuse above and beyond the confinement & forcefeeding necessary to produce enlarged livers for the self-indulgent elite. I have been boycotting Amazon.com since I found out that they profit by trading in animal cruelty.

While looking for the video, I found this from CBS Problems Raise Fowl Abuse Issues. There is a video on that site, too. It is heartening to know that chefs in Florida have pulled it from their menus when they found out how abusive it is. Too bad the Chicago chefs have been finding ways around the ban for the past two years, and are so jubilant that they can openly put it back on their menus.

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Chicago City Council Reverses Foie Gras Ordinance Effectively Endorsing Animal Cruelty

Devastating Decision to Defy Popular Sentiment and Allow the Sale of this Notoriously Cruel Product Comes in Advance of Legal Case that Could Have Protected the Ban

Chicago, IL – May 14, 2008 - Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, today issued a statement on the Chicago City Council’s decision to repeal the ordinance that banned foie gras in 2006. Since that time, the Illinois Restaurant Association, led by Mayor Daley’s former chief of staff, has relentlessly politicized this popular humane measure, filing a lawsuit to overturn the ban in 2007, which they lost, then appealing to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in June 2007. Oral argument in this appeal was scheduled for Tuesday, May 27. Thomas Tunney, who today proposed the repeal, is the former head of the Illinois Restaurant Association and owner of Ann Sather restaurants.

Julie Janovsky, Farm Sanctuary’s director of campaigns issued the following statement: “Farm Sanctuary is disheartened by the results of today’s Chicago City Council vote to overturn a humane measure backed by massive popular support. By repealing the foie gras ordinance, the City Council has effectively endorsed animal cruelty. When the foie gras ban originally passed by a landslide vote, Chicagoans were proud to live in a city that took a stand for humanity. To reverse a compassionate and admirable decision under pressure from political bullies and special interests shows a cowardly brand of cynicism unlike any we have seen in our efforts to give voice to the most vulnerable beings in our society – animals raised for food. By turning their backs on progress, the members of the City Council who voted for this repeal, the Mayor and the Illinois Restaurant Association jeopardized the chance for real change in our government, and disregarded society’s plea for compassion, integrity and justice.”

Foie gras (translated from French as “fatty liver”) is produced by force-feeding ducks and geese two or three times each day through a pipe shoved down their throats. The force-feeding can cause painful bruising, lacerations, sores, and even organ rupture. Due to this unhealthy and unnatural diet, the birds’ livers become diseased and swell up to 10 times their normal size, making it difficult for the birds to walk or even breathe. More information about foie gras can be found at www.nofoiegras.org.

Facts:

More than 15 countries have banned the sale and or production of foie gras due to the cruel process of producing it.

Veterinarians and other animal experts, along with religious leaders (including the Pope), businesses, (including Wolfgang Puck), and legal scholars, have called for an end to the cruelty of foie gras.

A Zogby poll conducted in September 2005 revealed 79 percent of likely voters in Illinois agree that foie gras production should be outlawed.

The Pew Trust recently released a two and a half year study by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production which concluded that force feeding birds to produce foie gras should be banned based on animal welfare concerns.

217 restaurants in Illinois, including 84 in Chicago have signed pledges not to serve foie gras.

Farm Sanctuary is the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the “food animal” industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at http://www.farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.

I sent the following to our ENAW listserv & others, including a couple of environmentalists last night, after spending an hour by candlelight with my pets. [I think it was a joke that Michael Bluejay posted something on his bio page about the people who love him. I'm guessing it has to do with people trying to raise the search engine rankings on their own sites. Nevertheless, after looking at his sites, I can honestly say "I love Michael Bluejay", because I was happy to find his sites, and especially surprised to find his vegan pages that were an added bonus to the topics I was originally looking for.]

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In the spirit of tonight’s “Earth Hour”, somehow I found this site, looking at how much energy/cost various appliances use, originally wondering if it is worthwhile to turn off my computer when I’m not using it. After looking around at the various appliance pages (and it’s amazing how much energy is saved by washing clothes in cold water compared to hot http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html !) I found a little blurb on the refrigerator page, which linked to another section of his site….
http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/refrigerators.html

“Don’t put hot foods in the fridge? Food safety experts say you should refrigerate hot food to prevent
contamination. But that doesn’t mean you have to refrigerate them immediately. The USDA says to refrigerate within
two hours of preparation (or one hour if the room temp is above 90∞). One to two hours of cooling off time will
definitely make your refrigerator work less. It’s a tradeoff — the sooner you refrigerate the safer the food, but the
more energy you use. Of course, meat and dairy foods are most susceptible to contamination, which is yet another
reason to not eat meat and dairy in the first place. Vegan foods are much safer.”

“Vegan” in that last sentence links to:
http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/eat.html
And then, that site has many pages. The “Why Veg?” page
http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/why.html starts out with this:

Why be vegetarian?

There are so many good reasons for being vegetarian (health, animals, the environment) that a better question might be, “Why NOT be vegetarian?” When you can easily…

ï significantly improve your health,
ï dramatically [reduce?] your environmental footprint,
ï and greatly reduce the suffering of animals

…we might ask instead, “What’s stopping you?”

Of course, the decision about whether to become a vegetarian is a matter of personal choice. But we think that if more peope [sic] really knew how bad meat is (for them, the planet, and the animals), more people would make the choice to go meatless. This page is a starting point is [sic] seeing if this is a choice you agree with. Below are some details about the main reasons people go veg.

That page goes on to discuss many advantages for improving your health, saving the environment & preventing cruelty to animals. And this page http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/environment.html has a lot of info on the impact of animal agriculture on the environment — energy use & Global Warming, water & land issues. I’ve seen some of this before, but maybe seeing the graphs made it easier to visualize.

Enjoy both sites. I found them to be very informative.

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P.S. This morning I was happy to see that the Green Lent blog featured the Beef and the environment post with a graph & link to Michael’s ‘Why going meatless saves the planet’ page.

I found this site after looking at the Holy Orders site. The Sisters make homemade soaps, soy candles, lotions & salves, bath salts & sugar creme scrubs (among other things). I can’t tell, but they seem to be cruelty-free. They also seem to be made from basic, natural ingredients without the use of chemicals or preservatives — better than a lot of things I’ve seen for sale at the local health food store. I wrote tonight to see if any of their products contain animal ingredients. and will let people know once I find out. I did confirm that the natural soaps do not contain any animal products (and, of course, weren’t tested on animals). Check out all that they have to offer.

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Click on the picture to listen to a surprising message from the Easter Bunny.

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“We are not respecting the dignity of our fellow creatures if our sewage or garbage fouls their living space.
When atmospheric warming, due in part to the methane output of the millions of cows we raise each year to produce hamburger, begins to slowly drown the island homes of our neighbors in the South Pacific,
are we truly sharing good news?

“The food we eat, the energy we use, the goods and foods we buy, the ways in which we travel,
are all opportunities — choices and decisions — to be for others, both human and other.
Our Christian commitment is for this — that we might live that more abundant life,
and that we might do it in a way that is for the whole world.”

excerpt from the
Presiding Bishop’s Message for Easter 2008

(This picture links to a n old news article from New Zealand.)
See Green Lent for a graph that shows the amount of fossil fuel needed to raise meat compared to other foods.

I noticed (checking my site stats a while ago) that at this late date, people are still searching the Internet for information about “Episcopal Lent”, and things pertaining to giving up meat eggs & dairy.

Here is a list of sites that came up on one search.

I see that PETA has a page called ‘Give Up Cruelty for Lent’, and quotes St. Gregory’s admonition to St. Augustine, which I also have posted on mine.

I’m all in favor of giving up cruelty for Lent, in all seriousness. So many of the sites that talk about how people used to give up meat in the past, include other ideas of what people can give up now, as if their lists are more relevant to our time. I get the impression that maybe they think giving up meat as a sign of self-denial was relatively meaningless compared to something else people could be doing instead. So if people actually thought about the inherent cruelty of animal agriculture and the slaughtering of animals (and abuses that are caught whenever undercover investigators bring in their concealed cameras as the HSUS had done recently that caused the largest beef recall in this country’s history), maybe it would be perceived differently — again, whether a person “gives up” something, or “takes on” something. In any case, it’s a shame that so few even mention it.

I thought the following article was particularly interesting, because this is what shows up on the benifitbar.com synopsis:

6. Lent
You could have no meat, eggs, or dairy. There was no restriction on fish, wine or beer. …
decreed a fine for butchers who slaughtered meat during Lent. …
www.practicallyedible.com

I didn’t know that butchers were fined. (It was only last year that I heard people in the Western Church observed a vegan Lent at one time, hence the need for what is now a vestigial Shrove Tuesday.) Of course, this site also mentions how the cost of fish skyrocketted, too, because of the profiteers, including the Church. Kind of like OPEC, with people stuck “over a barrel”….

Read it here: ‘Lent’

What was new to me (this year), was that 1) eating fish was meant to support the fishing industry, and that 2):

“In 1560, Queen Elizabeth decreed a fine for butchers who slaughtered meat during Lent.

“In 1563, Sir William Cecil forced a (Protestant) Parliament to pass a fine of either 3 pounds or 3 months in jail for people eating meat during Lent. His reason is that he felt fishermen, with no trade, were turning to piracy. He added a handwritten codicil to the act assuring the parliamentarians that it was not for religious reasons, but for economic ones. “

Wow. It would seem that Lent was more politically/economically-motivated, than spiritually-motivated.

This is also an interesting observation:

“The only mercy was that Lent came at a time of year when there wasn’t much food to be abstaining from, anyway. There wasn’t much milk, because the cows had birthed calves that needed it, and not much meat, because the meat that had been preserved last fall was mostly gone, and what animals that were still alive were needed to give birth to new ones.”

That they allowed the calves to drink their mothers’ milk, instead of taking it for human use, shows that “veal calves” had not been “invented” yet. This paragraph answers things I’ve read on similar sites, where comments pertained to what readers perceived as a waste of milk and eggs over the Lenten season. I see it as a brief annual moratorium to allow “food” animals to raise their young as they should be able to do, and this makes perfect sense to me to have a moratorium not only on the killing, but on taking the calves milk or the (fertilized?) chickens’ eggs, as a more “sustainable” form of animal agriculture. (Kind of like the times of the year when hunters aren’t allowed to hunt.)

I guess we don’t have to worry about fishermen turning to piracy anymore, although we know that the ones in Newfoundland and environs use this time to supplement their income and while away their down time with their annual government-subsidized seal blood-bath. We also don’t have to worry about preserving breeding animals to replace those we kill, since they are mass-produced on factory farms. There will never be a shortage of “food” animals until consumer demand decreases — unless, of course, we start using their feed to fuel our cars.

(Good Friday was just like Ash Wednesday this year, with 10-12 inches of snow.)

In an attempt to cut down on plastic this Lent, and to gravitate toward more organic foods, whenever possible (mainly with the ‘Dirty Dozen’ in mind), I’ve decided to list some of my preferred products. These do not include all of my favorite brands or varieties of vegan food. But I’m trying to concentrate on things that don’t use any (or much) plastic, are organic, and, where possible, are grown in the USA, or at least, the companies are based here.

Organic fruit & veggies: In general, I prefer Whole Foods‘ organic produce, because a lot of it can be picked up off the display, and many aren’t wrapped in plastic or in plastic containers. Whole Foods also identifies the country (or state) of origin on the price tags. And they are the only store close to work or home that seems to sell a wide variety of organic apples & pears.

Organic fruit & veggies: Sandhill Farm, the local organic CSA, has a weekly Farmers Market (actually, two — one in Grayslake, and one at Prairie Crossing), where I can know the food is grown within a few hours away, and I can bring my own bag. They do use things like fishmeal as fertilizer, so I’m not sure I would consider their veggies vegan. But I wonder which organic brands don’t use animal-based fertilizers. This is closer to home, and a place to pick up a few things, at least on a Saturday morning during the growing season. (CSA members have a different day for picking up their weekly share of food.)

Fruit juice: Lakewood is organic, 100% juice, fresh pressed “not from concentrate”, in glass bottles. The company is based in Florida, but I don’t know where the fruit comes from. (10 % of their proceeds goes to Helping Hands, which covers charities I might or might not want to support. But I’ll live with that.)

Non-dairy frozen dessert: So Delicious: vegan & diabetic-friendly, nice variety of flavors, organic, regular “ice cream” (at least) is sold in recyclable cardboard containers. Turtle Mountain, the company that makes it, is a sponsor of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project.

Chocolate sauce & natural sweetener: Wax Orchards makes a healthy, yet decadent chocolate sauce for ice cream, which is diabetic-friendly. Their Fruit Sweet can be used as a substitute for honey, or sugar, and reminds me of Birnel(sp?) which the family I lived with in Switzerland in 1974-5 used to use. Not organic, but comes in glass, and is made in the USA. I’ve noticed that I can get my “chocolate fix” without binging, and suspect it might be because it doesn’t contain sugar.

Non-dairy beverages: I buy the non-refrigerated shelf-stable cardboard cartons. I used to tend toward soy milk because it’s higher in protein, and would buy whichever brand was on sale. But now I gravitate toward the large size Rice Dream organic, because the price is comparable to the on-sale soy varieties, and it’s white, and I don’t mind drinking it plain.

Peanut butter: Maranatha peanut butter is organic and comes in glass jars.

Last weeks news about the live export investigation didn’t reach me until tonight. There are lots of links to this article on the Internet. But I hadn’t heard about it on my news station. I’ll include three links, because they add more to the article & video.

Exposed: The long, cruel road to the slaughterhouse

See the campaigners’ video as investigation reveals misery of global trade in animals

Article (with link to video): http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/exposed-the-long-cruel-road-to-the-slaughterhouse-781364.html>

Same with comments http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/13/7030

Care2 gives addresses to some papers that take letters: http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=16525&pst=1190776&archival=&posts=1Ar

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=10349 includes introduction:

Ten major animal charities investigated the global trade in livestock, documenting the cruelties that live animals endure on journeys that last thousands of miles, from countries like Australia and Brazil to Europe and the Middle East. ìThousands of animals die en route from disease, heat exhaustion, hunger and stress,î reports Emily Dugan for the Independent. Low transportation costs encourage the global trade, with more than 1 billion live animals being transported each week, but the economics of trade do not take into account the animalsí well being, activists contend. Reasons for the long transports vary: Some ethnic or religious customs require special butchering procedures; in other cases, the companies mislead customers who demand locally raised products. The stress, close quarters and lack of sanitation on such journeys not only terrify the animals, but could also endanger human health. Such investigations shock a modern society that focuses on safety, yet deliberately overlooks the less savory details about the source of its food. ñ YaleGlobal

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Everyone in the US has probably already heard about the largest beef recall in history. But please visit HSUS’ site to learn more, and find out what you can do — including writing to the USDA: http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/undercover_investigation.html .

This was added 2/24 — a blurb from this week’s CVA e-newsletter:

Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. voluntarily recalled all of its beef produced since Feb. 1, 2006 (143 million lbs.) after The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released videotapes on Jan. 30 showing workers at the plant using several abusive techniques, including ramming cattle with forklift blades and using a hose to simulate the feeling of drowning, in order to make ‘downer’ cows stand up and pass a pre-slaughter inspection. To read the full article please visit California Packers Makes Largest US Beef Recall

The extent of cruelty inflicted on these cows is unimaginable for most of us, and clearly shows the callousness of the meat industry in order to squeeze as much profit as possible from God’s animals who are treated as mere commodities. This kind of exploitation will not end until compassionate consumers refuse to support the meat industry. Adopting a plant-based diet certainly is an important and effective way to prevent harm and cruelty to God’s animals.

Episcoveg note: And even if adopting a plant based diet doesn’t end this kind of violence, it at least ends one’s personal complicity.

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[Today's post bumped 'Go Vegan for Lent: It's a tradition that we have forgotten, or never heard about' from the home page.]