There's something in the vegan water
There’s something in the water. It’s veganism. And it’s contagious. Last night I went to a “meeting of the minds” with a group of animal advocates at Green: New American Vegetarian. The food is always AMAZING! But what really has me pumped up today are the people I met. Sometimes I feel alone in the advocacy land. Thank goodness for podcasters like Colleen Patrick-Goudreau from Compassionate Cooks and Jess from Vegan a Go-Go for keeping us grounded and feeling … well … not so alone. However rare is the occasion that I actually get to sit down at a table with 15 other people just as passionate and just as committed to animal advocacy as I am.
I met:
- Veronica who runs Animal Advocates of Arizona. Her group holds demonstrations and leafleting campaigns.
- Lori who told her boss where he could stick it after partnering with Covance – the much despised and unfortunately brand new – animal research laboratory here in town.
- Alicia who is a beautiful vegan that should model cruelty-free clothes. Move over Chloé Jo.
- Lisa K. who is passionate about enlightening our rescue friends.
- Lisa B. who writes curriculum for animal advocacy courses – which I will be taking starting next week.
- Anthony and his mum who just wanted some inspiration to revive their advocacy efforts.
- And the whole shebang was put on by Jeff who runs the Vegan Arizona meet up group. Thank you Jeff. You rock.
There were so many other people there that I didn’t have a chance to talk with but I’m sure they were equally as talented and passionate. I’m so excited at what the future holds for us out there. I know we can get bogged down with the doom and gloom and the rising number of animals in slaughterhouses and pounds but I truly believe we are on the cusp of a revolution.
I mean have you seen Food, Inc? If you haven’t, get your butt out there and watch it. This movie depicts the corporate take over of our food. While some of the scenes may not be new to some of us – like cows being skinned in a slaughterhouse or pigs squealing horrifically before being killed – they offer an inside look at chicken farming and who’s who in Washington. The filmmakers also seem to favor this one farmer who runs a small, quality operation and actually gives a dam about his animals. It seems this is the route they want to drive people. Yet, to me that’s still not the solution. I mean even that farmer’s chickens were screaming when he cut their throats. Yeah they lived better lives but they still ended up on a kitchen table when they didn’t have to. Why, why, dear film makers, could you not encourage vegetarianism? Regardless, it’s worth seeing. And take your non-veg friends with you … they need to see it more than we do.
The real cost of cheap food
Did you read this weeks Time magazine? A big fat piece of ground beef sits on the cover with the title “The Real Cost of Cheap Food”. Mostly this article follows suit with Food Inc.’s position in that what “we” Americans need are more small farms. Has everybody forgotten Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle? That small farm, small slaughterhouse process didn’t work so well either. Time also shows a “happy” cow roaming freely. As if their freedom during life means we can still take it whenever we want a steak. No thank you. I don’t think the cow would appreciate that concept. There is one little caption about sustainable farming on page 37 (you have to look for it) but they do say “EAT MORE GREENS, LESS MEAT”. Thank you Time. That’s better than nothing.
So back to my original point. There’s something in the water. And it’s veganism. While Food Inc. and Time’s article may seem not extreme enough since they are not directly advocating a vegetarian diet, they are a step in the right direction. By golly, I think people may be waking up. We’ll just have to see if individuals can actually get up or if they hit the snooze button.
I’m not 100% for or against veganism. I agree with a lot of the arguments but I think the most important message of it is that we should have a healthy respect for life, from the smallest to the largest of living things. That includes ourselves! I believe that we should educate ourselves about what our bodies really need and be careful about excess.
Certainly, animal cruelty is an important issue but I think a lot of well-intentioned vegans come across like animals are more important than people. I think that the degree of respect and special treatment that each form of life deserves is relative to the intelligence which it contains. By that I don’t mean the level of education it has. Think of the different forms of life: dust, air, trees, fishes, insects, mammals, etc. You treat dust and insects differently than you might treat people. Each form of life has a varying degree of intelligence. I think that it’s our job to become educated about that and reciprocate the appropriate degree of respect.
I think that extremism in all it’s forms is bad and that as we debate these topics we should avoid it. I’ve known extreme vegans who freak out about how cows are slaughtered to feed people but have no problem smashing a harmless spider just because they don’t like it in their house. Spiders, like cows, are amazing creatures that deserve a great respect. If I don’t like a bug in my house, I put it outside. How hard is that? Maybe that’s not the best example but I believe in karma, fate, the “law of the harvest” or whatever you want to call it. If we disrespect life in any of it’s forms we become less deserving of respect ourselves and it will return to us in some form or another.