Thursday, October 14, 2010

Help to "REALLY" save a turkey this year

Every Thanksgiving, the president of the United States extends a pardon to two turkeys. Since 2005, these turkeys have been sent to live at Walt Disney theme parks, where many have died within one year. Turkeys are intelligent, sensitive animals, not attractions. We can help give this year's pardoned turkeys something they can truly be thankful for. I just signed a petition urging President Obama to send them to Farm Sanctuary, where they can lead a more natural life. I hope you will sign it too. They must submit the petition by November 15 to be heard in time, so please sign today and ask all your friends, family and co-workers to do the same!

To take action on this issue, click on the link below:
http://action.farmsanctuary.org/site/Advocacy?s_oo=XoHQS1JoO6kiCFYie31UsA..&id=349
If the text above does not appear as a link or it wraps across multiple lines, then copy and paste it into the address area of your browser.

If you no longer wish to receive email messages sent from your friends on behalf of this organization, please follow the link below:
http://action.farmsanctuary.org/site/TellFriendOpt?action=optout&toe=181d2f3e98db07c10a2df5f30754384cebcbc7435140ece1

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Day 30 - Mission complete, or is it?

OK so I have reached day 30 eating a vegan diet. Mission complete? Time to move on? No, I don't think so. For starters I have never felt so good, both physically and ethically. Second, through some well chosen books from the library I have found a bunch of great cookbooks. They have brought to the table new and exciting meals I never would have tried before and I am positive there are many more to be found.

I have decided to continue this blog with the focus on eating vegan and spreading the awareness of the plight of the factory farm animal. Two issues that go hand in hand. I know I can't force my beliefs on everyone. My only hope is that people will take the time to research what they eat, where it comes from, and what damage is done by it.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Day - 26 Farmsanctuary.org

This past weekend my wife and I participated in The Farm Sanctuary Walk for Animals event in Washington DC. Farm Sanctuary is a great organization that is active in protecting farm animals from cruelty and inspires change in the way society views and treats farm animals. Gene Baur is the founder of Farm Sanctuary and he attended the walk in DC. They have a 175 acre farm in New York and a 300 acre farm in California, where these abused animals get to live out the rest of their life in tranquility. Below are a couple of videos from this past Saturday. One is Gene's speech before the walk and one is a snippet of all the caring people who turned out to raise money and to participate. Below you will see posters of Boba the chicken, Fiona the pig and Snickers the cow. Sadly Snickers passed away this year living into his teens.



Monday, October 4, 2010

Day 23 - Antibiotics

Antibiotics the "Miracle" Drug


Antibiotic resistance is an emerging threat that has accelerated in recent decades. The rise of the so-called "superbug" has struck fear in the heart of anyone who understands the consequences of over prescribed antibiotics.

Physicians, veterinarians, patients and their families all know the danger: 
Overuse antibiotics at the public's peril.

Still, that hasn't stopped the animal agriculture industry from feeding chickens, cattle, and pigs their daily dose of antibiotics. Aimed at promoting growth and preventing disease, the use of antibiotics in farm animals has been the magic formula to animal agriculture. Animals grow bigger and faster keeping them healthy enough to reap the benefits. For a farmer, it’s simple: Animals cost less when we pump them full of antibiotics to prevent diseases.
1. Up to 70% of U.S. antibiotics go to animals raised on industrial farms that aren’t sick, to offset crowding and poor sanitation. The practice promotes the development of deadly strains of drug-resistant bacteria that can spread to humans.
2. Food-borne bacteria are more dangerous because they are harder to treat and may require multiple antibiotic treatments, longer hospital stays and other treatments before finally being eliminated.
3. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria cost the U.S. health care system an estimated $4 billion to $5 billion per year.
4. Each year 300,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths are caused by food contaminated by dangerous pathogens and bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli, which are increasingly becoming antibiotic resistant.
On the way to eating vegan, I stopped supporting the industrial farms and bought local pastured meat. Animals that were raised with compassion and without antibiotics or growth hormones. Every time you shop, purchase, and put food into your mouth you have a choice and a voice.