• If you like the look of an old, weathered and beat-up leather belt, you’ve probably been disappointed with the vegan selections thus far. In comes CLIFF belts to the rescue, made from cork. The cork is lightweight, strong, and the belts are reversable. So put a cork in it and go buy one. Eventually, you can even build your own. According to the CLIFF website:
Cork is environmentally preferable to leather as it comes from a lower carbon impact source (tree bark) and does not use animal products in its manufacture (a vegan product). The environmental concerns associated with leather include the energy and carbon intensity of generating animal products and the chemicals used in the leather tanning process that can be damaging to human health and the environment. Cork is a naturally beautiful and greener alternative to leather.
Look! Colorful scienc-y stuff!
• I feel like a broken record.A new environmental study urges people to eat far less meat and cheese. This one is interesting, though. Unexpectedly, the biggest offender when it comes to GHG emissions is lamb! Lamb is a whopping 50% worse than beef. Damn! What sicko eats a defenseless, cuddly baby, anyway? Macho men, that’s who – guys who are tough enough to stand up to a dangerous creature like a lamb! Take that you puffy, fluffy, gentle threat to my manhood.
The deadly creature in question
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) released the Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health, a comprehensive study warning Americans that the extreme amounts of meat and cheese we eat take a huge toll on the environment, animal welfare and human health. Meat and dairy products require more energy and resources to produce, and generate more toxic waste and pollution than equivalent amounts of potatoes, rice, beans and other plant-based foods. According to the EWG, if everyone in the U.S. chose vegetarian foods over meat or cheese for just one day a week, the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would be the equivalent of taking 7.6 million cars off the road per year.
• Every year, two million homeless or captured South Korean dogs are butchered and eaten. They are often electrocuted, strangled, or bludgeoned to death and are then skinned, chopped up, and boiled. The cruelty and suffering endured by these dogs is unimaginable. Even though the country’s Animal Protection Law, which was passed in 1991, considers dogs to be “domestic pets, officials often turn a blind eye and allow this to continue . Click here to find out more and help.
• Heaven forbid that Americans should have a clear understanding of how meat gets to the table. New laws in Iowa and Florida criminalize undercover investigations into livestock production and are a serious threat to challenging how we treat animals on farms. Listen to NPR’s four-minute piece on this: .
So let me get this straight – the livestock industry is allowed to create completely fictionalized, idealized imagery and storytelling surrounding their industry (this is called advertising) depicting animals happily roaming quaint farms – but if we actually document the truth about what’s happening on these farms, it is criminal. Isn’t this the opposite of journalism? The animal livestock industry is so powerful and there is so much money at risk if people could see how these animals live and die that they would make it illegal to access the truth? Ridiculous, scary, and worth getting loud about.
The only way they should be able to do this is if, as a trade-off, they install live, 24 hr surveillance cameras in every area of their operations and broadcast them for anyone to view on the internet.
• These edgy, canvas, rubber and textile high-tops from Supra are on sale at GILT Groupe for about half-off. Gilt is invite only, so click here to join.
• Peta is awesome. Iggy Pop talk’s about Canada’s shitty club scene in this clever poster.
According to Denmark’s fashion forum the grievances that the fur lobby filed, regarding mainstream media coverage of conditions on Danish fur farms, were officially rejected just before the holiday season.
Almost exactly one year ago, Minister Eva Kjer Hansen of Denmark stated that “Mink breeders break animal welfare rules. And that is unacceptable,” after the Danish newspaper Politiken published this article (Danish): Mink live under bad conditions in two out of three farms. That came after fox farming was outlawed in Denmark following a 2009 undercover investigation from the Danish animal rights organization, Anima. The investigation sent shock-waves through the Danish media, exposing horrible conditions on fur farms, and contradicting the multimillion-dollar marketing efforts of the fur industry and fur lobby groups like Kopenhagen Fur, which are headquartered in Denmark.
As the fur industry continues to dispute all claims made by animal advocates in the EU, and has even filed official complaints about the press itself. It’s important to point out that, while animal advocates have nothing to gain financially from documenting and exposing these farms, the fur industry stands to lose billions – so it’s no surprise when they deny clearly documented facts. This is something of which the Danish government is well aware.
The Danish TV station, TV2, recently did a follow-up on 2009′s Operation X, and this wasn’t to the liking of the Danish fur industry, so they filed a complaint with the Danish media board (Pressenævnet). According to politiken.dk the fur industry claimed that the images in the documentary were used in a misleading way to make matters worse then they are. They didn’t get very far with their complaint and the media board rejected it. The animal rights group Anima’s documentation is supported by the government. It seems our politicians could learn a lot from the Danish!
Yesterday, I participated in a bloody spectacle in Times Square. I undressed, lay down in a giant meat tray, got drenched in stage-blood and then wrapped in plastic. Finally, a supermarket-style sticker was placed on my man-parts that read “FLESH: Billions of animals are abused and violently killed because you eat meat. Get Help. Visit www.goveg.com“. There was a media frenzy, and a crowd of onlookers stood by, quietly absorbing the visuals. I kept hearing people murmur,”I’ve lost my appetite“, or “Now what are we going to have for lunch?”.
It’s no surprise that PETA takes criticism from both sides for their attention-grabbing tactics. Some argue that their spectacles compromise the seriousness of the message, while others complain about not having these ideas “pushed” on them (as if the visual and emotional assault the meat and dairy industry pays billions for each year isn’t pushing a specific, and untrue, idea about milk and meat) – but you can’t argue with a crowd of hundreds who mostly took pamphlets, pictures, and asked questions. It was an effective and stimulating demonstration.
The religious couple at the end of the video who have a “live and let live” philosophy about veganism miss the point; the animals are very much alive. What they are really asking is for activists to” live and let kill“.
One critic, on the CNN website, wrote that she’ll never take PETA seriously (or any animal activists) so long as they throw paint at people and wish cancer upon meat eaters.
I love this myth, that animal activists throw paint at people (aside from themselves). I don’t think that’s happened since 1980, yet everyone who questions animal activists’ tactics seems to believe that they’ve had, or will have, paint thrown at them, or in this case, diseases “wished” upon them – and that justifies “not taking them seriously”.
Let’s reiterate: This CNN writer is unwilling to take the side of the (supposed) paint-throwers, because throwing paint negates what…. facts? Validity? But this same writer is willing to take the side of the throat slitters, the skull crushers, the limb grinders, the life-takers, the mother-child-bond-breakers, the mothers’ milk thieves… because that industry does not throw paint at people. And instead of wishing cancer on people, they very physically give cancer to people. This activist-cancer-wisher, paint-thrower is a straw man!
Most animal advocates are animal advocates because they are compassionate. Most of the animal advocates I know are the same people who are the environmentalists and human rights activists. I can’t imagine any one of my friends wishing cancer upon someone .
From the animals’ perspective this issue really isn’t very gray. Most of us don’t need to eat them to thrive, and it hurts them, us, and the planet. What’s so difficult?
A deal struck between The Humane Society of the United States, Ohioans for Humane Farms, Ohio agriculture leaders and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland will lead to major animal welfare improvements in Ohio on a raft of issues, reforming industry practices and improving prospects for adoption of critical legislation in other areas. The agreement puts a hold on a planned factory farming initiative on the fall ballot, said the Humane Society of the United States today.
Once the animal-farming industries became aware that animal advocates from all over the United States had descended upon Ohio and gathered enough signatures to put an initiative on the ballot, animal agriculture finally agreed to come to the table to discuss meaningful reforms. Just hours before over 500,000 signatures were slated to be filed, a major animal protection agreement was reached – preventing costly and contentious campaigning. Several reforms that outlaw and phase out cruel practices in Ohio, a state known to have some of the weakest anti-cruelty laws in the nation and no meaningful protections for farm animals. The agreement includes the following measures for farm animals:
• A ban on veal crates, to be phased out within six years.
• A ban on new gestation crates in the state after December 31, 2010. Existing facilities are grandfathered, but must cease use of these crates within 15 years.
• A permanent moratorium on permits for new battery cage facilities in place immediately.
• A ban on the transport of downed cows and calves for slaughter.
• A ban on strangulation and other forms of on farm killing that are not included in euthanasia standards as outlined by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
• Enactment of legislation establishing felony-level penalties for cock fighters.
Often we hear about how “well managed” and “humane” regulated fur farms are in Europe. People make statements like, “it’s not in our economic interest to mistreat the animals”. Personally, I don’t believe that unhappy animals make bad fur any more than unhappy chickens make bad eggs. What’s worse, fur industry propaganda websites like furisgreen.com claim that the undercover documentation that animals rights activists risk their safety filming is staged in order to reap the millions of dollars in fund-raising profits that animal advocacy organizations “rake in” so that their staffs can lead lives of luxury (as if the fur industry itself weren’t money-driven). I tend to believe the motives of compassion-based non-profit organizations over the motives of for-profit businesses. The EFBA (European Fur Breeders Association) recently released a ridiculous video that is borderline comical. “Openness and transparency are our key words!”, the website yells with an exclamation-point. Goofy rock music plays as we see cute furry baby animals and people relaxing among the rows and rows of cages. At the end, we see images of young teens hugging some animal, and then suddenly, cut to: fur on the runway. Never once do they address how the fur goes from the back of the animal to the back of the runway model. Is killing even involved? Or does the fur magically and joyfully leap off of the animal and onto a runway after each animal gets hugged by kids? Try not to sway to and fro:
Oikeutta Eläimille and Animal Defenders International jointly released a new investigation on Finnish fur farm. The investigators went to 30 different fur farms in the summer and autumn of 2009. They recorded cruel neglect of animals and living conditions with no stimuli where caged animals displayed signs of extreme stress and anxiety. In Finland approximately three million animals are killed annually because of their fur at these farms. Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain, Holland, Switzerland and Croatia have either totally or partially banned fur farming by law.
What about Finland? It’s now time that the largest exporter of fox pelts and one of the largest fur producers in Europe come clean. It’s time to shut down the Finnish fur farming industry. Look at the videos and pictures of the investigation and demand for the ban! Take a look also at Animal Defenders International’s Fur Stop -site.
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• Check out these new books from some of our favorite animal advocates:
• Just for Kicks. Check these new, striking cruelty-free shoes.
• Check out some of the amazing recipes at G LIVING. The recipes are delectable, and photographed beautifully. We re drooling over here!
• Banfield, the nation’s largest veterinary practice with 730 hospitals and 2,000 veterinarians, including many in PetSmart stores, announced it will stop performing cosmetic tail docking, ear cropping, or devocalization (de-barking) of dogs. Read The Article. “After thoughtful consideration and reviewing medical research, we have determined it is in the best interest of the pets we treat, as well as the overall practice, to discontinue performing these unnecessary cosmetic procedures,” says Karen Faunt, vice president for medical quality advancement. “It is our hope that this new medical protocol will help reduce, and eventually eliminate, these cosmetic procedures altogether.”
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Turk + Taylor, creator of handsome, organic garments, has opened a pop-up store in San Francisco! If you’re on the west coast, you must check out their tailored goods for both men and women. And of course they’re offering up a batch of striking tees!
The Turk+Taylor Pop-Up Shop is located at 1529 Fillmore Street in San Francisco. Their phone number is 415-336-5364. They’re open Thursday through Sunday, Noon – 7pm through the end of August.
Animal Rights Activist Jailed at Secretive Prison Gives First Account of Life Inside a “CMU”
In a Democracy Now exclusive interview, Andrew Stepanian, an animal rights activist who was jailed at a secretive prison known as a Communication Management Unit, or CMU, speaks to Democracy Now. Watch the FULL VIDEO.
Jim James of the lionized My Morning Jackethas announced that a portion of the proceeds of an upcoming, limited-edition EP will go to some of our favorite peeps at the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary!
LEARN TO SHRED! Raw chef Judita(who also happens to star as “Judy Nails” in Guitar Hero) is teaching some raw un-cooking classes in NYC. If you want to learn Raw Foods 101 from a rockstar chef, you musttake the class!
The Cruelest Show On Earth! Ringling Bros has fastened itself onto Coney Island like a parasite for the summer. Find out what happens during typical behind-the-scenes training for circus elephants:
It’s amazing to me (but not surprising) that industries whose practices are not only notoriously cruel and often superfluous, but blatantly damaging to increasingly fragile ecosystems are able to advertise that they’re ‘green’. Like the greenwashing of furs, coal, cars, and more – Julian reports on a movement within the hunting community towards ‘green’ bullets. We learned a lot about the phenomenon of greenwashing in the book “Toxic Sludge is Good For You”. And we must ask – what’s next? ‘Green’ bombs?
‘Green’ Bullets: For the Ethically and Environmentally Conscious Hunter?
by Julian Dezorzi
About a month ago, The Discerning Brute jokingly awarded the Canadian Fur Council’s “Fur is Green” campaign with the “greenwashing award of the decade” (see entry here). The CFC certainly struck a chord with people who know anything about the toxic, cruel, and unnecessary fur industry.
Not to be outdone, some hunters have decided to follow suit and go ‘green’ in the name of ‘environmentalism’ by switching to copper-based ammunition rather than the more often used, highly toxic, and (of course) cheaper, lead-based bullet alternatives. Now, not only will our environment be protected from the adverse effects of all those toxic lead bullets, but the animals on the receiving end of the slug would be thrilled to know that the person who shot them from a hundred yards away was doing their part to protect nature from – you got it – something that might kill. Or as one of our ‘environmentalist’ hunter friends, Phillip Loughlin, who, “made a choice he knew would brand him as an outsider with many of his fellow hunters,” rationalizes: “I believe that we need to do a little bit to take care of the rest of the habitat and the environment — not just what we want to shoot out of it.”
Have you ever seen what a copper mine looks like today? And what copper looked like in the days of the gold rush? Watch this short video. Or how about the effects that mining for the highly depleted copper metal that will go into making these so-called ‘green’ bullets? It is unlikely these bullets are being made from recycled copper, and peak levels are exceeded, making copper mining much more costly and hazardous.
I am not claiming to be perfect – after all, I am typing on a computer with copper in it, knowing it was built somewhere in Asia and it’s construction is causing cancer. This article, however, is about the greenwashing of bullets used to kill animals. Let’s turn our attention back to the article and see how hunters are beginning to warm up to the idea of going ‘green’.
What exactly is ‘green’ about the killing of thousands of animals a year? Population control? O, the old population control rationalization. This is often the argument that hunters and rifle aficionados use to justify their desire to bag the ‘big’ buck, go on the canned hunt, and get the trophy that will sit atop their mantle piece as a testament of their skillful manhood rooted in some primal fantasy. Although there are numerous reports that suggest that population control does work in some instances, these studies are countered by numerous studies suggesting otherwise. (See here and here, for example).
Then there’s the effects that hunting has upon land management within many of the private lands that are deforested in order to create a ‘hunter-friendly environment’, devastating even more forest systems and forcing animals to become ‘pests’ as they seek out food in ever-expanding residential areas and farmlands.
The main argument that this article is attempting to put forward is that lead-based bullets are hazardous to the health of the humans who will eventually consume the animals they kill. The article cites a study by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources “which found that when lead bullets explode inside an animal, imperceptible particles of the metal can infect meat up to a foot and a half away from the bullet wound — farther than previously thought” or, as Dr. William Cornatzer, a dermatologist and falconer, after testing a number of venison samples and finding that “about half of the 100 samples — all shot by hunters — tested positive for lead,” points out that “the scary thing is these fragments are almost like dust in the meat. They’re not like metal fragments you would feel when you bite down.”
The implicit megalomaniacal assumption made by this article is ultimately just another example of the speciesism that is part of the dominant social and cultural fabric. This assumption is that human health, safety and lives are intrinsically more valuable than the lives of other animals and the natural environment. Never once does the article acknowledge the ramifications that hunting has upon the habitats that house the thousands of animals that are hunted, for sport and otherwise, each year.
For the majority of us, hunting is not necessary for survival. Most of us can thrive on a plant-based diet. Of course subsistence hunters are not the problem here. I’m not asking the Inuit, Aboriginal or Uru to go vegan. And subsistence hunting is often more humane than farming animals (so if you cringe at the idea of hunting, yet salivate for cheap bacon, it’s time to come to terms with factory farming). However, sport hunters will often invoke the romantic life-or-death imagery of subsistence hunting in order to justify their sport.
Although the article could conceivably be lauded for the concern it addresses for both human and the natural environment’s well-being through switching to these ‘green’ bullets (arguments that, as I have briefly shown, are highly problematic and belie the actual effects that hunting and mining have upon the natural world) it must equally, and perhaps even more forcibly, be attacked on what it fails to address, namely, the total disregard for the safety and health for the actual animals that are being shot and shot at by both lead and the copper alternatives. For example, what are consequences that lead-poisoning has upon the bodies and cognitive systems of the animals that often ‘get away’ wounded? Such oversights and miss-acknowledgments are sadly the norm. Indeed, this article has striking similarities and echoes the lack and total disregard for addressing such questions in the news media’s coverage of the USDA’s unprecedented recall of 164 million pounds (!) of meat that happened last year– a recall that came to light as a result of a number of whistle-blower videos showing ‘downer cows’ and reports surrounding the egregious and just plain disgusting treatment, handling and killing of cattle and other factory-farmed livestock.
While new reports came in everyday, I found myself searching in vain for at least one report from the mainstream media outlets that condemned and/or attacked the actual perpetrators of these acts to no avail.
I am not claiming that people’s health should not be a nation’s number one concern, nor am I arguing that the weight and severity of these events should not have been reported. Quite the contrary! These reports and the videos that triggered them are essential to informing the nation of the horrendous acts being committed everyday by the meat and dairy industries, as well as the hunting industry. It is of utmost importance for people to be aware and (hopefully) concerned with what they are putting into their bodies for daily sustenance and there must be more oversight and regulations put into place in order to protect not only humans, but animals as well.
This ‘green BULLets’ story is just a part of the ‘green-ification’ agenda that all industries are trying to cash-in on. The absurd notion that something as destructive as ammunition can be ‘green’ is not only deceptive but is a complete misrepresentation of the facts. Being ‘green’ means undertaking actions in order to live within a sustainable world that respects the fact that environmental resources are scarce. It is an acknowledgement that our actions have effects upon the world we live in and an attempt to offset, reduce, minimize, or even reverse the impact that these actions have upon the earth and its resources.
There is nothing sustainable about the hunting industry. In fact it’s quite the opposite. The amount of energy it takes to extract the copper it will take to support this $1.08 billion a year industry, the environmental ramifications that the deforestation measures that are used in order to accommodate sport hunting, and the imbalances to the populations of animals hunted for sport are just a few examples of the consequences that this industry has upon the natural environment and a testament to its lack of sustainability.
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The Discerning Brute’s featured contributor, Julian Dezorzi, is a recent grad-school graduate. Julian De Zorzi is an activist and aspiring writer-filmmaker who lives in Brooklyn.
A new Mercy For Animals undercover investigation reveals shocking abuse at New England’s largest egg factory farm – Quality Egg of New England (QENE) in Turner, Maine. The hidden camera video shot in early 2009 gives a startling glimpse behind the closed doors of one of the nation’s leading egg producers, exposing the rotten truth behind battery cage egg production – heinous cruelty to animals. CLICK HERE for the full story.
2. Are the lab rat’s days numbered?
Thanks to DAWNWATCH for the tip on this amazing article about scientists finally realizing how innacurate animal models are in finding cures for human conditions.
