Never one to be discouraged by an obstacle, my five-year-old grandson told me yesterday that he is telling his family not to fish. His maternal grandparents like to go fishing, and he knows from reading That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals, a book by Ruby Roth, that fish are very sensitive and have sensitive mouths. I was amazed at this, because my perception of this little boy was that he kept things compartmentalized, just like the rest of us. I thought his interest in veganism was only allowed to bloom at my house.

A First Vegan Outreach

Whenever he has asked me why his other grandparents fish, I have told him I think they do not know about fish and their feelings. Being asked why other adults do not care about the feelings of other animals always leaves me somewhat perplexed. Why don’t they care? I wish I knew. I hope it is lack of education about their sentience, their will to live, their wish to avoid pain – just like our same wishes for our own lives. My grandson must have decided that his grandparents just needed to hear the truth, and they would stop hurting the fish. I hope that his faith in education is warranted; I hope he continues to be a voice for the animals of this world.  I hope he will not become disappointed in the speciesism of this world and the adults that have been so indoctrinated into it that they do not even realize it exists.

First Steps Toward a Vegan World

My grandson has faith in vegan outreach. At five years old, he has already become an advocate for animals and taken part in vegan education. It gives me hope that such young children can be so outspoken about animals and their feelings. I hope he finds fertile ground to plant those vegan seeds. And I hope that what he learns from me is not confusing or distressing to him. I hope he finds all the peace, health, connection, and love that being a vegan provides. And, I hope there is a world, a vegan world, that will still be here for him as he grows up. There is a lot of work to do to see that happen  – I am glad he is getting an early start on helping us to spread the word!

My five year old grandson is very open to a wide variety of foods, since he is growing up in a bicultural family, eats regularly with people from  Cambodian/ Chinese/ Thai/ Vietnamese/ Vegetarian/ Vegan and SAD (standard American diet) backgrounds. He is usually eager to try things I make for the first time, even if I do not offer them. What I have found works best is to introduce a new food by having it on the table and on my own plate and something familiar on his. Invariably, he will ask to sample the new item and request second helpings. This scenario works very well for us and has helped him increase his interest in all kinds of food without pressure. It allows him to feel in control and makes eating an adventure!

Breaking Tradition, Causing Distress

Recently, though, I had just discovered the beautiful blog Raw on $10 a Day and fell in love with Lisa’s Pad Thai recipe. I made the sauce and let my grandson sample it – he thought it was delicious. But because of my love for this raw dish (and most everything on that particular blog), I broke tradition and created two bowls of the same for lunch. Probably due to his being very, very tired, my little grandson looked at the unknown on his plate and asked, “Can I have something normal, please?”

That sentence has been reverbating in my head for the past few weeks. I know the feeling of wanting something normal. In a world that seems upside down, where corporations are rewarded for exploitation of the environment and those who want to protect it are called eco-terrorists, where animals are tormented and rendered homeless at every turn and those who care about them are considered radical, it is not easy to imagine what true normal would feel like. Sadly, in this world, the ability to detach from reality seems part of the accepted normalcy. But what is normal to a child growing up biracial, bicultural, in love with life, and encountering extreme differences between next door neighbors, both of whom are beloved family members?

Creating the New Normal

Of course, this child was longing for something familiar, something that was safe and did not require any energy adventuring or discovering. Being tired, he just wanted the comfort of the routine, regular, expected food that meant he was where he belonged and all was right with the world. I long for that comfort, that knowledge that all is right with the world, too. But being an adult, it is so apparent to me that all is not right. I have to accept responsibility for changing the world in some way, so that those who abhor exploitation of the natural world will be the new normal, where concern for animal beings and human beings is accepted by all, and where our connection with all forms of life is once again intact and secure. A world that is undergoing stress can be a scary place, but it can also be a place ripe for change. As a vegan, I have chosen a life outside the majority, I have made myself a person that is not considered normal by the bulk of humanity. If I want what I consider a normal world, first I have to help create it. I know that change is coming, but admit that at times, like my grandson, I too grow weary of trying new things and well know that longing: Can I have some normal, please?

Like a whirlwind  sweeping through this Texas prairie, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau continues her fevered pace of work with an array of resources and bounty for the vegan movement.  Her most recent book, Vegan’s Daily Companion, includes the work of many other people, but it has her handprint (and heart) on every page. Like all her other published books, it is a work of art, complete with gorgeous color photos, high quality paper, and a well-organized premise, 365 days of support for the new vegan, the vegan activist or the vegan curious.  It is such a lovely book that it would make a great gift for even the non-vegans who love food, health, animals or the arts. For those who are avid fans of her podcasts (as I am), some of the material may seem familiar. Nonetheless, it is all compiled in a refreshing and engaging volume that should be on every activist’s shelf as required needed sustenance. Burnout makes for cranky vegans; self-care keeps us healthy and vibrant. Thank you, Ms. Patrick-Goudreau!

Vegan’s Daily Companion Offers Daily Sustenance

Mondays are For the Love of Food, and include information about a variety of intriguing edibles. Tuesdays are all about Compassionate Communication, including those troubling oft-repeated questions, ideas for replacing negative idioms about animals, and a variety of ways to remove violent allusions from our language. Wednesday is about Health for Body, Mind, and Spirit, everything from eating mindfully to how best to shop at a farmer’s market to taking care of your activist self.  Thursdays offer a delightful array of excerpts and ideas from Animals in the Arts: Literature and Film, followed by Friday’s Stories of Hope, Rescue and Transformation. As a therapist, I once kept a “Friday File” to help me make it through another week, filled with cards children had made me, pictures they had given me, and drawings they have made of our work together, as well as notes and memorabilia from other former clients. At low points, it was a reminder that there was a purpose to my difficult work, and one that made it significant to others. Colleen’s Friday stories are delightful bits about a few lucky animals who found their way to life and love, something those of us working for the animals need to absorb once in awhile, too. And, no vegan book written by Ms. Patrick-Goudreau would be complete without a bounty of delicious and healthful recipes. While not all the writing nor the recipes are Colleen’s alone, they all are assets to any vegan’s repertoire of possibilities.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau – Soothing the Vegan Soul

And it is in the possibilities that Ms. Patrick-Goudreau shines. She reminds us to allow ourselves to have a good cry, to let go of results and concentrate on intentions, to promote peace, compassion, and justice for all beings. The daily affirmations are sure to soothe the vegan soul as they educate and encourage us every day throughout the year. If you love Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (and really – what is not to love?) you will fall in love with this wonderful resource. It is like having your very own vegan mentor, waiting to help you each and every day.  With creativity and talent this deep, I am very grateful Ms. Patrick-Goudreau plays on the vegan team!

How two people with perfect eyesight gave birth to three offspring with bad vision is beyond me, but my parents did just that.  Being one of the lucky recipients of poor vision, I finally was desperate enough to do something about it. For years I had struggled with contact lenses, moving from the old hard lenses, to gas permeable, to soft lenses – yet none worked perfectly. The hard lenses were hardy and allowed the best vision, but could cause blindness if worn too long as they deprive the eye of oxygen. The gas permeable were better, but not much more comfortable. The soft lenses were preferred for comfort, but came out of focus occasionally and were subject to more fanatical cleaning regimes. All of them left my eyes burning, tired, and red.  With more and more difficulty seeing clearly, I finally decided to find out what my options were for improving my vision.

The Myopic and Hyperopic Animal Rights Activist

Having good vision is something many people take for granted – at least until the age-related farsightedness kicks in. But how we see impacts the decisions we make, the activities in which we participate, and the amount of freedom we experience.  It is one of those things that we barely notice until we no longer have it.  So, too, with animal activism — it is easy to become myopic and think the rest of the world is just like our own little corner, that others will react to the vegan message the way we did, or the way our neighbors do.  We may think the only way to legitimately help animals is to do what we have always done, using the same old handouts and the tried-and-true tactics that we developed long ago. If we are myopic, we may only see the short-term things, those things which are right around us, and have difficulty expanding our horizons — we are so used to our limited vision that we accommodate to it. This keeps us grounded, but also truncates what we might achieve. Without the larger vision, we may sell the movement short, not reach out for better ideas and tactics, and not expect too much. We may believe that the world cannot really change.

With farsightedness, hyperopia, we cannot see things nearby, but can see further away – which is why older people always have arms that are too short! The hyperopic activist may miss entirely how he is alienating the people around him, because his vision is focused on the far horizon. He has the vision so necessary for achieving the end goal, knows well the theoretical basis for that vision, and is knowledgeable on the finer points of his beliefs, but may have difficulty with the best approach to reach people and to move us towards the goal. If the hyperopic activist is not careful, he will alienate such a wide array of people that he will make it impossible to awaken the myopic to the very necessary vision he alone can see. As he tries to explain his vision to the myopic activist, he becomes frustrated, explaining what he sees that, unfortunately, the myopic person cannot possibly see for himself. He is totally unaware that he, too, has blind spots and limited vision.

Monovision: Seeing It All, Nothing Clearly

For the past few years, I adapted to monovision, because I had myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and numerous other visual disturbances. Monovision is what they call using one eye and contact lens for seeing up close and one for distance – somehow your brain learns to deal with it, but you always walk around feeling a little dizzy. You have to compromise when you have eyes as bad as mine, because there is no easy solution. During the years I had contacts, I also had driving glasses, reading glasses, and some kind of strange glasses that allowed me to see near and far but required getting your neck into a contorted position in order to do that. When you have monovision, you can see what the hyperopic activist is seeing, and you can see what the myopic activist is seeing, but you cannot see either one with the same intense devotion that either camp can see with a focused vision. Just like both kinds of activists, you have to adapt to what you have to use.

There do not appear to be many animal activists with perfect vision. Most fall into either the myopic or hyperopic categories and can really go at it with one another. Both are seeing their own realities and failing to see what the other side is seeing. The myopic activist often fails to see the horizon and what is possible, and the hyperopic activist often forgets the importance of things like collaborating, relationship building, and understanding. One activist who had perfect vision was Martin Luther King. He knew he must try to save even the souls of those in the dominant power structure who were oppressing the very people he was trying to free. “If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive,” he said. Ultimately, he did pay that price and removed one stone from the weight of exploitation and moved it towards the weight of justice in the world. In working to end racism in the United States, he liberated people of all races. This needs to be part of the work in activism for animals, too. We need to save the blighted spirits of even those who are oppressing the animals; we need to see our work as liberating them as well as the animals.

Moving Towards a Clearer Vision

Right now I am in the middle of trying to improve my vision.  As with most things, it gets a bit worse before it gets better, which is why vision is on my mind. Just like in my activism, recent events have caused me to experience blurry vision, a lack of clarity, and some alienation from both kinds of vision correction and both kinds of activists. There is a dogmatism in both camps that is so oft-repeated that it numbs my mind. One thing, though, that both sides tend to see as critical: creative vegan education.  Some activists believe in incremental reform, others believe we need a new world order, but both agree that we need to educate people about the importance of veganism. For me, that is a starting point.

When I was younger, I refused to wear glasses; I refused! With an active lifestyle, they seemed to impose an unacceptable limit to me. Some people thought I was conceited, but I was actually quite shy–I just couldn’t see them.  I remember that today as I try to listen to what other people tell me, as I try to remember how I thought just a few years ago, and consider how to best help awaken someone or help them transition. Maybe the person I am working with in my advocacy just cannot see what I now see. Maybe they are accommodating their own limited vision. If anyone should be patient with those with poor vision, it should be someone who has lived with such limitations for years.

A Vision With Animals – Including Human Primates

With just a couple more optical procedures to go, I am expecting to have improved visual acuity very soon. Listening to more and more people in various parts of the animal rights debate, I am hoping my personal vision for advocacy will likewise be enhanced as I absorb and synthesize all the information within my reach.  At their very best, my eyes can never achieve the focus and distance vision of a bird of prey, the night vision of a cat, nor the ability to see on two sides of my head, like a horse.  I will never see all the colors available to the butterfly or bird, nor the amazing mosaic of vision available to some insects.  About the best I can try to achieve is a wider and deeper view of what has been there all along. In the animal rights movement, that means paying attention to the plight of animals and not getting distracted into politics or personalities, but listening and learning from all those who have different experiences, a different viewpoint, or are trying a new approach. It means more than focusing; it means interpreting and scanning, as well. It is an ongoing quest for a clearer vision and a deeper understanding of our world. In the world of animal activism, it means trying to understand what the horse’s world looks like, what the snake sees, what the cat can comprehend, and respecting the unique vision of each. It means respecting other humans too, even if I disagree with their vision for the future.

Billions upon billions of animals are sacrificed every year in a myriad of ways for one reason only: for profit. Their lives are ended in slaughterhouses, or they are imprisoned, are terrified, are separated and forced into a bleak existence, or are fed inappropriate food that causes great pain and distress: or are forced to perform for someone else’s amusement, all for that  singular  purpose.  The bulk of humanity is fed an unhealthy diet, are fed diets of not only animal products but are fed a constant diet of misinformation and deceit. There are pictures of happy cows chatting with one another in green fields and cartoon images of cows, chickens, and lambs. Our children are fed diets of speciesism in every cartoon, movie, and video game that references a typical diet. The bizarre and destructive practice of consuming animals for food, clothing, sport, entertainment or diversion becomes normalized.

A Few Hands Promote Profits, A Few Hands Promote Peace

Yet it is only a few hands that actually benefit from these deceptions. The rest of us are left with a devastated environment, a warming planet, and a sickened soul. We are left with poor health and chronic illnesses that perpetuate the cycle by the use of more animals for research, for medicine, for human replacement body parts. The mountain of dead bones from so many suffering and sacrificed lives continues to grow even as our future and our spirits shrink.  We have become divorced from the natural world, while an ever increasing anxiety, violence, and desperation grows within us.

Meanwhile, it is only a few hands that are beginning now to reach out to one another to form a network of information. These few hands are working to shine a light in the dark corners of animal commodification. They are the ones who hand out leaflets about ending all animal commodification, who are asking for a new vision; who debate; who moderate forums and read the latest books on animal rights. Who adopt animals who would otherwise lose their one chance at life; who rescue animals destined for the death houses; who protest, who create films and documentaries; who write the books; who build the sanctuaries. They are only a few souls amid the several billions of human beings. But they are the visionaries, the ones who refuse to accept the status quo as inevitable, who dare to believe other humans can change as they have changed, and they are helping to start one of the most significant changes in human history, a movement that says no more exploitation, no more speciesism, no sexism, no racism. A few hands reach out for justice for all beings.

There are only a few hands at either end of the spectrum; one group of hands reaches out for a few pieces of gold, the other offers peace. Which one will you grasp?

Each of us takes a path in life. We usually have some idea of what our goals are, and we set out to achieve them.  For some it is a rather straight line, for others a twisted winding road, and for many it is a rocky, steep, treacherous climb. But whatever path we are on, we are always free to make a u-turn, choose a different path, and keep trying to find the best answer, the best vehicle, the best way to get where we want to go. Even philosophers (and politicians) change their views over their lifetime as they learn, encounter other ideas, and develop as human beings.

Selecting a Path Toward Healing

In grad school, we were taught a variety of different approaches towards healing a wounded soul. Person-Centered therapy supports one’s own internal wisdom by gently encouraging and affirming and emphasizing things that are said. Cognitive therapy helps reframe a person’s experience and move towards instituting healthier patterns in thinking. Family therapy looks at the social context of interactions, helping to make them more positive. Behavioral therapy challenges the dysfunctional behaviors that keep the client from experiencing a fulfilling life. Group therapy works to give the client feedback as too how they are perceived by others and to allow them to receive support and challenges from fellow clients. Adlerian, Bowenian, Object Relations: there are numerous other approaches, but all work towards the same goal: a healthier client.

Not once in grad school did we fight about which path to take. Some of us were eclectic and took elements from one theory or another; some pursued further studies, as I did, in expanding a particular theoretical approach. I was fortunate to attend post-graduate training at The Family Therapy Institute in Santa Barbara, and Art Therapy training at UCSB. At FTI, I met many other up and coming young therapists, witnessed the pros at work behind a one-way glass, and expanded my theoretical toolbox. Art therapy proved to be a way to connect with inner demons for many nonverbal clients and worked beautifully with children. I remember being interested in further psychoanalytical training at one point, but because of time and circumstance, chose another path. Life is often like that.

Paths to Healing in Animal Advocacy

Now that I am working as a vegan advocate, I find that the goal sometimes gets lost. It is almost as if the path is the thing that matters, not the destination at all. It would be like someone attacking me for being a cognitive therapist when they prefer a psychoanalytical approach, forgetting altogether about the client. The contributing factors in determining which path to take are individual, and depend upon the personal experiences and characteristics of the therapist, and the type of clients with which that therapist will ultimately work. No one gets to select which theory anyone else chooses. All we can do is learn and discuss, and let each person make their own choice.  Personally, I would prefer to fly to get to Santa Barbara these days; others might prefer to take the train or go by car. It would depend upon your timeframe, financial situation, and prior experiences. It would be your choice. Metaphorically, I would just hope we would both get to Santa Barbara at some point. (It is a beautiful city along the California Coast near my prior domicile.)

Therapy is not done to the client, it is done with the client, a path we travel together. I can recall once thinking I helped a client make a brilliant connection only to find out the client heard something completely different. One thing they all recalled, though: how it felt to travel together. This is an important point in animal advocacy, where there are widely divergent beliefs about helping animals. Some people think that if you are not on the exact same path using the exact same methods, you are somehow the enemy to the cause. I have witnessed advocates disrespecting other advocates for the type of advocacy, for their preferred way to work towards change, and even for their chosen venue. Yet it appears to be a continual evolution, rather than a button one selects, in learning how best to help effect social change of this magnitude. And it is dependent upon our individual education, experiences and outlook on life — and no one can change that for us.

Do All Paths Lead to Rome?

We were schooled in the phrase, “All Paths Lead to Rome,” meaning there are many routes to health; no one approach is the only way. I call myself an abolitionist but disagree at times with other abolitionists. I disagree with working for welfare reform that only perpetuates the institutional use of animals as things rather than recognizing them as persons, individuals with feelings and a right to life. Advocacy is not something I do to someone, it is something I do with someone, it is a journey we travel together. I cannot possibly travel my journey on anyone else’s path but my own. Like in therapy, I try to respect those with whom I am working and let time and their own internal wisdom do the rest. Part of my training was to honor the process, not just the content, of what was going on. In animal advocacy, that means how I advocate is as important as what I am advocating (or in this case, for whom). If I alienate others, the process dies on the vine.

Find your own path, but please keep moving towards the goal: that animals are sentient beings that deserve the right to their lives, the right to be our traveling companions on earth, and not our transport. Find the path that leads to peace: for the animals, for the earth, for the future.

Mozart, The Marriage of Figaro

I can feel the winds of change in the atmosphere. Omnivore, locavore, retrovore, flexitarian, vegetarian, vegan, nutritarians, fruitarians, primativists, hunter-gatherers, paleos, backyard chickens, free range eggs, happy meat that is desperately unhappy, homegrown, butcher your own, farmer’s markets, food co ops and a host of other food fads and frauds are on the horizon.  Even Walmart is getting into the action, promising to make their food healthier and to provide heatlhy fresh foods to what they call food deserts, parts of the globe that are underserved communities. Of course, this would mean more WalMarts, too. What is sustainable and what is pure faddist? What is an honest attempt at ethics at what is just a fraud? How can a vegan advocate respond to these many distractions from what we already know works in the areas of morality, health, sustainability, global warming, and nonviolence? This podcast will look at a few of these food fads and see how they impact human and nonhuman animals, and how they impact the forward momentum of the abolitionist vegan movement.

We all learned not long ago that Omnivore’s have a Dilemma, thanks to Michael Pollan. Looking at the source of the few foods upon which we have become dependent, Pollan researches the genesis of our diets from food science labs to factory farms, from organic growers to foragers and hunters. Pollan has noted that Americans eat about two hundred pounds of animal flesh each year – twice the global average. That’s a lot of animals….

Shift in the Winds by Keith Hintons

Michael Pollan speaks at UC Davis

Flexitarians and Meat-Free Mondays

Then there is Mark Bittman, foodie and cookbook author who believes in flexitarianism. Despite the fact that detrimental impact of animal agriculture on the environment is well accepted at this point, Bittman, rather than espousing a healthy vegan diet, moves to promoting his “Vegan til  Six” idea. He was quoted in a NY Times article,

I decided to do this sort of “vegan till 6” plan. I didn’t have huge thoughts or plans about it. I just thought it was worth a try. Within three or four months, I lost 35 pounds, my blood sugar was normal, cholesterol levels were again normal … and my sleep apnea indeed went away. All these good things happened, and it wasn’t as if I was suffering so I stayed with it…. The animals he consumes are still suffering.Those who go vegan for other than ethical reasons often do not stay with it and do not even follow the advice of their physicians to eat a vegan diet. The problem with these campaigns is that they seem to spend precious time and resources on things that won’t significantly help nonhuman animals and help the human animals feel better about condemning animals to brief horrific lives and torturous deaths. Worse yet, when so-called animal protection organizations jump on the band wagon, they give credence to those who commodify animals and spread the very false notion that these campaigns are morally significant or will allow people to continue consuming animals with a clear conscience. There has recently been a spate of people returning to eating more meat due to the humane certification allowing them feel they are doing something ethical when they are not. Be wary of such deception.

Along with this philosophically weak idea of reducing meat consumption came Paul McCartney and the Meat Free Mondays campaigns. Time to give up those animal products Sir Paul, they seem to be clouding your judgment!

Jordan Wyatt of Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals; Paul McCartney singing Meat Free Monday

Nutritarians and Locavores

Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book, Eat for Health, works towards achieving a diet of densely nutritious foods in every bite. While it does limit animal products to the very top of their food pyramid, it still leaves a good amount of blood and suffering, violence and domination, as part of the equation.  “..A nutritarian is a person who strives for more micronutrients per calorie in their diet-style.” Brendan Brazier has also looked at incorporating densely nutritious foods into diets for endurance athletes like himself and others, but he was able to do so with a vegan diet.

Another eating fad are those who believe optimal health can be achieved and the planet saved with a return to the hunter-gatherer state of being. Lierre Keith mentions this in her book, The Vegetarian Myth, as she looks at the importance of the grasslands.  Of course,consuming grass-fed beef has a couple of major problems – one, it kills animals and there is no humane way to murder; and two, it is unsustainable on a scale necessary to feed the people now living on the earth. Lierre Keith suggests that the earth could only support about 300 million people optimally. Who is going to be first to volunteer jumping off?

The Future by Leonard Cohen

A significant movement started just a few years ago is the Locavore movement, who advocate for eating what is possible to be grown within 100 miles of where you live in order to reduce the carbon footprint of our food. From the website Locavore:

Our food now travels an average of 1,500 miles before ending up on our plates. This globalization of the food supply has serious consequences for the environment, our health, our communities and our tastebuds. Much of the food grown in the breadbasket surrounding us must be shipped across the country to distribution centers before it makes its way back to our supermarket shelves. Because uncounted costs of this long distance journey (air pollution and global warming, the ecological costs of large scale monoculture, the loss of family farms and local community dollars) are not paid for at the checkout counter, many of us do not think about them at all.

Unfortunately, following this comment site goes on to equate chickens and onions both as food sources. This movement started in the San Francisco Bay area of Northern California in the US – an area that has a wide array of food sources available. The idea of limiting the transport of our fruits, vegetables and legumes or grains makes perfect sense, but to speak of sustainability without addressing the environmental impact of any form of animal agriculture seems less reasonable.If all people tried to become Locavores, they would soon start scurrying to those areas with good soil – hard to find as we deplete the topsoil at seventeen times the rate at which we regenerate it.  While eating produce grown locally is a good idea, it is not possible for all people, nor is it likely to become so. By the way, Locavore was the word of the year for 2007; guess what it was for 2006?  Yup, Podcast!

Backyard Chickens and Farmer’s Markets

An offshoot of the locavore movement is the backyard chicken movement..  But many people are discovering that there is more to chickens than they knew. There are several sites online to assist the hopeful tender of chickens.  One of the recommendations I read in one of their forums is do NOT name the chickens; it makes it too hard to “harvest” them — and we all know what that kind of harvesting looks like. In case you don’t, they even offer photos of the bloody process of separating a chicken from his or her life and his or her head. People think this is a good lesson for the kiddies? Of course the children are objecting to the pending murder of their chicken friends; if only the adults would really understand what the children recognize – that they are chicken persons, not a thing or plant to be harvested. May I suggest a cashew dal? Quite delicious, simply rice, lentils, spices with toasty cashews added in. And no one gets hurt. And rescued chickens that have names and are allowed to live like chickens – that, too is another matter altogether.

The growth of local farmer’s markets has been taking off in certain parts of the globe. These markets allow local producers to sell some of their produce to their own community. Some Farmer’s Markets include music, baked goods, nuts, jams, and an assortment of other offerings. Unfortunately, some now offer grass fed beef, lamb, honey, chickens and free range eggs. Often these goods are more expensive than the mass produced type of vegetables and fruits, but they are often of a superior quality as well. Some cities even have community gardens to allow local residents to farm their own produce on shared land.  Los Angeles had quite a wonderful community garden several years ago, until the city’s financial needs trumped the needs of the community and the land was sold. A film was even made about the meaning it had and the improvement in people’s diets that this small bit of land impacted. The land in question was laying fallow and overgrown – it was an industrial lot that was not being used and was eventually sold. Sadly, with governments of every size and stripe being over budgeted, it would be hard to maintain many of these programs when governmental entities are busy selling off things like their own parking meters to foreign enterpreneurs for a quick dollar.

Paleos, Hunter-Gatherers, and Neo Butchers

In a sentimental look backwards to our ancient ancestors, a group of adults are reverting to primativism and the Paleo diets. These diets are meant to mimic what our ancestors ate before the agricultural transformation — they are part of the hunter-gatherer movement. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to mimic ancient ancestors – their sense of fashion was pretty limited, and have you seen their dental hygiene? Dentists are really important to me. Also, they only lived a few years from what I have heard. This is a diet that relies heavily on meat, fish and produce, with no grains whatsoever. In one segment I heard on one of their podcasts, a devotee was asking why his libido was so down and this guy was only in his early thirties.  Another caller mentioned having difficulty with low energy – she was feeling like she was going to drop over all the time. Other mentioned having problems with their breath from ketosis. Not too enticing to me. On the positive, these grain free, high protein diets reportedly get rid of many diseases and induce weight loss. Might also be good for birth control from what I was hearing. Robb Wolf, a research biochemist, is the author of the Paleo Solution; his website is filled with photos of bodybuilders and rock hard abs. The health of the environment or her various life forms is ominously absent. One Paleo conversion could easily wipe out the benefit of one vegan – luckily, this is not yet a very large part of the recent crop of food fads. Let’s check back and see how their kidneys and hearts are doing a few years down the road. They are having an impact on some vegetarians, though. Here is a clip from The Paleo Solution:aa

The Paleo Solution – Robb Wolf and Andy Dees

Along with the Paleos, are people who want to butcher their own meat. Some folks believe that being part of the process of death somehow excuses them from responsibility for unnecessary death.  Whether an animal is killed in an abattoir or in the back of the barn on a small farm, death is death and killing is killing; it is never anything but despicable when it comes to the unnecessary deaths of other beings. We all know that eating animals and using their body parts is damaging our health and our planet, not to mention what it does to the force of violence in the world. Let’s move forward in our evolution. This elevating the killing of animals to some sort of time honored tradition becomes just another excuse to keep the blood flowing. Traditions are important, but the times, they are a changin’.

Bob Dylan – The Times The Are A Changin’

Heritage Foods and the Slow Food Movement (Terra Madre)

Heritage foods are another trending topic.  With massive agricultural industries taking over from smaller producers, the biological diversity that once kept the world safe has been pretty well eradicated. Some folks are working hard to bring back some of these so-called Heritage breeds, whether from seeds or animals.  It has been estimated that 1500 breeds of farm animals are now near extinction. Many of us vegans would like to see all animals freed from the term “farm” unless it is coupled with the term “sanctuary.” When it comes to produce, many plants and trees have been hybridized to increase shelf life and transportability; in other words, to maximize profit. There now exists seed conservancies, seed banks, and seed exchanges.  There are also well protected underground seed storage facilities, created in an attempt to protect some biodiversity should the world undergo any possible nuclear or other catastrophe.

The increasing control of multinational corporations like Monsanto poses a danger to our food supply and our farmlands. They have GMOs that do not need to be identified to the consumer and have formulated seeds that, even if only carried by the wind, they can then lay claim to on other people’s lands. Many farmers have gone out of business due to lawsuits by these major agricultural industries. In truth, we are nearly all under their collective umbrella and are becoming increasingly dependent on their disturbing practices. Their chosen mono crops are limiting our safety and our options.

Terra Madre and the slow food movement – 1300 chapters in 153 countries. Their missions is to support preservation of traditional foods and ways of eating. While this is a noble goal in many areas, in some ways it flies in the face of practical veganism. Some cultlures have cruelly used animals as a food source. Even now when doing so is counterproductive and unsustainable, tradition is often given as an excuse to continue these types of practices. If the Terra Madreans would take the good and extract it from the unreasonable and immoral, they would have much to commend them. They are an alternative voice that is definitely gaining momentum and quietly trying to effect a revolution in how we eat and live. From a Slow Food website:

A non-profit member-supported association, Slow Food was founded in 1989 to counter the rise of fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.

The official economic arrangements and the laws that enforce them ensure that hungry and homeless people will be plentiful amid plenty. The shadow system provides soup kitchens, food pantries, and giveaways, takes in the unemployed, evicted, and foreclosed upon, defends the indigent, tutors the poorly schooled, comforts the neglected, provides loans, gifts, donations, and a thousand other forms of practical solidarity, as well as emotional support. In the meantime, others seek to reform or transform the system from the inside and out, and in this way, inch by inch, inroads have been made on many fronts over the past half century.

I love what that says about the shadow system.  Sounds a bit more hopeful than the system that is blocking the sun. Here is a clip from the Terra Madreans:

BBC episode – Terra Madre (DocArchive)

Looking Forward: Veganism is the Answer!

We often hear that with one pending crisis after another, people will return to primitive methods of survival and will fight one another in brutal fashion. Maybe, but that is not what recent history has shown us. During the Katrina catastrophe here in the States, there were few such incidents, and hundreds of incidents of people reaching out to help their neighbors.  Here is a quote from the Slow Food site by Rebecca Solnit:

Here’s the surprise though: in such situations, most of us fend for each other most of the time — and beautifully at that. Perhaps this, rather than (human) nature red in tooth and claw, is our original nature. At least, the evidence is clear that people not only behave well, but take deep pleasure in doing so, a pleasure so intense it suggests that an unspoken, unmet appetite for meaningful work and vibrant solidarities lives powerfully within us. Those appetites can be found reflected almost nowhere in the mainstream media, and we are normally told that the world in which such appetites might be satisfied is “utopian,” impossible to reach because of our savage competitiveness, and so should be left to the most hopeless of dreamers.

It seems a positive that this slow food movement is looking to the shadow side, the hidden parts of human behavior, to forge a new order. It rails against being called hopeless, because it keeps finding evidence for just the contrary. Those of us who care deeply about the lives of animals are part of this move. Maybe all of us contrarians should join forces. What is a contrarian? In common usage, it means someone who invests in stocks when others are selling and sells when others are buying. Vegans are somewhat like those contrarians — we do not buy into the values of the macroculture and really believe in the very best of human nature despite knowing better than anyone else the very worst that such a nature might produce in the realm of cruelty and domination.

As you can tell from this show, some of these food movements are deceptive; some offer ideas that may indeed help preserve food sourcing that has integrity and sustainability in part. One thing, though, no one can really dispute if they read or listen to what is happening in the world: the best single thing you can do for all the beings on this earth is to go vegan. Not one of these other fads can make the same claim.

We have two choices: one is to do nothing, stick our collective heads in the sand and enjoy our lives while we may.  The other is to take action, become a radical realist and quit raping the earth and her animals. The choice is ours. Don’t be distracted by the foodies, the fads or the frauds. Vegan is the real deal, based on an ethical philosophy of nonviolence. Veganism is not about a dietary principle, though; it is about a fundamental belief in respect for other beings and the need for justice for all, and that includes all other animals, too.

One thing seems apparent after researching all the new food fads – people are searching for something new when it comes to food production and lifestyle, and that is good news. The way most of us have been eating and living has not been enhancing healthy lives or a healthy planet. The good news is that veganism provides a simple, clear answer to saving the planet, our health, and our fellow beings. Once you see what has been happening in the world to other forms of life, it is an easy decision to make. Embrace veganism, practice peace.

Everybody’s Changing – Keane

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Part-Time Vegetarians – Flexitarians

Vegan Before Dinnertime – Mark Bittman

Coexisting With Nonhuman Animals

Dr. Furhman and Nutritarianism

Slow Food article by Robin Solnit

Hippy-Dippy Soft-Brained Butchery

Paleo Solution

For part of Winter Break, we had a 17-1/2 year old visitor from the southern California coastal area. This cousin had last visited us when he was 14 and he was pretty quiet back then. It was with great delight we found ourselves hosting a much more mature, outgoing, confident and healthy nearly 18 year old. Due to graduate in June, he seems to have some reasonable and pragmatic plans for his future. He was instantly adored by his five year old cousin and had ample time to play video games with cousins aged 10 and 15 as well. His stand on my veganism was summed up thus, “I will love anything you make for me.” That is pretty much what the 15 year old believes, too. Both of these young man are very gracious and seem to appreciate every little thing you do for them. They are not as concerned with life philosophy yet, but food matters.

Introducing a Teen to a Plant-Based Diet

Learning from other bloggers and vegans, I decided to go slowly on moving this grandson into a plant-based diet by offering food that was familiar, although veganized.  I had a few vegan snack items on hand and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.  I would say two of his favorite items were the Vegan Pot Pies (not a scrap was left) and the pizzas made with olives, mushrooms, peppers, marinara and Daiya cheese. Vegan pizza has become a weekly occurence and each one seems to get better — but they are far from perfected yet. Still, this dinner was gobbled down one slice after another, with no complaints. For breakfast, a definite favorite was Orange Chocolate Chip Scones. Living next door to omnivorous relatives, this cousin had plenty of culinary choices.

Luckily, one of his California cousins has become a vegetarian, even though she is only thirteen, so he was familiar with alternative eating styles. The family in which he lives and dines is definitely Middle American in eating habits, with lots of high fat animal products. They are also a very loving and generous family who has taught me many good ideas over the years. When the children were tiny, I always kept bottled water in the car, pillows and blankets on any longer trips (ideas from this family), and this sibling set could be heard giggling in the back and having a lot of fun. This family taught me a great idea – Even/Odd. On even numbered days, little sister got to choose (lunch, cartoon, activity) and on odd days, little brother reigned supreme. This stopped a lot of conflict and helped the children learn to share and take turns. We went places every weekend, from live theater in the park to art festivals and picnics at the beach. We picked our own vegetables and explored the harbor. We all fell in love with our Japanese exchange student, Yukiyo, who returned to live and brought more Japanese students with her. We shared a lot of wonderful experiences.

From Hikes to Flights

I was afforded a few opportunities to really talk to this young man, now over six feet tall and towering over my diminutive frame.  He used to be my little hiking buddy. The very first hike we went on was supposed to be four or five miles but ended up being ten. We both got blisters within a few minutes which I treated with paper towels – all I had on hand. This little guy, only about six or seven at the time, skipped all the way until we reached the stairs in my house. Then he groaned, Ow! ow! my legs! laughing as he climbed up into a good hot bath to soak. By the next month, he was ready to hike once again. His sunny disposition was always appreciated by the adults on the hikes – he even found a real buddy in one midlife gentleman who had never had much of a childhood  and brought the inner child out in him. They would both hike up a hill and slide down in the dirt – THE DIRT! – and laugh all the way down. He listened keenly and learned from the Sierra Club members that knew the trails so well. It was a great way to increase his appreciation for the natural world and to share my love of physical activity.

Dropping him off at the airport, I realized there is no way to know when we will next see him. I am certain we will once again see a different young man before us with maturation becoming more and more in evidence. There was no vegan conversion on this visit, nor did I expect there to be. Still, one hopes the next generation will pause to think about the ways of this world, and consider how they want things to change in their own lifetime.  I am not nearly done working to effect change, but know that this young man is about to launch into adulthood and will select his own priorities. I was happy to hear he is running, something I did every day for an hour or more, until my knees gave out. I hope I have added something to his life and allowed him to think about things a bit differently.

I miss him already.

A recent conversation with my five year old grandson went something like this:

“I’m vegan and I’m not vegan.”

“How is that possible?”

“Well, I am vegan at your house, but when I go home….. my parents won’t be vegan.”

“Your father is trying but finds it difficult with all the family having different views. And your mommy said she would eat whatever is delicious.”

“But she won’t. She won’t even try. And I don’t know why my daddy won’t be vegan.”

Not wishing to alienate family members nor confuse my grandson, I found this a troubling conversation. Obviously, this five year old is thinking about the underlying reasons people make the choices they do. He’s figuring out how he fits in. I paused for a minute, then went on….

“Maybe you are always vegan. Being vegan means doing the least harm (ahimsa). It is not really just how you eat. You have no choice what to eat when you are five years old, but if you care about other beings and how they feel, maybe you are still vegan.”

“No, I am only allowed to be vegan here.”

Making Sense in a Nonsensical World

I try to listen and not interpret things too much. For a five year old, most things are pretty cut and dried. One day he had asked me why I care so much about animals. Another day he is admonishing me to be careful when I am removing a bug from the house. Some days he rails against me for not having his favorite nonvegan fare available. For him, it is all part of growing up and trying to make sense of things.

I am still trying to do that even now, as a grandmother. Sometimes it feels like I am trapped in someone else’s nightmare. I live in a nation that seems in love with violence and guns, with politicians even using them in their political ads, with violent rhetoric ongoing without pause, even when another shooting claims the life or lives of innocent people. Veganism is my stand for world peace, and for the animals that live in this world, too — at least for a little while, until they are hunted, or vivisected, or led away to the abattoir. It is an era of denial, whether giving tax breaks to the wealthy while running up massive debts or denying any climate change problems even as the physical evidence mounts.  It is also an era of alienation. People are on edge.

Satyagraha: Holding Firmly and Letting Go

According to Gandhi, a part of Satyagraha (holding firmly to truth) or resistance to injustice means letting go of results, doing what you believe to be right without concern for where that might lead. Gandhi believed in a strong moral force that came from nonviolence, from refusing to participate in systems that were unjust. He also believed that it was important  not only to do no harm to those with whom you are in opposition, but to wish them no ill will. One has to be willing to suffer.

I think I will be able to protect my friend Skitter the cat for her whole life, since she is getting on in years right now. For my grandson, I have less assurance that he will have a safe or peaceful life. The principles of Satyagraha give me some small comfort; I try not to become invested in results. I am working to create a more peaceful world for the beings on earth, but all I can really do is refuse to participate, to the best of my ability, in the injustice that is going on around me. I can try to reach out and educate others. And I can make sure that, at least when he is with me, my grandson always has a place to be vegan. As he ties on his shoes to go out in the world, I am left wondering what kind of world he will inherit. But I know that is not for me to realize. It is enough that today, he is talking about veganism.

Since Anna Lappé used the title and celebrity of her mother’s book of the seventies, Diet for a Small Planet, for the basis for her own book title, it seems fair to make a comparison. I used her mother’s book, a small well-worn paperback introducing the idea of a meat-free life, for many years.  Living in the Russian River area during the post-Woodstock era, I found it to be heaven on earth in so many ways, and Francis Moore Lappé was part of the pro-earth movement that made it so.  With that in mind, it was with great anticipation I plunged into this newer volume by Ms. Lappé’s daughter: Diet for a Hot Planet. The title seemed to suggest the author was well-versed in what was leading us into a hotter planet and how our dietary habits would impact our environment.  The tag line reads: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It. Logically, it would seem that this must be a pro-vegan book, with all the information we have about animal agriculture and its dire consequences for the environment, for our health, and for feeding all humans, too.  Or so I thought; but I was wrong.

Anna Lappé’s Book Delivers Good Information

There is a plethora of good information in Ms. Lappé’s book. It discusses the real overpopulation problem – in animals used for food (but humans are at the root). She looks at food transportation,biotech, the increase in polluting by-products like nitrogen, how the food industry denies global warming and greenwashing. She uses clever titles like, “What’s at Steak?” and “Eat These Words” while looking at hard data, such as these alarming statistics: (p.154)

• We are losing topsoil seventeen times faster than we are replacing it.
• More than 1/4 million people die from pesticide poisoning annually.
• There are over 400 dead zones worldwide from agricultural chemical runoff.

Diet for A Hot Planet: Light on Logical Conclusions

After all that good research, Ms. Lappé then runs completely off the rails, and begins promoting “happy meat.” She suggests (p. 207) that we “Support Real Meat and Dairy Farmers” and that we “Go for Grass Fed.”  She says we should “Not Panic, Go Organic.”  There are some very good suggestions, such as doing a waste inventory, cutting down on packaging-intensive products, and even a few good bits of encouraging news (Costa Rica is reforesting). But “Go Vegan?” Not to be found. Even if the world could be sustained by these type of practices, our souls could not.  After this review, Hot Planet will go to the back of the bookshelf for future reference; but Small Planet will always have a special place in this writer’s heart.

Diet for a Hot Planet by Anna Lappé, copyright 2010, Bloomsbury USA, New York. Available on Amazon.