Veganism - Animal Rights Zone2024-03-29T12:02:56Zhttp://arzone.ning.com/forum/categories/veganism-1/listForCategory?categoryId=4715978%3ACategory%3A292&feed=yes&xn_auth=noNovember,World Vegan Month. I'd urge all of you to watch this video if you have not seen it already.tag:arzone.ning.com,2017-11-13:4715978:Topic:1668052017-11-13T21:08:31.050Zanimalwelfareeduchttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/animalwelfareeduc
It received over a quarter of a million views on its first 30 days on this new post. All very applicable to today's world despite its age;<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1875650399354722&id=1572847152968383&ref=page_internal">https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1875650399354722&id=1572847152968383&ref=page_internal</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Also on;<br />
<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/VlTYjaQLy2o">https://youtu.be/VlTYjaQLy2o</a><br />
<br />
(Sound is better synchronised on the YouTube…
It received over a quarter of a million views on its first 30 days on this new post. All very applicable to today's world despite its age;<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1875650399354722&id=1572847152968383&ref=page_internal">https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1875650399354722&id=1572847152968383&ref=page_internal</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Also on;<br />
<br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/VlTYjaQLy2o">https://youtu.be/VlTYjaQLy2o</a><br />
<br />
(Sound is better synchronised on the YouTube version) Finding a "custom farmer" to produce plant-based food without harming wildlifetag:arzone.ning.com,2017-05-18:4715978:Topic:1625762017-05-18T22:07:53.549ZRupert McCallumhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/RupertMcCallum681
<p>So this stupid person that I argue with on the internet has the idea that I cause needless harm to animals because it would be practically feasible for me to further reduce the harm caused in order to produce my food by hiring a "custom farmer" to grow crops for me using methods which don't cause any wildlife deaths.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Supposing you wanted to look into whether that was actually practically feasible, what would be the first step? Contact crop farmers and ask them what they think…</p>
<p>So this stupid person that I argue with on the internet has the idea that I cause needless harm to animals because it would be practically feasible for me to further reduce the harm caused in order to produce my food by hiring a "custom farmer" to grow crops for me using methods which don't cause any wildlife deaths.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Supposing you wanted to look into whether that was actually practically feasible, what would be the first step? Contact crop farmers and ask them what they think about the idea, whether they know anyone who might be interested?</p> avoiding products manufactured with the use of human slave labourtag:arzone.ning.com,2017-03-24:4715978:Topic:1619502017-03-24T09:20:27.608ZRupert McCallumhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/RupertMcCallum681
<p>I'm seeking information about how one can take steps to ensure that the products one buys are not manufactured with the use of human slave labour. (This would presumably be part of what is required in order to be vegan.) In particular, I'm given to understand that coffee can be a problem in this regard. It seems to be a bit difficult to find useful information about the matter. I suppose if you took care to buy only Fairtrade coffee then you could be pretty confident that the use of human…</p>
<p>I'm seeking information about how one can take steps to ensure that the products one buys are not manufactured with the use of human slave labour. (This would presumably be part of what is required in order to be vegan.) In particular, I'm given to understand that coffee can be a problem in this regard. It seems to be a bit difficult to find useful information about the matter. I suppose if you took care to buy only Fairtrade coffee then you could be pretty confident that the use of human slave labour was not involved in its production, but apparently there's a substantial controversy about whether Fairtrade certification is helpful to poor farmers or possibly even positively harmful to them. I'd welcome any guidance about how best to proceed in this matter.</p> For Those Who Fail at Veganismtag:arzone.ning.com,2016-05-27:4715978:Topic:1558282016-05-27T22:57:40.332ZAnimal Rights Zonehttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/admin
<div class="post-header"><h1 class="post-title" style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="font-family: impact, chicago;"><a href="http://www.louisewallis.net/for-those-who-fail-at-veganism/" target="_blank">For Those Who Fail at Veganism</a></span></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Written by <a href="http://www.louisewallis.net/author/louisewallis/" target="_blank">Louise…</a></span></p>
</div>
<div class="post-header"><h1 class="post-title" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: impact, chicago;" class="font-size-7"><a href="http://www.louisewallis.net/for-those-who-fail-at-veganism/" target="_blank">For Those Who Fail at Veganism</a></span></h1>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">Written by <a href="http://www.louisewallis.net/author/louisewallis/" target="_blank">Louise Wallis</a></span></p>
<div class="post-meta"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.louisewallis.net/for-those-who-fail-at-veganism/" title="For those who fail at veganism"> </a></span></div>
</div>
<div class="post-content"><p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.louisewallis.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/solidarity.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.louisewallis.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/solidarity.png?width=250" width="250" class="align-right"/></a>A Facebook friend has just announced she’s no longer vegan, and I’m sad about this. I’d admired a blog post she wrote last year, about her struggles as a vegan with an eating disorder, with her disapproving dietician, and with fellow “vegan feminists” who’d greeted her wobbles with guilt-tripping. Despite the setbacks, she was clear that being vegan “helped”; and since my own eating disorder (teenage bulimia) had also been tempered by veganism, I’d cheered her on.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">I scrolled through the comments. Everyone was pleased for her: apart from one guy, who left a petulant “Good bye”. Although he added that he wished her well, but didn’t think stopping being vegan would “help anything”. This saw him challenged by a few people (vegans included), for being “dogmatic” and having “strict” and “rigid views”. For my friend, it was the final straw: “I wouldn’t identify as vegan now even if my diet remained vegan”, she replied.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Whoa, that was a strong statement. Why so down on the vegan identity? I wasn’t sure how to respond to this, or indeed, to the news itself. I didn’t think quitting would help either, but didn’t dare suggest this. And as a peripheral, online friend, I wasn’t sure it was my place. So I commented that I was “Sad to hear this”, and interested to read more about her change of heart in the blog post she promised.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">But it bothered me that no other vegans had voiced reservations when my friend had been vegan<em> for 9 years</em>. Why not?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">I teach exercise, and occasionally meet clients who appear to have anorexia, which carries a risk of heart attack and bone fracture. I’m obliged to raise concerns, even if it’s experienced as intrusive (and s/he leaves for a less ‘confrontational’ teacher). Because sometimes, to do the right thing, we need to do the <em>hard</em> thing. Boundaries help: they might be what that person needs in order to find a firmer footing, at that point, or further down the line.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">If being vegan is a positive thing: why <em>wouldn’t </em>we want that for our friend? Couldn’t we ask how we might support her to stay vegan? I decided to send my friend a private message, just to put it out there. Maybe others did too? I hope so.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">My friend’s reasons were mainly nutrition-based, and complicated by her condition. But the disproportionate focus on nutrition whenever vegan diets are mentioned worries me. We fixate on this. Forgetting that standard diets are supplemented too, with ‘fortified’ foods, that have nutrients added – in some cases, by law – to reduce the risk of serious deficiencies. There’s an unconscious bias that needs acknowledging before we can look at the issue objectively.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">I also question the “recovery” narrative of many former vegans. For how do you “recover” from compassion? I think there’s something else at play.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">The vegan identity isn’t the first to be disowned. Feminism was once a byword for militancy, prompting many women to publicly disassociate themselves from it. Feminists were <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3153349/Women-share-frank-opinions-NOT-feminists-secrets-app-Whisper.html" target="_blank">“extremists”</a>. (Hmm … where have we heard that before?) Happily, in recent years, feminism’s good name has largely been restored, thanks to the efforts of younger feminists like my friend. The stigmatising stereotypes exposed for the sexism they are.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">We’ve learned to distinguish the message, from the messenger. By which I mean, to value the idea of equality for women, <em>irrespective </em>of our feelings about its most vocal proponents. The same will happen with ‘vegan’ too, one day.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">For vegans are not unique in critiquing the behaviour of others – a defining feature of social change. The difference with veganism, of course, is its <em>practical</em>expression: the daily boycott of animal products. A practice some find easy, while others undoubtedly struggle.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">I wonder if it isn’t quite common for vegans to struggle, or have the occasional blip? Sadly, it’s taboo to talk about this – for fear of letting the side down, I suppose, or being told off (e.g. by vegan feminists). I struggle myself at times. Not least with finding food I <em>want </em>to eat, <em>when</em> I want it – like a sandwich at the train station. It’s frustrating to be constantly thwarted in the simple pleasures others take for granted. But far worse, for me, are the social consequences of being vegan. Welcome to the role of party pooper!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Cake, the great staple of celebrations and social occasions, is a particular flashpoint. As cakes are rarely vegan in these situations, you find yourself excluded from an experience that’s essentially shared and participatory. Unless there’s two cakes: but that feels weird too, since lines are still drawn. It’s exposing. <em>You can’t just be</em>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">I don’t blame my friend for doing what she feels is best for her, or indeed anyone who can no longer cope with being vegan. It happens. The pressure to conform is<em>enormous</em>. Is it any wonder people crack? But I do think it’s important to acknowledge the toxic context that might move someone to relinquish and reprove a hitherto heartfelt practice.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">“Spoiled identity” nails it for me. A term coined by the sociologist Erving Goffman, a specialist in stigma: the “process by which the reaction of others spoils normal identity”. The stigmatised are the “socially abnormal”. According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_stigma" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>: “Those who are stereotyped often start to act in ways that their stigmatisers expect of them. It not only changes their behavior, but it also shapes their emotions and beliefs”. This is “internalised stigma”.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">We can be multi-stigmatised too: in my case, an ‘illegitimate’ child become a childless, vegan adult. Stigmas are myriad: attached to disability, sexual preference, eating disorders, political views, belief, bereavement, hair colour, and many more. They mount up, and take their toll. And in response, we create coping strategies. A common one is to <em>conceal</em> the spoiled identity, another is to<em>reject</em> it. Since the vegan identity isn’t easily hidden, it tends to be renounced, which also brings relief from its practical demands. I guess it’s vulnerable that way.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">But it isn’t all bad news. The feminist identity has prevailed, giving us hope. And the more we become aware of internalised stigma, and its impact on us, the more we can challenge it. I find stigma fascinating: a strange map of the human psyche.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">For anyone struggling with food and/or veganism, I recommend <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Always-Too-Much-Never-Enough/dp/042527957X" target="_blank">Always Too Much, And Never Enough</a>, the recent memoir by Jasmin Singer. A bullied “fat kid”, who went on to lose weight as an adult, and noticed a dramatic difference in the way the world treated her. She wrote a blog about this that went viral, and eventually became the book. (Read an interview with Jasmin <a href="http://www.louisewallis.net/interview-with-jasmin-singer-on-life-writing-and-authenticity/" target="_blank">here</a>).</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.louisewallis.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/alwaystoomuchcover-200x300.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.louisewallis.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/alwaystoomuchcover-200x300.jpg?width=250" width="250" class="align-right"/></a>My friend’s decision gave me pause for some soul searching. It’s made me reflect on how we can best support others contemplating the same. And what we might say to them.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Curiously, this has culminated in a Peter Gabriel lyric popping into my head – from a song I haven’t heard in years (his duet with Kate Bush). I remember feeling conflicted when it was released, over it being sentimental. I realise now, it’s not: just a profound expression of solidarity.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Then I found a quote from Gabriel, about the song’s intention. “The basic idea” he says “is that handling failure is one of the hardest things we have to learn to do.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">So, at the risk of sounding sentimental, I’ll leave you with the great man’s words. Dedicated to anyone who is struggling – with veganism, or with life.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>Don’t give up, ’cause you have friends</em></span><br/><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>Don’t give up, you’re not the only one</em></span><br/><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>Don’t give up, no reason to be ashamed</em></span><br/><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>Don’t give up, you still have us</em></span><br/><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>Don’t give up now, we’re proud of who you are</em></span><br/><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>Don’t give up, you know it’s never been easy</em></span><br/><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>Don’t give up, ’cause I believe there’s a place</em></span><br/><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>There’s a place where we belong. <br/><br/></em></span><br/><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/><a href="https://scontent-syd1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/270603_10150204428226917_404792_n.jpg?oh=e611e8e1360e7e9e32811f40460bc86a&oe=57DA3788" target="_blank"><img src="https://scontent-syd1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/270603_10150204428226917_404792_n.jpg?oh=e611e8e1360e7e9e32811f40460bc86a&oe=57DA3788&width=200" width="200" class="align-left"/></a>Louise Wallis is a singer, DJ, writer, restaurateur, who has been vegan for more than 30 years. Louise has worked for the UK's National Anti Vivisection Society (where she organised a national march attended by 25,000 people), before leaving to carry out undercover investigations in two animal research labs (Smith Kline Beecham and St. Bartholomew’s Medical School). In 1991, Louise was elected President of the UK Vegan Society, where she co-ordinated the production of “Truth or Dairy” (the first film about veganism), and founded “World Vegan Day” in 1994. Louise blogs regularly at <a href="http://www.louisewallis.net/" target="_blank">www.louisewallis.net</a> where this article was originally posted - and reposted here with Loluise's kind permission. <br/><br/><br/></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">*******</span></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
</div> This Speech is Your WAKE UP CALLtag:arzone.ning.com,2016-05-07:4715978:Topic:1546032016-05-07T08:04:42.359ZAnimal Rights Zonehttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/admin
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="font-family: impact, chicago;">This Speech is Your Wake Up Call</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">James Aspey</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">In this brilliant video presentation Australian animal rights activist and vegan, James Aspey speaks with other vegans on how to reach…</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: impact, chicago;" class="font-size-7">This Speech is Your Wake Up Call</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">James Aspey</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">In this brilliant video presentation Australian animal rights activist and vegan, James Aspey speaks with other vegans on how to reach non-vegans effectively, respectfully, and with the use of non-violent and patient communication.</span><br/> <br/> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Link to the Q&A Session: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3HgTxVq0YQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3HgTxVq0YQ</a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><br/> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">"Those who have the privilege to know, have the duty to act".</span> <br/> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">~ Albert Einstein</span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KHOcox2lvQo?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Congratulations on becoming aware of the Meatrix. Billions of people, all around the world, who say they love animals and are against animal cruelty, are paying to have animals mutilated, tortured and slaughtered, for no better reason than to add a flavour to a meal that is contributing to their own slow and painful death.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">The lies are thick. We've been conditioned our entire life. We need animal protein for strength. We need dairy for calcium. Animals are treated 'humanely'. We need to eat animals or we'll be unhealthy.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">ALL COMPLETE LIES!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Learn the truth. Watch this speech.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Link to Q & A session:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3HgTxVq0YQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3HgTxVq0YQ</a> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">"I took a 365 day vow of silence to raise awareness for animals and promote peace over violence!"</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">★ Subscribe: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/voiceless365">http://www.youtube.com/voiceless365</a></span><br/> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">★ Website: <a href="http://www.jamesaspey.com.au">http://www.jamesaspey.com.au</a></span><br/> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">★ Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/jamesaspeyact">http://www.facebook.com/jamesaspeyact</a>...</span><br/> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">★ Instagram: <a href="http://www.instagram.com/jamesaspey">http://www.instagram.com/jamesaspey</a></span><br/> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">★ Vegan T-shirts: <a href="http://www.jamesaspey.bigcartel.com">http://www.jamesaspey.bigcartel.com</a></span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">*******</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3807311076?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="600" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3807311076?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="600" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Actual video is above, in the content of the post. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">*******</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p></p> Why Vegan? Lessons From an Animal Scientisttag:arzone.ning.com,2016-04-30:4715978:Topic:1539172016-04-30T22:28:19.953ZAnimal Rights Zonehttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/admin
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="font-family: impact, chicago;">Why Vegan? </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva;">Lessons from an Animal Scientist</span></p>
<p><br></br> <span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr. Jonathan Balcombe is a scientist who chooses to live vegan. But he is not your typical scientist. He has three biology degrees, including a PhD…</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: impact, chicago;" class="font-size-7">Why Vegan? </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', geneva;" class="font-size-4">Lessons from an Animal Scientist</span></p>
<p><br/> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Dr. Jonathan Balcombe is a scientist who chooses to live vegan. But he is not your typical scientist. He has three biology degrees, including a PhD in ethology (the study of animal behaviour) from the University of Tennessee, where he studied communication in bats. In this riveting, richly-illustrated presentation, Jonathan reveals startling new discoveries in the realms of animal cognition and emotional complexity--from optimistic starlings, to choosy fishes, to dogs who object to unfair treatment. Jonathan explains how sentience--the capacity to feel--is the bedrock of ethics, and why veganism is the Holy Grail of personal activism for animals, the environment, and personal health.</span> <br/> <br/> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Jonathan is the author of four books, with his ground breaking book on fishes - What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of our Underwater Cousins to be released in June 2016. </span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5ZYQnt-67vs?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038400978?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038400978?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Jonathan Balcombe was born in England, raised in New Zealand and Canada, and has lived in the United States since 1987. He has three biology degrees, including a PhD in ethology (the study of animal behavior) from the University of Tennessee, where he studied communication in bats. He has published over 45 scientific papers on animal behavior and animal protection.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">He is the author of four books:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure</em> (University of California Press, 2011)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals</em> (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good</em> (Macmillan, 2006)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em>The Use of Animals in Higher Education: Problems, Alternatives, and Recommendations</em>(Humane Society Press, 2000)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">He is currently at work on a new book about the inner lives of fishes, and a novel titled <em>After Meat</em>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Formerly Senior Research Scientist with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Jonathan is currently the Department Chair for Animal Studies with the Humane Society University.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Based near Washington, DC, in his spare time Jonathan enjoys biking, baking, birdwatching, piano, painting, and trying to understand his two cats.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">*******</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">*******</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038401002?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="600" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038401002?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="600" class="align-center"/></a>(Actual video is above, in the article). </p>
<p></p> "Daily Memes" that are very usefultag:arzone.ning.com,2016-01-14:4715978:Topic:1523922016-01-14T18:33:07.895Zanimalwelfareeduchttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/animalwelfareeduc
<div dir="ltr">"Vegan Street" produces these "Daily Memes" which could be useful for producing posters or for using as headers on emails or attachments to emails to help spread the ideas around;</div>
<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme.html#Archive" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme.html#Archive…</font></a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">"Vegan Street" produces these "Daily Memes" which could be useful for producing posters or for using as headers on emails or attachments to emails to help spread the ideas around;</div>
<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme.html#Archive" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme.html#Archive</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr">Checking through them all could be somewhat time consuming, so here are some links to the most useful ones; </div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-1-4-16.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-1-4-16.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-12-1-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-12-1-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-7-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-7-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-11-13-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-11-13-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-3-11-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-3-11-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-11-5-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-11-5-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-22-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-22-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-25-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-25-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-14-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-14-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-11-3-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-11-3-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-12-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-12-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-30-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-30-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-2-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-2-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-24-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-24-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-1-13.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-1-13.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-1-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-1-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-4-13.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-4-13.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-29-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-29-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-22-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-22-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-3-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-3-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a class="ecxc_nobdr ecxt_prs" href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-8-19-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-8-19-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-8-11-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-8-11-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-5-19-15.html" target="_blank"><font color="#0068CF">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-5-19-15.html</font></a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-11-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-9-11-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-8-18-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-8-18-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-8-12-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-8-12-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-7-29-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-7-29-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-7-25-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-7-25-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-6-30-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-6-30-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-6-24-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-6-24-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-6-18-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-6-18-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-6-16-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-6-16-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-6-13-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-6-13-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-6-11-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-6-11-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-5-15-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-5-15-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-5-9-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-5-9-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-5-7-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-5-7-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-5-2-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-5-2-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-4-29-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-4-29-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-4-25-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-4-25-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a class="c_nobdr t_prs" href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-4-22-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-4-22-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-4-4-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-4-4-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-4-2-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-4-2-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-2-26-14.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-2-26-14.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-12-12-13.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-12-12-13.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"><a href="http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-31-13.html" target="_blank">http://veganstreet.com/dailymeme-10-31-13.html</a></div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
<div dir="ltr"> </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div> Why Honey is Not Vegantag:arzone.ning.com,2016-01-02:4715978:Topic:1522962016-01-02T22:37:38.521ZCarolyn Baileyhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/CarolynBailey
<h1 style="text-align: center;"></h1>
<div align="center"><p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<h1><img align="bottom" alt="bee" height="70" src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/beel.gif" width="75"></img> <span class="font-size-7">Why Honey is Not Vegan</span> <img align="bottom" alt="bee" height="70" src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/beer.gif" width="75"></img></h1>
<p style="text-align: left;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This essay, originally posted on <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm" target="_blank">Vegetus.org</a>, explains why vegans do…</span></em></p>
</div>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"></h1>
<div align="center"><p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<h1><img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/beel.gif" alt="bee" align="bottom" height="70" width="75"/> <span class="font-size-7">Why Honey is Not Vegan</span> <img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/beer.gif" alt="bee" align="bottom" height="70" width="75"/></h1>
<p style="text-align: left;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This essay, originally posted on <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm" target="_blank">Vegetus.org</a>, explains why vegans do not eat honey.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
</div>
<h2><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">By Definition</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038390792?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038390792?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a>The simplest reason why honey isn't vegan is by definition. The term vegan was coined by Donald Watson in 1944 and was later (<a href="http://onhumanrelationswithothersentientbeings.weebly.com/the-blog" target="_blank">in 1979 by the UK Vegan Society</a>) defined as follows:</span></p>
<blockquote><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Veganism is a way of living which excludes all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, the animal kingdom, and includes a reverence for life. It applies to the practice of living on the products of the plant kingdom to the exclusion of flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, honey, animal milk and its derivatives, and encourages the use of alternatives for all commodities derived wholly or in part from animals <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#stepaniak" target="_blank">(Stepaniak)</a>.<br/> <br/></span></blockquote>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">People who follow a vegan diet for health or environmental reasons, please <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/nomenclature.htm" target="_blank">take note</a>.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">We don't, however, need to go back to 1944 to define honey as not vegan. Any definition of veganism would talk about not exploiting animals, and honeybees (</span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Apis mellifera</i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">) </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bee.htm" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/camera.gif" alt="Click for a picture of a honeybee." align="top" border="0" height="21" width="26"/></a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> are, without a doubt, animals. Honeybees are in the phylum Arthropoda--the same as lobsters and crabs. So in addition to crustaceans, if honeybees don't merit respect, that would also leave earthworms vulnerable to dissection in biology classes. Similarly, iscallops, snails, and oysters would be fair game--they are not as "high up" on the evolutionary scale as bees. James and Carol Gould (respectively, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton and a full-time science writer) point out that "Honey bees are at the top of their part of the evolutionary tree, whereas humans are the most highly evolves species on our branch. To look at honeybees, then, is to see one of the two most elegant solutions to the challenges of life on our planet. More interesting, perhaps, than the many differences are the countless eerie parallels--convergent evolutionary answers to similar problems" </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#gould" target="_blank">(Gould, x)</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Of course, all this talk of higher and lower is fiction. Even Darwin reminded himself to "Never use the words higher and lower" </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#dunayer" target="_blank">(Dunayer, 13)</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> Who are Honeybees?</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Before we go any further, please take a moment to <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/cool.htm" target="_blank">meet the honeybees</a>.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> Are Bees Smart?</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">So why do people think they can exploit bees without qualms? Is it because they are not intelligent? There is evidence that says they are. People have been studying <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/study.htm"><img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/camera.gif" alt="Click for a picture of bees with numbers on them." align="top" border="0" height="21" width="26"/></a> bee behavior for hundreds of years, and with good reason. But of course, it's just all pheromones and instinct, right? They act in ways that suggest intelligence, but there's a simple biochemical explanation. (And this is different from humans in what way?) Placing all of this aside, what about a possible bee imagination? The most compelling indication of bee smarts follows. (Yes, it's controversial, but I for one like to err on the side of caution.) Two groups of bees (foragers) from the same hive were trained to two food sources, one on the shore and one in the middle of a lake. When the food quality was increased at both feeders, both groups of bees danced in the hive to tell the rest of the bees where to get the good food. The bees watching the shore feeder dance went out and ate at the shore feeder. Perhaps the bees watching the lake feeder dance, thought, "Flowers in the middle of a lake? This gal must be nuts," and very few bees went to the lake feeder. So at this point you're thinking those bees just didn't want to fly out over a smelly lake? Well, the thoughtful researchers decided to try the experiment again and moved the lake feeder close to the opposite shore (although still surrounded by plenty of water). That time, the bees seemed to have thought the food source to be in a more plausible spot and, following the dance, lots of bees went to both feeders <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#gould" target="_blank">(Gould, 222)</a>.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> What About Pain?</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">But it really doesn't matter anyway, does it? Vegans typically don't judge species based on their intelligence. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/nerves.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/nerves.gif?width=400" width="400" class="align-center"/></a></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">If it were ok to eat someone because he's unintelligent, a lot </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">of </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">humans</i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> would be in trouble. It must be because bees can't feel pain. But why wouldn't bees feel pain? They are animals with a large nervous system </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#snodgrass" target="_blank">(Snodgrass, 254)</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> capable of transmitting pain signals. And unlike in the case of plants, pain as we know it would be a useful evolutionary feature since bees are capable of moving to avoid it. Which, as far as I'm concerned, is all that matters. Pain must be unpleasant or else it wouldn't work. If common sense isn't good enough, we can always resort to </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/pain.htm" target="_blank">scientific studies</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> that indicate that bees feel pain.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Not being a beekeeper myself, it is hard to say why life would be more painful for kept bees vs. wild bees. The kept bees would seem to have more contact with humans and more bees would die from stinging them. But, again, unless you are a "vegan" who lives on a farm and raises animals with lots of love so you can drink their milk and eat their eggs (??) pain really isn't the issue either.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> The Enslavement of Bees</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">The simple fact is that the bees are enslaved. What? Bees slaves? Yes, bees as slaves. Or it's dominionism, exploitation of nature, human superiority, whatever you like to call it. It's the idea that humans are justified in using all other life forms instrumentally, for our own benefit. As Alice Walker said, "The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men." (I would also add that plants and the earth were not made for humans either.) What follows is a look at specifically how honeybees are exploited by humans. Note that this follows precisely the same pattern of animal exploitation that vegans seek to end for other species.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is important to realize who is keeping these bees. You may have an image in your mind of a man (indeed, 5% of US beekeepers are women </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#hoff94" target="_blank">(Hoff & Schertz Willett, 10)</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">) with a few hives out in his backyard. While that is in fact the proper image of most beekeepers, most honey comes from full-time factory bee farmers; check out some illustrative </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/industry.htm" target="_blank">charts</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/queen.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/queen.jpg?width=300" width="300" class="align-right"/></a>A successor queen <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/queen.htm"><img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/camera.gif" alt="Click to see a queen bee." align="top" border="0" height="21" width="26"/></a> is selected by a human instead of the reigning queen--both of whom may have been "<a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/art.htm" target="_blank">artificially inseminated</a>." "Queens can live for as long as five years but most commercial beekeepers replace them every two years"<a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#sheppard" target="_blank">(Shimanuki & Sheppard, 181)</a> (and often yearly). "Replace" is a euphemism for killing the old queen. Backyard beekeepers also regularly kill their queens. This is done for numerous reasons that all boil down to exerting control over the hive. For example, it is done to prevent swarming, aggression, mite infestation, and to keep honey production at a maximum. Queens come from commercial queen suppliers. The image to the left is hundreds of queens with a few nursing bees in individual cages waiting to be flown around the country <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#beek2" target="_blank">(Beekeeping)</a>. Travel can be rough on the queens; according to Eric Mussen, a UC Davis Extension Apiculturist, "Once at the post office or shipping depot, nearly anything can happen. Queens can be over heated, chilled, left out in the sun for hours (desiccated), banged around in baggage compartments, and exposed to insecticides. Often, the post office or shipping hub fails to contact the customer when the queens arrive and they may sit in storage for days. It is surprising that the queens come through as well as they do" <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#mussen" target="_blank">(Mussen)</a>. Finally, colonies (hives) are routinely split in half according to what the keeper wants, not the queen.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When manipulating the bees, most beekeepers use a smoker to maintain control and to prevent some stings. The smoke gets the bees to gorge themselves on honey, which calms them down. The smoke probably also masks the alarm pheromone that the guard bees release and prevents the entire colony from becoming agitated.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">During the fall and winter a mouse guard is often placed over the entrance to the hive. Usually, the bees drag their dead out of the hive, but the mouse guard often prevents this from happening. Beekeepers are warned, "it is helpful to remove any pileup of dead bees behind the mouse guard once or twice during the winter"</span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#bonney90" target="_blank">(Bonney, 116)</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Some bees even get to travel all around the country in trucks like the one pictured below or on larger flatbed trailers </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#beek" target="_blank" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Beekeeping)</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Beekeepers follow the nectar flows to increase honey production, that is, profits.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">You may have the impression that since the bees are not fenced in like cattle, they are free to leave if they wanted to. Read about </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/swarming.htm" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">swarming</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> to understand why this common misperception is false.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/truck.jpg" alt="Bees forced to ride around in a truck." align="right" height="218" width="323"/><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There is often a lack of regard for the bees' lives. In the US, 10 to 20 percent of colonies are lost over the winter. It is partly by accident and partly on purpose. Some beekeepers kill off their hives before winter. This practice can make </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/kill.htm" target="_blank">economic sense</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. Unfortunately, it is not the small backyard beekeeper, but rather the large, factory bee farmer, so a lot of bees are killed even if most beekeepers don't use the practice. Also, in the process of checking up on the hive and taking the honey, some bees get squashed by the frames or stepped on. Bees who sting the keeper in defense of their home necessarily die. If two colonies are combined, the queen of the weaker colony is killed. So that the honey can be easily removed from the comb, it is often warmed prior to removal. "Bees brought into the warming room with the supers will fly to a window where they can be trapped to the outside by a wire cone or bee escape. If there are no windows in the room other methods such as an electric grid can be used to </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">dispose</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> of the stray bees" (</span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#root" target="_blank">Root, 121</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> emphasis added).</span></span></p>
<h2><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> Stealing Honey</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">So what do the captives do with their time? In the words of the National Honey Board, "Honey is 'manufactured' in one of the world's most efficient factories, the beehive. Bees may travel as far as 55,000 miles and visit more than two million flowers to gather enough nectar to make just a pound of honey" (<a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#nhb2" target="_blank">NHB</a>). Bees gather pollen in sacs <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/pollen.htm"><img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/camera.gif" alt="Click to see a bee with full pollen sacs." align="top" border="0" height="21" width="26"/></a> and nectar from the flowers. Honey is stored in the hive as winter food for the bees <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/eat.htm"><img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/camera.gif" alt="Click to see bees eating their honey." align="top" border="0" height="21" width="26"/></a>. Yes, sometimes they make more than they can eat, but do the beekeepers only take the extra? No, according to James E. Tew, an Extension Specialist in Apiculture at Ohio State University in Wooster, "Commercial beekeepers frequently extract [steal] all fall-season honey and then feed colonies either sugar syrup or corn syrup in quantities great enough to provide all the winter food the bees would need" <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#tew" target="_blank">(Tew)</a>. (Everyone steals most of the spring-season honey.) Theft of all of the fall-season honey is merely the most blatant form of exploitation. Bees are also often fed in the fall in preparation for winter and in the spring and early summer to ensure the hive gets off to a good start <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#bonney93">(Bonney, 131;</a> <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#vivian" target="_blank">Vivian, 101)</a>. That is, to make the bees start working earlier than they would normally. The sugar that is fed in the fall is turned into honey by the bees, so even if a beekeeper tells you their bees survive on honey over the winter, much of that honey may have simply come from Ziplock bags full of sugar water. A typical hive in the UK uses at least 8 kg (17.6 lbs.) of sugar per year <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#consumers" target="_blank">(Consumers in Europe Group, 21)</a>. In the US, a typical figure can be 25 lbs. (So if by chance a vegan doesn't eat bone char processed cane sugar, but does eat honey, they're not doing a lot of good in terms of reducing the demand for sugar.) Some people claim the sugar water is better for the bees than honey, and if this is the case, I don't want to hear any claims about the health benefits of honey or pollen. Sugar water may be better if the bees had particularly poor nectar sources in the fall, but this would not normally be a problem if their spring honey hadn't been stolen. Honey is more than sugars; it contains very small (by human standards) amounts of fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals that bees' bodies might like to use over the winter.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Another thing to keep in mind is the history of beekeeping </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#crane" target="_blank" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Crane)</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Honeybees are unique in that they are not domesticated despite a very long relationship with humans. For most of human history, honey was gathered from wild hives. Beekeeping began only 10,000 years ago. Bees were kept in logs, baskets, and pots all lying horizontally to the ground. Bees were also kept in trees in forests and by hanging containers in trees. Eventually in Europe and Asia they turned the containers upright. The earliest recorded use of hives with moveable frames was in 1682 where top bar hives were used in Greece. In nature, bees build combs that hang from the roof of their dwelling and everything is stationary </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/hive.htm" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/camera.gif" alt="Click to see a bee hive in the wild." align="top" border="0" height="21" width="26"/></a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. In top bar hives, the bees build their combs on a wooden bar such that individual combs can be removed by pulling up individual bars. The combs retain their natural U shape at the bottom </span><a href="http://www.beekeeping.com/apiservices/cadre_ktbh.jpg" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/camera.gif" alt="Click to see a frame from a top bar hive." align="top" border="0" height="21" width="26"/></a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. These top bar hives were not very widespread. It was not until 1851 that the modern Langstroth hive </span><a href="http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/objtwr/imported_images/langstr.gif" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><img src="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/camera.gif" alt="Click to see Langstroth hives." align="top" border="0" height="21" width="26"/></a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> was invented (where else but in the US). Here the combs fill up entire frames (like a window screen) and are rectangular. This makes hives stackable and since the frames are of universal size, they can be interchanged between hives and prepared by humans. Additionally, honey extraction equipment can be built due to the standard size. A queen excluder is generally used to keep the queen from laying eggs in the area where the beekeeper only wants honey stored. Additional frames can be added as necessary to allow for and encourage excess honey production. Needless to say, the Langstroth hive caught on very quickly and is the hive of choice today. New technology is on the horizon that allows even greater efficiency in extracting honey </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#lomas" target="_blank">(Lomas)</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. So if a beekeeper tells you that they are only continuing an ancient tradition, keep in mind that the practices they are using are only 100 years old and are radically different from the methods that existed for millennia. They also have nothing in common with non-Western beekeeping methods that emphasize humility, respect, and truly being part of nature, as opposed to managing nature for human gain.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Beekeepers will naturally deny that they are slave owners who steal the products of the bees' labor. They will tell you that they are working with the bees to help them reach their full potential, which just happens to be measured in honey output. (Hmm, remind anyone of recombinant bovine growth hormone?) In addition to being horribly paternalistic, the beekeeper's perspective makes little sense. Under natural conditions, if the hive were producing a surplus, they would divide into two colonies and there would be none wasted. Nonetheless, it is important to regard beekeepers as potential allies. They are often more aware of environmental concerns than other people and may truly care about their bees. A few simple changes in their attitudes would likely make their behavior acceptable to vegans, although making those changes is not a simple thing. They would need to stop regarding themselves as beeKEEPERS. They would also need to recognize that their role is largely temporary, as a stop gap measure until farmers get their act together and facilitate the growth of native pollinator populations. They should immediately switch to top bar hives, discourage surplus honey production and stop stealing honey. Otherwise, there is too much incentive to exploit the bees and the environment. Top bar hives are less high tech than Langstroth hives, result in less surplus honey, and the users generally have a different mindset </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#satterfield" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Satterfield</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">;</span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#calderia" target="_blank">Caldeira)</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Keep these things in mind if you are thinking buying locally grown honey from a small apiary--although they are better than large commercial apiaries, they still may share many of the objectionable philosophies. (How much respect can you have for someone if you are taking advantage of her?) Finally, beekeeping varies due to the different environments in which it occurs. Beekeepers are an opinionated group (like vegans). Just because one beekeeper tells you that one of the practices I've described is crazy and something he would never do, doesn't mean that another beekeeper thinks he is crazy not to.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> "Products" of the Hive</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">So how exactly is honey made? The bees swallow nectar into their crop, regurgitate it, add enzymes (spit), chew, swallow and repeat many times. Not a pretty picture, but it does make for a <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/df200005/df20000518.jpg" target="_blank">funny cartoon</a> or <a href="http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2001/12/03" target="_blank">two</a>. Beekeepers get very defensive about this aspect of honey. One told me "Honey is not a regurgitant. Regurgitation is a digestive process." Ok, well, whatever you call it they still swallow it and spit it back up. And they do partially digest it, so I don't see how it's not a "digestive process." He went on to tell me "If you have a problem with nature's processes perhaps you should stay out of nature," which makes me wonder why he has a problem with me pointing out nature's processes to others. The bottom line is that beekeepers get mad that I mention how honey is made, because it's something they'd rather you not think about. With <a href="http://www.slimeworld.org/honey/beebarf.html" target="_blank">one exception</a>, this aspect of honey production is not used as a marketing tool. You can't even find out how honey is made at the <a href="http://www.honey.com/" target="_blank">National Honey Board's</a> website! (OK, after all these years, they finally <a href="http://honey.com/consumers/kids/beefacts.asp" target="_blank">added a little, vague line</a>--I like to think in response to this website--"bees use their honey stomachs to ingest and process the nectar a number of times.")<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Of course, honey is not the only product of bee exploitation. The following are other bee products to watch out for:<br/> <br/></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Bee venom is obtained when the bee stings someone or something. The bee dies if she stings someone.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Bee pollen is pollen collected by bees in sacs on their legs. It also contains some nectar and bee saliva. It is popular because humans cannot collect such a wide variety of pollen.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Royal jelly is the nutritious food (for bees) fed only to the queen. It literally makes workers into queens.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Beeswax is secreted by bees to build their hives.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Propolis is plant resin collected by bees and mixed with enzymes. It is used around the hive as glue and as an antiseptic.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/maaltijd.html" target="_blank">Bee brood</a> are bees that are not fully developed. Not even vegetarian.</span></li>
</ul>
<h2><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> You Can Make a Difference</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">The average American consumes 1.1 lb. (0.5 kg) of honey annually <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#nhb4" target="_blank">(National Honey Board)</a>. The average person in the UK consumes 0.3 kg (0.66 lb.) a year<a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#consumers" target="_blank">(Consumers in Europe Group, 21)</a>. Germans consume a whopping 4.3 kg (9.5 lb.) a year <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#suebee" target="_blank">(Sue Bee)</a>. Honey is the main source of <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/income.htm" target="_blank">income</a> for beekeepers <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#hoff95" target="_blank">(Hoff, 4)</a>. According to Hachiro Shimanuki and Walter Sheppard of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, "In recent years the honey bee industry in the United States has faced many difficult problems. Foreign honey imports and lower honey prices coupled with increased costs of production have created considerable financial challenge." However, they went on to say that "Fortunately, the demand for one of the direct products of the insect, honey, shows signs of increasing" <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#sheppard" target="_blank">(Shimanuki & Sheppard, 184)</a>.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Just like the "meat" and "dairy" industries, the beekeeper's have their own </span><a href="http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~mts/apishtm/apis95/APFEB95.HTM#NH" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">National Honey Board</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> designed to promote honey using a $3 million dollar budget. Unfortunately, it seems to be working. In addition to the hordes of mainstream products adding honey, say Grey Poupon Honey Mustard, Honey Wheaties, Hidden Valley Honey and Bacon French Dressing, etc., honey dominates the health food market. The National Honey Board is currently on a campaign to increase honey consumption by about 20% in the next four years and one of their main strategies is the following: "Encourage the widespread use of honey in 'healthy lifestyles' by positioning honey as both a healthy food and as an ingredient in products with medicinal value" (</span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#nhb6" target="_blank" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">NHB</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">). "A shift in strategic focus to position honey as a 'healthy' product that should be used as an ingredient in foods and medicines aimed at health-conscious individuals" (</span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#nhb8" target="_blank" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">NHB</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">). Their use of the word "healthy" in quotes says it all--it's all a lie, it's just a marketing tool.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Do you think no one will notice if you eat honey? I assure you, they are watching closely! The National Honey Board newsletter always ends with a section listing new products containing honey. They even go so far as to monitor sales of honey products with respect to similar honey-free products. I strongly recommend viewing the </span><a href="http://www.nhb.org/download/NHBHandbook.pdf" target="_blank" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">National Honey Board Handbook</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> (pdf) for a sampling of their work.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Of course it's not always enough to not eat something. Why not let companies know you're not buying their products because they have honey in them? This is a particularly urgent issue in the "health food" area since there are an increasing number of products containing honey that would otherwise be vegan. You can email companies from the </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/act/feedback.htm" target="_blank" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">feedback</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> page.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> Common Questions</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Don't honeybees pollinate agricultural crops and are otherwise good for the environment? Actually, bees are <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/ecology.htm" target="_blank">harmful to the environment</a>. That link also covers the comparative environmental impact of honey versus other sweeteners.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">But don't you </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/other.htm" target="_blank" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">kill other bugs</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">?<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">What about free range honey? If you want free range honey you would have to go out into the woods and stick your hand in a bees' hive and grab some for yourself. Of course, you probably won't find a colony because they've all been killed off (see the </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/ecology.htm" target="_blank" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">environment section</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">). If you did find one, the theft would destroy their home and you'd get some nice stings. Unless of course, you are part of a culture that has a sustainable (i.e., thousands of years old) tradition of respectfully gathering honey like that found in the Malaysian rainforest where honey hunters climb 100 foot trees to take honey from the giant </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Apis dorsata</i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bib.html#buchmann" target="_blank" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">(Buchmann & Nabham, 145)</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">But isn't honey (or pollen or royal jelly) good for you? Doesn't it prevent allergies? Don't bee stings cure MS? Isn't honey more nutritious than sugar? Check out the </span><a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/health.htm" target="_blank" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">health aspects</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> of honeybee products.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">But what do I eat/wear/burn/floss with <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/instead.htm" target="_blank">instead of honey and beeswax</a>?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Isn't this site <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/bias.htm" target="_blank">biased</a>?</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Further Information</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">I recommend reading the following:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.beeculture.com/storycms/index.cfm?cat=Story&recordID=336" target="_blank">Honey Bee Temperament</a> Honeybees sting.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.beeculture.com/storycms/index.cfm?cat=Story&recordID=378" target="_blank">Fall Feeding</a> Yes, beekeepers really do feed their bees sugar.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.beeculture.com/storycms/index.cfm?cat=Story&recordID=389" target="_blank">Bee Talk</a> A lifelong beekeeper talks about how bees are quite intelligent.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.gsu.edu/~biojdsx/marty.htm" target="_blank">Toward an Appropriate Beehive</a> A must read for those concerned with industrialization. An alternative beekeeper points out the evils of traditional beekeeping. Also, some large-scale beekeepers kill off their hives before winter.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.sciencefictionmuseum.com/readingroom/fyi/fyi008.html" target="_blank">How bees make honey</a> by Claude Needham Ph.D. Did you know each droplet of nectar is swallowed and regurgitated fifty times?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">When bees find food, they go back to the hive and do a specific dance to let the rest of the hive know exactly where to go to find the flowers. Videos of honeybee dancing:</span><ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NtegAOQpSs&feature=related#" target="_blank">The waggle dance explained</a> (The narrator can't get the bees' pronous right--using "it" then "his." She is the appropriate pronoun.)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywdTfEBVcSY&feature=related" target="_blank">Experimenting on bees isn't cool<br/> <br/></a></span></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span class="font-size-4"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 16px;">This article was originally posted at <a href="http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm" target="_blank">Vegetus.org</a></span></font></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em><span class="font-size-4"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038399570?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="500" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038399570?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="500" class="align-center"/></a></span></font></span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">*************</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p> Our Vegan Diet Almost Killed Us – No, Reallytag:arzone.ning.com,2015-11-13:4715978:Topic:1520662015-11-13T00:36:16.430ZAnimal Rights Zonehttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/admin
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.eatplantsdrinkbeer.com/readup/2015/11/12/our-vegan-diet-almost-killed-us" style="font-family: impact, chicago; font-size: 24pt;" target="_blank">Our Vegan Diet Almost Killed Us – No, Really</a></p>
<p></p>
<div class="article-meta-top"><div class="location" style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Written by <a href="http://www.eatplantsdrinkbeer.com/about/" target="_blank">Lorelei…</a></span></div>
</div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.eatplantsdrinkbeer.com/readup/2015/11/12/our-vegan-diet-almost-killed-us" target="_blank" style="font-family: impact, chicago; font-size: 24pt;">Our Vegan Diet Almost Killed Us – No, Really</a></p>
<p></p>
<div class="article-meta-top"><div class="location" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">Written by <a href="http://www.eatplantsdrinkbeer.com/about/" target="_blank">Lorelei Plotczyk</a></span></div>
<span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.eatplantsdrinkbeer.com/readup/2015/11/12/our-vegan-diet-almost-killed-us"><br/></a></span></div>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<div class="body entry-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_184"><div class="sqs-layout sqs-grid-12 columns-12" id="item-56437799e4b0eaf052b51534"><div class="row sqs-row" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_183"><div class="col sqs-col-12 span-12" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_182"><div class="sqs-block image-block sqs-block-image" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447261940320_30531"><div class="sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_181"><div class="image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-below" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_180"><div class="intrinsic" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_179"><div class="image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_178"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/5643971be4b0552eb8087706/1447270351299/killedus1?format=750w" target="_blank"><img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/5643971be4b0552eb8087706/1447270351299/killedus1?format=750w&width=500" width="500" class="align-center"/></a></span></div>
<div class="image-caption-wrapper"><div class="image-caption"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><span class="font-size-2">Craig and I before our vegan lifestyle almost killed us. Don't let our healthy, happy, normal appearance fool you! </span> <br/> <br/></span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" id="block-fa29dd27f5943a6fb942"><div class="sqs-block-content"><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Our Vegan Diet Almost Killed Us – No, Really</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Okay, vegans. I know what you’re thinking. There have been many articles with similar titles circulating around the internet for years, and after you read the article you realize the person, although technically vegan, also had a serious eating disorder like anorexia or even the lesser-known "orthorexia," or was on a restricted calorie cleanse consisting of lettuce water, or they were homicidal parents feeding their baby one carrot a day - or something like that. Somehow, people like this even manage to wind up on the Today show with book deals, as we saw earlier this week. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Well, this is not one of those stories. For me and my fiancé, our regular vegan diet actually almost killed us. If you’re thinking about veganism, you’ll want to read this – and <strong>vegans, please hear us out.</strong></span></p>
<p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block image-block sqs-block-image" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447261940320_34802"><div class="sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_203"><div class="image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-below" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_202"><div class="intrinsic" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_201"><div class="image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_200"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/56438a05e4b0b66656c31fd1/1447266891610/killedus2?format=500w" target="_blank"><img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/56438a05e4b0b66656c31fd1/1447266891610/killedus2?format=500w" class="align-center"/></a></span></div>
<div class="image-caption-wrapper"><div class="image-caption"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">Examples of the 100% livestock-free food we were regularly eating – but was our own death lurking on our plate?</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447261940320_35024"><div class="sqs-block-content"><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>The Best of Intentions</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">I believe people are vegan for really, really good reasons. In a nutshell, they’ve learned that we make the choice every day to either pay people to breed and intentionally kill vulnerable animals for our pleasure – or to just not do that. After all, these animals value their lives as much as our pets do and are <a href="https://www.facebook.com/estherthewonderpig" target="_blank">just as worthy</a> of love.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Then they learn that dairy and eggs are as bad as animal meat, because newborn males are an unfortunate byproduct of egg and dairy production and are typically killed – while their sisters and mothers are forced into production before being butchered once “spent” a mere fraction into their lifetime. And they learn that this is part of the typical process even if the farms are <a target="_blank" href="http://humanefacts.org/">"humane,"</a> small, local, organic, pastured, cage-free, or free-range.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">They learn about the many scientific and academic sources showing that vegan diets represent perhaps the most significant<a target="_blank" href="http://www.worldwatch.org/node/549">environmental effort</a> one can make, requiring about half the <a target="_blank" href="http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/water-conservation-tips/">water</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10584-014-1169-1">emissions</a> to produce compared to typical Western diets. This is starting to become more mainstream information, especially since <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cowspiracy.com/">Cowspiracy</a> hit Netflix.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Oh – and this is not a small point – vegans learn that plant-based diets feed <a target="_blank" href="http://articles.latimes.com/2002/may/27/opinion/oe-rifkin27">far more human beings</a>. As a recent Chemical and Engineering News cover story <a target="_blank" href="http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i6/Calling-Plants-Fulfill-Proteins-Promise.html">explains</a>, producing meat and animal products "requires a lot of animals raised on huge, unsustainable amounts of plant protein," adding, “A switch to plant proteins by those who can afford meat would go a long way to feeding the growing global population while using fewer of the planet’s resources.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">So how could we just sit by and continue to opt in to this human-created nightmare called animal agriculture when we could just make a very simple, doable lifestyle change to create less harm?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">With that background, hopefully you can understand why we chose to go vegan. Our hearts were in the right places. I’d been totally vegan for about 3 years after dabbling in varying degrees of vegetarianism throughout my life. My now-fiancé Craig made the shift after we’d been together for a few months, which you can read about <a target="_blank" href="http://www.eatplantsdrinkbeer.com/readup/2015/10/14/why-im-vegan">here</a>.</span></p>
<p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block image-block sqs-block-image" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447261940320_39226"><div class="sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_219"><div class="image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-below" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_218"><div class="intrinsic" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_217"><div class="image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_216"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/56438a62e4b081513dabf880/1447267635695/killedus3?format=500w" target="_blank"><img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/56438a62e4b081513dabf880/1447267635695/killedus3?format=500w" class="align-center"/></a></span></div>
<div class="image-caption-wrapper"><div class="image-caption"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">Is plant-based food like this actually killing you?</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447261940320_39448"><div class="sqs-block-content"><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>What We Ate</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Unlike the typical negative stories of vegans eating very restrictive diets, we basically ate everything under the sun other than animal products, of course. Craig’s an amazing cook and I’m not so bad myself. Since there are 20,000+ edible plant species on planet Earth to choose from and tons of ways to enjoy fresh, frozen, and prepared fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, mushrooms, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds, it wasn’t hard. We made rich cheeses, sausages, ice creams, gravies and more, all without animals. It’s not like we were stranded on a desert island without a plentiful supply of food. And when we got lazy, there were plenty of yummy pre-made vegan meats and cheeses to choose from at the store, even after we moved from an urban to a rural area.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">We stuffed our faces full of delicious, nutritious food basically every day with few exceptions – say, that time on a business trip I was stuck with omnivores who looked pityingly at my wilted salad and plain baked potato at the restrictive omni restaurant they took me to. (I snuck out after for a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/nZoDcNGYP1/?taken-by=lplotcz">real meal</a> at Native Foods.) But generally everywhere we went, we could get satisfying vegan meals, even from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.peta.org/living/food/chain-restaurants/">popular chains</a> like Subway to Taco Bell to Chipotle.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Whenever I used an app to see if I was getting enough <a target="_blank" href="http://proteinaholic.com/">protein</a>, I’d usually had more than enough even just by lunch! I’d always tried to take a daily multi-vitamin even when I was omni, and that didn’t change, but I now took a vegan-friendly version when I remembered to (and I admit I often forgot). Like my old supplement – and like those given to livestock themselves – it included vitamin B12. Salt is iodized, folic acid is added to many packaged goods, and vitamin D is added to cows’ milk, so we didn’t find it weird to be getting a nutrient obtained from bacteria in isolation rather than from the flesh and fluids of animals.</span></p>
<p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block image-block sqs-block-image" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447261940320_42882"><div class="sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_235"><div class="image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-below" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_234"><div class="intrinsic" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_233"><div class="image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_232"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/56438a7ee4b0b66656c32503/1447267741573/killedus4?format=500w" target="_blank"><img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/56438a7ee4b0b66656c32503/1447267741573/killedus4?format=500w" class="align-center"/></a></span></div>
<div class="image-caption-wrapper"><div class="image-caption"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">It looks healthy enough...but is it?</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447261940320_43104"><div class="sqs-block-content"><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>So What Went Wrong?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">We were getting all our nutrients like everyone else and were totally healthy. I hadn't wasted away, my hair wasn't falling out, etc. When I gave blood at a blood drive, the nurse commented on my high iron levels. At my annual physical checkups, my physician never mentioned anything was remotely amiss. And despite working in offices where colds and flus regularly made the rounds, neither of us had gotten the flu since going vegan, or even much of the sniffles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Yes, sometimes it was hard socially, like when my uncle asked me why vegans don't care more about people. I told him we don't kill and eat people, either. That shut him up. (I could direct those with further objections <a target="_blank" href="http://freefromharm.org/eating-animals-addressing-our-most-common-justifications/">here</a> or give them the handy <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/vegansidekick/photos/pb.450350651726063.-2207520000.1447335873./899938600100597/?type=3&theater">anti-vegan bullsh*t mix n' match</a> for fun.) And that time when the waiter accidentally put dairy milk in my oatmeal, instead of throwing a tantrum, I politely requested another bowl. The struggle is... real?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">I should add that Craig is a molecular biologist and I have an MBA in environmental science, so we know better than to intentionally harm ourselves to avoid harming others – or so we thought. After all, despite lots of anecdotal confirmation bias-affirming claims to the contrary, the American Dietetic Association / Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (and all its international counterparts) <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864">d</a><a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864">eclare</a> a vegan diet is healthful and appropriate for all stages of life, with not one medical association claiming otherwise or that the flesh or fluid of any animal is somehow necessary to cure, treat, or prevent any deficiency, disease, or twinge of discomfort. Not only that, but a growing <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pcrm.org/health/medNews">body of evidence</a> shows that animal products don't do a body good after all.</span></p>
<p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block image-block sqs-block-image" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447261940320_47207"><div class="sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_251"><div class="image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-below" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_250"><div class="intrinsic" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_249"><div class="image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_248"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/56439249e4b0d160674ccacf/1447269293826/killedus5?format=500w" target="_blank"><img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/56439249e4b0d160674ccacf/1447269293826/killedus5?format=500w" class="align-center"/></a></span></div>
<div class="image-caption-wrapper"><div class="image-caption"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">Our lives were almost ruined by this clearly extreme and fanatical idea of "sustenance."</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447269026759_43897"><div class="sqs-block-content"><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">So how did our vegan diet almost kill us? Well, it was a couple of months ago when we ran out of cashew milk (one of many tasty non-animal milks) and bananas. I really, really like to make shakes every day around midafternoon – peanut butter, dates, vanilla, chocolate, berries, whatever – with a frozen banana for a creamy base. I swear it tastes like soft serve ice cream, but healthy. You can add hemp, chia, and/or flax seeds and a few Brazil nuts for an extra boost of sustenance too, if you’re into that sort of thing. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">So we ended up going to the grocery store to get more milk and bananas, and as we were crossing the street to the store after parking... wait for it... a car totally came out of nowhere and almost hit us! It was seriously a really close call. We could have been killed. <strong>We almost died!</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">If we hadn’t been vegan, we wouldn’t have run out of cashew milk, and we probably wouldn’t have been drinking a midafternoon shake because we probably would have still been in a food coma from eating severed birds’ wings or someone’s ribcage with mammary secretion dip or whatever the hell it is omnis eat these days. Am I right?</span></p>
<p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block image-block sqs-block-image" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447261940320_51992"><div class="sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_267"><div class="image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-below" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_266"><div class="intrinsic" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_265"><div class="image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_264"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/56438c78e4b0b633d5020436/1447267768722/killedus6?format=500w" target="_blank"><img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/56438c78e4b0b633d5020436/1447267768722/killedus6?format=500w" class="align-center"/></a></span></div>
<div class="image-caption-wrapper"><div class="image-caption"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">What a relief to find out this food is actually delicious AND healthy!</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447261940320_52213"><div class="sqs-block-content"><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>The Aftermath</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Ever since that fateful day, even though our vegan diet almost killed us, we’re actually both… still vegan. You heard me right.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">We decided that we’d <em>still </em>rather not pay people to do things like fire bolts into sweet animals’ brains and slit their throats, grind up newborn male chicks in macerators, place “spent” hens in gassing chamber units, force females to lactate by impregnating them and then removing and either killing their babies or forcing them into the same servitude based on their gender, turn “spent” mothers into hamburger meat, remove fishes from the rapidly depleting oceans to become “seafood” no one needs (or feed for filthy fish farms for more manufactured seafood no one needs), or heck, even to steal honey we also don't need that bees produce for their own personal use and whom we have to sedate in order to take. That would be like, I don’t know, aliens breeding humans for our ear wax.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">In fact, seeing as the global population is now seven billion humans and SEVENTY billion farmed animals, we’d rather not pay people to artificially inseminate animals at all! And if we want to talk about our diets almost killing us, perhaps the focus should be on the many pervasive lifestyle diseases either directly caused or greatly exacerbated by animal-derived foods, many of which <em>actually</em> kill people. In fact, heart disease, which vegans rarely get, is <strong>the number one thing that <em>actually kills people</em>!</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">So yes, even after our frightening ordeal, Craig and I are still eating delicious, nutritious food every day, even though we almost died from doing so. <em>That’s</em> how dedicated we are.</span></p>
<p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block image-block sqs-block-image" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447269026759_48198"><div class="sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_283"><div class="image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-below" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_282"><div class="intrinsic" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_281"><div class="image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_280"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/56439d8ae4b036cd167f8c20/1447272203619/killedus7?format=500w" target="_blank"><img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/56439d8ae4b036cd167f8c20/1447272203619/killedus7?format=500w" class="align-center"/></a></span></div>
<div class="image-caption-wrapper"><div class="image-caption"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">We're still doing our part and we hope you will join us.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" id="block-yui_3_17_2_1_1447269026759_48419"><div class="sqs-block-content"><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">After all, we have somehow managed to peel back multiple, complicated layers of confusion and cognitive dissonance we’d picked up from a lifetime of sensationalist articles like the one you thought you were about to read. Like you, we had constant exposure to the same repeated myths and misinformation about where nutrients must come from, had been told the same fairy tales about farming animals for their flesh and fluids, and we also operated in a social context that reduced our natural wisdom and empathy for animals; animals whose individuality and cuteness we would have otherwise gone gaga over – or whom we would have at least respected enough to just leave the hell alone and eaten or worn something else.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">We didn’t come this far to turn back now, careless drivers and annoying lifestyle bloggers be damned.</span></p>
<p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block image-block sqs-block-image" id="block-yui_3_17_2_4_1447272438153_74780"><div class="sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_299"><div class="image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-below" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_298"><div class="intrinsic" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_297"><div class="image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_296"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/564401aae4b07a45a86ed246/1447334562487/killedus8?format=500w" target="_blank"><img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/564401aae4b07a45a86ed246/1447334562487/killedus8?format=500w" class="align-center"/></a></span></div>
<div class="image-caption-wrapper"><div class="image-caption"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><span class="font-size-2">I now eat a more balanced diet... than I did when I was omni. Here I am in NYC "listening to my body" by enjoying ice cream that doesn't contain baby calf growth fluid</span>. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block image-block sqs-block-image" id="block-yui_3_17_2_4_1447272438153_81791"><div class="sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_315"><div class="image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-below" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_314"><div class="intrinsic" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_313"><div class="image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1447374141361_312"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/564405cee4b071704e3c00a2/1447334616370/killedus9?format=500w" target="_blank"><img src="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56048642e4b02fd3ee6acadb/t/564405cee4b071704e3c00a2/1447334616370/killedus9?format=500w" class="align-center"/></a></span></div>
<div class="image-caption-wrapper"><div class="image-caption"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-2">Now, nothing is off limits. We eat grass-fed horse milk and humanely raised dogs. There is no label for that. Just kidding, we're still vegan.</span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" id="block-yui_3_17_2_4_1447272438153_74999"><div class="sqs-block-content"><p style="text-align: center;"><br/> <br/> <em><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">This article is written by Lorelei Plotczyk. It was originally posted on Lorelei's blog site, <a href="http://www.eatplantsdrinkbeer.com/" title="Eat Plants/Drink Beer">EAT PLANTS/DRINK BEER</a> and reproduced here with her kind permission </span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><br/> <br/> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Read more about Lorelei and Craig <a href="http://www.eatplantsdrinkbeer.com/about/" target="_blank">HERE</a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">*******</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div> The Myth of Vegan Progress in Israeltag:arzone.ning.com,2015-10-29:4715978:Topic:1521232015-10-29T02:18:20.892ZCarolyn Baileyhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/CarolynBailey
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-6" style="font-size: 2em; font-family: impact, chicago;">THE MYTH OF VEGAN PROGRESS IN ISRAEL<br></br> <span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Written by <a href="http://dylanxpowell.com/author/dylanxpowell/" target="_blank">Dylan Powell…</a></span></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038390798?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038390798?profile=original" width="480"></img></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 2em; font-family: impact, chicago;" class="font-size-6">THE MYTH OF VEGAN PROGRESS IN ISRAEL<br/> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">Written by <a href="http://dylanxpowell.com/author/dylanxpowell/" target="_blank">Dylan Powell</a></span></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038390798?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038390798?profile=original" width="480" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<div class="entry-content clear-fix"><p></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Is Israel the <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/186427#.VOC8eGTF8y8" target="_blank">“most vegan” country in the world</a>? According to PeTA, Mercy for Animals, FARM, 269life, dXe, Sea Shepherd and a host of other grassroots and national animal advocacy organizations around the world the answer is yes. Israel is believed to have a 4% vegan population, Vegan Fest in Tel Aviv draws a crowd of 15,000, the pizza chain Domino’s offers a vegan pizza on the menu, and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) offers vegan options for their soldiers. Israel then must be the “<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/israel-promised-land-vegans-033026790.html" target="_blank">promised land for vegans</a>.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">That consensus is not complete though. Palestinians, solidarity activists and vegans have all confronted this narrative by pointing to “greenwashing” of the State of Israel and the occupation of Palestine. <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israels-killer-vegetarians-and-vegans-brief-history" target="_blank">“Israel’s Killer Vegans”</a> from Electronic Intifada, <a href="http://www.turkeyagenda.com/vegan-killers-israeli-vegan-washing-and-the-manipulation-of-morality-1656.html" target="_blank">“Vegan Killers: Israeli Vegan Washing and the Manipulation of Morality”</a> “<a href="http://bestialoblivion.com/2014/03/11/shooting-an-elephant/" target="_blank">Shooting an Elephant</a>” and “<a href="http://www.resistanceecology.org/animal-liberation-against-israeli-occupation-we-stand-with-palestine/" target="_blank">Animal Liberation Against Israeli Occupation: We Stand With Palestine</a>” are all great examples that counter the building narrative of a vegan Israel. All of these articles deal in earnest with trying to understand the occupation in a broader context that makes it impossible to separate the so-called progressive politics of veganism in Israel. This is important because all of these articles illustrate why even if all of Israel was vegan the occupation of Palestine would still be without justification. I can’t stress that enough.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">However, all of the counters that exist to this spin miss one important point – vegan progress in Israel is itself a lie, a wilful manipulation that uses metrics that celebrate the regions biggest animal eaters as “vegan.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">What is meat consumption per capita? It is the total meat consumption of a country averaged by the amount of its population, per year. Per capita meat consumption has never been a welcome statistic in the West when measuring how progressive our politics are towards animals. Why? Because in the face of advocacy, and even marginal vegan populations, our societies still consume mass amounts of animal products.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038391053?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038391053?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a>So where does <a href="http://www.helgilibrary.com/indicators/index/meat-consumption-per-capita" target="_blank">Israel stand when it comes to per capita meat consumption</a>? Well, near the top of the pile. Israelis consume 102 kg per capita – that is more than Canada (92), more than the UK (82), well above any other country in the region and well above the World average (42) and the EU average (82). The few countries in the world that eat more meat per capita? The US, New Zealand, Austria, and Australia. Yes, this is a twilight zone scenario wherein animal advocates are celebrating one of the largest meat consuming countries as “vegan.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Is Israel’s meat consumption at least declining? No. The trend is upwards and in a big way. Per capita meat consumption in Israel was below 70kgs in 2000. Israel’s meat consumption has been rising a rate higher than almost any country in the world. Even if Israel’s meat consumption drops 30kgs, which would be completely unheard of, they would still be well above the world average, top for the region, and at 2000 levels.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">How could this be? Small portions of a population going vegan will have negligible effects if the vast majority are increasing their meat consumption. This is true in Israel as it is in the US, Canada, UK, or really any country in the world with a vegan population. Vegans are routinely marketed the idea that going vegan will “save animals lives” and focusing on stats like vegan populations instead of per capita meat consumption are a result of those kinds of lies. Israel is just the latest example to show how absurd this is.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">The narrative is also popular for other reasons. Many in the animal advocacy movement support Zionism and the State of Israel and the myth of vegan progress in Israel gives them leverage for this position. In broader terms though, Israel is currently the world stage for a larger conflict within animal advocacy between those who want to continue to push the primacy of “animal rights” above all else and the opposite side who want to place animal advocacy within a social justice context. If vegan progress in Israel is held up as the standard, then those same advocates have ammunition to shut out critiques of settler colonialism, white supremacy, ableism, transphobia, misogyny, etc within their own communities. As long as they can point to a growing vegan community, they can shrug off calls to build coalitions or interrogate oppression within a privileged movement. This is why a host of animal advocacy organizations and individuals who would otherwise not be in the same room together have come together in their support of the myth of vegan progress in Israel. Old wounds and battles over welfare/rights/abolition have given way in the community to this new one.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">What is lost in all of this? Actual progress for animals. While everyone was busy celebrating vegan progress in Israel meat consumption continues unabated. As 269life style activism was exported to North America via Direct Action Everywhere (dXe) and organizers toured North America holding up vegan progress in Israel as a model for activism – the same trends continue here. The struggle to create the largest, but most isolated and ineffective “vegan community” is a purely pointless one.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">What of the “barbarians” in this myth of progress though? The Palestinians who face apartheid as a daily reality, who face wave after wave of military assault? Meat consumption in Palestine is clearly regulated as Israel controls the countries borders – but it is important to note that these uncivilized (unconquered) peoples eat <a href="http://chartsbin.com/view/25423" target="_blank">25kgs of meat per capita</a>. An anomaly? Lebanon (43), Egypt (28), Jordan (46). The only country in the Middle East that comes anywhere close to Israel is Kuwait at (87). The majority of the region remains below the World average. At what point do we investigate the myth of vegan progress as Islamophobia?</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">If Israel is the “most vegan country in the world” then advocates should really begin to question just what veganism is and why it is important. If the term can so easily be co-opted to excuse human genocide and apartheid then maybe it is time to rethink our goals, strategies and effectiveness.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> <br/> <em>This article was originally published on <a href="http://dylanxpowell.com/2015/02/15/the-myth-of-vegan-progress-in-israel/" target="_blank">Dylan Powell's website,</a> at <a href="http://www.DylanxPowell.com">www.DylanxPowell.com</a>. </em><br/> <br/></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><em><span>Dylan Powell lives in St. Catharines, Ont. Co-Founder of Marineland Animal Defense, he is active in the animal and earth liberation movements, as well as involved in solidarity organizing with the Haudenosaunee of the Grand River, the migrant justice advocacy community and at risk youth in the Niagara Region. Dylan is graduate of Brock University (Honours History) and current Addiction Education student at McMaster University in Hamilton. Through advocacy work Dylan has lectured and spoken across North America and been featured in International news media outlets. When not hanging out with animals, or dreaming up schemes for social justice, you can find him writing about </span><a href="http://blogs.artvoice.com/avdaily/category/qcrg/" target="_blank">women’s flat track roller derby</a><span>.</span></em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="https://dylanxpowell.wordpress.com/mentions/dylanxpowell/" target="_blank">@dylanxpowell</a> / dylanjamespowell@gmail.com<br/> <br/> <br/></span></p>
<p></p>
</div>