Sunday, March 15, 2015

Straight Across the Board

When stated in the simplest terms available, the routine farm practice of forced insemination - regardless of species - is the sexual assault of another female. This is often done for the purposes of eating her babies and stealing her breast milk.

Yes, violent sexual assaults occur in the 'animal kingdom' (including human animals), but that is a weak excuse at best. Humans have clearly decided we DO NOT morally condone forced sexual assault or the killing of babies. Additionally, as we all know, humans overwhelming make the claim that they *love* animals and believe in protecting them. They also claim to morally disagree with inflicting irrational violence and suffering on other sentient earthlings.

We exist in this oddly twisted world of morals that do not hold true 'across the board'. In short, this is what is meant by dissonance. When you figure out what *morals* you truly stand for and align that principle with your entire life, the dimension in which we view the world changes. I have rarely met a fellow vegan who didn't experience a feeling of “waking up” and a positive change from within that is simply impossible to adequately put into words.

The feeling is alignment. It is awesome. I have decided my ethics and I stand true to them – straight across the board.

So happy to live vegan

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Veganic, Please!!!


VEGANIC FARMING
Also known as 'Stock Free'
(FARMING WITHOUT POOP)

Veganic farming is growing in popularity and availability. As the name suggests no animals (or their poop) is used to enrich the soil or harvest the crops....

Dangerous microorganisms frequently are borne of animal contamination (Listeria, Salmonella, Cryptosporidium, E. Coli, etc.). The only source of virulent E.Coli is poop. Some vegans (those lucky enough to have access to the products) are trying to eat poop-free (as we also object to the use of the animals from where the poop is derived).

Veganic farming is about composting and enriching the soil, improving the land, more resourceful and productive uses of land and water, and no dangerous run-off to contaminate our waterways. A recent study found that 23 percent - nearly a quarter - of water samples exceeded state and federal recreational water quality guidelines for fecal bacteria and E. coli. That contamination comes from animal farm run-off and pollutes EVERYTHING.

VIDEO: The Chesapeake Bay
VIDEO: Scenes of the Environmental Damage

Friday, March 6, 2015

WFPB for Health, Vegan for Love

WE ALL KNOW:
Animal flesh is not supposed to touch any other foods when raw because it is contaminated. The reason you have to cook it so long is to kill off the potentially deadly bacteria. When baking with children you should not let them lick the bowl if using raw eggs due to the risk of illness.

BUT DID YOU ALSO KNOW:
Plant-based diets meet all human needs and humans thrive on plant-based diets. Germany’s record-breaking strongman is plant-based, and you can find amazing plant-based athletes in every sport, often winning. There are also all kinds of delicious *mock* meats available, and eggs/dairy are also easy to replace.

So what is the benefit of going plant-based?
You avoid having these potentially deadly organisms near your family
You avoid harming animals and contributing to the global issues of animal agriculture
You strengthen your personal health and immune system
You feel good about your meals because they stem from meaningful informed choices
AND, best of all – you can safely lick the bowl!!!!

Go plant-based for health.
Go vegan because you are opposed to violence and exploitation.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

The Abbey of St Walburga

Anyone else see the show on NBC the other night about the nuns at The Abbey of St Walburga in Colorado? They have a ranch and are quite successful at selling "beef" based on the consumers assumption of "humane meat" and "irreverence" for the animal's life... (???) I found it quite upsetting, to be honest. I am sending them a letter, although I am well aware that the chance of being *heard* might not be very high (or no chance at all lol).

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The Abbey of St Walburga
Benedictine Way
Livermore, Colorado 80526

With Respect to Those of The Abbey of St Walburga:

Sometimes I am so overcome by pain I simply feel at complete loss as to what to say…how can I adequately express what I need you to hear?

I saw the television segment about your ranch. It made me so very sad. In the hopes you will hear me out, I decided I must write my deep sorrow on paper and share it with you. PLEASE just take a few moments to read my short letter - in hoping to make my point initially I will surely struggle to find the right words - so please read it through.

To see this industry garner the support of what I assume are such lovely, dedicated people at The Abbey of St Walburga - such a terrible industry with such horrible effects - is absolutely heartbreaking to me. I had tears in my eyes and felt such deep sadness seeing that segment.

Our society has long-held beliefs that we have justified in irrational ways. We cause the suffering of other species to the detriment of our Earth and other humans. We know it takes a lot of food, water, and land to raise animals. We invest a lot more resources ‘farming animals’ than we receive back as a benefit, making it a counteractive and detrimental method of producing food for humans. As one of the many consequences of this the ‘animal farming’ industry globally contributes to world famine, all while causing soil depletion, pollution, and loss of biodiversity on a massive scale.

By encouraging and aiding the ongoing consumption of meat and animal milk we also nonverbally support the egregious loss of our rainforests and the displacement of indigenous people everywhere. Many activists have been killed fighting against the very industry you align yourself with. While erroneously believed to be ‘different’ in fact you are complicit. Are you familiar at all with Sister Dorothy Stang? The documentary “They Killed Sister Dorothy” is the beginning of a small peek into a VERY deep rabbit hole of crimes against all humans, animals, and Earth.

We know that even at minimum we must do unnatural things to these vulnerable beings - such as the removal of male calves and/or forced insemination, which is actually sexual assault on another woman when viewed objectively.

Additionally we have no dietary need for animal ‘products’ and they are known to increase rates of human disease – so no matter how ‘cleanly’ raised – you are potentially complicit in harming the health of another, harming our Earth, ignoring the overuse of available resources, and also assaulting a sentient being who inherently values their own life. Why be a willing participant in all these horrible things when instead we could easily choose to support life SUSTAINING and life GIVING habits that are truly about love and compassion for all beings?

There is no need for humans to kill to live. Our humanity, our ecology, our spirituality, and our health aligns with this simple yet utterly moral principle. We can feed more people with plant-based foods, we can have less pollution, we can have healthy bodies and clean ecosystems, and we don’t have to be violent. Not to mention it is a fallacy of logic to state “irreverence” of anything mercilessly killed for no logical purpose or bodily need. To truly respect life would be for The Abbey of St Walburga to become a SANCTUARY, a safe place for all sentient beings – a place of love, nonviolence, and true reverence.

Our falsely-held beliefs allow us to justify a plethora of negative effects, along with system-wide horrific injustice and oppression of thinking, feeling, fellow beings. Beings that are able to clearly communicate the emotions of love, suffering, and pain. Most people who are complicit are not cruel people, most are not indecent intentionally. In a sense we are all victims – of lies, manipulation, and an extreme cognitive dissonance that allows us to believe we are kind and decent while actually being horrifically cruel and violent and being harmful to all we love – and to everything that truly matters.

Perpetrators throughout history have explained their violence and oppression by insisting it was "natural", or they were abiding by God, or that their victims were “different”, or “inferior”, or did not have the sameness in capacity for emotion or thought. Throughout our entire history those have been our [wrong] reasons for the disregard of other sentient lives. I personally do not feel any loving God would support the utterly unnecessary destruction, bloodlust, and negative impacts of animal farming but would instead embrace peace, nonviolence, and avoidance of killing except possibly under dire survival circumstances.

By killing some species and valuing others we are setting nonsensical criterion for who is inferior, deciding whose lives matter less. That is the basis for *all* discrimination, oppression, violence, and judgment of others and is simply wrong.

We can change history. We can have peace. We can have a clean planet. We can have health. We can stand in support of the wonderful, brave people such as Sister Dorothy, and the hundreds of others who have been killed just for speaking up. We can just stop being violent. Right now – we can stop. We can focus on the development of the person most of us were born as – a nonviolent, nonracist, non-judgmental, nondiscriminatory, nonspeciesist, with little (none?) desire to harm or kill anyone.

What I have said here makes total sense and is in alignment with all that is good and just and compassionate in this world. Tradition does not make right, as many abject traditions have been ejected when shown to be erroneous or obsolete.

To see such good people supporting such a deplorable industry breaks my heart, sincerely and truly.

Thank you for listening.

Do unto others…

Sincerely,

Karyn Swaney