VegMoms

Wednesday’s Vegan Kids: It’s almost Easter for Christians around the world, a time that celebrates new life by coloring dead eggs and eating pigs and lamb. There’s an irony there (my husband says I’m being too harsh and he’s going to stop sending my blog out to his non-vegan friends if I rain on too many people’s Easter parades, so I won’t explore that train of thought any further here), but there’s also a lot of alternative ways to celebrate Easter. Peta’s Easter Site has a lot of great ideas, including egg coloring alternatives and sources of vegan candy for your bunnies’ baskets. An animal-free, completely vegan Easter celebration may be one of the best ways to help symbolize in a concrete way the new life of Easter for your kids.

Photo Source: Peta.com

Thursday’s Working for Change: These are my top 5 picks for organizations that are making a real impact in the quest for a healthier world for humans, and a  happier world for animals:

1. Farm Sanctuary: Based in California and New York, its mission is “to end cruelty to farm animals and promotes compassionate living through rescue, education and advocacy. We envision a world where the violence that animal agriculture inflicts upon people, animals and the environment has ended, and where instead we exercise values of compassion.”
2. PETA:  An organization that has come a long way in recent years. ”With more than 2 million members and supporters, is the largest animal rights organization in the world. PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of beavers, birds and other “pests,” and the abuse of backyard dogs.”
3. The Humane Society: From baby seals to kittens, the Humane Society is probably one of the most recognized mainstream animal protection organizations in America.
4. FARM: Works to reform the factory farming practices in the United States, and to increase plant-based diet awareness.
5. PCRM: The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine isn’t just for docs. The group is formed by “Doctors and laypersons working together for compassionate and effective medical practice, research, and health promotion.”  

Wednesday’s Vegan Kids: I have one certain shirt that always gets stares and comments from my kids and any of their friends who happen to be around when I’m wearing it. It shows a comic-like drawing of a full-size cow impaled on a giant fork with the words: “It tastes OK as long as I don’t think about it” under the picture.

Pretty much sums up eating meat, doesn’t it? Sometimes I think people are shy about showing even ironic cartoon images to kids like the one on that shirt, but in my experience they not only aren’t freaked out by it, they “get” it a lot more than most desensitized adults do. Peta sells some cool ones, like this “We are not nuggets” T shirt. I think it’s about time I ask my kiddos if they want to pick out some anti-meat message shirts of their own. Would you let your kids wear these kinds of messages, or do you think it’s too much?

Thursday’s Working for Change: Obama’s win wasn’t the only big change that came to America during Tuesday’s election. The first major ballot measure addressing factory farming practices passed in California, after a campaign that brought widespread attention to the severe living conditions of factory farmed chickens, calves and pigs. Known as Proposition 2, this ballot measure requires that calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens and pregnant pigs be confined only in ways that allow these animals to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely. (This photo contains an actual representation of one of the current confining cages).

Banning the severely confining cages passed with 63 percent of the voting public’s support. This means chickens that lay eggs for human consumptions will (starting in the date set, 2015) be able to live in a cage that will allow them to spread their wings, something so natural that I’m sure most people prior to this vote assumed that their breakfast-providing sources were already allowed to do. Sadly, not so. It’s not Old McDonald’s sunny barnyard for most animals anymore. To find out more read John Robbin’s classic Diet For a New America .

I know a lot of people have problems with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), and I don’t know enough about the organization to comment on all of its work. But this particular ballot measure that they campaigned hard for isn’t extreme. In fact, once I dug into the issue of factory farming I believe most problems with it are far from extreme, and many just plainly defy common sense. It is incredulous to me that simply giving a farm animal enough room to move is considered extreme by anyone, whether they choose to someday eat it or not — if not for humane reasons, then for health reasons for the human consumer of it. It cannot be healthy to keep animals confined that closely together, and the quality of their lives and the food they produce must be compromised in some way. You can’t fool Mother Nature.

I once heard someone comment about social change, “As California goes, so does the nation.” If that’s true, then Proposition 2 is a good sign that change is coming to America’s farms and tables.