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Petition Damien Hirst

I've created a petition that asks artist Damien Hirst to stop killing animals for art. Please help by signing.

Petition Damien Hirst

Movie list to get you started

I highly recommend watching any all of these movies if you need convincing (or reminding) of why you should be vegetarian, or better yet, vegan. Also check out any Youtube videos I've posted.

Peaceable Kingdom

Earthlings

Forks Over Knives

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

Food, Inc.

Fast Food Nation

Hungry For Change

Supersize Me

The Witness

Lobster

I really think more people should be aware of the pain lobsters go through. After reading an article a while back about a man who purchased an 80 year old lobster for a ridiculous price to set it free, I found this article on the 8 cruelest foods today on Yahoo. Worth a read. Here's an excerpt:

These spiny guys can live as old as we do, but thanks to our appetite for lobster rolls, they usually don't. A recent study in the journal Animal Behavior showed that, contrary to previous thinking, lobsters and crab can feel pain and exhibit signs of stress. Lobsters also have a central nervous system, according to other research. But that hasn't persuaded many to stop eating them. Some high-end restaurants even offer live lobster sashimi, where you choose your lobster from a tank and it appears on your plate in seconds, slit down the middle and squirming.

What's being done: Not much, although boiling lobster is illegal in the Italian town Reggio Emilia. Domestically, Whole Foods no longer sells live lobsters. In 2005, the chain conducted an internal study on the crustacean and how it gets to stores. They were persuaded by numerous studies that show lobsters can get stressed, are able to learn, and are aware of their surroundings. Many are held in storage facilities for several months, and because there's no way to minimize that distress, Whole Foods decided to stop carrying them live.

What to eat instead: Nosh sustainable, ethically caught shellfish, though it sounds simpler to find than it is. 

Reasons to go vegetarian (or better yet, vegan)

I just read this great article and thought I would share some of its finer points. Read the full article here. The helpful hints at the end are worth reading as well.

2. Because if you want to get healthy, you should start with food! Replace cancer-causing, fat, pesticide and hormone-laced meats with cancer-preventing, anti-inflammatory, cholesterol lowering foods like apples, broccoli, blueberries, carrots, flax, garlic, leafy greens, nuts and sweet potatoes.

3. Because vegetarians are about 40% less likely to develop cancer than meat eaters.

4. Because our meat and dairy-centric diet is woefully lacking in health-giving fiber, contained only in plant-based foods. A minimum of 35 grams per day is recommended; the typical American consumes only 12.

5. Because four out of five Americans with cardiovascular disease who switch to a healthy (low-fat, whole foods) vegetarian diet reverse their symptoms completely.

6. The news gets better. Heart and blood-vessel diseases, diabetes, and of course obesity are preventable for 95% of us if we follow a healthy vegan diet, exercise, and manage stress.

7. Because I'll bet you agree with Dean Ornish, one of the researchers who proved statement #4: "I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic while it is medically conservative to cut people open or put them on powerful cholesterol-lowering drugs."

8. Because humans are the only species that drinks the milk of another species, and that fact alone should give you pause. Think about it for a moment. Isn't it logical that cow's milk is designed to feed baby cows? When ingested by humans, cow's milk is linked to constipation, allergies, obesity, acne, childhood diabetes, and much more. It's chock full of cholesterol (plant foods have none), and likely filled with antibiotics, growth hormones, and pesticides.

9. Because of pink slime. PERIOD.

10. Because 70% of our antibiotics are fed to livestock. Doesn't that scare you...just a little?

11. Because we are going to run out of food if we keep growing most of it to feed animals, who in turn feed far fewer peoplepeople than if we grew the food to feed directly to people. (One can feed 16 to 20 vegetarians with the same amount of natural resources as a single meat eater.)

12. In 2006, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) concluded that worldwide livestock farming generates 18% of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions -- compared with 13% generated by all transportation combined. In 2009, however, WorldWatch Institute reported that the more accurate figure may be as high as 51%. Our diet is cooking our planet.

But here is my favorite point from the article: 

18. Because chickens, cows, and pigs aren't fed what they're designed to eat. They're fed what's cheap and what makes them grow incredibly fast. Some of what they eat is rendered animals - the boiled and ground up remains of dead and diseased animals, including roadkill and euthanized pets.