Posts filed under ‘Review’
Revisiting Veganism
I’ve been vegan for over a year now. This week it was my birthday, and as a gift, I got a little pack with certificates saying that I’m now Shirley the cow’s and Hamish the pig’s ‘best buddy‘.
These guys live at Edgar’s Mission, and Shirley’s story was the catalyst to my becoming vegan. I wanted to sponsor him since he was the one that set me on the path.
Hamish is just super cute!
Anyway, it reminded me of when I first read Shirley’s story, so I thought I’d revisit the post I wrote at the time. What do you think? Was I on the right track?
I think going vegan was one of the best decisions I ever made. 
In my pack from Edgar’s Mission, I got a booklet entitled Eating Up The World: the environmental consequences of human food choices. It’s produced by various vegetarian/vegan societies in Australia, so you could get a copy through any of them if you wanted one. It’s also available online at that link. I thought it might be biased considering the producers, but they cite all their sources. Anyway, the booklet really confirmed my decision for me, from an environmental standpoint. It clearly outlines how choosing not to eat animal products is pretty much the single greatest individual activity you can take to help reduce climate change. I think that’s pretty awesome.
Here are some of the main points (I didn’t know a bunch of these before I read the booklet!):
- It takes 50,000L to 100,000L of water to produce 1kg of beef, but only 2500L to produce 1kg of white rice and much less for most other grains, fruits and vegetables. (This totally makes me think of how I was often told to eat less rice during the drought, because it was such a water-intensive crop and not suited to the Australian climate – which it’s not – but no-one ever told me to eat less beef.)
- Over 67% of water in Australia is used for agriculture (as compared to 9% for household use), so we should concentrate our water saving efforts on what we eat/wear etc. About 90% of household water consumption comes from food consumption. People eating an omnivorous diet use approximately 3.5 times as much water for food than people eating plant-based diets. Are you seeing a connection here?
- Australia’s livestock will produce more warming over the next 20 years (via methane) than all our coal-fired power stations combined.
- 60% of Australia’s land is used for grazing.
- The UN identified ‘…animal agriculture and food consumption as one of the most significant drivers of environmental pressures and climate change, stating that “a substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products”…’
- 92% of land disturbance in Australia, which includes clearing forests and bushland, increased erosion, changes to the water table, acidifying and compacting soils, spreading weeds, unsustainable levels of manure and climate change, is caused by animal agriculture (55% beef, 36% sheep/wool, 1% dairy). The remaining 8% is all other industries. That’s EVERYTHING ELSE.
- 5kg of wild fish is needed to produce 1kg of farmed fish.
- Fish is one of the most contaminated foods on the planet.
- Some parts of the ocean have been so over-fished that they are now ‘dead zones’ covering tens of thousands of square kilometres.
- Australia now imports 30% of our oil (we used to drill our own, but it’s been dropping since 2000 – Australia has already reached peak oil). Animal agriculture uses considerably more energy than plant agriculture, considering transport of feed and livestock, operation of farm facilities including heating, cooling, lighting and slaughter facilities and the constant refrigeration required for storage of the animal products.
- 27,000 children under the age of 5 die of poverty and starvation every day around the world – and we grow 50% more edible grain worldwide than is required to feed every person on the globe. That extra food plus more is given to farm animals.
- The world’s cattle (so not including anything but cow type animals) eat enough food to feed more than the whole world’s population.
Review: Reverse Garbage
Yankee Elv and I went to Reverse Garbage today to kick-start our Christmas shopping. As always, the place inspired me, so I came home and wrote a review.
Reverse Garbage is awesome
Check it (the review) out!
Review: 20 Natural Health Tips
I’m sick today, so when I saw in my twitter feed that Natural Papa had posted 20 natural health tips, it seemed like a timely miracle! Just what I was after. So off I went to look. (I’d just like to note also, that while it might be cold and flu season in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s really not here in Australia. Clearly I didn’t get that memo.)
Natural Immunity Booster Drink - everything is in the cup except the honey and the water.
While I sip my funky drink, here’s a high-level list of Natural Papa’s tips (in bold) with my responses (not bold).
- Wash your hands frequently. I’m a bit of a serial hand washer with a regular bar of soap. I avoid pump bottles of soap as part of my ‘avoid unnecessary plastic’ gig, and I really dislike antibacterials soaps (dudes, there’s supposed to be some bacteria around the place). I’m being particularly conscious of hand-washing at the moment since I’m touching snotty tissues all the time. Gross.
- Change your hand towels often. I washed the darned things on the weekend and I was sick by Tuesday. Humph.
- Clean the places that harbor the most germs in your house (door handles etc). Ok, aside from hand-washing, I could probably do this. But isn’t it a bit OCD to walk around wiping things all the time?
- Get plenty of sleep. If this was a month ago, I’d totally agree that I need to do this. However, the last couple of weeks I have actually been doing pretty well with sleep. I could probably still use more though… I’ve gone from 4 to 6 hrs to 6 to 7 hrs. Aiming for 8 hrs is probably not unrealistic.
- Stay hydrated (especially with central heating). Well, I live in Queensland. We don’t do central heating. Aside from which, it’s a week away from summer over here – it’s plenty hot enough, and not dry heat either (humidity is nice). Also, I drink more water than any other person I know (no, I’m not kidding).
- Take your vitamins. I try to eat foods that have vitamins in them naturally or through fortification (go Milo!), rather than having to remember to pop pills. Good for people who don’t eat like that though.
- Get sunshine on your body. This is so true. Unless I have a migraine or a fever, sitting in the sun makes me feel better when I’m sick. Some of my paler friends think this is weird, but it really helps! That being said, living in the Sunshine State, I get plenty of sun, so I don’t think this is the problem.
- Be active – move your body. I have been doing pretty well with walking from work to the busway over the last week or two, and I’m hoping that as of next week I’ll be able to start back at yoga. I could do more though.
- Be positive. I am usually positive, although sometimes work gets me down. I’ve been ok lately though.
- Laugh. Yeah, I could do more of this. But all the ‘funny’ movies are full of toilet humour, and that’s not really funny at all. I laugh more in general conversation with family and friends. Maybe I should go visit my folks after I’m well, or organise a social outing with work people. Now I’m in a slightly different position at work, I’m missing the chats and laughs I used to have a lot of with J-Mo. I do laugh with other people too, but I think they’re at a lesser level of crazy that J-Mo and I am. Hmm.
- Vitamin C. I’ve been drinking orange juice this week, like it’s going out of style.
- Eat more fruits and veggies. Yeah, I could do this. We’ve started a thing where on Sunday we chop up enough fruit to last the week and pack it into a bunch of containers, so it’s easy to just grab fruit and go. That’s been helping. I could do more with veges though… I really only eat them cooked, so if it’s a lazy night and I just want pizza, then I miss out. I think I eat more than most people… not that it’s a competition. Ultimately, yeah, I could use more.
- Drink your juice. See point 11 – it’s not fresh though.
- Use herbs for healing. Tomorrow, you will see this recipe I’ve tried out for a natural remedy drink. Interesting stuff.
- Use a neti pot. I just can’t make myself do this. All that water going up my nose… nope. Can’t do it. I’d rather go to the beach and let a wave do it for me. (Which is what I was planning for this weekend, if I’m better.)
- Get a massage. I’d love to do this! Who knows a non-expensive masseuse? Anyone? Really, do I need to ask Beuller again?
- Take it easy on the coffee and alcohol. I don’t drink coffee, and I think my body has been telling me to lay off the alcohol (not that I drank much in the first place). Every time I drink wine these days, I get heartburn within 15 mins. I don’t think I’ve had more than half a glass a week for the last two months. It gets too painful and Yankee Elv keeps having to finish it for me.
- Just say no (to going to work when you’re sick). I’m home, for the second day in a row!
- Avoid taking over-the-counter medications. I have been dosing up on the Sudafed, but only cos it was helping make the headache and fever go away a bit.
- Hug your family. I spent a fair chunk of last night lolling on Yankee Elv on the couch, and the previous night snuggling with Mr Teeny-bop whilst watching Xena, so I think I have this covered. Plus I hug the kitties and pat the dog all the time!
While Natural Papa’s list is really quite good, I’m unfortunately already doing most of this stuff. Poop. Maybe there was no escaping this illness. One of my colleagues yesterday (when I called in sick) suggested that maybe I’m just run down. There’s probably some truth to that.
I guess it’s just time to rest up and drink weird drinks.
Preaching to the Choir
I read a couple of interesting blog posts the other day, written by the Change.org bloggers.
The first is a post called Animal Rights is a Mainstream Movement, by Stephanie Ernst on the Animal Rights blog. She discusses how she doesn’t like the way people, including herself, dismiss her concerns about animal rights as too extreme or radical to take seriously. I know where she’s coming from – I do it myself sometimes, playing down the seriousness of veg*nism and other animal rights issues because it’s too confrontational for most people. I had a rant the other day about how people were all wigged out about cows loose on the Gateway bridge after a cattle truck turned over. Considering they were probably going to be slaughtered for meat anyway I found that incredibly hypocritical, (not that I can talk, what with the cheese I still eat), and I said so to my co-workers. The got a funny glazed look in their eyes and sort of nodded and smiled until it was over.
It’s not normal to talk about things like that, and I know I often try to present the friendly veg*n face as I’m of the opinion that you catch more flies with honey, so to speak. I understand where Stephanie is coming from though, and empathise with her frustration. I also find it interesting that it’s far more socially acceptable for me to be an outspoken tree-hugging leftist greenie lesbian than it is to be a hardcore vegan, even though going veg is one of the most important things you can do for the environment, and you would think it would be standard for ec0-friendly folks. I guess we’re a fringe group within a fringe group.
Pigs should live happily, like this cute piggy I saw in Mooball, NSW. He came when I called to him! So cute.
The second post is called Living the Animal Life, and it’s by Natasha Chart on the Sustainable Food blog. The topic is different to the Animal Rights post, but having read it immediately after Stephanie’s post, I got a similar message from it. Whether that was the message the author intended to convey is debatable, but one particular line sounds so like something I have said in my ‘carrot or the stick’ approach that it kind of hit home to me, especially in contrast to the horrible descriptions that followed. Natasha was talking about a law that would limit the use of anti-biotics in cattle, which Obama supports, and she said:
‘It won’t pass. Even that’s okay I suppose, considering how the discussion is off to such a good start.’
Later in the same article, she talked about how the animals are living in their own effluence – conditions so bad the anti-biotics are all that’s keeping them alive – and so introducing laws limiting anti-biotics really means changing the way animals are farmed, which is why the bill is so contentious. Now, remember the line from the start of the article? She doesn’t think it will pass, but that’s ok because it’s sparked off good discussion. Isn’t that awful?
At the same time, that’s so something I would say. (I promise I’m not dissing you, Natasha).
Taking the middle road is a valid action in some cases. I’ve been known to tell people who are against same-sex marriage that all I want is my legal rights. That’s not true. I want to get married – I want the social status that comes along with marriage, all those intangible things that have nothing to do with law. I’m not going to convince anyone with that argument though, so I water it down. I do the same with the environment at work. I tell people if they have to print, to at least do it double-sided. Really I want to tell them to read on the screen, gosh darnit, since they have their computers turned on anyway. There are some people who still review on paper. Seriously. I tell people it’s a great effort if they just cut back on meat one meal per week, when I really wish everyone would give it up for good.
I’m very good at taking the middle ground, and there are times when that’s appropriate. When we’re preaching to the choir, however – even just talking to ourselves – why can’t we be upfront? Sometimes, I want to have the freedom to say what I mean and not get that funny, glazed, nodding and smiling look.
So! Onward to same-sex marriage, reading on-screen and giving up meat for ever!
Review: True Green @ Work
I’ve recently been reading this book I got from the library, True Green @ Work.
Cover shot of the book 'True Green @ Work
Check out the review I wrote today if you want to know more about it!
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