Duqqah

I was driving up to Edmonton this weekend. I always enjoy the trip up from Calgary. It’s a straight shot north through farmers’ fields and prairie. With the Alberta economy booming over the last couple of years, construction projects have taken off. This is the season of carpet spending so it seems. And that is no more relevant than the number of projects that are being undertaken on the highways between Calgary and Edmonton and the roads within those cities too. Seems you can’t drive anywhere without being obstructed by construction.

Now I’m not one to bash progress. But it seems lately that progress is unrepentant, unthoughtful and unconcerned within anything outside of it’s myopic view. Huge swathes of land have been grazed and bulldozed and left bald for progress. For the construction of highways. Acres and acres per overpass, onramp and exit on this blitzing lane of progress. This got me to thinking of the critters that loved on those acres at one time. Our younger brethren who might have called those acres home. Displaced, disparaged and now members of the global diaspora. They go unseen and unheard, save for a passing thought as I hurtle by at one hundred kilometers per hour.

And that’s not the worst of it. Along this paved path towards progression are scattered the numerous corpses of innocent victims from humanities insatiable desire towards commercial capitalism. Conservative estimates have put the toll at 4 to 6 million animals killed per year on North American highways. That is an astonishingly large number. A holocaust of sorts against other species. And yet few of us give this a passing thought. My hope is that this post will give you pause to think about this. Slow down and save lives. We all seem in such a huge rush to get someplace. Anyplace. And the only thing we might be rushing is our early deaths.

This brings me again to my plea for simplicity. For careful, thoughtful choices in the things we buy. The way we live and the impact of these daily choices on our planetary footprint. It seems to me that the simple life. The conservative and carefully examined life is best for everyone. You save lives, you save money, you save your sanity and I would hope are on the path of real, spiritual progress. Go softly, gently, peacefully and simply into that good night.

A quick final thought. Hurricane Ike thankfully has made landfall with less damage than was expected. My question to you though is, were we duped by the oil corporations, the media and other power brokers into preparing for the worst? Were we gouged at the pumps? Were we encouraged to fill up at robber baron prices to stall the inevitable recession? My answer is yes. Let’s wake up. Let’s think for ourselves. Stop being led by the wolves in shepherd’s clothing.

And I mean no disrespect for all real wolves out there.

Jason

So it appears that the State of California is again going to be leading the way for the United States in enlightenment. Over 800 000 signatures have been collected to put proposition 2 on the ballot for November of this year. This is a desperately important initiative. Not only will it set a precedent the likes of which the US is in desperate need. But as urgently it will start to diminish some of the suffering that all farmed animals endure. There are more than 20 billion animals slaughtered every year in the US that have no welfare protection whatsoever. This is your turn as an humane being to make a change. Regardless of whether you are vegetarian or not. Below is a short video on some of the highlights of what this initiative is hoping to achieve:

Other benefits of this proposition are of course improved health and safety standards of the food chain. For me, most importantly are the health benefits of a vegan diet. I’ve briefly spoken about them before and I’ll do so again in the future. But I want to take this opportunity to highlight just a couple of the environmental benefits of the vegan diet.

~ Eating 1 pound of meat causes the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as driving a SUV 40 miles.
~ Eating vegan saves 1 acre of trees each year.
~ A vegan diet requires only 300 gallons of water a day compared to 4000 gallons per day required for an omnivorous diet.
~ Over one third of all raw materials and fossil fuels currently used in the US go to raising animals for food.

How many more reasons does a person need? I thin the answer is obvious. Get onto the V-train. For your health, the planet’s wealth and the animals well being. Enjoy this widget to see how large or small your carbon footprint is.

Have a peaceful meal,

Jason

Since veganism is such an important and prescient part of my life I want to spend a few moments talking about it. About time too l should think. Just to get some of the housekeeping items out of the way, I should explain what a vegan is. As determined by the original Vegan Soceity, a vegan is someone who eschews all animal products. This would mean a vegan DOES NOT eat flesh, fish/seafood, fowl of all kinds, dairy products and eggs. Honey is also excluded. Further, a vegan will also avoid products made from leather, wool and silk. And as is possible a vegan will also try to avoid products that contain animal ingredients, such as hand lotions, soaps etc.

This might sound like a hardship but it truly isn’t. I’ve been doing it for over 18 years and it’s getting easier all the time. Especially with all the soy milks and other convenience foods. The key for me has been to do away with the idea that I can be a perfect vegan. Being a human being means being imperfect and the vegan diet is prime example of this. So many products contain animal slaughterhouse byproducts because animal agriculture is such a huge business. Paint, ink, tires, glue and asphalt are just some examples of items that contain animal byproducts. The key is to set a standard that one feels comfortable attaining. And also to be an example that this lifestyle is not inconvenient and a real hardship. No one is inspired by martyrs who wear it like a badge. A secret handshake or holier than though secret club also doesn’t engender people towards giving it a try.

There are many reasons to go vegan. It is healthier for you. It is better for the environment. It is a more frugal lifestyle and most importantly it saves countless animals from awful and painful lives culminating in horrendous deaths.

The way I see it is this. A vegan diet is healthy, it is better for the environment and your pocketbook. Considering that it is unnecessary to murder sentient creatures to live, then why do it? There is no conscionable reason for it. As such, to do so, or to encourage others to do so by purchasing these products of torture is to mar your soul. Each time we partake of senseless violence we attach a black mark to our souls. This in time will need rectifying. Rather live a life of peace and compassion now. As Gandhi said: Live simply so that others may simply live. This includes animals. Don’t just take my word for it. Listen to these others.

The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of “real food for real people” you’d better live real close to a real good hospital.
~ Dr. Neal Barnard

Animals are my friends… and I don’t eat my friends. ~George Bernard Shaw

I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other…. ~Henry David Thoreau

You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Can you really ask what reason Pythagoras had for abstaining from flesh? For my part I rather wonder both by what accident and in what state of soul or mind the first man did so, touched his mouth to gore and brought his lips to the flesh of a dead creature, he who set forth tables of dead, stale bodies and ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had a little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived. How could his eyes endure the slaughter when throats were slit and hides flayed and limbs torn from limb? How could his nose endure the stench? How was it that the pollution did not turn away his taste, which made contact with the sores of others and sucked juices and serums from mortal wounds? ~Plutarch

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. ~Albert Einstein

Verily I say unto you, try veganism today. And every day.

Jason