It’s official, California’s will have the opportunity to vote on more humane treatment of factory farmed animals. We needed just over 400,000 signatures to get on the November 11th ballot and we were able to gather 782,507 signatures! Almost double! This just goes to show that with some volunteer elbow grease and an educated public, we can all make a difference in the lives of millions of animals in this state.

But, we still need your help. The “opposition” will be mounting a formidable campaign with ridiculous claims of higher food prices, hurting small farmers and other silly things. They have lots of money to spend and will be advertising heavily. Please contribute to Californian’s for Humane Farms by either volunteering time, throwing a fund raising party and/or donating money. Any time or money that you can spare will make a difference!

Although this measure has a modest impact on helping factory farmed animals…it happens to be the largest initiative of its kind in the United States, ever! When this passes in California other states will follow and soon the lives of ALL factory farmed animals will be just a little bit better.

So remember, no one is asking that you stop eating meat (although it’d be a lot cooler if you did). All we are asking for is that before that pork chop or chicken wing makes it to your plate, the animal that provided it was able to stand up, turn around and lie down comfortably. Pretty simple stuff.

http://humanecalifornia.org/

Help more pigs be happy like this guy!

Hi all, I know it’s been a long time since my last post. I am picking it up again (but probably not on a daily basis as I don’t have enough time). With that said, if you are a resident in California there is a great petition being circulated to help alleviate the suffering of many factory farmed animals. Your help and “John Hancock” is needed!

Californians for Humane Farms must collect 650,000 signatures to place a measure on the California ballot to prevent cruelty to calves raised for veal, pigs during pregnancy and egg-laying hens. We must collect these signatures and submit them for verification by the end of February 2008. We have just 7 weeks left! Join thousands of volunteers and collect signatures from registered California voters all over California.

Even if you can’t volunteer to gather signatures, please sign the petition yourself and get your friends and family to do so as well. More information can be found at http://humanecalifornia.org/ or by clicking on the pig on the sidebar. ->>

Meg and I gather signatures at Kobey’s Swap Meet here in San Diego on Sunday afternoons. If you’re in the area, stop on by to sign it (if we’re not there, others will also be volunteering and happy to take your signature).

If you want to view some photos of what types of cages this measure will do away with, click here.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

I was searching around for some information on Contained Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO’s) and came across this site. The mission behind the blog is to document people’s experiences that live around CAFO’s in New York State. When we drive out to AZ to visit my parents we pass these things in eastern California and in Maricopa, AZ. I have often wondered how people live around these awful places.

From CAFO Hell

The purpose of this blog is to document residential living near some of New York’s industrial dairy farms. These “farms” are called CAFO’s (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) which confine hundreds and sometimes thousands of dairy cows packed together on a small tract of land. They store massive amounts of cow excrement in football field sized ponds referred to as “lagoons.” The manure is liquefied and trucked out to be spread on the fields, often close to residential housing. Contaminated run-off and extremly poor air quality are the results. Garbage flies and mosquitos reproduce in vast numbers. Property values plummet. Oppostion to this type of industrial agriculture is mounting nationwide. Stay tuned for more photos in the coming months.

Back in 2001, the UK had an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease. This disease is highly contagious and can be fatal (however, rarely) to hoofed animals like pigs, cows, sheep, etc. Around 2,000 cases of the disease had been reported in the UK countryside and by the end of the “containment” around 7,000,000 sheep and cattle were killed in a psuedo-successful attempt to halt the disease.

Well, it appears the attempt to halt the disease wasn’t so successful. The disease has resurfaced and since last Friday about 200 cattle have been culled on two farms and the UK government has banned the movement of all livestock across Britain.

From Wikipedia:

Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease have resulted in the slaughter of millions of animals, despite this being a frequently non-fatal disease. The destruction of animals is primarily to prevent the disease from spreading throughout herds intended for human consumption or producing milk. Due to international efforts to eradicate the disease, infection would also lead to trade bans being imposed on affected countries. Critics of current policies to cull infected herds argue that the financial imperative needs to be balanced against the killing of many animals, especially when a significant proportion of infected animals, most notably those producing milk, would recover from infection and live normal lives.

Gordon Nixon saw enormous suffering caused by foot-and-mouth when he was a slaughterman in the north-east of England during the 2001 epidemic. Read about his story hear. Farmers are extremely worried about this epidemic repeating itself.

More information:

What is Foot and Mouth Disease (bbc news)
A Farmer’s Story (bbc news)
Current Outbreak Linked to Lab (bbc news)
2007 UK Outbreak (wikipedia)

Want to see what your state/county receives in government farm subsidies? The Environmental Working Group has compiled a huge database that lists great details on who is receiving commodity based subsidies and the amounts they are receiving in your state.

About EWG

The Environmental Working Group is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to using the power of information to protect human health and the environment. To learn more about we what do—and the many issues like farm subsidies, cosmetics, tap water, organics, and non-stick chemicals that we research

View the database here.

The Daily Show examines the environmental awareness that was raised by the Live Earth Concert(s).

Hi everyone! I haven’t posted in the last couple of days because Meg and I were camping/hiking in Sequoia National Park. It was really beautiful and peaceful….but now it’s back to the grind. I figured today was a good day to catch up on the news.

Humane Meat: A Contradiction in Terms- huge numbers of compassionate people have joined the ranks of the vegetarians. Some, however, have looked instead to meat from animals treated less badly, which they call “humane meat.” This raises three questions. First, is there such a thing as truly “humane meat”? Second, would consuming only humane meat satisfy the demands of ethical living? And third, do we, as individuals, have good reason to promote “humane meat” rather than vegetarianism? (huffingtonpost)

Even Kenyans Are Effected by Our Food Bill- As the United States Congress debates an omnibus farm bill, it is considering a small change that advocates say could make a big difference to the world’s hungriest people: allowing the federal government to buy some food in Africa to feed the famished, rather than shipping it all overseas from America. (NY Times)

A Factory Farm Near You- This is a good editorial from the NY Times and it includes a link that shows an interactive map of factory farms throughout the US…..Once upon a time, only a decade or so, it wasn’t hard to know where factory hog farms were because they were nearly all in North Carolina. But since those days, the practice of crowding together huge concentrations of animals — hogs, poultry, dairy cows, beef cattle — in the interests of supposed efficiency has spread around the country. (NY Times)

The Localvore’s Dilemma-  Sometimes buying local food helps in the battle against climate change. Sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes, it’s just too confusing to decide. (The Boston Globe)

Internet Junk Food- Brands such as McDonald’s, Starburst, Haribo and Skittles are using the Internet to target children now that new rules from the media regulator Ofcom have made it difficult to advertise during children’s television. (Guardian Unlimited)

I woke up this morning, powered on my computer and found today’s story staring right at me on the MSN homepage (I know, pretty boring of me to have MSN as my homepage, especially because I don’t use anything Microsoft on my home computer…but I like MSN!). It’s rare that this happens. This article from MSN money explores the financial benefits of adopting a vegetarian diet. Even if you adopt it one day a week!

The article explores how much cheaper vegetarian proteins are compared to meat.

Most of the staples of a vegetarian diet are cheap. In fact, most of the world’s people eat a mostly vegetarian diet made up of inexpensive commodities such as beans, rice and corn. If you drop red meat, poultry and fish from your diet, you’ll find plant proteins cheaper than the equivalent amount of animal protein.

Here are a few practical tips on how to save money with a vegetarian or mostly vegetarian diet:

• If you include an occasional piece of flesh (of whatever kind) in your diet, try to limit yourself to four or five ounces, which is about the size of a deck of cards.
• If you want to buy private life insurance, wait until you’ve been on a vegetarian diet long enough to improve your key health indicators (body mass index, cholesterol, etc.). It could save you thousands of dollars when an insurer reviews the results of your physical.
• Buy vegetable protein in bulk. Dried beans, rice, oatmeal and other similar commodities last a long time if properly stored, and they are far cheaper in larger quantities.
• If you get discouraged by the blandness of a vegetarian diet, buy cookbooks that explore Indian, Malaysian, Chinese or South American cuisines. Mixing novel spices and ingredients may perk up your taste buds and make the transition easier.
• If you can’t afford or prefer not to buy organic produce, remember that most experts think the nutritional benefits of eating conventionally grown fruits and vegetables outweigh the possible negative effects of pesticide residues.

Read the whole article at MSN Money.

Also on MSN…Is a Vegetarian Diet Healthier?

Composting your food scraps and yard clippings will produce less waste for the landfill and it also makes great garden soil. Yeah, yeah…”but what if I don’t need compost because I live in an apartment,” (like I do)? Well for one, you can start a small vegetable garden on your deck or window-sill or how about showing some love to the trees and plants in your area by giving them some extra nutrients?

For that “out of sight” compost bin, consider putting it under your kitchen sink. It won’t smell and it’s a convenient place to throw your food scraps (instead of down the disposal). These compost bins can range anywhere from a small Rubbermaid container to a large backyard corral.

Starting a bin is easy and you can find one fit into almost any space you have available. Check out this video for more information. Also, a quick search on a the net will provide some good resources on how to get started.

In the past I’ve featured some of my favorite meat substitues (great for the grill). Today, I discovered this excellent resource that gives alternatives to all kinds of products and food made from animals.  They even include pet food!

Vegan and Vegetarian Products Guide