“Everything is going to be fine in the end. If it’s not fine, it’s not the end. — Oscar Wilde
This 54 minute documentary produced by Australian Michael Shaw featuring Catherine Ingram, Dahr Jamail, Jem Bendell and Stan Rushworth presents a bleak, Western perspective on our ecological crisis. Other than Cherokee Elder, Stan Rushworth, the other principals in the documentary are well-educated, privileged Western “doomers” who are certain that the world is going to hell in a hand basket and billions of people are going to die in short order.
Someone sent me this as one of the many examples of opportunistic so-called “animal advocates” who fall over themselves in a mad dash to say that animal exploitation is really okay while they hold their hands out for donations:
Imagine someone saying: “Most of the time, I am not a bigot. But I’m not perfect and I occasionally engage in actions that are legal but that harm others and that are motivated by my racial animus because I enjoy it.”
Imagine someone saying: “Yeah, I’m a bigot. But I’m a reducetarian bigot. I am cutting down my racist behavior here and there. For example, I don’t tell racist jokes on Monday before 6.” Read more
Susan Hargreaves is the Founder of Animal Hero Kids, a charity that empowers youth by providing them with school presentations that highlight animal rescue, advocacy, and promotes a cruelty-free existence by youth. She has been an animal advocate for over 40-years and has been revered by World Leaders and Celebrities across the globe.
Susan Hargreaves of Animal Hero Kids
FWM: What does activism mean to you?
Activism runs the gamut of speaking to the person at the grocery store looking for lactose-free milk, why cows milk dairy is the product of animal cruelty, educating at schools, protesting animal abuse, and speaking up at every opportunity you can, where it may make a difference.
Empathy is the first building block of kindness. Compassion is fostered in the “Animal Hero Kids Voices for the Voiceless “ book and education programs. I present stories of animal rescue and advocacy by youth. These stories, like all well-told stories, put you in the other’s place; understanding of another’s situation is vital-today more than ever.
Compassion being taught to youth is cruelty prevention, bullying and violence prevention. When empathy and kindness are taught at an early age it has the power to change the world. My life’s challenge is to increase compassion for all beings on a large scale. Read more
How well we know the stereotype of the rugged Plains Indian: killer of buffalo, dressed in quill-decorated buckskin, elaborately feathered headdress, and leather moccasins, living in an animal skin teepee, master of the dog and horse, and stranger to vegetables. But this lifestyle, once limited almost exclusively to the Apaches, flourished no more than a couple hundred years. It is not representative of most Native Americans of today or yesterday. Indeed, the “buffalo-as-lifestyle” phenomenon is a direct result of European influence, as we shall see.
Among my own people, the Choctaw Indians of Mississippi and Oklahoma, vegetables are the traditional diet mainstay. A French manuscript of the eighteenth century describes the Choctaws’ vegetarian leanings in shelter and food. The homes were constructed not of skins, but of wood, mud, bark and cane. The principal food, eaten daily from earthen pots, was a vegetarian stew containing corn, pumpkin and beans. The bread was made from corn and acorns. Other common favorites were roasted corn and corn porridge. Read more
Let’s look at the reasons behind the growth of veganism in India, as a small yet vocal section of the population turns towards this diet and lifestyle in the largest milk producing country in the world.
India is expected to produce 175 billion litres of milk in 2019, making it the largest milk producer in the world. Forecasts suggest production of this commodity will increase by 4 per cent in 2020, which equates to an additional 9.7 billion litres. Having said this, a new movement is growing in India – veganism.While absolute figures on the number of vegans aren’t available due to the sheer novelty of this dietary and lifestyle choice, there are ample grounds to show that the shift towards veganism in India is growing at an unprecedented rate.
Despite the rise of plant-based meat and ‘Veganuary,’ only 3 percent of Americans are vegan. It’s more than double that among African Americans.
(Washington Post illustration/iStock)
Rapper Stic.man was a 20-year-old in Brooklyn trying to get a record deal, deep in what his wife calls the original hip-hop lifestyle: burgers, blunts and booze.
“I had picked up some bad habits, smoking herb all the time, drinking every day in the urban obstacle course,” says Stic.man, a.k.a. Khnum Muata Ibomu but born Clayton Gavin. “I woke up one morning and my ankle was gigantically swollen, and I found out I had gout. That was my wake-up call. It was a blessing that revealed my path.”
Stic, one-half of the political duo Dead Prez, has been a vegan for two decades since then. Read more
While pollution is almost everywhere, certain communities are burdened with a disproportionate number of facilities that fill the air, soil, and water with contaminates. Typically found in black and brown communities and low-income communities, industrial polluters such as landfills, trash incinerators, coal plants, and toxic waste dumps affect the well-being of residents. Their health is also often compromised due to a lack of access to healthy foods in their neighborhoods. Those who work on environmental justice issues refer to these inequities as environmental racism.
We are all birthed from Water. Ecosystems and human communities evolve around Water. As humanity rebirths itself at this critical juncture in human history, we align with Nature to honor, protect and restore the one Water body that nourishes all of Life.
How do we, as humanity, evolve to align with the principles of Life and co-create an oppression-free and vitalizing world for all?
The proposal for a World Water Law and World Water Year 2021 are citizen-led initiatives that offer a unifying and holistic framework for rapid and radical whole-system healing. These initiatives are based on the understanding that when we collectively prioritize the healing of our planetary waters and water cycle, we will activate an exponential healing process that will benefit all of Life simultaneously. Read more
When Amazon.com bought Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion in 2017, some vegans assumed it would be a massive boost to veganism. It’s easy to see why: Self-described vegan CEO John Mackey remained in his position, and with such an enormous infusion of cash from Amazon’s winner-take-all Jeff Bezos, additional Whole Foods Market stores would expand public access to vegan food. More Whole Foods Market locations equal more vegans, right? Not necessarily. There’s a missing ingredient in Whole Foods’ recipe I’ll get to in a moment. Read more
I’ve had the wonderful opportunity recently to spend time and absorb a bit of the brilliance of systems engineer Sailesh Rao, PhD, who spent most of his career developing a little thing we’re all familiar with: the Internet! When Dr. Rao, a lifelong vegetarian, learned about the climate/agriculture connection, he went vegan immediately and left his high-status engineering position to devote himself full time to saving this planet. He founded ClimateHealers.org and has joined the production teams of several vegan documentaries, including Cowspiracy, What the Health, and A Prayer for Compassion, set to debut in October. Read more
Hear some Passionate Highlights of the The Nation Rising 2018 Protest Speeches and Interviews at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada.
This past July, Dan and I flew east to our hometown of Ottawa, Ontario. Dan was born in Ottawa and I had moved there with my family when I was in Grade 2. We grew up in the same neighbourhood, met and got married in Ottawa in 1989, before starting our life together in British Columbia. So while all of that history might have been enough to lure us back for a visit 29 years later, we made the journey for a reason much bigger than ourselves.
Sheanne and Dan Moskaluk in front of the Peace Tower.
On July 14th, we had the privilege of participating in the first annual Nation Rising March and Rally. Dan and I, along with 500 other Canadians, marched through the streets of downtown Ottawa, arriving on Parliament Hill. At the foot of the Peace Tower, we all delivered a list of demands to our Federal government: Read more
image: Brodie Frehlich Photography. Led by Liz White, the Animal Protection Party of Canada (APPC) is Canada’s only federal political party that gives the animals and the environment a political voice – the powerful, national voice needed to secure protection for all animals and the environment. Jordan Reichert is the APPC West Coast Campaign Officer. Vote for Jordan Reichert October 20th for Victoria Council. A win in a municipality will have positive ramifications far beyond the city, since many federal and provincial legislators begin their careers at the municipal level. Jordan’s work as a Victoria city councillor would show voters across Canada that legislators like Jordan can both advance animal and environmental protection issues and be tireless advocates of the best kind for the constituents. See his platform of public policy that reflects the values, needs, and diversity of Victoria here.
The Animal Protection Party of Canada is committed to the promotion and adherence to veganism. All of our team is vegan as are a great number of supporters. However, you don’t have to be vegan to support us. We are an inclusive political party that is just as dedicated to being compassionate and welcoming to those who are not vegan as we are to the animals whose interests we have in mind when expressing vegan values. Read more
Yesterday was a fabulous day and this morning I woke up feeling as if I could change the world! I attended the Health & Fitness, Empowered by Plants day of education in Penticton. It was put on by the Okanagan Health Forum, which is a group organized in 2005 to provide cutting-edge research in lifestyle medicine to health care professionals and the general public. It was also formed to “bring internationally acclaimed authorities on plant-based diets to inspire and motivate our residents to make choices that support exceptional health and well-being”.
Well, that they sure did! They had a professional line up of plant-based speakers covering topics ranging from how to heal yourself from lifestyle diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes and cancer, to the plant-based diet of a world class athlete and stories of how changing to a plant-based diet helped a couple from Naramata, BC overcome obesity and stage 4 kidney cancer. Read more
We have less than one decade to fix our destructive lifestyle before our planet crosses a terrible threshold. And you can be part of the fix with one simple decision! Climate Healers leader, environmentalist and engineer Sailesh Rao, an amazing activist who’s been a force in hit films like Cowspiracy & What The Health, gives an extraordinary talk at the Rowdy Girl Sanctuary in Texas! It’s life changing! Originally on JaneUnChained.com Click above to listen to this moving talk.
I’ve had the wonderful opportunity recently to spend time and absorb a bit of the brilliance of systems engineer Sailesh Rao, PhD, who spent most of his career developing a little thing we’re all familiar with: the Internet! When Dr. Rao, a lifelong vegetarian, learned about the climate/agriculture connection, he went vegan immediately and left his high-status engineering position to devote himself full time to saving this planet. He founded 
Yesterday was a fabulous day and this morning I woke up feeling as if I could change the world! I attended the Health & Fitness, Empowered by Plants day of education in Penticton. It was put on by the 
