Environmental Media Coverage - Hot off the Presses
Lately I have been amazed to see many articles dealing with animal-related issues bouncing around the internet. Several of them have been shared by different friends on Facebook, getting exposure there, whereas others have been blogged about by different people. Many of them are linked to environmental issues, and all well worth reading.
At the same time I have found three friends from high school who are all vegan, have been approached by a vegetarian for help to become vegan, and have heard of several mentions about veganism in popular television media. For someone who is passionate about the needless suffering of animals and the future of the planet, all of these happenings have made me feel more hopeful.
Boss Hog (Jeff Tietz, Rolling Stone Magazine) This article is so mind-blowing I don’t want to spoil it by a reductionist description. I will say, however, that it is about pigs!
Care about the environment? Eat less Meat (Peter Fricker, Globe and Mail). The best part is that he openly identifies fear that environmentalists have to acknowledge the truth of the animal agriculture - global warming link.
Even environmental groups are shy about touching this one. Some don’t even mention limiting meat consumption as a means of combatting global warming. Others relegate it to a list of minor energy-saving actions consumers can take, just below keeping your car’s tires properly inflated. The suspicion (especially among animal-welfare groups) is that environmentalists are afraid they’ll be open to charges of hypocrisy if they raise the meat issue and get caught wolfing down a Wendy’s burger after the press conference.
…While many animal activists are “abolitionists” and want a meat-free world, others would welcome anything that would put the brakes on a trend that is resulting in animal suffering on a mind-boggling scale. …
Re-thinking the Meal Guzzler (Mark Bittman, New York Times). Interestingly enough, Mark Bittman is not a vegetarian despite the fact that he seems to know all about the issues and has written a vegetarian cookbook of upwards of 1000 pages. This made me so curious that I Googled him to find out more, coming across a radio interview where he communicated his perspective. It seems that ironically since he is not a vegetarian he actually has more credibility to meat-eaters when he quashes the anti-vegetarian rumours this interviewer perpetuates and throws at him.
I am so happy when people reduce their meat consumption, both for the animals and the environment. But I still find it fascinating when someone understands all aspects of the consequences of eating meat (animal suffering, environment, health) and remains not even a vegetarian. I think it’s funny that veganism or vegetarianism comes across as too “extremist” or “all or nothing.” For me, it has opened so many new horizons and I have eaten such a greater variety of foods that it feels more liberating than anything else.
Animal Rights Groups Pick up Momentum (Larry Copeland, USA Today).
“I think it’s clear that animal issues are part of the public domain like never before,” says Michael Markarian, executive vice president of the Humane Society, the largest animal welfare organization. “People have started thinking more and more about how we treat animals in our society.”
And, for fun - typographic art by Jeremy Pettis - 26 Types of Animals. (via Drawn!) Hinging on the presentation of the alphabet in traditional children’s book fashion, Pettis attempts to embody each animal artistically using typographic expression. For me, I was more than happy to see that “Human” is one of the 26 animals, on a horizontal plane that eliminates hierarchy.
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