Click the painting to see more of Katana's art.
Local Vancouver artist, Katana Barnett, has interviewed me at her fascinating art blog, Katanaville. The topic? Animal rights and art. Be sure to check it out!
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Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010Animal Advocacy Camp: stepping forward
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
The circle (photo by Amanda Daniell)
This Saturday, we held the first Animal Advocacy Camp in Vancouver. 80 people from across the spectrum of animal advocacy in Vancouver came together to learn and teach about being more effective advocates for animals.
The event was organized as “Open Space,” a meeting format where the attendees set the agenda at the beginning of the day. This sort of format removes a lot of the distinction between “experts” and everybody else, and also gives everyone the opportunity to host a conversation about a particular question or topic they are passionate about.
The energy in the room was amazing. I think a lot of the people were just excited to be able to come together to be with other activists and talk about our work. Many people made new contacts and new friends, and conversations got started that will hopefully carry on to successful projects.
The Agenda (photo by Amanda Daniell)
Some of the topics being discussed included:
- How Can I Speak More Effectively?
- Education and Critical Thinking
- Art and Literature’s Role in Animal Advocacy
- Presenting animal issues with creativity
- Media Relations
Many of the attendees have said that they want to do another event of this type. Bringing the community together in this way can serve to share information and knowledge, to plan future campaigns and objectives, to strengthen our personal bonds. We will definitely be organizing some events in the coming months to bring people together again to push forward.
Keep an eye open for announcements!
Arguments Against Veganism, pt. 6
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010Parts 1-4 here.
Argument: I keep hearing people argue that some of the more omnivorous among us would flagrantly protest animal cruelty, but that we’re very fond of tearing off huge, tasty pieces of our living cows while they scream for mercy. And I am very much against animal cruelty. I love animals. But guess what? There’s a gigantic difference between shooting your neighbor’s cat and eating pork. Smacking your dog isn’t the same as killing a chicken for the purposes of eating it.
Response: Uh yeah, in one case, you’re abusing the animal yourself. In the other, you’re paying someone else to abuse the animal for you. Oh, and the animals you want to defend are pets, while the ones you want to eat are what are commonly known as “food”. What kind of stupid idiot wrote this thing, anyway?
Oh right. That would be me. Like, eight years ago.
I think it’s pretty common knowledge that often, the angrier and more defensive a person gets when presented with the concepts of veganism, the guiltier they feel about it.
At the time I wrote that absurd diatribe, I had long since stopped eating fish and pork because I was particularly fond of those types of animals and couldn’t justify killing and eating them. I didn’t even wear leather, because I felt it was wrong to wear fur, and the two seemed too similar. Since childhood I’d considered myself a major animal lover. As a little kid I’d run lemonade stands in an attempt to raise money for the local animal shelter. Some of my best friends were the neighbourhood cats. I’d seriously considered a career in veterinary medicine.
Whenever presented with the idea of giving up cows and chicken and turkey, though, (I hadn’t even heard about how cruel the dairy and egg industries are) I would feel vaguely uncomfortable and try to think about something else. So what in the world inspired me to get so irrationally angry? I’d found a website that discussed BSE and in an abrasive way suggested that it was the fault of people who were “cruel” enough to eat cows. I don’t remember a lot of the details, but I do know that I felt defensive and infuriated because I knew I loved animals. How dare these people suggest that I was cruel to them?
And what brought me around to veganism only a year or so later? A few volunteers at my university who had a table of literature and stickers, who listened patiently when I told them I didn’t think I could really go vegan, or even vegetarian, because of my food allergies (wheat, soy, and nuts, for anybody having similar concerns), and who cheerfully answered my questions about why people go vegan in the first place. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to stop eating animals. I wasn’t convinced that it was necessary–couldn’t I just eat free-range meat?–and besides, fried chicken was one of my absolute favourite foods, and had been for years. As of this May, I’ll have been vegan for 6 years.
Think of it this way–every single person you talk is a potential vegan, a potential animal activist. Treat them that way. Be kind. Respectful. Try to remember how veganism was explained to you–what made it seem reasonable and realistic?–and answer their questions accordingly, and politely.
Just don’t wear yourself out.
(from xkcd.com)
Helping animals in the new year
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Tilly's Piglets by flickr user Olddanb
With the new year almost upon us, many of us are thinking about plans and resolutions for 2010. Among them will hopefully be ways to help animals.
Here are some suggestions for ways you can help animals in 2010:
Go vegan. Adopting a vegan lifestyle is quite simply the most effective thing you can do to help animals. By going vegan you are reducing the demand for animal products and potentially saving hundreds of animal lives. The I Quit Eating Meat blog is one person’s story of his path from meat-eater to vegan, and all of the challenges he faces. Great reading if you are thinking of making the switch. We have a list of resources available on our website as well.
Request that vegan options be added to the menu at regular restaurants. I’ve recently become aware of just how significant this can be. There are many non-vegans out there who will choose the vegan option if one is available, but won’t ask for something to be made vegan if it’s not on the menu. If it’s easy for people to eat vegan at their favorite restaurant, then they are much more likely to choose those options. You also never know what effect it might have. A pizza shop in LA recently went all-vegan after someone asked them to add a vegan pizza to their menu.
Once a month, go out to eat at a regular restaurant and ask for vegan food. Call ahead and request vegan food and make a point of reviewing your meal on yelp.com, dinehere.ca, foodvancouver.com, martiniboys.com, and any others you think people might read. The idea here is to build up the demand for vegan food across all sorts of restaurants, which will make it easier for anyone to choose vegan foods.
Bring vegan cupcakes or cookies to your coworkers, friends, or family to show them how delicious vegan food is. My favorite recipes are by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of Veganomicon, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and a few other books. I bring her cupcakes to work sometimes and my co-workers love them. Best cupcakes ever.
Give away copies of significant books or DVDs to people you know. People are more likely to listen to people they know, and if you hand them a copy of Earthlings they might just watch it. Check out Operation Meat Market: one activist, one mission, and a whole lot of books for a story of one person’s project of handing out copies of Erik Marcus’s Meat Market.
Share links and videos on facebook, twitter, myspace, and any other online social networking site you use. The more voices in the stream of information presenting information about animals the better.
Start a blog about your experiences. Share your stories with others. You may not think that anyone wants to read about you, but if you can tell your story about transitioning to a vegan diet, learning more about animals, or living as a vegan, people will be able to gain inspiration for their own lives from your stories. If you like to cook you could write about cooking and share recipes. If you work out you could write about that. The I Quit Eating Meat blog I mentioned earlier has inspired many other people to make the same transition. Starting a blog is free on Wordpress and who knows what impact you could have?
Volunteer with a local animal rescue or sanctuary. Being with animals first hand can really help to remind us why we are trying to help them in the first place. You’ll also be armed with personal stories about animals for the times when you are talking to people. Some friends of mine made a trip to Rest.Q Sanctuary to volunteer for an afternoon and posted a video about Kevin the turkey, and now people can see how sociable and friendly turkeys are. You’ll also be helping those individual animals. Some other local places to volunteer include Hearts on Noses, Vancouver Rabbit Rescue and Advocacy, Small Animal Rescue Society, and Richmond Animal Protection Society.
These are just a few ideas, and quite obviously I’m focused on food animals (since they account for something like 95% of the exploited animals on Earth) and outreach. Other people might have other ideas about how to help animals, but the more we all do, the more likely we are to succeed.
What other ideas do you have? Leave a comment and share your thoughts. And happy New Year!
Across the internet this past week (late!)
Monday, December 7th, 2009Sorry I’m late in posting this. I had a busy weekend. So I’m rolling last week and the past couple of days all together for this collection of links to some interesting articles and thought-provoking pieces from across the internet. Don’t miss Lesley’s article about gifting of animals, and also don’t miss Virginia Messina’s articles on the same subject. There’s also a post in here on the new Change.org Animal Welfare Blog, which has been quite good so far. The post is well worth reading and thinking about.
Enjoy!
Digging Through the Dirt: Chicken Council Balks at Consumer Reports Study
Vegan Soapbox: Salmonella And Campylobacter Found In Most Chicken
Minneapolis/St. Paul News: Mist of pig brain tissue sickened slaughterhouse workers
USA Today: Why a recall of tainted beef didn’t include school lunches
Fox News: H1N1 Flu Strain Found in Canadian Turkey Flock
Reuters: U.S. finds pandemic H1N1 virus in turkey flock
JAVMA News: Pigs, people, and now, pets
Making Hay: Go Tell it on the Mountain: Think Globally, Act Locally
Peter Fricker: Animal shelters must combine compassion with responsibility
Animal Blawg: Are Seahorses Becoming Extinct?
Vegan.com: Europe Grants Animals Legal Status of Sentient Beings
Vegan Dietician: Promoting Veganism: Finding the Message that Works
Animal Person: On Scheduling Epiphanies . . . and Coral Snakes
Vegan Soapbox: Veganism Is More Than A Personal Choice
Change.org Animal Rights Blog: The Mass Killing of Wildlife for Your Burger, Cheese, and Leather
Digging Through the Dirt: ‘Julie & Julia’ Writer Assaults More Dead Bodies
Vegans of Color: Gender policing has no place in AR/vegan movements
Change.org Animal Welfare Blog: The Globalization of Animal Welfare
Veg Climate Aliance: CopenVegan
Lesley Fox: If you care about world hunger, don’t give a cow
Seattle Vegan Examiner: Donations to Heifer International may do more harm than good
Seattle Vegan Examiner: Sustainable and ethical choices for reducing world poverty
Justice Rocks: Bringing social justice activists together (and some music)
Monday, August 31st, 2009
- Off-stage entertainment
For the second year, Pivot hosted Justice Rocks, an afternoon of music and social activism in Strathcona Park. As they describe it:
Only in it’s second year now, Justice Rocks is attracting a huge site full of party people — skate demos, a dunk tank, three marching bands, b-boy/girl break off, and a carnie birthday party. Nevermind the full line-up that you can check out here on our webpage!
Holding up the perimeters of the event are dozens of Vancouver City Superheros… folks behind some of the most prolific movin’ and shaking environmental justice, social justice, youth groups and campaigns around.
Justice Rocks is a powerful movement for progressive change. It’s an outdoor dance party, park takeover and full on celebration for the brilliant work we’re doing around here.
We were there representing the animals. Animal rights is a social justice issue too – but the animals are too often left out of discussions of rights and justice.
- A view of the stage
I love going to this event and seeing all the other groups and hearing about their projects. Being out there on the field you really feel like we all can change the world. That if we all keep working we’ll be able to solve problems of civil liberties, the environment, homelessness, and animal rights.
We talked to a bunch of people and answered a number of questions. It was great to hear how many people are concerned about animals – and how many people are changing their diets to help animals and the environment. It was all very positive. Thanks to Roger and Alissa for helping out at the booth. I also got to meet some people who I’d only known on Twitter and Facebook.
Some of the other groups at the event were BC Civil Liberties Association, Greenpeace, Katimavik, Hope in Shadows, Megaphone Magazine, Wilderness Committee, Gallery Gachet, Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, Youth Co AIDS Society, Forest Ethics, No One Is Illegal, and more. It was a real who’s who of activist organizations in the Vancouver area.
Roger at the LBC booth
Next year, if you have a chance, and you care about any of the issues represented, head on down to Strathcona Park and have some fun, listen to music, watch some dancers, do some dancing of your own, and find out how you can make a difference!
Oh, and our duck was there doing some dancing. He’s not a very good dancer – but he has fun!
Activist tools: video of a Let Live talk
Sunday, July 26th, 2009I did a talk with Erica Meier (Executive Director of Compassion Over Killing) at the Let Live Animal Rights Conference in Portland this past June. Her portion of the talk is quite obviously better than mine (since she is cooler by far than I am) but you may get something out of my portion as well. She covered mostly outreach to restaurants while I talked online activism.
Someday I will be as good a talker as her.
Tactics & Tools for the Effective Activist from Let Live Foundation on Vimeo.
Activist Tips: Facebook
Sunday, July 26th, 2009
If you are not using facebook, I would recommend that you do. Facebook has a huge base of users – so large that it’s beginning to seem like everyone is on Facebook. It takes very little effort to set up an account and start connecting with people. Some people use it more for activism and connect with other like-minded people for sharing information and spreading the word about events, actions, etc. Other people use it on a more personal level, connecting with old friends and keeping in touch.
However you want to use it, Facebook is an easy way to engage with large numbers of people and promote animal rights.
Here’s how you can get started:
- Set up an account. Use your real name. Don’t forget to upload a photo of yourself during the account creation process.
- Spend some time connecting with people. Use your email address book to find people you already know and add them as your friends.
- Find and join groups that share common interests.
- Post status updates with interesting details about what you are doing or interesting news you have found on the internet. I post a lot of articles I find to Facebook. If you paste a url into the status update box, it will automatically convert it into a pretty link for you.
- Engage with people and converse. Make comments on other people’s links and share good links with your friends.
- Experiment. Facebook is constantly evolving, so there are bound to be new things to explore.
- Have fun.
Activist Tips: Blogging
Saturday, July 25th, 2009If you are comfortable writing and already spend time sharing information with your friends using facebook or email, you may want to consider starting a blog. As is quite evident from my posts on this blog, you don’t have to be any good at writing to write blog posts.
Here are some tips for getting started with a blog:
- Start off simple. Post links to news and other blogs with a sentence or two of commentary.
- Write posts about your own events or events you went to, possibly with photos. They don’t have to be well written posts, just give a basic description.
- Don’t worry too much about the quality of your writing. No one is expecting you to be the next great essayist, so don’t stress about it.
- Do use spell-checking and make sure your grammar is good. Double-check for typos.
- Read lots of other blogs and learn from them.
That’s about it. Blogging can be very simple and easy to do. Adding your voice to the other animal rights bloggers strengthens our voice and builds the community. Make sure you have fun, be nice, and write for the animals!