Animal Products

A path to Inner peace and optimism – without ignorance

Rick Altruism, Animal Products, Environment, Meditation, Vegan

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There is a widespread misconception that evolution has made us selfish. ??In fact even Darwin himself did not see it that way and it is now widely understood that cooperation and compassion are natural human traits. Our society dupes us into believing otherwise which helps us justify making harmful choices which lead to inner conflict and long term dissatisfaction.

The power of compassion is well known but the messages we receive almost from birth lead us to reject our natural instincts.?? Our innate instinct for compassion is not something we can switch off or be selective about without serious personal ramifications.?? Natural compassion will extend to all people and all sentient beings.?? Anything else creates disharmony and discontent. We can fix this simply with self-awareness and acting accordingly.?? The following is a relevant story from my own journey.

11 years ago my wife and I both had jobs in the CBD of Sydney. The daily walk home to Coogee had become a routine. ??One day we came across a white rabbit beside a very busy Sydney road. As we approached, she ran away and hid in the roots of a large oak tree so we continued our walk home. We knew nothing at all about rabbits but we knew that she would not survive long there so we decided to return with some carrots and a small cage to attempt a rescue.?? The rescue was successful and she lived out the rest of her life in our house, with our two cats. For six years we cared for her through sickness and health and in return we received copious amounts of joy and laughter.?? At the end we had to make the heartbreaking decision to put her to sleep.?? I now recognize this was an important experience on the road to living in harmony with my human nature.

Shortly after this I became motivated to take a deeper interest in the state of the earth.?? I quickly learned that life on earth was being recklessly destroyed by human activity. This in turn led to more learning about animal agriculture and a decision to stop eating meat, and then later all animal products.?? These sorts of decisions based on natural compassion felt right and kept me on the path towards inner peace and contentment.

I was learning more and more shocking realities but at the same time I was finding real happiness.?? I am now at the point of feeling more optimism and energy than at any time since my childhood. I credit this to my willingness to face reality and to fostering my natural compassion.

So I learned that we humans are causing unprecedented destruction that will before long lead to the earth becoming uninhabitable for most species, including our own. ??Three such examples of this, each a catastrophe in its own right, are the decimation of the oceans, species extinction and climate change.?? I will elaborate further on species extinction but first a quick pause for some more optimism.

There is a realistic, practical solution to all of these man-made catastrophes that we can all happily participate in. ??All we need to do is become self-aware and take steps to allow our true compassionate nature to flourish. ??More on this below.

Here are a few current facts about species extinction:

  • We lose 150 ??? 200 species per day. That???s 1000 to 10,000 times the natural rate.
  • The rate is predicted to snowball.
  • At the current rate we will lose 30% of our species by 2050.
  • With the current direction, before long most life including human life will no long be able to live on earth.
  • Animal agriculture is the main driver of species extinction.
  • We grow enough food today to feed 10 billion people yet we fail to feed 7 billion. One big problem is a huge proportion of our crops directed to animals grown for meat.

Human civilization is now dominated by faceless, heartless corporations.?? It is best for them if we remain dissatisfied and continually looking for a remedy, usually in the form of one of their products.?? So, brilliant multimillion dollar marketing campaigns are aimed at keeping us wanting more which is often in complete conflict with our nature.

The most shocking example of this is the huge animal exploitation industries like seafood, meat, eggs and dairy.?? Together they systematically abuse and slaughter 70 billion very young land animals and more than 1 trillion fish annually. ??It is not just the vast scale of this cruelty and violence but also the huge disproportionate destruction to the environment.?? Consider that a plant based diet requires 29 times less land than a standard meat based diet or that some studies suggest our oceans will be dead by 2050. ??As long as we buy their products we support the cruelty and harm which conflicts with our natural compassion.?? We pay a very heavy price.

There are now healthy food alternatives readily available so why do naturally compassionate people support these industries??? At least part of the answer is we have been duped.?? With every purchase we deny our nature and our power is taken from us.

I will finish with these positive ideas.

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Adopting a vegan lifestyle is not the answer on its own.?? It is just a natural human response in today???s world. It is not just for animal lovers or haters of violence and injustice. It is for every rational person who wants to be compassionate, and would like to enjoy inner peace, empowerment, and great health. The decision to be vegan stops our support for this unnecessary violence and destruction.?? It also gives us back our power and enlightens us. This leads to contentment but what is really exciting is this natural way of being is contagious.

For more information, check out our web site www.eversanctuary.org.

Rick – EVER

A short story from the near future

Rick Animal Products, Vegan

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“Hey Phil, don’t forget Saturday night dinner with James and Bec”, Angie yells on her way out the door. “You better contact the restaurant today if you insist on having your special meal”.

“Damn her” I mumble under my breath. As if eating out is not hassle enough, without her never ending digs at my food choices. “I’ve already called them”, I yell impatiently. “They said it’s fine and the “cold room” is available”. “Oh great”, Ange sighs as she drives off to work.

They call it the cold room because it’s a cold drafty room.?? According to polls, seeing and smelling animal body parts while eating is offensive to more than 80% of people. Also it is now required by law that meat must only be served?? in a separate specially ventilated area.?? Adding insult to injury is the 25% harm tax on all animal products, which is shared between animal sanctuaries and environmental groups.

Luckily most of my friends politely accept the imposition of dining with a meat eater, although I still have to deal with the routine questions like, “why are you still eating animals” and how are your arteries holding up?” My parents still remember the days when society shunned those who refused to eat?? animal products. They called them “vegans”. Those were the days.?? Maybe I was just born too late.

 

Meat and the Environment

Rick Animal Products, Environment, Vegan

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When I first heard about global warming, like most of us in Australia, my personal footprint was astronomical.

Here in Australia, we are each disproportionately large contributors to this developing global catastrophe.?? This realization was a big kick in the face for me and enough to drive anyone to drugs, alcohol and other emotional consumption. This response of course just makes the problem worse and feeds the shame. For me, the decent way to react to this is to have a serious think about it and the ways I stop being an environmental vandal.?? This is a bit of a minefield.
Trying to zoom in on the big areas and the obvious issues seemed the best approach.?? For example, when I needed a car, fuel economy and emissions were primary purchase considerations.?? I installed solar panels on the roof as I had a good north facing roof ideal for this.?? Other things like recycling, not wasting water, choosing environmentally friendly products, growing as much food as possible and thinking twice about unnecessary consumption were all sensible ideas.

There are many other considerations but meat consumption is huge and has now achieved the elephant in the room status.

 

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The excuse of not knowing the environmental consequences of meat has lost its validity. Short of science deniers, the impacts of meat are now?? well-known facts.???? The 2008 United Nations report found that animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gases than the entire transport sector.?? Later the report by Worldwatch suggested the UN report underestimated the impact and that at least 51% of all man made greenhouse gases come from animal agriculture. Another sobering reminder of this is the finding from a life cycle study on various foods that 1kg of lamb results in 40 times the emissions of 1kg of lentils.
Some people still try to justify their meat eating with the suggestion that vegan agriculture would require more crops and so do more harm.?? In fact the complete opposite is true.?? For example approximately 80% of the soy crops grown globally are fed to animals. In other words, meat consumption is a major disproportionate driver of the increase in land clearing, either for the massive amount of crops needed to feed the animals or to make way for pasture for animal grazing. This is only part of why meat has such a major impact on our environment.?? To read more, check out our website link on meat and the environment.
The fact is that anyone genuinely concerned about global warming should give up eating meat. It???s not that hard and all the science says this is a very healthy thing to do.

 

Horse abuse or hot flushes ??? why should females suffer?

Reem Animal Products

For most females, menopause is a difficult transition in life, both emotionally and physically.

When a woman suffering from the symptoms of menopause visits the GP, he/she will only be too happy to prescribe an oestrogen pill or patch to replace the hormone a female???s body should be making. A very commonly prescribed Hormone Replacement drug is called Premarin. This is an oestrogen drug prepared by the pharmaceutical giants Wyeth/Pfizer. It is sometimes referred to as a ???natural??? drug for women.

Premarin (Pregnant mares + urine) is a horse oestrogen made on specific US and Canadian farms for Pfizer and Wyeth. It is ???natural??? to female horses (Mares).

Mares are firstly impregnated. When they reach the 4th month of pregnancy and right through to the 11th month, the mares are confined to tiny spaces between metal bars so that they cannot turn around or lie down comfortably. Most stand the entire length of their 6-7 months confinement. Their urine is collected in ???pee-bags??? which are urine collection devices harnessed to them and which cause infections and painful chafing of their legs. The mares are fed and watered on a time controlled basis. The deprivation of water is so that estrogen is concentrated in their urine.
When the mares give birth, the foals (babies) are removed from their mothers and sent to the slaughterhouse or they are used as replacement for the mothers. After giving birth, the mares are re-impregnated for a cycle of twelve years. After the 12 years, their lives are cut short and they are killed.

 

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Premarin collection device
Mares incarceration for 7 months for Premarin prodcution
Mares incarceration for 7 months for Premarin prodcution

So why should females suffer?

For the sake of relieving one female’s hot flushes or menopausal symptoms, should another female be exploited?

And why shouldn???t cruelty free alternatives be discussed instead?

We invite your comments.
For more information on menopause and cruelty free alternatives:
read what the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine have to say about menopause and natural cures.
For more information about Premarin visit the HorseFund.