Laura Lee:: I am vegan. I am tattooed. I love the earth. I believe in love regardless of gender or race. I will spend my life fighting oppression and spreading compassion. Sometimes my dogs are my favorite people in the world. My family has a second home on the big island of Hawaii, and that is where my heart is. I wish I could fly away...
We had an assignment in my Animal Mind class to pretend to be an animal and write about its experience. Of course, I chose a pig. I was surprised that only one other person in my class even had heard of factory farming. It's sad that people aren't more aware of these problems, but it motivates me more to help educate them. We can't change everyone, not right away, but we can change a lot of people, and that does make a difference.
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A Pig's Perspective.
Today, I was born. I was born into a dark place where I can hear the cries all around me. There are many other pigs, probably hundreds in the building. There is no sunlight or fresh air. When I inhale, my nostrils are filled with the scent of old feces.
Right now, I live in a crate with my mother and siblings. My mother is in pain, but I can feel her maternal instinct yearning to protect me. She has open sores and little room to move. She has been here her whole life.
After a few weeks, I am taken away. I don’t know if I will see my mother again. I am placed on a new diet that tastes so bad. It makes me grow so fat. I feel sick. I am not supposed to be weaned until later, so I cannot stop my natural suckling urge. They cut off most of our tails with pliers. It hurts a lot. I feel the pain shoot through my tiny body. Now, if I try to suckle the tail of the pig in front of me, it will hurt so bad that she will move quickly to prevent it. I think I will never feel the warmth of nursing from my own mother again.
I grow larger and begin to fill out my pen. Somehow, it’s the same size as I am. I sit in the same position every minute, every hour, every day. I can’t turn around. The bars are beginning to dig in my sides. I have never seen the sun but I yearn to play, to romp, to roll. It is in my nature to explore. I am so curious. The pigs surrounding me all embrace a shared sense of misery. We know we are doomed.
One day, my short life comes to an end. We are gathered up and stunned, one by one. The jolt wasn’t very effective, and I am still awake, still conscious. Suddenly, I am heaved into scalding water, and I feel it burning into my bones. My skin will be softened, but I scream and squeal. I did not deserve this. I am burning and drowning. I am dead.
music: 3 Doors Down - "This Time"
mood: Determined
Had another Alan Furs protest. I've been feeling overwhelmed about all the negativity toward animal rights and the lack of support. So I got productive and wrote this article for my school newspaper....
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Most people believe that animals can feel pleasure and pain. We shower our dogs and cats with love, affection, and even birthday gifts, eager for a tail wag or sloppy kisses in return. Conversely, we’re overcome with guilt when our busy feet happen to step upon their tails or paws, evoking a loud yelp or scream.
The scientific community agrees, recognizing many of the same activities and chemicals present in both human and non-human brains. Playful activity in apes is accompanied by the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure. Amygdalae, which stimulate a fear response, are functional even in snakes.
According to Dr. Roger Fouts, a psychology professor at Central Washington University, "To be sentient is to be aware. One of the ways we are aware is pain." He explains that this sentience is extremely important for survival in the wild, and its complexity points to a long chain of evolutionary history in animal species.
It is difficult for us to fully realize the extent we depend upon animal suffering. The film Earthlings highlights five major forms of animal exploitation, including pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and experimentation, while offering a cruelty-free alternative - abstaining from the use of animal products, or veganism.
Animal exploitation might seem like a foreign concept, but it simply describes the use of animals for human benefit without consideration of the animals' interests, especially an interest in avoiding suffering. The most obvious form of this exploitation occurs in food production.
Contrary to the idyllic notion of happy farm animals running freely, the majority of our meats, eggs, and dairy products come from the factory farming system. The objectives are efficiency and profit, and the result is billions of cramped farm animals that never have access to the outdoors.
Pigs are removed from their mothers after only a few weeks because they reach greater sizes when placed on a diet full of hormones and antibiotics. The early weaning prevents them from ever losing the sucking behavior of piglets, and they constantly attempt to bite the tail of nearby pigs in the confined cages.
The fix, devised by the USDA, is known as tail docking, the removal of most of the tail using pliers and no anesthesia. Then, as depicted by Michael Pollan of The New York Times, when a pig tries to suckle another pig's tail, it is so painful that pigs will go to great lengths to avoid it.
Pigs that make it to slaughter are stunned and then put into scalding water to soften their skins. When the stunning process fails, pigs have been observed to scream and flail about as they burn and drown.
Factory farmed birds live out their entire short existence indoors in battery cages, with up to 5 or 6 birds in a single cage. Pollan also describes the debeaking process, in which half of a chick's beak is removed without anesthesia to prevent birds from pecking one another. Still, about 10 percent die just from the conditions. Male chicks serve no purpose, so they are ground up or gassed at birth.
Where do the growth hormones, chemicals and antibiotics infused into the factory farm diet end up? Onto the plates and into the stomachs of Americans. The overuse of antibiotics is a major contributor to modern superbugs. Moreover, the United Nations in 2006 announced that animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation sector.
Most Americans would not readily accept these conditions, but the success of the industry depends on public ignorance. Factory farming cannot be dismissed as a few scattered and unfortunate mistakes around the country. On the contrary, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reports that 98 percent of American eggs are derived from battery-caged hens.
As awareness of factory farming grows, new terms such as "cage-free" and "free-range" are created to con consumers into paying more money while believing they are making ethical purchases. Cage-free hens, according to the Humane Society of the United States, are not confined to battery cages, but rather, crowded hen houses with no exit to the outdoors. They still undergo debeaking, males chicks are still slaughtered at birth, and hens are killed after just two years.
The free-range standard, while intended to describe animal products originating from freely roaming animals, is only lightly regulated by the USDA. Chickens raised for meat must simply have some level of outdoors access, but there is no requirement for free-range eggs. Therefore, many eggs labeled as free-range originate from farms with slightly larger cages or a few windows.
HymaneMyth.org reveals that even dairy products marketed from "happy cows" are misleading. To perpetuate the milk production cycle, cows must be painfully impregnated every year in a contraption known as a "rape rack," and the resulting calves are either immediately slaughtered or sold to veal farms to endure castration and 4 months in a crate or tiny pen before slaughter.
Yet animal abuse permeates society far beyond the food we consume. Perhaps animal experimentation is accepted as a legitimate scientific tool. But Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation and professor at Princeton, can describe hundreds of instances of animal cruelty in testing familiar products like cosmetics and shampoos.
In the 1940's, the FDA began eye irritancy tests, involving bleach, ink, and shampoo, on rabbits placed in devices to restrict their movement. Animals can undergo 3 weeks of these tests, and many lose their vision. All react by rapidly closing their eyes, squealing, or trying to flee.
Huntingdon Life Sciences is one of the largest animal experimentation labs in the world. One of their most shocking studies involved the deaths of about 12,800 rabbits, dogs, mice, rats, and monkeys. The animals were given excessive amounts of sucralose, the sweetener in Splenda, to test its effects on the nervous system.
Today, these tests are widespread in the corporate world. In fact, if a cleaning or hygiene product is not labeled as cruelty-free, it was probably tested on animals. The tests are not required by law, however, and there are hundreds of lines, such as Revlon and Clinique, that abstain from them.
Why do we allow these abuses to continue? We have evidence that many animals have intellectual capabilities surpassing those of some humans including infants and the severely mentally handicapped. Stanley Curtis, a professor at Penn State University, found that pigs could use a joystick to play video games while recognizing and remembering symbols.
The pigs outperformed dogs in the video game tests, but we even distinguish between these species, smothering dogs with affection but locking pigs in tiny cages out of sight. Other cultures have different standards. In some Asian countries, dogs are considered food.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) reveals that over half the fur sold in the United States is imported from China, where dogs and cats are slaughtered and sometimes skinned alive for the fur. The Chinese producers are aware of this moral discrepancy between cultures and therefore mislabel the species of the fur.
How are we really determining which standard is morally correct and which animals are to be respected while others are degraded? Peter Singer describes speciesism, the tendency to discriminate solely on the basis of species. It is a cultural phenomenon, in which some animals have accumulated greater value, not because they are more intelligent, but out of our own history of interaction with them, hence the cultural division.
Speciesism furthermore prevents us from recognizing the value of any individual animal apart from human use or enjoyment. Circus animals have been used to excite millions. Audiences appear to love the animals and cheer wildly for them. Yet few stop to ponder the confining cages or extensive beatings endured by circus elephants in preparation for these performances.
In 1789, Jeremy Bentham stated, "The question is not, 'Can they reason?' nor, 'Can they talk?' but, 'Can they suffer?'." It seems that modern society has forgotten that it is a part of the animal kingdom, and while we may differ from other animals in many regards, the capacity to suffer binds us all.
Every choice we make has implications for the environment and the species with which we share the planet. Continuing to hide our abuses behind walls only perpetuates ignorance. If the old maxim, "You are what you eat," is really true, I hope that more people begin to chose awareness over ignorance.
Every person that embarks on a vegan lifestyle spares between 90 and 100 animals each year. For me, veganism has been a rewarding year-long adventure after 7 years of vegetarianism, and this is coming from someone who thought she could never stop eating cheese.
Now, my favorite foods consist of soy cookies 'n cream ice cream and vegan pizza with imitation cheese and pepperonis. I no longer buy leather, wool, or products that involved animal testing. I feel healthier than ever, and I can truly mean it when I say I have compassion for animals. There's no turning back.
Here are some resources with more information on the vegan lifestyle:
So I've been helping with Richmond Animal Rights with the website (www.richmondanimalrights.org) and the Facebook page! Our next protest is coming up on the 24th outside Alan Furs again. Still working on the job search. Just finished with the animal rights debate in class, which went okay. The pro side tried to argue that animals should have equal rights because they all serve different purposes to people. Talk about anthropocentric. Actually, it doesn't make much sense anyway if you break it down... different purposes, different rights. We basically argued different needs/interests, different rights. It makes sense, as long as I can say that all animals should be equally considered. They don't need the same rights.
Anyway, I wrote this next tidbit back in 2005 and just discovered it. Thought it would be relevant to share. I called it "Further Thoughts on Vegetarianism."
I think it's awful that people eat animals from factory farms; the conditions are so cruel and treacherous. Would ANYONE like to live like that? Some people are bothered by the lobsters that sit out in tanks at WalMart and Red Lobster, while people pick one out, and the cook takes it in the back, throwing it ALIVE into a boiling pot of water. Yet people don't feel that way about cows and other animals: How would you like to go out to the pasture at your favorite restaurant and pick out your hamburger and then watch it get slaughtered? Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not existing. If you went into a factory farm, and watched the atrocities that occurred every minute of every day, you'd probably be so sick that you'd never want to eat meat again.
But people PURPOSEFULLY make themselves ignorant of the conditions. They don't want to know what goes on because it will make them feel guilty. And they don't need that, so they put the lives and well-being of millions of creatures on the line every day.
I don't think we have a right to treat other creatures so inhumanely while we bask in lavish... Just like we have no right to torture or molest small children. It's not right to cram all these mass-produced creatures into small spots; cut off their beaks so they won't peck each other to death; pollute the environment with all of the filth that factory farms emit; and feed the animals HUGE AMOUNTS of antibiotics just so they won't die from coexisting with their own feces, which in turn contributes to numerous strains of bacteria becoming resistant to drugs, which puts a demand on the field of medicine to produce new antibiotics constantly so that in the future people won't be unable to rid their bodies of harmful diseases that are resistant to every medicine.
It's not JUST the animals we're affecting; it's the whole society... with all of our factories and vehicles and all the other toxin producing creations we've neglected to control. One day no one is going to live on this planet, but down with us will go every other living organism. Maybe it's a good thing - maybe people need to become extinct. And then maybe a new species, millions of years down the road, will talk about humans like we do with the dinosaurs.
I discovered a book today, The Dreaded Comparison: Human and Animal Slavery by Marjorie Spiegel. All I was doing was simply looking for sources for the debate for class, in which I must argue that all species of animals should not have equal rights in relation to each other. While I'm not sure I totally agree with the statement, in that I feel their interests should be considered equally, I can argue it. Simple. Different species of nimals have different needs, different abilities to demonstrate these needs [insert scientific evidence], and we have to consider these differing circumstances accordingly, etc. etc. Even Peter Singer asserts that we must take the interests of different animals into account, though he does argue for equal consideration (as would I, if I had the choice in the debate).
Anyway, I was sorting through the books and came upon this particular one. Graphic depictions and accounts of human and animal slavery. I've been told by my own mother that I was going too far by equating the Holocaust or enslavement with animal cruelty... but why? They are both among the most horrendous acts of mankind. I nearly broke down in the library. The images. The descriptions of the experiments. Of course, I already knew of these things; this is why I am vegan. I just cannot take it sometimes. So many people around me, consuming things, unaware. By choice. Ignorance is bliss.
Really? I feel so sick. Some days I just try to suppress all emotion. I'm tired of hiding it though; I want reality to be shoved in people's faces. I am lonely, in my own little world. Being among vegans and activists helps, to a degree. But I am still tormented in loneliness within the mass of society. I've met someone online who shares many of these feelings. A little encounter by chance, I guess. It's nice to talk to him. It's nice to talk to anyone who understands. I want to spend my life making sure more people do. It's hard to turn depression, isolation, and disappointment in the human species into motivation, change, and progress. Today my ex-girlfriend told me she wanted to see me have confidence to do just that. I'm fairly certain she knows first-hand how my lack of confidence has contributed to my negative outlook. But it has never sacrificed my efficiency, only my attitude in the process. I want so much to believe that animal liberation can happen, even in my lifetime... but I can't help thinking about the vast amount of people spanning the globe and how truly difficult it is to make an impact. I know every little step makes a difference for some animal, somewhere. And that has to be enough. Otherwise, how can an activist keep working against the current day after day without collapsing?
I know politics well now. I've been discovering the political processes behind many of the environmental organizations I'm considering for my soon-to-be career. It's disappointing to see their official positions supporting hunting and "wildlife management." Their corporate backers and big oil connections. Ties to the Bush administration. A lot should change with Obama, but it will take time. And I only have a few months to make a decision. I know I cannot work within an organization that fundamentally opposes my own stances about animals. It seems like it has to be animal liberation versus environmental sustainability, but WHY? These two causes are interconnected. Forever. It is my life's mission to see that people start realizing it. Environmentalists and animal rights activists should be one in the same. My dad seems to think it would be feasible for me to work within one of these organizations and try to change it from the inside. He pointed out that the politics are necessary to function in this world. Sad, but true. Yet I can only do a certain amount of compromising before I am representing a cause that is completely out of my realm of values. I would rather take a completely neutral research job and do activist work on the side than support an organization that would work towards the slaughter of more animals. I only hoped that I could find my perfect career magically. I guess it's not so simple, after all.
I'm endlessly obsessing about the small things. My obsessive compulsive tendencies are getting the best of me, and I know it's because of all these underlying torments. I cannot stop worrying about how I will transport my belongings into my new residence in June, how I will organize them, and how many change of address forms I will have to fill out. I am aware that it is completely irrational for me to worry about these things at this point in time, especially before even finding a job or even a location to settle down. But I am doing it because it allows me to wrap my head around something I can control, unlike these other factors floating around but never settling.
Currently, I feel like a storm is brewing in the pit of my stomach.
My oldest dog, Rusty, was sick the other day. He had an abscess and went to the vet. He is okay, for now. This event seems to have attacked me with a new awareness of the temporary nature of life. We all come and go. I love my dogs and never want to be without them. I love my hamster, Mango, too.
Things are changing. Life is all a big transition, and I should laugh at the absurdity of it all. Why let the details rip me apart? In 10 years, they won't matter. In 100 years, there will only be echoes of my voice. In 1000 years, I'll just be a pile of dust. That is, if Earth hasn't been ravaged to destruction by then.
I stay up way too late. Pondering. Obsessing. Trying to get things done. It is reminiscent of high school and my uninformed notion of invincibility. I'm tired of my antibiotics. I want to be free from disease. I don't want to contribute to superbugs, but I have to in order to keep them at bay. Irony.
Josh and I don't talk enough. It will all be different soon. The future, being with him every day... Maybe all else will fade away.
I've joined the peta2 Street Team. It's exciting to submit all the actions I've done to get points... I really didn't realize all that I've done so far. I'm going to another fur protest soon, as well!
Please watch this video to see more first-hand about the the meat you eat.
music: System of a Down - "Lonely Day"
mood: Frenzied
Yesterday was my first anti-fur demonstration, organized by Richmond Animal Rights in front of Alan Furs. I put pictures up in the gallery. It was such a rewarding and exhilarating experience for me. I'm finally branching out to other vegans, other people who care about what I care about! We got a lot of attention and I met so many interesting people. I am really excited to keep doing these events over and over again!
PETA sent some of its activists too, which was very intriguing. I spoke to them about working with PETA, and it helped me learn a new perspective about the organization. They were really cool people and shared the same feelings as I do that environmentalism is NOT separate from animal advocacy. You just cannot have one without the other. They are intertwined. I wish more people would realize that. I'm starting to get so nervous about my career. I cannot see myself working for an environmental organization that doesn't recognize veganism as important and valuable in living a sustainable lifestyle. Unfortunately, however, most of the organizations seems to neglect the problem of animal agriculture. Even the United Nations published a report about how animal agriculture causes more fossil fuel emissions leading to global warming than the entire transportation sector! This CANNOT be ignored any longer. I am going to have to seriously evaluate all potential jobs in the coming months to determine what will best fit with my values. After all, I cannot work for the environment but push my veganism aside to be accommodating. I don't want to be extremist, but I think that especially with animal rights, sometimes the only way to be is non-compromising.
I am back at school now for J-Term and I am taking a psychology class about the Animal Mind. I am very dismayed though about the fact that we are simply learning about all the animal experimentation that is done to investigate whether animals have minds. Of course they have minds! And while you're doing all this experimentation, you are imposing unreasonable cruelty on them. I was disappointed that the author of our textbook, Clive D.L. Wynne, stated that animal rights activists should take into account that their knowledge of animals would not be possible without the experimentation that has been done. He said that those advocating legal rights for apes through the Great Ape Project would not understand the range of abilities of apes without the experiments. Even so, the experiments are not justified. That's like... testing a lot on a human to determine if the human can feel pain, and then once the experimenter has determined that the human can feel pain, oh well. It just doesn't make sense to me. I want to write my research paper tying this perspective in... if that's possible in a psychology-based paper.
I'm designing a new layout that should be up really soon. I'm excited for it. There's going to be a little re-designing to the site, as well.
Laura Lee:: I am vegan. I am tattooed. I love the earth. I believe in love regardless of gender or race. I will spend my life fighting oppression and spreading compassion. Sometimes my dogs are my favorite people in the world. My family has a second home on the big island of Hawaii, and that is where my heart is. I wish I could fly away...
