Disturbing Pictures / Facebook

April 27, 2008 at 2:51 pm (Uncategorized)

I just uploaded a new facebook album called ‘vegetarian’. It contains a load of thought-provoking pictures that I found on vegan facebook groups. They are broadly to do with veganism, vegetarianism, capitalism and animal testing. I have put some of the pictures below so you can have a look.

I tagged quite a few of my friends in the album. I have a feeling that this group is going stir up some tensions – especially amongst people who feel uncomfortable about the pictures I have put up. Hopefully no one will react too badly. I just hope they will make a difference to the actions of at least one person. Even if my friends get annoyed with me, it will all be worthwhile if only one person thinks more about where food comes from and cuts down their meat / dairy consumption by a small percentage.

The average non-vegetarian consumes about 70 animals per year. Over the course of a lifetime, they may consume almost 5,000 animals. If my album makes one person cut down their animal consumption by just 1%, that will mean that potentially 50 animals whose lives won’t be ruined by the meat industry.

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In-vitro Meat?

April 24, 2008 at 11:31 am (Environment, Veganism)
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I was sent an interesting e-mail this morning from Indian Vegans about Peta… http://www.peta.org/feat_in_vitro_contest.asp

It appears that Peta is offering a million dollar prize for a company or person that can produce a commercially viable invitro-meat substitute.

I am a bit confused about what I think about this….

Personally, I find the idea of eating animal flesh quite disgusting, and I would prefer to follow a animal free diet. I also think that there is no ‘need’ to create a meat substitute – promoting ‘pure’ veganism would be the best thing for environment and for reducing suffering.

However, one of the key reasons why I am vegan is to reduce animal suffering and to minimise the environmental damage caused by animal farming. Unfortunately, the impact that a small group of vegans can have on the world is fairly limited.

An in-vitro meat could reduce the need to rear animals and to induce suffering. It could reduce the environmental impact of rearing animals, and it would allow people who enjoy the taste of meat to
reduce the harm that they cause, and potentially allow food to be generated at a lower cost.

Obvisouly there are ethical concerns with the idea of genetically playing around with animals in order to allow in-vitro meat production . (there is a good discussion about this in a book called ‘The Pig
that wants to be eaten’ – which refers to the pigs in ‘The restaurant at the end of the universe’ which actually want to be eaten – the book also has 99 other interesting thought experiments and is
definitely worth a read)

Again I think it is something that isn’t really necessary, but I think the ends justify the means.

Is this the right step for Peta to be taking? Should they be focussing hteir efforts on promoting vegetarianism and veganism? Or is this a way of them spreading out their concern about animals to the masses?

I have recently been doing a bit of research into Fair Trade, and it seems that Fair Trade’s initial impact was dwarfed by the fact that it was only bought by ‘alternative’ customers from shops such as Oxfam.
Going mainstream and allowing companies such as, Sainsburys, Tescos and Nescafe to sell ‘Fair Trade’ brands was seen as a controversial decision as it may have diluted the Fair Trade image. But this step
has allowed Fair Trade to mainstream and increase its impact on the world. I would think that most people would agree that mainstreaming Fair Trade has been a broadly good thing?

But then again, perhaps the uptake of an invitro meat wouldn’t be so good? People don’t tend to buy quorn products too often, even though that apparently tastes very similar to meat, and is a lot healthier. Perhaps people will just want to eat the real thing?

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Why I think fur is wrong…

April 21, 2008 at 1:39 pm (Uncategorized)

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London’s First Vegan Footwear and Accessory Shop Opens

April 18, 2008 at 11:46 am (Uncategorized)

I just got a press release e-mail this morning – Exciting News. A Vegan footwear store is opening in London very soon!

Bourgeois Boheme, Bourgeois Boheme, one of the UK¹s most well-known online and animal-friendly fashion companies is opening London¹s very first animal-friendly footwear and accessories retail outlet.

On May 17th 2008, just a couple of days ahead of UK National Vegetarian Week, Bourgeois Boheme will celebrate the official opening with an open day at the shop in Richmond, London.

Known for its quality and stylish vegan footwear and accessories, Bourgeois Boheme is responding to customer requests for a physical retail location.  Bourgeois Boheme founder and Director, Alicia Lai and has found that 90% of returns from online sales relate to shoe-fitting issues.

Alicia says, ³Unless you shop online, vegetarian footwear is difficult to find: it¹s a dismal choice of either low-quality, cheap and environmentally-challenging shoes or Stella McCartney ­ gorgeous fashion no doubt, but very much beyond the pocket of many a style-conscious vegetarian/vegan.²

Its an environment that has served online sales well and, having already built up a dedicated and growing following of online and mail order customers, Bourgeois Boheme is giving shoppers what New York and other fashion capitals around the world gave their consumers years ago ­ a stylish home for animal-friendly fashion.

Bruce Friedrich, Vice President at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) says, ³All of us at PETA welcome the news of a Bourgeois Boheme storefront. We enjoy ordering from BoBo online, but we¹ll be even more delighted to have a place where we can try on the shoes, examine the bags, and have a compassionate shopping experience.
Visitors will be able to buy Bourgeois-Boheme¹s exclusive labelled styles as well as ethically sourced products from other companies; not only footwear, but also bags, wallets and belts for women and men, and cosmetics.

Alicia says, ³Our shop is an extension within our office premises, it¹s a humble start but it¹s a first step towards our greater dream of having lush and exclusive Bourgeois Boheme boutiques in the world¹s fashion capitals²

Now customers can find a perfect fit in every sense- true to their size, philosophy, style and ethics.

Shop open day: Saturday 17th May, 1pm – 4pm.

Refreshments and appetisers will be served.

Please RSVP by Friday May 2nd May, info@bboheme.com /0208 8788 388

Press discounts are available upon request at the shop open day.
Address: Hydrex House, Garden Road, Richmond TW9 4NR
Shop hours: Mon-Fri 9am – 5pm; Sat 10am – 2pm; by appointment.

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An interesting post from the vegan forum

April 16, 2008 at 10:20 am (Veganism)
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—Quote (Originally by stickydate)—
I was craving freedom (and dairy) so badly, that I did it. I think it was an important thing for me to do. It was this experience that made me re-think giving myself a label. The label means following rules – and rules are made to be broken. I realised that I just wanted to be me – being me gives me the *choice *of how I want to live my life, whereas being a vegan commits me to never eating animal products. This makes the food more mysterious and tempting. Now that I am “allowed” to have them in my mind, I find it less appealing. And if you really want to have them, it isn’t a crime. Nobody is perfect and as long as you do, to the best of your ability (and that is different for everybody) to reduce the suffering of animals :)
—End Quote—

(I know this was posted two and a half years ago but I’m sure this comes up in people’s minds so I’m voicing my opinion.)

The label of “vegan” is something that comes with the way you choose to live your life. It is not something you apply to yourself and follow strictly. It is not a group with a strict set of rules or an exclusive society that accepts applications. It is a title given to people who follow a certain lifestyle by their own accord. If you feel that you cannot go on without having an egg produced from a chicken (or another animal product) then, frankly, you are not vegan. You are very close but your are not 100% vegan. You may still call yourself vegetarian, but vegetarianism and veganism are two different things.

My roommate is vegetarian and I am vegan. I see her eat eggs and I cannot understand why she sees that as OK. I am against the use of animals for human consumption. As such, I refuse to consume anything that was derived from animals. This bestows upon me (whether I choose/like it or not) the title of ‘eating vegan.’ It is not my choice to have this title, nor is it anyone else’s. However the word is in our vocabulary and it definitively describes the way other people on this forum and I live our lives.

If you can find it within yourself to not eat/use animal products ever again then you happen to fall into the category of a “vegan” lifestyle. You can call yourself whatever you want. But this forum is solely for people who are vegan. We see the unnatural human consumption and use of animals as something that is wrong, and we refuse to participate in it. Therefore we fall into the category that humans have created called “vegan,” and you do (or ‘did’ if you have changed since then) not.

It does sound harsh, and I thought so when I read the first comments after I switched. But after finding in myself that every time I see a product that is derived from animals and being deterred from purchasing such item for that exact reason, I now see from where this argument spawns.—Enderbean

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For all you nintendo fans

April 6, 2008 at 6:29 pm (Nintendo, Vegetables)
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After I found the vegetable orchestra, I found this crazy Japanese guy that makes his own collection of vegetable instruments. In the video below he plays ‘The Song of Time’ from the Classic Zelda game – The Ocarina of Time. Legend.

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Vegetable Orchestra

April 6, 2008 at 6:27 pm (Random fun)
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Now, this is what I call a vegan-friendly orchestra.

And they are coming to play in the UK! Check out the article in the telegraph.

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I contracted myself

April 4, 2008 at 8:20 pm (Economics, Human Behaviour)
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Following the e-mail I got from my brother a couple of days ago, I decided to contract myself.

Last night, I gave my house mate, Adil, a £20 note. I told him to come to my room at 2am on Friday night (Saturday morning) to see if I have completed 4 tutorials worth of revision notes during the day. If I have, he would return the £20 to me. If not, he would give the £20 to Veno (pictured below), one of my other, rather messy house-mates.

Veno

Unfortunately, Adil informed Veno of the contract. Veno noticed a flaw in the contract – it is now even more in his interests to prevent me from doing my work.

Perhaps I should have made the money payable to Kunal? Nah.

I better finish this revision by 2!

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Why managers are paid so much

April 4, 2008 at 8:16 pm (Economics, Human Behaviour)

I read an interesting chapter on managerial compensation in The Logic of Life by Tim Harford.

He posits that tournament theory can throw some light on why managers get paid so much. In the absence of information on the individual effort and performance, one way of incentivising employees to work harder is to simply raise the wages of their managers. Consider a CEO who gets paid $400m a year. Even if the value of his (or her) own decisions and contributions to the organisation are worth no where near $400m, the fact that (s)he gets paid so much may incentivise subordinates to work harder in the hope that they will promoted to CEO one day. When the value of the extra effort of each employee is considered, it may make rational sense for a firm to pay its managers such ludicrously high wages.

I wonder whether most CEOs would agree with this or whether they think they are worth the amount of money they are paid.

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Eating Meat Causes Global Warming

April 3, 2008 at 3:24 pm (Environment, Human Behaviour, Veganism)
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I just came across these videos on YouTube. Fairly amusing.

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