I like how meat tastes. I love cheese, I love it so much I get sweaty and shaky just thinking about a good smoked Gouda or a sharp aged cheddar. I choose not to eat these things even though I like the way they taste and they were familiar to me. I have many reasons for this, but as many of my friends are UU I thought it might make sense to tie my reasons to the UU principles. But, let me be clear, I did not give up meat because of flavor, or an allergy. When people use words like, "Oh, you don't like this" or "You can't have that" it devalues the choice I make to not partake in an irresponsible industry. Okay, so, the UU principles and veganism...
Here are the UU principles and how veganism is the ultimate way you can bring these principles to life:
We affirm and promote:
The inherent worth and dignity of every person.
Veganism promotes the inherent worth and dignity of every living being, starting with those who cannot speak. By supporting the idea that all life is important and to be honored, you support the welfare of adults, children, women, men, young, old and animals.
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.
Veganism is the biggest compassionate move you can make in your life, and after you start living the compassionate life that compassion will seep into all other aspects of the way you relate to the world. By using a vegan diet to recognize that killing is not kind and should not be accepted at any level--let alone the massacres that occur by the hour in the name of our selfish taste buds-- and that cruelty to animals often leads to violence toward people, you make the world a safer and more peaceful place.
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.
Many of the world's religions support non-violence. Veganism is a choice of non-violence at every meal. I don't know of any religion that openly supports and touts the killing of any creature. There is a great sense of connection that comes with not killing things. A respect that penetrates every meal.
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.
Responsibility and truth are key in a vegan diet. Vegans take on the responsibility of standing up for the rights of beings everywhere, even if it means not being able to have that juicy steak anymore. Vegans are not afraid (though not always comfortable) at looking directly at the true conditions that animals are raised and slaughtered in. Vegans are responsible for continually holding up the truth so others may see it, even if it's just by being present at a dinner party and getting to show off tasty dishes people would have never thought to try before. Vegans have meaning in their everyday life because every minute of their lives is dedicated to activism. Simply by choosing to not partake in eating flesh or secretions of animals and not to wear the skin or use products that were tested on those who did not have a choice in the matter and who were maimed or tortured in the name of science when the results from mice are not applicable to humans.
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.
Vegans vote with their wallets and at the ballot box. We are activists by using our purchasing power to voice our opinion on the way animals are treated all in the name of food, science and fashion. Vegans boycott and support businesses based on ethics. Being vegan is one of the most politically active things you can do, it draws you into a world of activism that cannot be ignored.
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.
For all, that should really explain the connection veganism has to this principle. Peace is non-violent, veganism is a non-violent lifestyle. Liberty, freedom, is something animals do not have. Vegans are speaking for those who have been confined to crates, wire cages, and tiny boxes for their whole existence. Justice for those who were forced to walk to their own deaths by the prodding and electrocution and hitting and kicking and throwing of their frail and sick bodies. Those cows whose calves were taken away from them right after they dropped so the colostrum wouldn't be wasted on the babies but given to humans. Vegans often work for the rights of humans. Once you see the plight of animals, the suffering of humans is difficult to overlook.
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Here's a biggie for me. The world is being suck dry of drinkable water, is being warmed by gases and there are many people dying of starvation every day. Veganism is a solution to all these problems. A majority of the land and water being used in the world right now is for the production of grain. That grain is being used to feed the animals being raised for meat. The amount of water and fossil fuels used in the production of meat should be argument enough to stop eating the stuff. The Amazon is in danger, it's showing effects of global warming and it's being cleared to grow crops for animals who will be turned into food. This is a ridiculous cycle that takes food away from the hungry and uses it to feed those who greedily gobble up more than their share. Veganism will help preserve water, the Amazon, the world and fix the starvation that faces many.
Why vegan and not just vegetarian?
Milk, eggs, wool, leather, fur and products tested on and made from animals should not be allowed to slip through the cracks when it comes to combating the ills of the world.
Milk- The dairy industry directly supports the veal industry, as the only way that female mammals produce milk is when they have had a baby. Every year, dairy cows must have a calf in order to keep up milk production. Once the calf is born there are two main options: boy--veal, girl--dairy cow to continue the work of her mother. The life of a dairy cow is spent with utters infected with pus thanks to the machines that are constantly attached to her nipples. While not all dairy farmers are cruel, there are many who will abuse the cows they use. The cows do not get to walk around grassy fields. They are stuck in stalls with machines taking the nutrients meant for the babies that were taken away from them. And they will be force-ably artificially inseminated again and again. When their production goes down, they will be slaughtered--probably for dog food.
Eggs- There is no regulation on what "free range" eggs are. The "free range" egg "farms" have just as dirty conditions, with just as many hens dying from those conditions. The hens are debeaked without anesthetic and forced into tight quarters with many other birds. Male chicks are sorted from the profitable female ones right after they can be sexed. These chicks are thrown away, alive into garbage bins or ground up alive for "chicken meal" which will be used in various meat products. The hens used in egg production are housed in dark, suffocating conditions. When their production goes down, they are forced to molt and they traumatically are brought back into a producing state. They are malnourished and will end up as the same chicken meal as their brothers after their bodies are "spent."
Wool- Wool is not sheared in a way that is comfortable for the sheep. The sheep are thrown around, hanged from things and otherwise handled in a way that only inanimate objects would be okay with. The sheep are often cut and injured in the process of taking their method of keeping warm.
Fur and Leather- Fur and leather takes a terrible toll on the environment. (Not that pleather is perfect, but there are better alternatives) Flesh is meant to decay after the live being it was attached to is no longer breathing. In order to prevent this from happening there are many chemicals used to preserve the skins of these animals--with fur the animals are thrown out and leather subsidizes the slaughterhouses, though much of the leather in the world comes from India, ironically, so the meat there doesn't get used. The conditions of the animals raised for fur is atrocious and the trapping done is ugly.
Animal Testing- Animal testing is not necessary for sound science and often leads to unsound science because the biology of mice, rabbits, kittens, puppies and monkeys is not the same humans. Cosmetics do not need to be used to the point of blinding bunnies. For more information on why check out the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (http://www.pcrm.org/) It boils down to animal testing being done only for profit and not for research.
Animal Products in Beauty- Lanolin, milk and honey are often found in beauty products. Milk and honey, because they sound nice. They sound like these sweet and smooth things that will make your skin sweet and soft too. This is just wasteful. Lanolin is a product that might not jump out at you right away as something recognizable, it's the oil from sheep's skin. Lanolin is used in lip moisturizers. If you have ever touched a sheep, you will know that your hand is oily afterward, that's lanolin.
Recommended reading: "Eating Animals," "Fast Food Nation," "Diet for a New America," and "The China Study."
I highly recommend watching this video, but I don't recommend watching it alone or while eating.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Jeju: Day 3--The Sex Park Adventure and other nonsense
Jeju is an island just south of South Korea. It has a more laid back nature and is called "the Hawaii of Korea" since it's warmer and the are known for their citrus and cacti as well as this island being a honeymoon destination for Koreans.
Jeju has a park, which most of you have now heard of, called Loveland. Loveland was designed by art students from Seoul and is a celebration of sex. Mostly vanilla, and 98% straight, but that's far more public acknowledgement of this essential part of humanity than anywhere else in Korea. There is also an acknowledgement of female masturbation--which is unusual anywhere that isn't the porn and sex toy industry.
So, of course, this was the main reason for my wanting to go to Jeju-do. I saw photos of my fellow English teachers climbing on statues of giant penises and a woman jilling off and knew this would be my favorite place in Korea--aside from maybe the brewery, but I can live without beer for a year.
Eric and I started our third and final day in Korea by packing up our bags, watching more Starcraft and English instruction tv, and another bowl of cereal. We hailed a cab, and were off to find this legendary park! But we had to turn around because I had forgotten my cell phone at the hotel--go me! After running back upstairs and finding, we restarted our adventure. We were off---again!
We walked in and were greeted by a sign with a stone penis on top, and all the directional arrows were shaped like penises. The journey through the park is not one to be rushed, there are lots of little statues heading with the bigger ones. I can't really do it justice in words, so here are some photos (though the Rosloff clan has seen them already):
After browsing through the park and the accompanying shops, Eric and I decided to head back down to Seogwipo to try and get to the museums we had missed before. We hopped on the bus and got off at the Sound Museum. A museum for sound? How cool!
It should have been called the "Thomas Edison photographs, phonographs and RCA dog figurine" museum. They love Thomas Edison at that place, sooooo many photos of him. A ton of old phonographs, which were cool to look at but not worth the price of admission (I think it was around 7,000 won). And the owner may have possibly been obsessed with RCA dog figurines, they were all over the place.
The highlight of the museum for me was the giant keyboard, like the one in "Big," watching and listening to Eric play Carol of the Bells, and playing on a beaten up drum kit in the hands on room. Other than those things, the museum didn't have much to offer.
Next, we hit up the Chocolate Museum next door. The smell when you walk in should be the first sign that this is not the chocolate museum you want to go in--it smells of paint. Regardless, Eric and I paid the 2000 won each to get in and were gifted with 4000 won in coupons for the use in the store of the museum. I was hoping for some good dark chocolate or hot chocolate (I'd been on a kick of drinking it almost every night at home during the coldest part of winter), but was disappointed to find the museum only had milk chocolate and no beverages other than bottles of soda. We used the coupon to get some green tea chocolate (I regretted purchasing milk products but did so anyway as I'm more familiar with self-disappointment than stepping up for the animals at times. Don't worry, Alex, I did eventually snap out of it and had a long discussion on animal rights and my reasons for being vegan and why I would not bend again).
With my curiosity over what a chocolate museum in Jeju had to offer satisfied, Eric and I decided to hit up the Korean restaurant across the way for lunch. I usually cringe at the idea of going to a Korean restaurant, but my supervisor at Garim had been really awesome with finding things for me so I was more comfortable with searching the menu for options. We ended up having sub-par (in my opinion) bibimbap with veggies that looked as though they wanted to join Bok Choy in a suicide pact against having any life after cooking. Eric liked the meal alright, which was a big relief for me as I feel guilty when my veganism and adjusting to being vegan in a foreign country interferes with another person's ability to enjoy lunch--though, if Eric weren't as awesome a person as he is and had insisted on having meat I wouldn't have enjoyed my lunch.
We had to walk for a bit afterward to try and find a cab so we could get a ride back to the World Cup Stadium to check out the Eros Museum. This tiny museum had a creepy dancing Santa outside of it, but is worth the small admission to see how obsessed with sex the world is and always has been.
There are poorly blown up photos of landscapes that have the shape of a penis or vagina, old tools and statues with phallic (which, by the way can apply to the clitoris I just found out) and vaginal imagery and (of course) erotica and porn. The museum was pleasant and had a different vibe to that of Loveland. The Eros Museum was made of older art and only when things like giant penises set up to look like canons, a masturbating fat Buddha, and the signs of different sexual positions being exhibited with the partners separated did I really laugh. I found it fascinating to see how something so vital to our culture and on everyone's minds has been pushed away from the mainstream. The ridiculous images of giant penises that had to be slung over shoulders. What is it about penises that makes size such an obsession? Anyway, it was at the Eros Museum that the only tip of the hat to pregnancy as part of sex could be found--it was a single metal piece of a pregnant woman's torso.
With our whirlwind tour of all things sexy at an end, we hopped on the bus to have one last delicious beer at the Jeju Brewery before getting on our plane home. Our plane ended up being delayed because of the snow in Seoul, and we had to do laundry before our tour of the DMZ the next morning at 6am. Ugh. Oh well, totally worth it. Nothing could make me really have a bad time. Eric was on the same continent as me!
There was no game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. :( Small hiccup, but I got over it.
Jeju has a park, which most of you have now heard of, called Loveland. Loveland was designed by art students from Seoul and is a celebration of sex. Mostly vanilla, and 98% straight, but that's far more public acknowledgement of this essential part of humanity than anywhere else in Korea. There is also an acknowledgement of female masturbation--which is unusual anywhere that isn't the porn and sex toy industry.
So, of course, this was the main reason for my wanting to go to Jeju-do. I saw photos of my fellow English teachers climbing on statues of giant penises and a woman jilling off and knew this would be my favorite place in Korea--aside from maybe the brewery, but I can live without beer for a year.
Eric and I started our third and final day in Korea by packing up our bags, watching more Starcraft and English instruction tv, and another bowl of cereal. We hailed a cab, and were off to find this legendary park! But we had to turn around because I had forgotten my cell phone at the hotel--go me! After running back upstairs and finding, we restarted our adventure. We were off---again!
We walked in and were greeted by a sign with a stone penis on top, and all the directional arrows were shaped like penises. The journey through the park is not one to be rushed, there are lots of little statues heading with the bigger ones. I can't really do it justice in words, so here are some photos (though the Rosloff clan has seen them already):
After browsing through the park and the accompanying shops, Eric and I decided to head back down to Seogwipo to try and get to the museums we had missed before. We hopped on the bus and got off at the Sound Museum. A museum for sound? How cool!
It should have been called the "Thomas Edison photographs, phonographs and RCA dog figurine" museum. They love Thomas Edison at that place, sooooo many photos of him. A ton of old phonographs, which were cool to look at but not worth the price of admission (I think it was around 7,000 won). And the owner may have possibly been obsessed with RCA dog figurines, they were all over the place.
The highlight of the museum for me was the giant keyboard, like the one in "Big," watching and listening to Eric play Carol of the Bells, and playing on a beaten up drum kit in the hands on room. Other than those things, the museum didn't have much to offer.
Next, we hit up the Chocolate Museum next door. The smell when you walk in should be the first sign that this is not the chocolate museum you want to go in--it smells of paint. Regardless, Eric and I paid the 2000 won each to get in and were gifted with 4000 won in coupons for the use in the store of the museum. I was hoping for some good dark chocolate or hot chocolate (I'd been on a kick of drinking it almost every night at home during the coldest part of winter), but was disappointed to find the museum only had milk chocolate and no beverages other than bottles of soda. We used the coupon to get some green tea chocolate (I regretted purchasing milk products but did so anyway as I'm more familiar with self-disappointment than stepping up for the animals at times. Don't worry, Alex, I did eventually snap out of it and had a long discussion on animal rights and my reasons for being vegan and why I would not bend again).
With my curiosity over what a chocolate museum in Jeju had to offer satisfied, Eric and I decided to hit up the Korean restaurant across the way for lunch. I usually cringe at the idea of going to a Korean restaurant, but my supervisor at Garim had been really awesome with finding things for me so I was more comfortable with searching the menu for options. We ended up having sub-par (in my opinion) bibimbap with veggies that looked as though they wanted to join Bok Choy in a suicide pact against having any life after cooking. Eric liked the meal alright, which was a big relief for me as I feel guilty when my veganism and adjusting to being vegan in a foreign country interferes with another person's ability to enjoy lunch--though, if Eric weren't as awesome a person as he is and had insisted on having meat I wouldn't have enjoyed my lunch.
We had to walk for a bit afterward to try and find a cab so we could get a ride back to the World Cup Stadium to check out the Eros Museum. This tiny museum had a creepy dancing Santa outside of it, but is worth the small admission to see how obsessed with sex the world is and always has been.
There are poorly blown up photos of landscapes that have the shape of a penis or vagina, old tools and statues with phallic (which, by the way can apply to the clitoris I just found out) and vaginal imagery and (of course) erotica and porn. The museum was pleasant and had a different vibe to that of Loveland. The Eros Museum was made of older art and only when things like giant penises set up to look like canons, a masturbating fat Buddha, and the signs of different sexual positions being exhibited with the partners separated did I really laugh. I found it fascinating to see how something so vital to our culture and on everyone's minds has been pushed away from the mainstream. The ridiculous images of giant penises that had to be slung over shoulders. What is it about penises that makes size such an obsession? Anyway, it was at the Eros Museum that the only tip of the hat to pregnancy as part of sex could be found--it was a single metal piece of a pregnant woman's torso.
With our whirlwind tour of all things sexy at an end, we hopped on the bus to have one last delicious beer at the Jeju Brewery before getting on our plane home. Our plane ended up being delayed because of the snow in Seoul, and we had to do laundry before our tour of the DMZ the next morning at 6am. Ugh. Oh well, totally worth it. Nothing could make me really have a bad time. Eric was on the same continent as me!
There was no game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. :( Small hiccup, but I got over it.
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