Why the sustainable path may not lead to veganism.

For nearly a decade, I was an evangelical vegan – a born-again, plant-powered fundamentalist, resplendent in my animal-rights halo and heavenly faux-fur robes. I fiercely guarded my inflexible morality, never daring to reexamine the orthodoxy’s most illogical presuppositions. Yes, meat is still murder and factory farms still cause animal cruelty and suffering – none of that has changed. Somewhere along the way, however, veganism stopped being synonymous with ethical treatment of animals and people.

Over the past six months, I’ve come to believe that strict dogma is a drag. Conscientious consumption means eating and living ethically, not religiously. As Slate’s Christopher Cox says, “Eating ethically is not a purity pissing contest, and the more vegans or vegetarians pretend that it is, the more their diets start to resemble mere fashion—and thus risk being dismissed as such.”

Below are eight instances where mainstream-vegan doctrine doesn’t stand up to scrutiny:

SAD: The Standard American Diet: with its 100-calorie, reduced-fat, Omega-3-fortified, fiber-added, high-protein, low-carb, soybean- and corn-based, triple plastic-wrapped snack-packs – is the cause of this country’s obesity, heart-disease, cancer, and diabetes epidemics. This industrial diet requires industrial farming – with all the pesticides, herbicides, genetically modified crops, and exploited farm workers therein. If veganism is about eating ethically, soy-based ice cream, frozen, faux-cheese pizza, and meatless buffalo wings don’t cut it. Sure, it’s cool that cows and chickens aren’t directly harmed in the process, but what about the farm workers’ daily exposure to pesticides and fertilizers, the degradation of the environment, and our population’s chronic sickness? If there were ever a fail-safe argument for eating local, sustainable, fresh, slow-foods, this is it.

Oysters: These bivalves aren’t technically part of the Plant Kingdom, but eating oysters is ethically equivalent to downing a big bowl of kale chips. Not buying it? Remember that the primary tenet of veganism is minimizing suffering – for other animals and the planet. An oyster doesn’t have a central nervous-system; the pain it experiences when farmed from the sea is indistinguishable from that experienced by a potato when removed from the soil. What’s more, oyster farming is one of the world’s few sustainable aquacultures; environmental groups even cultivate oysters to boost marine-water quality. Unfortunately, the seabed dredging required to harvest similar bivalves, like clams and muscles, ruins underwater ecosystems – it’s best to stay away from them. But with oysters, go ahead and shuck ‘em and suck ‘em.

Faux-Flesh Faux-Pas: “Bacon” crisps, fried “chicken,” Teriyaki “beef,” pulled “pork:” I could go on. It would be easy to enumerate reasons to eschew faux flesh, but that seems silly in the face of one, summarizing thesis: Who wants to eat food that requires quotation marks to describe what it is? I mean, would you eat “apples” or “corn” on the cob? Processed food is processed food, even if it is “vegan.”

Wool: Aversion to wool from confined, miserable sheep is sensible and ethical. But not all sheep farmers are bad, and mainstream veganism’s blanket prohibition against wool fails to account for exceptions to the rule. Being vegan is about being mindful, and conscious consumerism isn’t so hard to come by that we should prejudge all wool. Is all cotton harvested sustainably? Are all synthetic fibers better than all wool? A quick Internet search yields scores of results for ethically-sourced wool transformed into hand-woven, lovingly-designed scarves, mittens, winter hats, and more.

Backyard, Egg-Laying Chickens: Flax seeds and fresh bugs, a nice plot of green grass for scratching and pecking, room to roost, and cruelty-free living in a halcyon idyll. Wouldn’t it be tragic to deny a chicken such luxury? That she happens to lay eggs only solidifies the relationship as mutual, reciprocal, and equal. Plus, a fried egg on whole-wheat toast with a side of steamed collard greens is a heaven unto itself – just don’t forget the hot sauce!

Honey: I buy local honey from bees that pollinated the urban gardens where I buy my produce. No bees means no fruits or veggies. Yes, I’m taking the honey against the bees’ will and, sure, it probably stresses them out to have it taken away. But in this case, I choose to prioritize sustainable and fresh instead of imported, cash-crop sugar or agave nectar that’s technically vegan. Because these sweeteners come from abroad, I don’t know if the sugar-plantation farm-workers receive fair hours, fair pay, and safe working conditions (reality check – they probably don’t). Whereas with honey, I actually know the San Francisco beekeeper from whom I sustain my sweet tooth.

Milk-Producing Pet Goats: Goats are even cooler than chickens, because they’re mammals, and thus a lot more fun to have around because they’re furry, good communicators, and nibble your fingers. Any critter that is loved and cared for as a pet – in vegan parlance, a companion animal – is non-exploitative. Humans’ relationships with other animals provide a sense of well-being and increased happiness, which is why we love our cats and dogs so much. Goats are cool and enjoy being milked – it’s physically pleasurable and relieves their udders; fresh, unpasteurized, pet-goat milk is delicious, mindful, and non-harming. I know the anti-dairy camp says humans are the only animals to drink the milk of other species, which is true. But that argument, for me, no longer holds up. We’re also the only species to eat high-fructose corn syrup and partially-hydrogenated oil, and we’re no better for it. I’d much rather get my fats, calcium, and protein from clover field-grazed goat’s milk. Yum, yum!

Vintage Leather: Vegans balk at thrift-store purchases, such as a faded pair of bonafide Mexican boots or a gorgeous Italian book-bag from the Fellini-era – because the leather came from a cow slaughtered decades ago. I used to think this way too – right along as I purchased some cheap, pleather jacket or some-such slave-labor shoes from Forever 21. Reclaiming worn leather endows a discarded garment with new life that respectfully and mindfully acknowledges the animal’s sacrifice. Consider it a vote-with-your-dollar political purchase. You support re-use, rather than contributing to a modern-day economy of mass-consumerism – whether it’s built on the backs of farm-animals or underage wage-slaves in developing countries.

What are your thoughts?

Images: Keith011764, Leafy Green, Allerina & Glen MacLarty,  BONGURI,  Nick Smarto, BrockVicky, Martin Cathrae, Xelcise

Chicago is getting its very first Chick-fil-A in April and people are pretty close to losing their minds as the fast food giant expands across the Midwest. Chicago has enough problems with its collective weight (thanks, pizza), and Chick-fil-A’s staunch stance against gay marriage makes me queasy. The company also has this creepy statement of purpose: “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”

That’s a heavy sandwich.

With apologies to my transplanted, salivating southern friends,  I know we’ve done you wrong with the weather and we sort of owe you one but we don’t need another fast food restaurant and we definitely don’t need to welcome a business that hides behind Christian values to fuel bigotry.

While I am a vegetarian, I’m not made of stone. The company’s Eat More Chikin campaign is super cute. And I get that people have fond, buttery childhood memories that include the popular sandwiches. But we’re not six, and fast food chicken sandwiches are terrible for both your body and the planet.

I’m not saying you have to shell out for Karyn’s Cooked every day, but there’s a Subway across the street from the new location, so if animal rights and environmentally conscious eating aren’t your things, please, think of your ass! We’re all smart enough to know that 920 calories for lunch (original sandwich, medium fries and medium sweet tea) is too many. Sure, you can order a salad, but you’re at Chick-fil-A. Who orders the salad?

Eating your politics isn’t for everyone and it’s easy to go overboard with the food thing (see the Portlandia episode featuring Colin, the chicken), but there are some companies with politics so against everything I believe in that I simply can’t give them my money. Remember back in the day when Domino’s founder Tom Monaghan started donating to Operation Rescue and a bunch of doctors who provided abortions were killed? Chick-fil-A is one of these companies for me.

The company is very open about their Christian roots, and I like religious freedom. It’s a private company with every right to be closed on Sundays and give people discounts for going to church or whatever. But Chick-fil-A’s charitable arm, the WinShape Foundation, loves to hate on gay marriage and has close ties to the National Organization for Marriage’s Ruth Institute and “ex-gay” activists Alan Chambers and David Blankenhorn.

The Ruth Institute and the National Organization for Marriage’s line is that same-sex marriage destroys the fabric of society, and they’ve worked hard to pass legislation banning gay marriage or taking existing marriage equality rights away from same-sex couples. Chambers, of Exodus International, is a proponent of ex-gay therapy, which perpetuates the idea that there is something wrong with being gay – and after a year of highly-publicized teen suicides linked to bullying and homophobia, can’t we all agree that telling people there’s something wrong with them is a bad idea?

But will denying yourself the joy of Chick-fil-A make the world better for gay people? Across the country, college kids say it will and in Florida, Indiana and New York,  students have rallied to get the franchises kicked off campus. Change.org has a series of stories worth taking a look at but it’s too soon to say what will happen in Chicago. The Windy City Times is the best local source for news about the issue and has raised some good points. If there are gay and lesbian Chick-fil-A employees, none have complained of discrimination but that could be because there aren’t any. As the paper points out, the corporation openly favors married people and most of its locations are in states that do not recognize gay marriage, so potential gay and lesbian employees would appear to be automatically out of the running. Because Chicago’s human rights ordinance includes sexual orientation and gender identity, that could also be a key factor as the community decides whether to organize a boycott.

I know many of my butter-bun loving pals can’t wait for April and the chance for a little southern comfort, but organized or not, I’ll personally be boycotting Chick-fil-A.

Image: iheartmacaroni

Depending on which camp you belong to, vegan or eco (and they are two completely different ones), your views on wearing animals will differ greatly.

If you are vegan, they will not only differ, they will absolutely mean you never wear another piece of clothing or accessory made from an animal again. The eco establishment will argue that recycling and using sustainable materials (ones not filled with pesticides or petroleum by-products) is the better way to go. It’s a tough consumer dilemma, and one that divides, as there are strong arguments for both.

When I came across Harricana by Mariouche, I thought the recycled fur line was tastefully done and contacted the designer Mariouche Gagné for an interview.

My two questions for her rested on the claim that the company “has recycled over 50,000 coats and turned them into new branded creations, adding up to nearly 400 metric tons of refurbished fur,” an estimated half a million animals’ lives saved thanks to recycling countless vintage jackets and pelts. While I thought the idea of recycling fur into forward designs was ingenious, the devil’s advocate in me also thought if I were an animal rights activist, I’d think the mere wearing of fur just promoted it – and I’d be angry.

Second, noticing her claim that the shops featuring her work were all over the world, I wondered if the reason they aren’t sold in the U.S. is due to a different mentality about wearing fur.

Harricana by Mariouche, Winter 2010

Mariouche has her own feelings about wearing fur: “I like to think further than just that the poor animal that died for the jacket a hundred years ago, I think about the animals I save now by recycling. That makes a lot more sense,” she says from her Montreal studio which today has international sales in 18 countries including Switzerland, France, Austria, Germany, and Russia.

“I am not for making with new,” she adds. “I recycle thousands of coats, silk scarves and army jackets every year into pieces that will last for another 100 years. I don’t design just for a passing trend.”

Amongst her cold weather designing credentials – like living at the North Pole – Mariouche has spent time in Kuujjuaq in Nunavik, where local Inuit women make clothing using traditional methods and see the killing of an animal in a holistic way where every drop of the animal is utilized from their oil to their pelt. While she does not condone the killing of animals, her message is clear: “We are all these city hypocrites and we want other people we don’t see to kill our food and make our clothes and that, is not natural.”

Harricana by Mariouche, Winter 2010

Jennifer Miller, founder of Mission Savvy, an eco-boutique that pairs eco fashion with pressing issues in animal welfare has her own feelings on recycling fur: “I’m just sort of over it. That’s all.”

A longtime animal rights activist, Miller asks why we even need to be wearing fur in the first place.

“If you live in a heated house, have the privilege of being able to cook yourself a warm meal and snuggle up in a warm bed at night, there’s no real survival purpose to owning a fur coat. Communities outside of true indigenous lifestyles really have no purpose wearing fur. And therefore if you are inclined to wear it, choose your Nordic destination, endure a season of coastal fishing, sheep herding, knitting, hunting and territorial defense and really immerse yourself in the culture of having no choice but to wear fur. Otherwise please spare me the headache of preaching about how the jacket keeps you warm in the winter, all 1.5 hours of the day that you are actually outside,” says Miller.

But from an animal welfare perspective, Miller thinks if there must be a fur industry, it should most certainly revolve around recycled fur with not a single animal being skinned alive again.

“Fur can be put to better use than fashion,” she says, “There are hundreds of thousands of homeless people that would appreciate a fur coat donation. Humane Society of the United States has a great program called ‘Coats for Cubs’ where you can donate your fur coat and it’s used to comfort animals in rehab. And what about using them as a down alternative as well? Fur stuffed blankets is another great idea for families with children that can’t afford to turn on the heat in the winter.”

Mariouche, who might agree with the multitude of uses for fur, holds the position that no matter what, people are going to buy fur.

“I offer people with money a choice though to be more ethical and I think if you can offer that in the luxury sector, giving them a choice, it’s better than nothing.”

Top Image From Harricana by Mariouche

The Gentle Barn Foundation needs our help to save 60 malnourished cows – many of which are pregnant – from a dilapidated California dairy farm. Will readers step up to save the day?

In recent weeks, animal lover Ellen DeGeneres has been trying to bring attention to a deplorable situation: Dozens of black-and-white cows, many of them pregnant and sick with pneumonia, pinkeye and skin fungus, are living – barely – on a dilapidated dairy farm in Santa Clarita, Calif.

The farm itself is in the process of being shut down, and the animals would normally be destined for the slaughterhouse. And yet, these gentle animals that have spent their lives providing nourishing milk to so many humans are now so sick and malnourished themselves that even the slaughterhouse won’t take them. The dairy farm’s owner does not have the money to care for the cows, nor to nurture the animals back to health in order to take them to the auction house.

So without intervention, these 60 cows will be left to die of dehydration, starvation and disease.

Click Here to Make a $10 Donation Now.

The tragic scenario was first revealed to the public by The Gentle Barn Foundation on April 26. Since then, the animal rescue and rehabilitation facility, miraculously located in the very same town and already home to 120 rescued farm animals, has successfully negotiated to take the cows off the owners’ hands and nurse them back to health – to give the cows and their calves whole new lives.

There’s just one problem: The Gentle Barn Foundation has no place to house them. The Foundation needs to build two new barns in order to give the cows a proper home. And building barns isn’t cheap.

The Gentle Barn needs funding. They need it now. And readers can make it happen.

Yesterday on her talk show, DeGeneres announced that Tonic is launching a major fundraising initiative in order to build the barns these cows so desperately need.

Tonic has committed to matching your donations, dollar-for-dollar, up to $50,000, for a grand total of $100,000 – enough for the Gentle Barn Foundation to build an entire barn.

And as if doubling your donation isn’t enough, there’s another layer of goodness that comes along with giving to save these California cows: A private benefactor has agreed to match every dollar The Gentle Barn earns, up to $100,000. So if Tonic readers accomplish this goal, and donate at least $50,000, the Gentle Barn Foundation will have all the money they need to build both barns!

Before Tonic’s initiative was announced, Ellie Laks, who founded and operates The Gentle Barn with her husband, Jay Weiner, gave an interview to The Signal of Santa Clarita Valley. Of their efforts to save these malnourished cows, Laks said, “This is cool because we can save their lives and give them the opportunity to raise their babies. It’ll be something the community can sink their teeth into – be part of their birth and their lives.”

More than just an animal rescue organization, The Gentle Barn brings at-risk youth and special needs children who have suffered physical, mental or emotional trauma of their own to their facilities to interact with the animals and take a hands-on role in their welfare. As described on their website: “[T]hose who undergo treatment at The Gentle Barn learn empathy, kindness, strength, trust, forgiveness and leadership.”

They’re the human qualities we try to spotlight here on Tonic every day. The qualities we’ve helped DeGeneres celebrate on her talk show, by giving scholarship money to Constance McMillen and helping to cover Alyson Myatt‘s health care costs.

They’re the qualities we hope our readers will show by making donations to The Gentle Barn Foundation today.

Click Here to Make a $10 Donation Now!

Editor’s note: Article by Mark Dagostino. Originally published by our friends at Tonic.com. Tonic is a digital media company and news source dedicated to promoting the good that happens each day around the world. Tonic tells the stories of people and organizations who are working to make a difference, by inspiring good in themselves and others. Be sure to visit them and say hi, and follow Tonic on Twitter, too!

Image: Dave Young

You may have dreamed of running away to join the circus as a kid, but we can guarantee that there isn’t a wild animal alive who wants to be plucked from their natural habitat, forced to live in a tiny cage, ordered to learn tricks, and then instructed to perform on command in front of a strange audience by jumping through hoops of fire. This summer, as circuses start touring the globe, think twice about which acts really are “the greatest shows on earth,” and instead support circuses that don’t enslave animals, but rely on talented and willing human participants to amaze and awe an audience.

Below is a sampling of several animal free circuses that may be enjoyed all over the world.

Cirque du Soleil

The award winning and stunning Cirque du Soleil shows should be experienced by everyone with a craving for circus inspired hoopla. The performance group started with 20 street performers in 1984 and has grown to include over 4,000 employees from over 40 different countries. To get a taste of the phenomenal physical prowess and acrobatics of these performers and to see the unique, jaw-dropping choreography, check out this video montage of glimpses into the engaging variety of Cirque du Soleil shows being produced, and currently touring all over the world.

Cirque Éloize

Cirque Éloize has traveled around the globe 17 times, inspiring audiences by “combin[ing] circus arts with music, dance and theater in a path-breaking and original manner.” Currently, three different shows are on tour, set to visit several countries across the world. Read about the amazing Cyr Wheel, which is at the heart of many acrobatic performances, enabling audiences to have their breath taken away by human strength and agility as opposed to animal acts.

The Great All American Youth Circus

Just around the corner, May 7 – May 23, The Great All American Youth Circus will be performing their show “Circus Dreams” in Redlands, California. This circus was founded in 1929 by former Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey performer and YMCA Director Roy Coble. The oldest community circus in the world, these spectacles showcase the talents of children who have learned circus skills in YMCA classes throughout the year. Endorsed by several animal rights groups, The Great Y Circus boasts, “the only animals you’ll find here are the kids we dress up in costumes to look like them!”

Circus Oz

Set to kick off in Melbourne, Australia June 16 – July 10, Circus Oz sounds like a total blast. Touring for the last three decades with performances in twenty-six countries, this show “is a rock-n-roll, animal free circus that adults and children can enjoy together. Expect two hours of breathtaking agility, death-defying stunts, awe-inspiring acrobatic performances, irreverent comedy and a spectacular live band.” Circus Oz has also raised nearly $250,000 to support refugees and asylum seekers and regularly engages in social justice causes.

Click here to view The Humane Society’s extensive list of animal free circuses being offered all over the planet, and be the ringleader for touting animal free circus acts in your inner circle!

Image: Nathan King

Is this a meat destined for the dinner tables of the 21st Century? Eaten in parts of Italy, Korea, Madagascar, Spain and China, it’s allegedly tastier than chicken, rabbit or pigeon…and it’s available worldwide in vast quantities. The name of this super-food? Brace yourself. It’s cat.

Midway through an episode of Italian cooking show La Prova del Cuoco, celebrity chef Beppe Bigazzi began waxing lyrical about the joys of a nice big bowl of casseroled cat. Describing the dish as “quite tender” he gave tips on preparation (soak in springwater for 3 days) before predicting “now we’ll get letters from nature lovers”.

No kidding. One white-hot telephone switchboard later, Bigazzi has been indefinitely suspended from the show (despite claiming it was all a prank), and Italy’s Deputy Health Minister is calling for a criminal investigation. Is Bigazzi suitably contrite? Well, not so much. “In the 1930s and 1940s, when I was a boy, people certainly did eat cat in the countryside around Arezzo,” he explains.

Fighting a churning stomach and a rising sense of outrage? Me, too – but there’s an interesting, and valid, question here. In the blossoming world culture of the 21st Century, where will food taboos fit in?

Take cats. Our horror at popping puss in a pot is because for us, cats have crossed that invisible cultural line between wild animals and domestic companions. They’re part of our lives in a way that lifts them out of our food chain. Consequently, while it’s often technically legal to consume cat meat, doing so breaches a number of animal cruelty laws and lands the chef in prison (the challenge facing Bigazzi right now). And that’s mild compared to the public reaction to stories like this.

It’s clearly, obviously wrong to eat cats, right? But a Hindu would say exactly the same thing about beef, as they regard the cow as a sacred animal. The Somali (recently famous for their piracy) don’t eat fish. Even staunchly meat-eating England, Australia and the U.S. have a mild taboo against eating offal. How about escargot, anyone? Wherever you look, we flinch at different things.

Across the world as a whole, “wrong” is anything but obvious. And this allows shock-jock TV chefs to go in search of dishes that will thrill their audiences with ratings-winning revulsion.

Sometimes food taboos make perfect sense, and sometimes they’re no-nos laced with hypocrisy. We’re inconsistent. That’s often the way we roll. But when the world needs feeding, should we be trying to put a lid on our indignation – or is it about time we turned up the heat on the culinary wrongdoers?

Image: avlxyz

]]> http://ecosalon.com/its-a-what-casserole/feed/ 2 http://ecosalon.com/roundup-of-wild-horses-in-nevada-continues-despite-protests-and-lawsuit/ http://ecosalon.com/roundup-of-wild-horses-in-nevada-continues-despite-protests-and-lawsuit/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:00:52 +0000 Anna Brones http://www.ecosalon.com/?p=30710

Vast, open landscapes, clear blue skies and plenty of space for wild horses to run free: The image is a quintessential part of the American West. Yet with changing environments, those wild spaces and the ability of animals to live and roam are under threat.

This week, officials began a roundup of about 2,500 wild horses from public and private lands in Nevada, positing that the 850 square miles of land is overpopulated and could become unlivable to wildlife and livestock in the next four years. The mustangs will be placed for adoption or moved to holding facilities in the Midwest.

The roundup is part of a greater effort by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to remove thousands of mustangs from public lands across the West in order to protect wild horse herds and the lands that are essential to their livelihood.

Unfortunately, the roundup has raised concerns from animal protection groups. Two helicopters have been used in the roundup to move the horses to corrals, which horse defenders say is inhumane and risks injury, and even death, to the animals. Timing is another factor; opponents to the round up hold that executing a roundup in winter exposes the horses to risk of respiratory illness. There are also complaints regarding BLM’s transparency when it comes to how the horses are treated during roundups.

Earlier this month, In Defense of Animals called the Nevada roundup illegal, asking a federal judge to block the plan. Despite their efforts, the roundup was not called off. BLM contends that without removal, the land will no longer be able to provide the horses with enough water or foraging space.

IDA doesn’t just have protesters on the ground; the organization has filed an official lawsuit against the government.

“We are on strong ground in charging that the BLM’s policy of stockpiling tens of thousands of horses in the Midwest, off their rightful Western ranges, is contrary to law, the intent of Congress and the will of the American people,” says William J. Spriggs, the attorney who filed the case on behalf of IDA.

But for now, the roundup continues.

Photo credit: RickC

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) does not see fit to extend the same moral courtesy to human animals, specifically the female kind. In the organization’s latest sexist campaign for vegetarianism, an overweight woman in a bikini is faced with the emboldened slogan: “Save the Whales”. Beneath the words runs a helpful tagline: “Lose the blubber: go vegetarian.”

Come on gals, take a joke. What’s a little fat-shaming in pursuit of a good time?

There’s no shortage of adjectives (or profanities) that come to mind to describe such a mean-spirited billboard. And if you can get through the confusion of it – don’t be a whale! wait, save the whales! don’t be a whale so we can save the whales! whales are great, except you, blubber butt! – it’s also very telling.

A friend of mine, John Haslett, is a professional adventurer and author of the sea memoir, Voyage of the Manteno. In the book, he writes about the behavior of people in survival situations – that is, people under extreme stress. An inevitable few will rapidly decline into paranoia and eventual insanity. Some – many more than you would think, observes Haslett – simply give up. Some rise to the challenge, while others become childish or cheat. I think we can figure out which part of the life raft we’d find PETA hugging.

With admirably relentless energy, PETA has managed to jump from the margins of activism and enjoys frequent mainstream media attention. To the dismay of many vegetarians, when Newkirk speaks, people do listen. A group like PETA has just as much potential to wear at our social fabric as any loudmouth pundit. These are not just crazy tactics; PETA’s stunts are part of a carefully-woven, and unfortunate, strategy. Deliberately divisive, PETA is antisocial in a wide cultural sense. Desperate to win, they resort to the ridiculous and alienate those whom they hope to convert. What a dark, lonely world these small-minded people inhabit! I don’t know about you, but I don’t want anyone this stressed out trying to advocate for anything except another cocktail.

The woman who is concerned with social and environmental justice should be quick to leave PETA to the spiral it’s so enthusiastically sliding down. Sociologists explain that it’s common for oppressed groups to target each other as they jockey for autonomy. PETA abusing using women as a tool to achieve their goals is just one more example in a long history of horizontal violence. Not very original, is it? One can easily imagine that in the hive-mind of PETA headquarters, there is only room for the conflict view of reality: it’s either women for animals or women over animals. I guess PETA can’t conceive of women and animals, or at least not for the blubbery among us!

Any position worth defending can be done with integrity. If you have to take a cheap shot to score a point, you don’t belong in the game. Or put another way, when the end justifies the means, the means become the end.

Recommended reading on this topic: Feministing, Deceiver, Jezebel, Huffington Post, The Frisky, DoubleX

At last, an endangered species that deserves to be – the battery hen.

Free range eggs may be significantly more expensive, but that’s not stopping shoppers plucking them from the shelves while turning their noses up at caged hen eggs.

This is yet another example of how ethical consumerism rules the roost in today’s marketplace (okay, enough with the chicken puns). Thanks to the hard work of people like British TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the patrons of the Battery Hen Welfare Trust, the appalling living conditions of caged hens is now common knowledge. The more the word gets out, the more unacceptable battery farming becomes. About time, too.

The Guardian reported May 15th that according to a leading market research firm, the number of free range eggs sold annually is likely to top 2 billion by the end of the year. This is largely thanks to the admirable stances adopted by major UK retailers including Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s, all of which have been have been officially labeled Good Eggs. They refuse to sell intensively produced eggs on principle, even bringing their phasing-out schedule forward to meet changing demand.

But all this raises an important question – can we really trust the free range label?

In the U.S., there’s no legal definition of a “free range egg” with obvious consequences. In the UK the legal ground is a lot firmer with the DEFRA Laying Hens Code (pdf), but this doesn’t always translate to what we might personally define as “free”. By both European and UK law, a free range chicken is one that has open-air access for at least half its life. And the rest of the time? There’s the worry. If you want a clearer conscience and a tastier omelet, keep an eye out for pastured eggs.

Free range eggs are the CFLs of the chicken world – a step in the right direction. For now, it’s good to know that chickens can finally see daylight, but it’s up to us as consumers to demand continued progress from our agricultural and political leaders if we’re to see truly sustainable, ethical living conditions for the animals we choose to raise for food.

Image: woodleywonderworks (and here’s why chicken eggs are different colors).

Stella McCartney’s face is becoming as prevalent as the color green and not just because of her mom and dad and step-mom.

Why not? Thanks to her championing the cause for sustainable fashion and animal rights, high-brow converts have come over to the green side where they realize eco-friendly duds are actually really luxurious.

This week alone her accomplishments include: taking the lead as one of Time Magazine’s annual 100 Most Influential People at an event in New York’s Lincoln Center, hosting a trunk show at Barney’s  and launching an exclusive relationship with Net-a-Porter to house a Summer 09 Capsule collection on Thursday.

Creating a multi-media showcase on Net-a-Porter with art, fashion and poetic video, McCartney proves she’s the package deal.