How the linking of minds offers us vast horizons!
I subscribe to two blogs: Pendantry’s Wibble and Christine’s 350 or bust. But a temporary lack of quiet reading time has meant that recent posts from each of them were initially only briefly skimmed. I made a mental note to read the one from Pendantry, Where oceans meet, because I have always had a love affair with the oceans. When I did read it, I was blown away, to use the modern vernacular. Why? Stay with me.
Where oceans meet opened thus:
I’ve recently been introduced to two things that demonstrate (to my satisfaction, anyway) that the universe is much stranger than I first thought. Mind you, my first thought was quite some time ago, now.
Then after showing a wonderful photograph of where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean, (this one below) …
…. Pendantry goes on:
The other one of those ‘strange universe’ things is something that I find even more surprising: after decades of eating meat, an hour watching just one film has persuaded me to reconsider the habits of a lifetime.
That really jumped off the page at me because Jeannie has been a vegetarian for most of her life and I have been flirting with the idea.
That ‘one film’ was Vegucated. Here’s the rest of that Wibble post republished with Pendantry’s kind permission.
oooOOOooo
A TED talk highlighted yesterday over on 350orbust (well worth watching — thanks, Christine) included a reference to the film Vegucated. Intrigued, was I, so I trundled off to watch it, and returned a changed man. Well, maybe that’s a bit ambitious, but I do now feel motivated to think more about what I eat, why I’m eating it, and to actively seek out vegan alternatives — something that I have never considered before.
Vegucated reinforces the betrayal of a society that has sold us all on the idea of having ‘consumer choice’ — but continues to withhold from us the information necessary to make informed choices. And on that point: don’t just take my word for it that this is a film well worth watching: there are many other reviews and quotes about it.
Our world is changing, and, one way or another, we must change with it. I believe that films like Vegucated are essential to help us to choose to move in the direction of a healthier, happier world.
“If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian. “— Paul McCartney.
oooOOOooo
As you can see Pendantry referred to Christine’s recent post on 350orbust. That post was called Are You A Changemaker?
Naturally I was curious and wandered across to that post. Here are Christine’s own words,
It’s TED Talk Tuesday on 350orbust, and today’s presenter is Zoe Weil who spoke to the young people who gathered at the TEDx Youth symposium held at Cape Elizabeth, Maine, last December. Ms. Weil is the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education. Ms. Weil’s inspiring talk is entitled “How To Be A Solutionary.” Enjoy!
I tell you what! That 11 minute presentation by Zoe Weil was not just inspirational, it was one of the most inspirational speeches I have ever heard! That’s EVER!
Take this quote that comes in less than 2 minutes from the start of the speech, “Never before have we had the capacity to cause the breakdown of so many ecological systems that sustain our life.”
Now if that doesn’t have you gagging for the rest of what Zoe talks about, nothing will. So here it is.
Published on Jan 11, 2013
Zoe Weil is the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education and is considered a pioneer in the comprehensive humane education movement, which provides people with the knowledge, tools, and motivation to be conscientious choicemakers and engaged changemakers for a better world. Zoe created the first Master of Education and Certificate Program in Humane Education in the U.S. covering the interconnected issues of human rights, environmental preservation, and animal protection. She has also created acclaimed online programs and leads workshops and speaks at universities, conferences, and events across the U.S. and Canada. She has taught tens of thousands students through her innovative school presentations, and has trained several thousand teachers through her workshops and programs. Zoe’s most recent book, Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life, won the 2010 Nautilus silver medal in sustainability and green values. She is the author of several other books including Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times for parents; The Power and Promise of Humane Education for educators; and Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs, winner of the Moonbeam gold medal in juvenile fiction, which follows the exploits of two seventh graders who become clandestine activists in New York City, righting wrongs where they find them. Zoe received a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Master of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.
So from the meeting of vast oceans to the meeting of minds.
Learning from Dogs 
Very interesting. When I was an undergraduate student in the mid-80s, I flirted briefly with the idea of founding a Vegetable Rights Society to end the exploitation of vegetables. However, with greater age has come greater maturity and so I now recognise that it is the vegetables that are exploiting us… 😉
Seriously though, even if we were all content to hunt, catch, butcher and cook our own meat, it would still be a problem. Unlike photosynthesis, eating vegetables is a highly inefficient energy-conversion process. Herbivores therefore have to spend almost their entire lives eating. However, just as plants can eventually be turned into fossil fuels over millions of years, the end result of both photosynthesis and herbivorism(?) is energy in a highly concentrated form that is of great benefit to other organisms.
The solution to this problem – how to get enough energy from a meat-free diet – is almost certainly insects: Here in the UK, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has a regular television advert that includes film footage of people in south-east Asia catching, cooking and eating insects. Such things as barbecued dragonflies also featured in Bill Bailey’s excellent mini-biography of Alfred Russell Wallace recently. However, coincidentally, this issue also featured on Breakfast TV this morning: The programme presenter was even heard to say something like, “However distasteful this may seem, insects may provide the solution to a global problem – how to feed [i.e. provide enough protein for] a growing human population from diminishing resources.”
We need more of this kind of thing on TV. Climate change sceptics may well be able to carry on disputing the reality of anthropogenic climate disruption for several years yet. However, I think it is much harder for them to dismiss limits to growth and/or resource depletion arguments (although I am sure they will try). This will be especially true if – as suggested by the above – such arguments are considered suitable to be presented as fact on early morning television.
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The reason I was awakened before 5am was discovering a couple of ticks walking across me! The dogs now have tick collars on them so my skin was apparently the best thing.
Didn’t cross my mind to have an early breakfast of them. 😉
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Interesting about the oceans, and well known from mariners now that giant rogue waves are to be had in places where currents meet.
I did not watch the video, but I know the subject pretty well. I read several scientific publication each week, including Nature and the AAAS’ Science (I have full subscriptions to both). Beats the celebrities at TED and Disney anytime.
Not all meats are created equal. Meat from the USA differ by more than 100% from meat in France, for example. Say in saturated fats.
Einstein was a heavy smoker. He was addicted to nicotine. He died from it (broken aorta). Not an example to follow.
A danger with loud vegetarianism is the belief one is holier than thou. Hubris. Hitler was a non smoker, non alcoholic beverage drinker, and a strict vegetarian. He was loud about the superiority of it all.
Already long long ago, I crossed entire years not eating much meat, if at all. But I never made it into a religion. After all, we evolved as carnivores, just as our best friends the dogs… and it’s hubris, denying our nature. Especially when goose stepping behind TED (after all, many of the silicon valley types are among the worse of the worst, as far as raping the planet, and that’s precisely why they show off by driving hyper expensive electric cars, thanks to massive taxpayer money, and raping of the planet…).
PA
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😉
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Patrice, surely the argument being put forward is that ceasing to eat meat strikes a blow at the desparate cruelty of so much animal ‘farming’?
Ergo, one needs an easy way of distinguishing humanely farmed animals from the rest of the herd, if you will forgive the pun.
Respect the points made by you.
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I do think that cruelty against animals ought to be punishable by law. And it is, at least for animals considered to be “companions” (cats, dogs, etc.). Not so for cows. (although there are humane laws there too, they are increasingly turned around, because Abraham loved to slit the throats of children and goats alike…Halal…)
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Absolutely! But let’s not hold our breath on that one. Still showing my lack of knowledge of my new country when I ask the question: Is there any classification of meat that makes it easy to know it has been humanely reared?
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No humanely reared label. But for “cage free”.
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Merci bien!
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De rien!
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So many still think that the purpose of public education is to pass on job related skills. Too bad many of them hold titles like “minister of ___”, “secretary of ____”, or “CEO.”
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Point well made, Maurice.
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At risk of being accused of joining the mutual self-appreciation society: Paul, you have excelled yourself. This is a terrific illustration of what humans can achieve when we choose to cooperate 🙂 Thank you!
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Thank you Mr. P.
The sharing and spreading of ideas across this new digital landscape offers real hope of positive change.
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Well thank you Gentlemen. Lovely to wake up a little after 5am and read your comments. I will now attend to responding individually.
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Perhaps a good start might be to remove the ‘for profit’ aspect of food production and support local markets as opposed to giant global conglomerate-types (the corporate policy of ‘access to fresh water is not a human right’ types like Nestle’s and its CEO) we might move in a better direction, for the animals starring in these horror shows, as well as environment, humans, oceans… etc. See
( http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2013/04/23/nestle-ceo-peter-brabeck-letmathe-human-beings-have-no-right-to-water-by-andrew-gavin-marshall/ )
and
( http://www.naturalnews.com/040026_Nestle_water_supply_domination.html )
for example.
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Wen, seems perfect common-sense to me. Hope others look at those two links!
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