Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart, Vaute Couture, and Michelle Schwegmann, Herbivore Clothing

Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart, Vaute Couture, and Michelle Schwegmann, Herbivore Clothing

A great podcast from: Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Episode Info | Unity.FM

Dairy-Free New Year's Eve Recipes

Most New Year's Eve recipes contain some sort of dairy. The link below has a recipe collection of cruelty-free dairy-free renditions of the classics that are sure to bring in the New Year right!

Cruelty-Free New Year's Eve Recipes

Cruelty-Free Christmas and Kwanzaa Meals

Again, like Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, there are thousands and thousands of holiday cruelty-free meals, so here are some of the best Christmas and Kwanzaa links to them:

Vegan Christmas Recipes

http://www.vegkitchen.com/tips/a-colorful-vegetarian-christmas/

A Joyful Vegan Christmas Dinner

http://vegparadise.com/cookingwith512.html

Top vegan Christmas & holiday recipes

http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/998735/top-vegan-christmas-recipes

Vegan Kwanzaa

http://veganpeace.blogspot.com/2009/12/vegan-kwanzaa.html

Vegetarian Kwanzaa Feast (actually, all "vegan" meals)

http://www.peta.org/living/food/kwanzaa-vegetarian-feast/

HAPPY CRUELTY-FREE HOLIDAYS!!

Become Vegan for the Right and Only Reason: For the Animals

I hear that how vegans should not push too hard in educating others about veganism, but I disagree and feel this is missing the point of why we become vegans in the first place. It's for the animals, not to please other vegans.

Look at it this way for example: I decide to continue being cruel towards animals--eating them--because some human was too hard on me in trying to get me to become vegan? What does the "pushy vegan" have to do with whether or not I would become a vegan? I would become vegan for the animals' sake not for the sake of pleasing some vegan.

People that use pushy vegans as an excuse not to become vegan really isn't becoming vegan for the right and ONLY reason anyway--for the animals. They are thinking of becoming vegan to please or get along in the vegan community, otherwise they wouldn't care how aggressive a vegan was. If they find that vegan too preachy/aggressive but they need support, then they should go to vegans that do a softer approach. 

I think how vegans educate others varies according to their style/personality. 

Gary Yourofsky said in an interview, during one of his lectures at a school that a person was complaining he was too preachy and aggressive with his approach. He said something like, "OK, how many people here feel I'm being too aggressive?" No else else raised their hand. He said to this person, "How can this be? They heard the same lecture as you, but yet they feel I gave the lecture fine." Gary then said in the interview that it doesn't matter how you talk to people about veganism; either people are ready to hear it now and become vegan or they are not at that time. 

It's about whether you want to hurt animals or not. Period. It's the facts in the message that changes one to being vegan--not any person. Tell it to a person strongly or softly, it's still the same news, the same facts.

So those vegans who turned omnivores again never were vegans for the animals anyway. They were just vegans probably for the sake of being social in the vegan community, like as if we are some kind of club, otherwise they would have said (If they felt the vegans were being pushy), "Screw you guys. I'm staying away from you all, but will stay vegan of course because I'm doing this for the animals."

It's all about the animals--and that's thee only way to stay a vegan for life. It has to be or otherwise that potential vegan, newbie vegan, or a vegan for years, will in time come up with some excuse to go back sooner or later to their omnivore ways.

So to those vegans who say, "I don't care how a person becomes vegan, as long as they do," should care. Because why a person becomes vegan is important to whether they stay vegan for life, or in a day, month, year or so to becoming an ex-vegan.

Animal Protection Laws: Where Does Your State Rank?

The Animal Legal Defense Fund published it's longest-running, most comprehensive report that tracks animal protection laws across the entire U.S. This year’s biggest trends included strengthening penalties for neglecting an animal (now a felony in six more states) and requiring that abusers reimburse those who care for cruelly treated animals—including Arizona, the most-improved jurisdiction in 2013. 

The best five states for animal protection remained the same this year, with Oregon enacting a felony penalty for animal neglect and rising to the number two spot. North Dakota completely revamped its cruelty code to include a felony cruelty provision for the first time, and jumped out of the top states to abuse animals. South Dakota is now the only state that does not include a felony penalty for even the most heinous acts of cruelty. 

The Chain

The Chain, by Robin Lamont, is a novel with a message on animal rights. Here is the synopsis of the book:

Jude Brannock, a seasoned and passionate animal rights investigator, is drawn into the lives of a damaged family in a small town that depends on a meat packing plant for its survival.

Jude has been summoned to Bragg Falls to meet with a whistle-blower who has documented the dangerous conditions for workers and the brutal treatment of pigs about to be slaughtered at D&M Processing. But when she arrives, she finds that her contact has committed suicide and the video he made is gone. The deeper she probes, the more the town’s residents turn against her – afraid that an exposé will shut down the plant. But beyond the local resistance, there is a more sinister force that will do anything to hide what is happening behind the secretive doors of the slaughterhouse.

Gift Idea Picture Books Especially for Pagan Families (with animals too!): Winter Solstice

Lucia and the Light, by Phyllis Root

In a cozy cabin high in the mountains of the Far North, Lucia and her family live a snug and contented life. But one day the wind screams fiercely and the sun does not rise over the mountain. Someone has stolen the sun! "Perhaps it has lost its way," says Lucia, who despite her mother's pleas sets out to find it with only a bit of bread, a tinderbox, and her milk-white cat to keep her company. In dramatic pastels, Mary GrandPré illuminates troll-pocked frozen mountains and wraps Lucia's family in a blanket of warmth. Inspired by Nordic lore, Phyllis Root spins a golden yarn of courage, love, and the age-old longing for the return of light.

Sun Bread, by Elisa Kleven

Winter's gray chill has set in and everyone misses the sun-especially the baker, who is a dog.  So she decides to bring some warmth to the town by making sun bread.  And as the bread bakes, rising hot and delicious, everyone comes out to share in its goodness.  Everyone, including the sun itself.  With a lilting, rhyming text, colorful illustrations, and a recipe for baking your own sun bread, this tasty treat from the illustrator of the best-selling Abuela is just right for all ages to enjoy.

La Lagartija y el Sol/ The Lizard and the Sun, by Alma Flor Ada

A Folktale in English and Spanish

Once, a long, long time ago, the sun disappeared from the sky. Everything was dark for many days. All the animals went to search for the sun in the rivers and lakes, through the fields and forests, but the sun was nowhere to be found. Little by little all the animals gave up, except for the faithful lizard. Finally one day she found a strange glowing rock and discovered the sun fast asleep. But no one could persuade the sun to wake up. Then the emperor organized a great feast, with the finest dancers and musicians, so the sun would wake up and never fall asleep again. Since that day, all lizards love to lie in the sun, to remember the day when one of their own brought light and warmth back to the world.