Vegan Organic Gardening

For those who are preparing their garden plot for this season, or contemplating creating a garden for the first time, this is a terrific opportunity to explain what “natural” and “organic” truly mean.

Many new gardeners may be surprised to find that blood, bone meal and fish emulsion are all considered “natural” ways to fertilize organic gardens. These substances are obtained from slaughterhouse floors or mass fishing operations… and they reek of the industries which they support.

But there is another way to garden, without animal products (including manure). It is often called veganic, vegan-organic or stock-free gardening; there are a lot of different gardening styles under these labels, so you’ll have plenty of options to explore, for the benefit of our fellow animals, our health and the health of our planet.

Whether you are new to gardening or looking to transition your garden to a vegan organic plot; from how to set up your compost pile to an overview of veganic fertilizers, check out more on this subject at the link below:

(source: gentleworld.org)

What is Vegan Organic Gardening?

9 Vegan Grocery Store Locations Around the World (including online too)

One of the joys of a vegan grocery store is that you don’t have to be so diligent about looking for hidden animal ingredients. Non-dairy cheese, for example, sometimes contains the milk protein casein. Casein is a cheap way to make fake cheese melt, but companies like Daiya are creating vegan cheese that melts and tastes better. At a vegan grocery store, there’s no guesswork.

The list below has some brick and mortar locations and some shops that are online only: 

1. Viva La Vegan has two brick and mortar locations: one in Santa Monica and in Cucumonga, California. You can also shop Viva La Vegan online.

2. Veganz is a full on vegan grocery chain that started in Germany and is opening its first U.S. location in 2016.

3. Food Fight Grocery in Portland, Oregon, was one of the first vegan grocery stores in the U.S., and you can shop it in person or online.

4. Rabbit Food Grocery in Austin, TX is almost all online, but local customers can pick up their haul at local vegan businesses to waive any shipping fees.

5. Vegan Online is a virtual Australian vegan grocery store. They’ll ship Australia-wide, so no matter where on the continent you live, you can get vegan treats on your doorstep.

6. Vegan Perfection is another Australian vegan grocery store. If you live in Melbourne, check out their physical location.

7. Honest to Goodness is a UK-based vegan grocery store that will ship anywhere in the United Kingdom.

8. Vegan.co.uk, which also ships UK-wide.

9. Pangea’s Vegan Store in Rockville, MD has both a physical store and an online shop.

Flexitarian Samples a 100% Plant-Based Vegetarian Diet

Blog author, Zoe Lintzeris, goes on not a vegan diet (because veganism isn't a diet--it's a social justice cause), but on a strict vegetarian diet for a week (meaning no animal products at all, including eggs, dairy, and honey) and a bit more as she stays away from beeswaxed lip balm too. Check out her honest opinion of it here:

"I Don't Diet, I Just Go Vegan"

Kick Your Leather Habit For Good With These Awesome Alternatives

Womens' vegan leather jacket

Mens' vegan leather jacket

Many people see leather as fashionable, timeless and think it lasts forever. But if people knew how it affects our planet, people's feelings about leather may change.

As we know, leather is the skin of a slaughtered animal. In many cases, these skins come from cows, but skin from goats, sheep, pigs, and even cats and dogs are used to make leather. Some of the most luxurious and softest leather comes from the skin of newborn calves; so if you have decided to stop eating veal because you just can’t stomach the thought of eating a baby cow, but you’re buying leather, you are likely still contributing to the cruel exploitation of these babies.

Also, the leather industry is wreaking havoc on the planet. The leather tanning process, which turns raw skins into usable leather, fills the environment with such nasties as formaldehyde, cyanide, lead, and other known carcinogens. Tannery workers, as well as people who live in close proximity to tanning facilities, are riddled with a host of health problems which have been linked to the chemicals used in the leather making process.

Manufacturers are taking notice and are offering up products made from materials that are cruelty-free and kinder to the environment, which is better for us all. Here are five terrific alternatives that won’t even have you missing the leather:

Kick Your Leather Habit For Good With These Awesome Alternatives

10 Frozen Vegan Recipes to Cool Down This Summer

Above photo: Tofutti Cuties

The temperatures are rising and the sun is shining--summer is here! Plant-based and vegan eaters don't eat dairy ice cream, but that does not mean ice cream and other frozen treats are off limits. Thanks to non-dairy milk and fruit, it’s much easier to make a dairy-free ice cream or frozen treat than you may think. 

Non-vegans--you'll love them too!

Check out these 10 frozen recipes to cool down this summer.

Destroying Our Environment, Losing Our Languages

As we continue to cut down forests and lose biodiversity, there’s something else that we’re also losing: languages.

Since the 1970s, linguistic diversity has been declining as fast as biodiversity--at about a 30 percent decline. There are fantastic comparisons between linguistic diversity and biodiversity; both are products of evolution and have evolved in tremendously similar ways, but both are facing an extinction crisis.

It’s not the first time biodiversity and languages have been linked. Another study showed that 70 % of the world's languages are found in biodiversity hotspots. Which means that as those hotspots are threatened, so are the languages. One in four of the world’s remaining languages are threatened--the exact same ratio as mammals that are endangered.

Today there are 7,000 languages spoken worldwide. Half of those have fewer than 10,000 speakers, making them spoken by only 0.1 percent of the global population. The rest of us have a much smaller diversity in the languages that we speak. 95 percent of the world’s population speaks one of just 400 languages, and 40 percent of us converse in just one of eight languages: Mandarin, Spanish, English, Hindi, Portuguese, Bengali, Russian and Japanese.

That loss in diversity of language is leading to a kind of cultural homogenization. We are losing the richness of human diversity, becoming more and more similar. And as we become more globalized, and our consumption and use of natural resources increases, we lose both languages and our environment. 

As we lose languages, we lose local know-how of how to function within a certain environment. New Guinea for example, is a hotbed of biodiversity and culture. It has one of the greatest varieties of life in the world. As deforestation continues, all of those are threatened, and as cultures and languages are destroyed in the process, we lose the knowledge that has been developed over tens of thousands of years. How to use traditional plants for medicine, how to live a symbiotic relationship with the natural world, these are all things that we lose in the process.

(source: care2.com)

Inexpensive Cruelty-Free Foods That Brighten Your Skin

There are some delicious, inexpensive cruelty-free foods you can eat to brighten your skin that anyone can take advantage of and that are easy to find. At the website below, most all of the foods can be found at your local supermarket or even at a farmer’s market. 

Eating to protect your skin is incredibly important, especially during the summer months when the sun’s harsh rays can cause everything from wrinkles to skin cancer, not to mention acne and dryness. Avoid buying all those pricey products none of us really need anyway and just eat your way to beautiful skin instead:

Inexpensive Vegan Food That Can Brighten Your Skin