Posts tagged with "Animals"

New Ithaca Freeskool Mushroom Hunt Video

By Shira | Jan 12, 10 11:58 AM

Renowned local fungi expert Carl Whittaker led a Mushroom Hunt and Identification on August 30th, 2009 as part of the Ithaca Freeskool summer session, and I finally got around to editing the footage. Enjoy the beauties of the Danby State Forest while learning about many species of edible and inedible mushrooms.

Mushroom Hunt and Identification - Ithaca Freeskool Distance Learning from Shira Golding on Vimeo.

Joy and delight!

By Ari | Nov 30, 09 09:34 PM

Thanks to Nate for the link!

The world is changing: Gawker said something intelligent about animal rights

By Ari | Nov 16, 09 11:48 AM

I was just reading gossip over at Gawker (yes, yes I was), and I saw this:

Normally, whenever PETA opens their mouths, even if it's for a good cause, you're like OMGSTFU PETA, you guys are being crazy-obnoxious right now and a detriment to your cause. But I have to say, on this one, well played: they're asking US Marshals to donate Ruth Madoff's furs to the homeless to "highlight the difference between need and greed." Like, whoever made that PR play and got it in Page Six, smooth. Take the day off, PETAPerson.

Awesome observation, Gawker. It is very cool to see even a celebrity gossip blog publicly express frustration with PETA while making it clear that PETA and animal rights are not the same thing. Many of us animal lovers are getting tired of being lumped in with them, so seeing this kind of insightful response from someone outside of the animal rights arena is refreshing.

That said, I agree that PETA did right in this particular action. They're very good at getting media coverage and their hearts are in the right place, I just wish they could lay off offending people for a while.

Popo-chan (Thank you, Flickr)

By Ari | Nov 5, 09 04:58 PM

Popo-chan, via Flickr - thanks cjPanda( LMB )!

Celebrate a compassionate Thanksgiving this year

By Ari | Nov 2, 09 02:31 PM

2008 CA Celebration FOR the Turkeys
Originally uploaded by Farm Sanctuary

Hello there reader. This year, please consider making your Thanksgiving a compassionate one. You could sponsor a rescued turkey living at Farm Sanctuary, through their Adopt-a-Turkey Project. You could also sign this petition asking President Obama to pardon all turkeys this year - not just one.

Or, just don't eat a turkey, or any other animal who'd rather have a life and a family than fill someone's belly. Dairy and eggs come at a particularly terrible price of suffering (please educate yourself by clicking these links if you're not aware of the suffering and death caused by these industries). There are many delicious alternatives you can enjoy instead of animal products. For delicious recipes, visit FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement)'s Gentle Thanksgiving.

Thanks very much for reading this, and for all you do for animals. Every year I see more folks making compassionate decisions at holidays, and it gives me great hope for my friends of other species.

"We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace." - Albert Schweitzer, The Philosophy of Civilization

Dehumanizing humans: Why animal rights should matter to us all

By Ari | Oct 21, 09 11:11 AM

When I read Ian Perl's piece on on health insurance reform, I Am Not a Dog (Huffington Post) I kept thinking, if we treated animals with respect and compassion, calling a human an animal wouldn't be quite so dangerous.

Perl has muscular dystrophy and has been a target of discrimination:

Our lawsuit uncovered insurance company documents that confirmed my suspicion that I'm a target of discrimination. The documents revealed Guardian had compiled a "hit list" of its costliest members, including patients with muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, and paralysis. Guardian executives referred to us all as "dogs" and "trainwrecks," and they debated how and when to dump us from the rolls. Laws prohibited the cancellation of the individual members with serious chronic health problems, so Guardian opted to cancel the plan for all members of this specific health plan in New York, an action that violates federal law.

Human beings have a history of using animal names and comparisons to justify the exploitation and oppression of other human beings. We can call a woman a "cow" to justify raping or abusing her. We can call people we want to exterminate "cockroaches," people we want to enslave "monkeys," and people we want to ignore "urchins." And we can call a man to whom we want to deny medical care a "dog." We can call humans all of these things, minimizing that which makes them worthy of our concern - their humanness - to justify treating them inhumanely. The animals who bare these names are, of course, even less worthy of our concern. Animals are not just denied medical treatment or abused, they're routinely forcibly inseminated by the billions so we can torture them for a short time before slaughtering them to fill our bellies.

In one of his novels, Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote, "As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behaviour toward creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right." Isaac saw that when we treat one sentient being as an object, we open the door to treating others in the same way. Leo Tolstoy too said: "As long as there are slaughterhouses... there will be battlefields." Will we one day realize, as a species, that our treating any feeling creature as if they can not feel pain (or as if their pain doesn't matter) is just not morally acceptable?

For some painful but illuminating perspective into the issue of treating people "like animals" and what that means about our treatment of animals themselves, please read:

Adorable excited penguin video

By Ari | Aug 28, 09 10:21 AM

These penguins appear to be enjoying the snow falling, and seeing this one little guy running around excitedly brings joy to my heart. But it's sad they're captive, and not allowed to live freely in their native habitat. It seems very wrong to me that you could take someone who loves the snow so much, and put them into this little enclosure in the wrong climate so humans can be amused by them.

But then I don't know, maybe he's excited about something else. Even so, I wish he could be both happy and free.

Via Final Boss Form

I ♥ Coconut Records

By Ari | Aug 14, 09 02:14 PM

I've been obsessed with Jason Schwartzman recently, watching Darjeeling Limited on repeat and listening to Coconut Records over and over. SO GOOD.

Here's a cute article about how Jason likes Babycakes vegan cupcakes and here's a funny photo of Jason with Mike White and Jonah Hill at the Darjeeling Limited LA premiere. Notice Mike's shirt - that's two vegans in one photo! Yay vegans!

Now go listen to Coconut Records, it's adorable.

Food for the Planet Opening Weekend - A New Vegan Restaurant in Ithaca!

By Shira | Jul 27, 09 11:02 AM

While there are a lot of vegans in Ithaca and many accommodating vegetarian and omni restaurants, there is not a single vegan restaurant. There was a little raw joint by The Commons which had weird hours and closed after a few months, and back in the day when we were Cornell students Susie's Seitan had a stand at the Ithaca Farmers Market where she made vegan reubens and other amazing sandwiches with a panini press. ABC Cafe, my favorite vegetarian spot in town (and also the site of some of my first music gigs) sadly closed a few weeks ago due to economic woes, and while Moosewood is delicious, they serve fish and are quite pricey.

There's been a renaissance of vegan desserts in recent weeks with the opening of Emmy's Organics and Free Critter Baking Co. at the market, but where can a lady go to get a solid vegan brunch? The answer is here! Our friend Maija Cantori just opened the aptly-named Food for the Planet, an exclusively vegan restaurant serving dinner Thursday-Sunday and brunch on the weekends. While the grand opening is August 8th, they started welcoming diners last weekend and Ari and I stopped by for Sunday brunch. Our friend Frank's photos were on the wall, there were living plants in pots on every table, the staff was extremely welcoming, and most importantly, the food was soooo good. Check out the photos and stop by if you're in town - you won't be disappointed!

Recent design and illustration work

By Ari | Jul 26, 09 09:25 PM

I just posted a bunch of new stuff on Flickr, if you want to see some of my recent design and illustration work. Well, it's not all recent, it's just stuff I haven't posted online yet.

Ed Begley has a forum on Treehugger!

By Ari | Jul 20, 09 06:27 PM

I don't know how long it's been there or if I'm the last one to find it, but
Ed Begley has a forum on Treehugger, and I love Ed Begley, so I had to blog about it. Not really sure how often he goes there himself (it looks like a team of moderators is helping to get his voice in there, but doing a lot of the work themselves), but it's cool that it's there! Check out this thread about how Ed went vegan, then started eating salmons, and then went vegan again. Good stuff!

I ♥ Flickr

By Ari | Jul 15, 09 08:14 PM

smells good!
Originally uploaded by Yoshiko Oouchi

Posting things on Flickr, and enjoying the scenery. Had to share this amazing drawing I just came across, by Yoshiko Oouchi.

Things I've posted recently:

For my Flickr faves, go here. Also see Shira's Flickr.

Guinea pig cucumber fight (remix)

By Ari | Jul 12, 09 07:20 PM

Thank you, Shira.

Guinea pigs eating watermelon

By Ari | Jul 12, 09 07:14 PM

Thank you, Huffpo.

Photos from Israel

By Shira | Jul 12, 09 06:38 PM

After our week on Wasan Island in Canada, we traveled straight to Israel for my grandmother's 80th birthday celebration. Ari was out of commission for most of the trip because she came to down with lyme disease (no worries - she's on antibiotics and feeling much better). But thankfully she came out of quarantine the last few days to hang out with my family, check out some art in Ein Hod, and see a modern dance performance in Tel Aviv.

During the trip I spent a lot of one-on-one time with my grandmother, savta Margalit. I shot some beautiful video of her telling stories about the Holocaust and her life since for a film I'm making with my brother. I'm also going to be laying out and publishing a book of her poetry later this summer. She's a very inspiring lady - Happy Birthday Savta!

Tesla's beloved pigeon

By Ari | Jul 10, 09 10:00 PM

Today is Nikola Tesla's birthday. Look, he had a pigeon friend:

Tesla had been feeding pigeons for years. Among them, there was a very beautiful female white pigeon with light gray tips on its wings that seemed to follow him everywhere. A great deal of rapport developed between them. As Tesla confessed, he loved that pigeon: "Yes, I loved that pigeon, I loved her as a man loves a woman, and she loved me." If the pigeon became ill, he would nurse her back to health and as long as she needed him and he could have her, nothing else mattered and there was purpose in his life.

An island in Canada, a tick bite, a beach in Israel, a cup of coffee in our livingroom

By Ari | Jul 10, 09 07:59 AM

Shira and I just got back from a two week trip. First there was a week on Wasan Island with our friends from freeDimensional. fD was holding their annual retreat. Last year Shira and I went along as participants, and this year, we were involved as paid staff. We facilitated some sessions, offered one-on-one consultations, and are continuing to document the whole thing with photos, video, and Twitter and blogging. You can read my blog here, and my fD Tweets here. It was a beautiful experience, of course - I think being on Wasan is very, very special, and essential to fD's development. As we continue our follow-up coverage I'm sure the dreamy awesomeness will coalesce into something more coherent than I'm managing here, now.

After our week in Canada, we got on a plane to Tel Aviv - we were headed to Haifa, Israel, to attend Shira's grandmother's 80th birthday. On the plane, I felt so terrible I was worried there was something wrong with me. When we visited Albany a few weeks ago, I was bitten by a tick, but it wasn't until we were in Haifa that the symptoms of Lyme Disease showed themselves. I spent a couple of days with a fever over 100°F, (37.8°C) and then antibiotics saved me. Yay medical technology. And yay having doctors in the family! They don't even have Lyme Disease in Israel, so the hospital would have cost a lot for nothing. Instead, Shira's dad backed up my internet-aided diagnosis and helped me get medication. Did you know that many people who get Lyme Disease get a red target-shaped rash around the bite? It seriously looks like a target. It is very, very weird, but a very helpful signal, as if the tick is leaving you a note saying "this right here is why you feel like your whole body is broken." Thanks, tick.

So, I missed Margalit's birthday, but I hear it was awesome, involving a custom-designed and drawn Pictionary-style guessing game invented by our nephew Eli, and a tour of a botanical garden, and dancing. Shira's posting photos and videos on Flickr, so keep an eye on her photostream if you want to see the cuteness. The parts I was conscious for included a drive to Tel Aviv, where we had dinner at a restaurant on the beach, and then went to a modern dance performance that we all enjoyed. Shira and her brother Amit have been working on a film project with Margalit, and Shira took some footage of her one night, also on a beach.

Israel continues to mystify me. I see it usually as an outsider, and am aghast at the politics, the religious struggle, the violence. Going in and out of the country, the security checks frighten me, and when I'm there, the ever-present soldiers and machine guns scare me as well. But in Israel, there is a curious peace. Most of the time, it's just people living their lives. One can forget that the stakes are so high, that there are blind spots. Shira and I walked on a boardwalk and she climbed down some rocks to the beach, while I waited up top. I watched a woman walking her dog, not letting him stop to sniff and greet other dogs. A man rode by on his bike playing Arabic music on a boom box, and a group of kids shouted happily at him and danced as he passed. The lights of the city glittered along the shore. Peace, at that moment, in that place. We were all coexisting, enjoying the warm summer air and the sound of the sea.

Anyway, here we are back in Ithaca. I'm glad to be back. Sid and Zora and Snow got visits from Isaac, Marina, and Jeremy and Teresa while we were away, and when we came back we found them happy and chill, and our apartment clean and cozy. We're so blessed, with these friends, this community. Today we have another long day of catching up on client work and activist projects; I have a couple of phone meetings and some deadlines and am wondering how I'm going to get it all done. Right now, I'm enjoying a cup of coffee on the sofa with Snow. It's good to be back.

Peeps are made of people

By Ari | Jul 9, 09 04:48 PM

Thanks to PixelVegan for using my "Peeps are boiled bones" poster to illustrate a blog post on gelatin. (And yay Creative Commons!)

If you're vegetarian, vegan, or just care about animals, you should know that peeps are not an animal-friendly food. Read the post for more.

This one's for you, animal family

By Ari | Jun 22, 09 09:27 AM

I've realized recently that I don't speak up enough for animals. I fear bothering people. I know that for me, going vegan was a long and sometimes jarring process. I remember feeling afraid and guilty and very challenged and uncomfortable at times. I remember that the idea of changing my life in what felt like a very drastic and unpleasant way (I really loved eating animals and things they make) was very threatening. So, being someone who likes to be liked, who doesn't like to make people uncomfortable, I've moved away from more confrontational advocacy. I do a lot online, where distance eases discomfort, but in the brick-and-mortar world, I sometimes hold a lot back. I'll be in situations where someone will say something or do something that is so, so oppressive to animals, my cousins, my family, my kin, my friends - and I'll say nothing. Out of fear, I won't leap to their defense, I won't say what needs to be said. If someone says something sexist or homophobic or racist I usually speak up, but with animals - I'm sorry, animals. I sometimes am just not the best ally.

So, I think I should write more about it here. I sometimes don't want to barrage our few blog readers with too much animal rights stuff, but it's a daily part of my life, so I think I need to start being more forthright about it. Maybe through writing about it on our blog I'll find more of a voice to speak about it offline.

Why is this so important? Here is one reason. Right now Snow is in my lap. She's a tiny sweetheart, my baby, my furry little darling. She's not a pet, she's family. She's an individual, a person. I respect her and her needs as I respect the personhood and needs of human beings. I can see that she's not a plant, that she's nothing like one, not an object but a person - she has gingivitis, and her gums hurt, and eating is difficult for her right now. Because she's not feeling very well, she's rather low-energy and is sleeping a lot. And because she's a very lovey, cuddly person, comforted by hugs and other physical contact, she likes to lay on me and hold onto my shoulder.

Some folks might balk at calling an animal a person, but they're certainly not places and they're certainly not things. They are definitely thinking and feeling. They definitely have desires and needs and wants. They hurt, and they cry, and they get hungry, and they love, and they play, and they have dignity and silliness and dreams and games. They get bored. They have fun. They are not things, but people. They may be very different from us, but there is nothing at all about them that is so different from humans that they deserve to be treated differently. Fuzziness or smallness or a lack of ability to speak English or Spanish or do math, does not justify their oppression.

So Snow is a reason why it's important I be able to talk about animal rights. She's one very important reason, and Sid and Zora, our other cat housemates, are also very important reasons. But there are even more reasons - billions and billions of reasons. All of the animals all around the world who can't cry out in words that we can understand, whose cries are ignored because we can't understand them, all of those animals are reasons why I need to be a better ally, why I need to wear my solidarity on my sleeve.

I can't forget them, and I never do. When I'm sitting at a table with human friends, and someone is talking about some delicious eggs, how can I be silent? How can I not speak up in defense of my sisters, the chickens? When I remember every moment that billions of you soft, sweet, helpless ladies are captive, making egg after egg until you're too old and too weak and you're killed and turned into soup, how can I say nothing? How can I pretend that everything is okay? How can I smile at my friend and swallow my discomfort? My discomfort is nothing, nothing compared to the suffering that animals all around the world are experiencing because human beings still believe that might makes right.

So, I'll try to be better. I'll try to speak up for my furry, feathery, scaly family. I'll remember they have no way to speak up for themselves, not even the awareness that freedom from oppression is possible. I apologize in advance if I make my human friends uncomfortable, but as a friend said to me online recently, transformation is painful.

And beautiful. The lovely, amazing, delicious thing about stepping away from exploitation and toward solidarity with other species is that it is a joyous thing, a homecoming.

If you feel uncomfortable when you remember where your food comes from - when you recall that it is a dead body, or that it came from someone who is confined, not free, a slave to human desire - if you feel that way, try not eating that food item, replacing it with something healthful and delicious that came from the earth and the warm sun and a seed, something that didn't cry out when it died. See how you feel. I don't mean physically, though it does feel good, physically, to eat healthful plant foods. I mean morally, ethically. See how it sits with your soul. See how your conscience feels about it. See if you feel better when you know that your food came from the sun and the earth, and not from a living, breathing, feeling person, against their will. That you can be nourished without their suffering is a beautiful thing, freeing. This is the feeling that we and our family are at last at peace, reconciled. That is a homecoming.

Clouds and rain and sky and deer and music and freedom

By Ari | Jun 22, 09 09:00 AM

Shira drove us to Albany this weekend to visit Jesse and Nitya. It was a fun, relaxing time. The drive both ways was beautiful - we went around Binghamton by taking a more rural route, and were able to cruise along in almost zero traffic. It was raining on the way over, and I saw lots of deer outside: two does walking through bushes, the one in front looking back to check on her friend; a watchful doe and her fawn standing in a pond, drinking; and someone standing under bushes, craning her/his neck up to pull at the leaves.

On the way home, we were listening to a playlist Shira made called "Peace and Protest" and I was reading Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass, a young adult novel in the Golden Compass series. The book is about reclaiming your soul from organized religion. The songs were about giving children freedom to be themselves, about getting on the peace train, about people crying for freedom, about the poor rising up to get what they deserve.

As we drove we went in and out of the rain. I could look up at the sky and see the clouds go on and on for miles - dark and heavy with water, with sun peering through; patches of blue sky, with thin wisps of cloud floating off high in the distance. I love looking at the sky like that - something about the vast scale of those mountains of vapor, pouring over this horizon and trailing off over that one, reminds me we're on this little round planet, swaddled in air and water.

The book had me crying. The music and the beautiful world helped the tears out, I'm sure. I looked around and thought, how lovely, this. How incredible and beautiful. How lucky we are to have the senses we each have, to be able to enjoy this extraordinary place. The words of the songs and the book filled me with hope and awareness of others, who for generations and generations have been waking to the world's beauty and to our own power and strength. The people are rising up. The people are seeing heaven is on earth and not through some locked door guarded by people with power and privilege.

Are they? Are we? I hope so. As we drove, my mind flitted from idea to idea, ways to spread the bliss I was feeling; how do you tell others that another world is possible - that is is here right now, and that all we have to do is claim it?

Can you just write it on your blog? It's a place to start.

Check Out My Article About Food, Inc. at Documentary.org

By Shira | Jun 11, 09 02:44 PM

I had a chance to see a preview copy of the new documentary Food, Inc. and interview the Director, Robert Kenner. This is my first article for the International Documentary Association's blog, and I'm psyched to get a chance to write about a topic so close to my heart:

Here's an excerpt and you can read the full article online:
Change: It's What's for Dinner: 'Food, Inc.' Takes on Agribusiness

In a world dominated by corporations, it is no surprise that the American food system has been hijacked by the relentless drive for profit. Under the pretexts of affordability and convenience, modern industrialized agriculture has consistently ignored the unintended consequences of their "efficient" practices on our health and livelihoods, the environment and other species.
Equally implicated is the United States government, which simultaneously subsidizes and fails to adequately regulate the agriculture industrial complex. This reality, explored by Frederick Wiseman in his 1976 cinema vérité documentary Meat and more recently by Nikolaus Geyrhalter in the unnarrated montage film Unser täglich Brot (Our Daily Bread; 2005), is more explicitly tackled in Robert Kenner's Food, Inc., which opens June 12 in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and nationwide on June 19.

The issue of food and the many ways in which it affects our lives is an enormous one, and the film is a broad undertaking, exploring everything from the health impacts of ever ubiquitous high-fructose corn syrup (one out of three Americans born today is expected to develop early-onset diabetes), to water and air pollution caused by intensive factory farming, to human rights violations perpetrated against undocumented workers by mega corporations like Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer. Viewers are aided in processing all of this information by motion graphics created by Big Star NYC, which worked with Kenner to create an entertaining and helpful visual language for the film.

Ultimately, Food, Inc. is an examination of free market capitalism's disregard for anything other than the bottom line. "This is a film that's about more than food," says Kenner. "It's really about corporate consolidation and irresponsibility and about the relationship of these companies with government. It's not that different from what happened with the financial crisis. These companies have been totally irresponsible and at the end of the day, we're the ones who pay the price."

What is up, media?

By Ari | May 6, 09 09:33 AM

I think the more I read the news the more irritated I get with the media. I wish they were more critical. I wish they didn't just repeat each other endlessly. I wish they spent their time more wisely.

But then I remember that capitalism is probably the cause of these ills. If you're so focused on clicks or issues sold or your stock value, you'll do anything to get people to read you. Even that means you have to spend your time making slideshows like this one I just found while reading Google News, instead of covering, oh, I don't know, maternal health as impacted by economics, or US-led bombings in Afghanistan, or other issues of substance.

No, bringing animals into the world to die is not humane

By Ari | Feb 21, 09 10:42 AM

Village Voice writer Sarah DiGregorio asked, "Is Foie Gras Torture?" and decided that she was okay with what she saw when she visited a foie gras operation. Since I am not okay with the death machine we call "animal agriculture," regardless of how "humane" it tries to be, I had to write her a letter protesting her findings. My open letter is below; I urge others to follow suit.

Read the article
Send an email to the author
Send a letter to the editor

Read on for my letter.

Continue reading "No, bringing animals into the world to die is not humane..." »

Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #6: Economies

By shirari | Feb 4, 09 02:33 PM

Tune into the Wednesday, February 4th edition of our podcast to check out our snappy new format! We've broken the show into three segments to make it easier for folks to selectively listen to parts they're interested in:

Local Updates, in which we tell you about wonderful and exciting new developments in our local area, the Fingerlakes region of New York. You'll hear about permaculture organizing, the new Ithaca Freeskool calendar, and a new vegan group. (We can't wait to go to their pizza party on Friday!)
Be the Change, in which we give you two tips, both of which, now that we think about it, are pig-related. (And yet, somehow, relevant to a general audience. We think.)
Discussion: Economies, in which we look briefly at some issues with non-profit funding, venture capital, microlending, and global capitalism, as well as with socialism and other isms, before giving an overview of different interesting alternatives (featuring copyleft, coworking, freeganism, CSAs, relocalization, and other awesomeness).

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Vote for us at Podcast Alley!

Links mentioned in the show:
Hook up with other Fingerlakes Permaculture folks at flxpermaculture.net
Ithaca Freeskool
Ithaca Zine
Ahimsa Ecovillage
Ithaca Vegans Yahoo Group
Vegan Chai is so over bacon!
Ari's Twitter
Find a local CSA at localharvest.org

If you listen to our podcast, tell us what you like about it, and what could be improved! And if you don't listen to our podcast, why not? Tell us what you might like to hear, so we can do a better job of it. Thanks and peace to all who tune into this edition!

Previously:
Previous show notes

Dissection on Valentine's Day: Where's the love?

By Ari | Feb 3, 09 10:27 AM

There will be an event at Ithaca's Sciencecenter on Valentine's Day, during which children will be shown a variety of hearts taken from dead animals, and will watch a dead pig's heart being dissected.

If you too think that this is an inappropriate event for children - or anyone, especially the animals who have to die for it to happen - call 607-272-0600 and ask to speak to Executive Director Charles Trautmann at extension 26, or Associate Director Lara Kimber at extension 12. You can also email them at: info@sciencecenter.org. Please be polite. My email is below.

Hi,
I just heard you're doing a program that involves dissecting animal hearts on Valentine's Day, and I thought I'd let you know my response to it, since I'm an Ithacan, a science fan, and a future parent.

This event seems to me to teach children something very disturbing - that animals are not worthy of our compassion, that these sentient beings are somehow so fundamentally different from humans that it's morally acceptable to kill them and cut up their bodies as a form of education and entertainment. The fact that you're doing it on Valentine's Day just makes it that much more creepy and sad. Animals feel pain and pleasure and sorrow; they have families, interests, lives of their own. They do not exist for us to treat like objects, to mutilate and eviscerate - but to live their own lives. We should respect them, not teach our children to disrespect them as we have for so long.

We relocated to Ithaca because we wanted to start a family. Our little nephews come to visit us, too, and we know many people with kids. When I heard of the Sciencecenter I remember at first thinking it would be a lovely resource. However, I saw an ad for a live bug program you were doing, which gave me pause. I usually don't patronize businesses or organizations that promote the use and abuse of animals. Hearing of this Valentine's Day event has helped me make my decision. No kids I know will be going to Sciencecenter; these values you're teaching do not work for my family.

I thought I would send you this email so that you could understand where folks like me are coming from. Maybe folks who love animals aren't an important part of your audience - but maybe they are. If so, I think you should know what message this event is sending to people like me.

Because I care deeply about animals and my community and know that transparent dialogue is what helps culture change, I hope you don't mind that I'm posting this email as an open letter on my blog:
http://www.shirari.com/blog/2009/02/03/dissection_on_valentines_day_w.html
Please feel free to post your response as a comment if you would like it to appear publicly, or just email me back (I may post your response unless you object). I'm very curious as to your response.

Thanks for reading, and peace!
Ari Moore
Shirari Industries
Ithaca, NY

"The important thing is to never stop questioning."
- Albert Einstein
Why vegan? http://tinyurl.com/2xkmc

UPDATE, 2.11.09: Received on the vegan wire: "The Valentines Day 'I Heart Science' event that involved dissecting a pigs heart has been replaced with examining the chocolate, strawberry and vanilla plants and talking about the foods that come from them. A much more appropriate activity for Valentines Day, or any day!!!" Yesss!!

"Sometimes It's Hard to Breathe" - I finally edited my footage from our trip to India in 2006

By Shira | Jan 18, 09 06:28 PM

Sometimes It's Hard to Breathe from Shira Golding on Vimeo.

Shot in India over three weeks in November 2006, Sometimes It's Hard to Breathe is an experimental, personal travelogue. For more context, check out our photos from the trip:

Shira's India Photos
Ari's India Photos

Warriors: Man, being a feral cat must be rough

By Ari | Jan 14, 09 05:39 PM

Thanks to J for giving me Warriors: Into the Wild! It's a young adult novel of the entertaining-to-adults variety, and there's a graphic novel version as well. It's part of a series about feral cats and their culture - but crossed with very anthropomorphic yet entertaining mythologies and intrigues. What a cool book. I can't wait to have kids so they can read stuff like this.

Our three vegan cat friends are from Bushwick - they were all feral cats, homeless street kittens, when we adopted them. Look at them, they're really awesome.

Read on for my GoodReads review.

Continue reading "Warriors: Man, being a feral cat must be rough..." »

Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #5: Top 8 Activist Strategies

By Shira | Dec 16, 08 05:51 PM

December 16, 2008 - 71 minutes - 95.5MB

After an update about Ithaca, Shaleshock and our vegan ecovillage project, we discuss our top eight best practices for changing the world and conclude the show with some ideas for a d.i.y. anticapitalist holiday season.

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Some Places Worth Donating To (there are so many more, here are just a few):

Arts Engine supports, produces, and distributes independent media of consequence and promotes the use of independent media by advocates, educators and the general public. Donate
East New York Farms! is a collaborative project whose mission is to organize youth and adult residents to address food issues in their community by promoting local and regional sustainable agriculture and community-based economic development. Donate
freeDimensional is an international network that advances social justice by hosting activists in art spaces and using cultural resources to strengthen their work. Donate
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Donate
Just Vision is a nonprofit organization that informs local and international audiences about under-documented Palestinian and Israeli joint civilian efforts to resolve the conflict nonviolently. Using media and educational tools, they raise awareness in order to encourage civic participation in grassroots peace building. Donate
Scenarios USA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that that uses writing and filmmaking to foster youth leadership, advocacy and self-expression in under-served teens. Scenarios USA asks teens to write about the issues that shape their lives for the annual "What's the REAL DEAL?" writing contest, and thousands have responded with their raw and revealing insights. Donate
Shaleshock Citizens Action Alliance is a grassroots group of Finger Lakes residents who are concerned with understanding and protecting our communities and environment from exploitation by the energy industry with regards to drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. Donate

Previously:

Locavore Movie from Japan

By Ari | Dec 13, 08 04:21 PM

Not vegan but very cool. Via TCLocal

Radical solidarity - an artist's statement

By Ari | Dec 11, 08 01:05 PM

It looks like Socialist Party USA is going to publish some of my more activisty artwork in the upcoming International Women's Day edition of Socialist Women. I've done some custom illustration for them and even laid out the whole magazine several times, but this is the first time they'll be publishing the art I make for my own activist purposes. Since it's heavy on animal rights and sustainability and the issue (like most issues...) didn't have any content along those lines, the editorial collective asked me to write an artist's statement to go with the work. I sometimes have a hard time asserting myself as an earthy-crunchy animal-loving hippie in the socialist community, and people have a tendency to get pissed when one draws connections between the oppression of humans and animals, so writing this was a challenge! I really welcome comments from folks - let me know what you think.

In progressive activist circles we often talk of solidarity, and with good reason - unexamined privilege and blindness to the oppression of others makes social change difficult. If we come to activism with open minds and open hearts, we'll find allies everywhere, and our unity will advance the causes of peace and social justice. Fortunately, over time, the circle of compassion has widened further and further. People really seem to be learning to look beyond our differences and understand and identify with each other's struggles on an international level. And finally, activists working in all areas are realizing that this compassion needs to be extended not only to all humans but to the home we all share, our earth.

However, many people are still reluctant to open the circle of compassion to non-human animals. Even in the most radical queer or feminist or socialist spaces, mentions of animal rights are often met with ridicule or patronizing requests that we stick to "real issues" like human rights. Though animals feel pain and pleasure, are sentient enough to have families and desires and agendas of their own, and there are vegan alternatives aplenty to their exploitation, animal rights, we are told, will have to wait until after the revolution.
This pattern is an old one, repeated time after time throughout history. Sojourner Truth was told that black women's rights had to wait until after white women's suffrage had been secured. Bayard Rustin was denied credit for organizing the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom because he was queer. Every time we disregard one person's rights to advance someone else's rights, we may think we're being strategic, but we're also oppressing someone and holding back their struggle.

The means are the ends. We need to be the change we wish to see. It's time for a radical new solidarity that acknowledges all oppressions and all struggles as interconnected. Believe it or not, there are no limits to compassion. Perfection might not be attainable, but it is entirely possible for each of us to begin to abstain not only from the oppression of other humans, but from exploiting animals as well.

Animals may not be able to communicate in a language we can understand, but they have many allies in their struggle: vegans, finally coming to accept and move beyond our species privilege. We may be part of the "circle of life" but our species is capable of great things, including forging new paths that don't include the strong preying on the weak.

I'm an activist / artist living in a progressive town where my partner and I are organizing a back-to-the-land vegan housing collective. I work with local groups and folks online to do community organizing and create art and outreach materials around issues of sustainability, radical solidarity, nonviolence, and economic justice. You can see my work, find out about my current projects, and check out our blog and podcast at shirari.com.

Further Evidence That Animals are People

By Shira | Dec 10, 08 11:02 AM

animals are people
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

An essential step towards compassion is acknowledging that animals are people, too. They might not be human people, but they are people - individuals with interests and relationships and, as this video shows, the capacity to show compassion.

Via Juan Carlos Zaldivar

Shale Shocked

By Shira | Dec 6, 08 03:05 AM

There are many factors that contribute to the fertility and productivity of land that are beyond a landowners' direct control. One of the major issues we need to consider in New York State is natural gas drilling. Ever since the development of more commercially-viable drilling techniques around 2000, major oil companies have been going to town on the Marcellus Shale. One of the main ways they get access to the land is by leasing land and drilling rights from local landowners. While this can be a good source of income for struggling farmers, there are numerous environmental impacts including the distribution of toxic chemicals into the soil and water table.

We've been getting involved with Shaleshock, a local resistance group, and we recently designed their logo and a new website. Check out the site to get up to speed on the issues and take action. One thing you can do now is comment on the DEC's draft scope...

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has released a draft scope document that outlines how they will regulate natural gas drilling of the Marcellus Shale. In addition to commenting at public hearings around the state, you can submit your comments via letter or email by December 15th.

Submit comments to:
Attn: Scope Comments
Bureau of Oil & Gas Regulation, NYSDEC Division of Mineral Resources
625 Broadway, Third Floor
Albany, NY 12233-6500

Or email to dmnog@gw.dec.state.ny.us with "Scope Comments" as the Subject

Download the pdf of the scope

Cool folks we're working with in Ithaca: Ithaca-Area Vegan Meetup Group and Shaleshock

By Ari | Dec 2, 08 03:05 PM

Are you in the Ithaca area, and either vegan or vegan-curious? Come check out the Ithaca-Area Vegan Meetup Group - we have a weekly coffee and tea hour at Autumn Leaves Cafe, 3pm on Sundays. Lately folks have been talking activism, which is awesome! Come over and get involved if you're in town and love animals. Whoo! If you want to help promote, here are handbills and a poster. (Designed by me.)

Another project Shira and I have been participating in is Shaleshock - the site was hacked before we arrived in town and so they haven't had a very good online presence. We're helping to get content up there and organized. It's my first time working with WordPress (I'm usually a Movable Type girl), and it's a lot of fun. Big thanks to Joe for setting this thing up!

Happy Thanksgiving with Love

By Ari | Nov 24, 08 10:32 AM

Thanksgiving approaches, and if you celebrate it, please consider celebrating it compassionately this year! I've met turkeys at Farm Sanctuary, and let me tell you, they are good people. Sweet, kind, lovey - one little guy made purring noises when I petted him, I'll never forget that - and every bit as hungry for holiday food and holiday love as the rest of us are.

There shouldn't be any room for cruelty on the holiday table - it's just too sad to spoil a celebration by eating a helpless, tortured animal. Instead, try a Tofurky from your local health food store, or just leave out the bird / bird facsimile altogether and chow down on pie and mashed potatoes and all that other good stuff. Use soy margarine and rice milk and egg replacer instead of dairy and eggs, and cows and chickens everywhere will thank you, too.

More info on and recipes for a compassionate Thanksgiving:
Turkeys at Poplar Spring: The Luckier Ones [change.org]
Adopt-A-Turkey Project [Farm Sanctuary]
Gentle Thanksgiving [FARM]
Menu: Vegan Thanksgiving [Serious Eats]
Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes [VeganBits.com]

Same-sex marriage and caged chickens: Human freedom, animal rights

By Ari | Nov 11, 08 04:30 PM

I just read a piece on the Huffington Post, Shaun Jacob Halper's Why Some Americans Don't Have Reason to Celebrate, and found it interesting from an animal rights perspective. It reads in part:

This past Election Tuesday, Californians turned out in droves to recognize the rights of caged-chickens while denying the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. Passing Prop 2 and Prop 8, Californians secured a chicken's right to "extend its wings, lie down, stand up, and turn around" in confinement, while revoking basic democratic rights from gays; rights like equal protection under the law, the ability to pursue happiness, and the freedom to worship religion without state interference (that's right, there are Judeo-Christian confessions that view same-sex marriage as sacred). In short, Californians sympathize with chickens but not with gays.

Isn't he minimizing the plight of chickens, and saying one oppression is worse (more worthy of concern) than another? I agree it's tragically sad that so many Californian voters have made such an unjust and oppressive choice. But why compare it to their vote to treat innocent chickens with just a little more compassion, as if that decision is somehow silly or less important?

I too am queer, and I too want my partnership, my family, to be legally recognized and not discriminated against. But though I'm oppressed as a queer woman, I've got all kinds of privilege that make my life about a million times better and more free than that of almost any animal of almost any other species. The way that we treat domesticated animals like chickens is absolutely unconscionable - we literally bring them into the world in huge numbers, expressly to suffer and die for our benefit. That voters have made a tiny step toward treating living, feeling animals with just a little more kindness is a beautiful thing. I don't begrudge my feathered sisters their political win. Maybe the folks who care so much about chickens will one day open their hearts a little wider and extend some kindness to queer folks as well. Denigrating their love of animals will not help them to open their hearts.

Maybe Halper is on his way to this realization already, though he's yet to see the connection between the oppression of non-human animals and the oppression of human animals. He writes,

It is the gay community who has failed to build coalitions with other groups. Wake-up call to gay leadership: We must form institutional alliances with other minority communities and start supporting each others interests. We are not going to see these groups support our right to marry if we do not make an active effort to support them as well.

We need to start seeing allies everywhere, and treating everyone as our brothers and sisters in a universal struggle for peace and justice. Maybe some of those we treat with respect and love don't have the power or capability to give us anything in return - but it's not about reciprocity, it's about doing the right thing by our neighbors. A win for the chickens is a win for us all.

America's First Dog

By Shira | Nov 10, 08 12:47 PM

I think it's really great that the Obamas are considering adopting a shelter dog. However, it seems unjust to me that Malia's allergies might sway the family to go for a "pure" breed. Since when does one person's allergy justify another's oppression? Perhaps it's time to consider adopting a different species altogether. The question is are Americans ready for a ferret in the White House?

Ari's Early Animal Rights Influences

By Ari | Nov 3, 08 10:01 AM

I was sitting here in our cute little library (our new place in Ithaca has a tiny room just right for books) and I looked up at our shelves and thought, a lot of books here really changed me as a child. Somehow I went from eating animals and wearing their skins to thinking of animals as my brothers and sisters. It took a very long time and I'm still working on it (I think I always will - species privilege is really hard to work against), but I know that even as a kid, I was starting to form that consciousness. So, I figured out the titles that I think had the most impact on me early on, and I put them into this GoodReads shelf: Ari's Early Animal Rights Influences

Was anyone else out there spurred to a more developed social consciousness as a result of childhood readings? What titles had the most impact on you?

Read on for the reviews / notes I posted in GoodReads, on each title - or visit the shelf to read them on GoodReads, and write your own reviews.

Continue reading "Ari's Early Animal Rights Influences..." »

The Ithaca Green Buildings Open House

By Shira | Oct 17, 08 04:25 PM

Ari and I spent the first weekend of October climbing on people's roofs, investigating their toilets, and befriending their goats. No, we weren't being inappropriately nosy - it was all part of the 2008 Ithaca Green Buildings Open House!

In partnership with the American Solar Energy Society's National Solar Tour, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, Ithaca Green Building Alliance and the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association organized the two-day event in which twenty-seven sites were open to visitors.

As aspiring owner-builders with a vision for a naturally-built, sustainable ecovillage, the tour offered an amazing opportunity to see what building and energy techniques work locally, and to meet a bunch of really cool people. In addition to a lot of photovoltaic systems, we checked out some amazing living/green roofs, unconventional stoves, outhouses, vegetable gardens, and really, really long driveways.

Folks were using a variety of building-techniques including timber-frame, strawbale, earth-berming and round construction. We also learned, not surprisingly, that a lot of green home-owners love animals. We made friends with many cats and dogs and even a couple of goats!

We managed to visit six homes, but my favorite was the first - Sarah Highland's straw-clay timber-framed house-in-progress. Sarah designed and is building the house herself, with help from friends. It's surrounded by beautiful land featuring a pond, an adorable sauna, and a composting toilet outhouse, which Sarah and Liz lovingly refer to as their "room with a view" and which is also temporarily housing their solar panel equipment.

While some of the other homes on the tour were just as beautiful, Sarah had designed and built the house mostly by herself, which is pretty damn impressive. The masonry stove itself, is something to behold.

All in all, it was a great tour. My take-aways are:

It's all about the land.
If you're not too far from the road, being on-grid has some benefits, even if you're generating most of your own power.
Wood is a beautiful building material.
Solar systems are easier to maintain if they're not on your roof. Unless of course, if you have a solar hot water system on top of your earth-bermed green roof like the Bensons.
Water catchment is easy - all you need is a barrel.
Being a bit of a gadget geek is good.
It makes sense to design a home where you can age in place.
Salvaged and vintage stuff is awesome.
Make friends with your local saw mill.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the tour...

liz says she likes big "crazy" ideas like bike generators - me too!

approaching tina macdonald's place

visitors on the bensons' earth-sheltered living roof

the bensons' roof is so cool...

Hopefully it won't be too long before our home is part of the Ithaca Green Buildings Tour...

Spreading the Word About Ahimsa Ecovillage

By Shira | Oct 6, 08 04:03 PM

On September 20th, 2008, we presented our idea for Ahimsa, a vegan ecovillage, with members of Club Veg Southern Tier and the Ithaca Area Vegan Meetup. The discussion took place at Smart Monkey Cafe where the group convened for a delicious vegan meal. Thanks to Ben Bristoll for video taping the event and to Bill Huston for taking photos!

Ahimsa Ecovillage Discussion from Shira Golding on Vimeo.

I love this photo of us. Doesn't Ari look like a visionary?

Photo by Bill Huston

Check out more photos from the event on flickr...

A new vegan cat community

By Ari | Oct 1, 08 10:31 PM

I've been frustrated for sooo long by my inability to hook up with other folks who have vegan cats. I mean, I've met a few people online, but it's hard to really share information in any kind of organized way. Where can I ask people for advice on how to talk to our vet without getting instant judgement? Where can I share tips on how to best prepare Vegecat homemade vegan cat food?

Well, I finally decided (as if I don't have enough to do), that I should just go ahead and start a community and see what happens. Maybe I'm the only one out there looking for this kind of thing, I don't know. But it's worth a try!

You can visit the community here: vegancats.ning.com

Please feel free to fire questions at me if this is the first time you've heard of vegan cats! And be sure to check out the always adorable Sid, Zora and Snow, our own dear vegan cat housemates.

This is my first time setting up a Ning from scratch, rather than just customizing an existing one, and I've got to say, it's awesome. Very easy to set up and integrate with third-party services. This one is a bit of a practice run for me because I may be setting one up for our friends at freeDimensional in the near future. Go Ning.

Flickr: "popularity" and social change

By Ari | Sep 28, 08 11:31 PM

Ah, Flickr. I spend waaaay too much time on there. But you know, I consider it a form of activism - and there are some amazing activists on there spreading some beautiful ideas, so I'm not the only one with an agenda. I can be very shy in person, but on Flickr, I can have meaningful dialogues with people from all over the world, many who help me to learn and change, and many who I hope I've helped along a bit as well.

I think that Flickr's measures of "popularity" are very compelling measures of what works and what doesn't in doing advocacy on Flickr. Here are the four measures of popularity (according to Flickr), and some notes on how each measure is useful from an activist perspective.

Most interesting
Mostly my art, at this point - which is encouraging! But then, the whole "interestingness" thing on Flickr is a bit of a mystery so I'm not sure what this says about my art. Some of my more political stuff is right up top in this list, and by keeping track of what Flickr calls interesting, I can adjust my ongoing work to see if I can tweak the results. Yes, I literally make art that I think might get into this queue. If I can get Flickr to call activist art interesting, that means more people see it when browsing Flickr.

Most views
If a photo has anything remotely sexy in it, tag it with "sex" and "sexy" and you too will soon be posting photos in the "5,000 views" and "10,000 views" groups. Some results break this mold though - like this snap of a sidewalk installation by De La Vega. The upside of the ridiculousness of sexy tags' popularity is that you can use this to create dialogue. Yay stealth feminism!

Most faved
Also a lot of my art, and my more arty photos. Yaay! This is why I love Flickr - honestly I never made so much art before I started posting stuff on here and getting feedback. By keeping track of what folks like about my work, I can adjust what I post and get more challenging ideas out there more effectively.

Most commented upon
Somehow, I've been fortunate enough to get some really great dialogues going around speciesism, sexism, sustainability, and other issues - many of which go on for some time. I've learned a lot over the years and have gotten pretty good at keeping dialogue going. If I get worked up or push radical ideas on people too quickly or too forcefully I find that I come off as pedantic or holier-than-thou and the dialogue sputters out quickly. I find that asking questions is more useful - if folks reach conclusions on their own they'll be more engaged and will want to keep talking with me. It's fun to see other activists join in to help me out - and I've even purposefully posted my photo in relevant groups to get activist help on occasion! But it's even more fulfilling and enjoyable to see folks coming around to compassion, just by having the space to ask questions and challenge my ideas.

Does anyone else do this kind of thing? How do you get conversation going on difficult subjects?

Previously: 6 best practices: Engaging in social networking for social change

13 changes we've made to help the earth

By Ari | Sep 26, 08 09:38 AM

Here's a photo of a card in our last set of little outreach materials we distributed around NYC before leaving for the greener streets and gorges of Ithaca. We used the little cards that we have left over from when we had our wedding invitations printed up, pasting handwritten and printed bits of paper over the parts with text. Presto - new outreach cards, less waste, and no printing costs. Yay!

I thought I'd post about some of the things Shira and I have done to reduce our environmental impact. We've been trying a lot of things and have really reduced our footprint in tangible ways - and we're still living just as lush and happy a life as we were before we started making these changes. In fact, reducing our impact on our planet not been an experience of deprivation or bother - it's actually enriched our lives and brought us a lot of happiness and relief and fulfillment. Read on for some ideas, from quick and easy things to bigger lifestyle changes, that you too could try on for size. The earth, the animals, and the next seven generations will thank you!

Continue reading "13 changes we've made to help the earth..." »

It's gay week - and I love Ian McKellen!

By Ari | Sep 25, 08 01:05 PM

McKellen promotes gay tolerance:

Actor Sir Ian McKellen is to visit schools, giving talks about gay tolerance. The star, best known to youngsters as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, hopes to end bullying of gay pupils... "I said that we are all part of a minority group - be it for being short, or tall or fat or thin, or having red hair or whatever. I said hands up who thinks they are part of a minority group and all the hands went up. I had Gandalf's sword with me and I knighted a pair of children Sir Minority and Dame Minority and it went down very well... It is essential to talk to 12 and 13-year-olds because they absorb what's thrown at them, whether it be homophobia or tolerance - and we have to make sure it's the positive stuff."

What with Brad Pitt and Steven Spielberg donating money in support of gay marriage, and Lindsay Lohan and Clay Aiken coming out (congrats and thanks to both of them!), and now this, I feel like it's gay week! What a beautiful new world we're making for queer youth.

A while back, a hater dissed me on Flickr for my veganism, and also took issue with me calling myself a "queer vegan" in all of my online bios. I admit at the time I actually felt hurt and a little embarrassed. But then I took a step back and remembered why I describe myself in that way, and felt a little more self-assured. When I was growing up queer people were largely invisible - this was pre-Ellen! Even though I had supportive queer people in my own family, I did grow up with a lot of internalized homophobia and massive gender issues. It's taken me a long time to finally accept who I am and to be honest about it. Becoming vegan too was a huge step for me, a big break with family tradition and a very hard struggle, to acknowledge speciesism in myself and to change my actions to be in line with my ethics and my heart.

So here I am, finally, a queer vegan - and I can't help but wish that as I was growing up, there had been more visible, out and proud queer folks and vegan folks around in the media and in popular culture and in my community. So when I put that right up front it's because I want to be visible, obvious. I don't want anyone to guess or have to ask. I want little queer kids, and little kids who love animals, to immediately know that I'm like them, and that it's okay to be like this. I sure don't have the visibility or profile of Sir Ian McKellen or Lindsay Lohan, but every little bit counts, right?

Anyway, happy gay week.

Jonathan Safran Foer Tells It

By Shira | Sep 10, 08 10:55 AM

He never uses the word "vegan" so I'm not sure exactly where Mr. Safran Foer stands, but he makes some great arguments for going vegetarian, especially if you're a Jew who keeps Kosher. I particularly like this bit where he quotes Tolstoy...

For some reason I hold in the back of my mind that everybody I know is going to be a vegetarian in twenty years, it's something I really believe... Tolstoy once said that if everyone were vegetarian, there wouldn't be war anymore. And it sounds like a very silly statement on the surface because what on earth does one have to do with the other. But I thought about it a lot, and I believe in it - not because the meat industry itself is causing wars, but because if we became the kind of people who were regularly choosing our reason over our hungers, being more deliberate, more willful about our sense of what's right, we'd be living in a very different kind of world.

An update on Ahimsa, our vegan ecovillage project

By Ari | Sep 9, 08 10:35 AM

Club Veg Southern Tier has invited us to the Smart Monkey Café outing they've planned with The Ithaca Area Vegan Meetup Group. If you're in the area, please join us - you can RSVP here.

We've just updated and improved the project webpage and ic.org listing. We hope that it now provides a clearer and more useful way to get involved than our previous request that people email us (which we always took waaaay too long to respond to). It also provides some guidance as to where to go from here, once you've joined the list. And finally, it now answers a lot of questions that kept coming up in our discussions.

If you're interested in community living and would be willing to live in a sustainable, cruelty-free way in or around Ithaca, we want to meet you! Check out the page for more info and to get involved.

Previously:
A community can look like this
Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #2: Housing
Ahimsa Ecovillage

UN says eat less meat to curb global warming

By Ari | Sep 9, 08 10:02 AM

'In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity,' said [Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which last year earned a joint share of the Nobel Peace Prize]. 'Give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there,' said the Indian economist, who is a vegetarian. (Read more)

Warning: The article has a big gross photo of a chunk of cow flesh right up top.

When we were in India we loved seeing the streets lined with vegetarian restaurants, and found delicious cruelty-free dosas and thalis just about everywhere. Unfortunately avoiding dairy can be a little tricky due to the widespread use of ghee and cream. Kerala, the beautiful Socialist area in the south, uses coconut milk instead. So any vegan Socialists headed to India, now you know where to go. Though if we're reducing our impact, we shouldn't be flying anymore! Does anyone know a good eco-friendly steamship service?

What do vegans eat? See photos of delicious vegan food and Some recent vegan deliciousness. See our map of NYC picks, and our 8 Vegan Restaurants We'll Miss When We Leave NYC.

(Via The Ithaca Area Vegan Meetup Group)

Bird Peace illustrations

By Ari | Sep 8, 08 08:24 AM

So, I did some drawings the week before we moved to Ithaca, in the mornings. Each morning I did one and posted it on Flickr. I got a surprising amount of positive feedback - yay Flickr! I cannot recommend Flickr highly enough for any budding artists / visual experimenters / photographers out there. If positive reinforcement is something that drives you, Flickr's community has got it in spades. Thank you, Flickr friends.

Anyway, here are the four pieces. Each one is about peace, and each one is kinda birdsploitation. I really dig birds. There's an immediate association with peace, because of our friend the Peace Dove. But birds are good inspiration in other ways. They, like us, sing songs and decorate nests. They, like us, seek heights but come back down to the creature comforts of food and sleep and family. I think we have a lot to learn from them.

Teach Peace. The tiniest bird can teach us peace. She lives in her ecological niche, in sustainable equilibrium with the other species around her. She never takes more than she needs to survive, allowing her neighbors to thrive and support her in turn. In turn, we can learn to act with such peace that no animal needs to fear us any longer. We need to improve how we fit into our own ecological niche, to begin to help our neighbors to thrive.

The means are the ends. This one is taken from a quote by Gandhi, who said, "the means are the ends in progress." Basically, no, violence is never justified, because if you want peace, you need to use peaceful means to get it. That's where peace comes from. That's what peace is.

Might does not make right: This one is just a reminder from one of our small, sweet cousins. Did you know chickens score higher on cognitive tests than do dogs or cats? Or if you prefer scripture over science, doesn't god hear every sparrow fall? The tiniest, downiest chick deserves nothing less than compassion, and the right to be let alone with his loving family. (Sadly, commercial egg production involves unspeakable horrors done to chicks. Please read about it if you aren't yet informed - and go vegan!)

Everything will be OK (no really). This one is another reminder. If we look at the long arc of history we can see how much better things have become over time. I believe another world is not only possible, but is being built right now. Join in! Read Nowtopia or The Great Turning if you need evidence or more encouragement than these birds can give you. Everything will be OK!

For more of my work on Flickr, please check out my i made this photoset. Comments (here and on Flickr, negative and positive) are always welcome.

"Bee-Boys" ask us to save the honey bees

By Shira | Aug 21, 08 08:25 PM

...but I have to ask, why does Haagen Dazs want to save the bees, but not the dairy cows? And where are they getting their honey?

Here are some original B-Boys and the woman who documented them when hip-hop was born:

The Great Turning: The world getting better, already in progress

By Ari | Aug 11, 08 11:06 AM

If you read one book this year, please make it David C. Korten's The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community. I really think this book has the potential to change the world. Actually, I think this book is only one small part of the movement it describes - not only is another world possible, it's being built right now. This book explains what's happening all around us clearly and with compassion, and invites us to take part in the great turning of human civilization from age-old patterns of domination and exploitation, to cooperation, partnership, and peace.

Korten comes from a mainstream U.S. background - he worked for years trying to help folks around the world improve their lives through the application of global capitalist strategies. He discovered that this didn't help but rather hurt people, and over time turned instead to more progressive means. Today he is co-founder and board chair of the Positive Futures Network and YES! A Journal of Positive Futures, and works on a host of other amazing projects aimed at creating a better world right now. The Great Turning is Korten's careful explanation of where we've gone wrong, what's happening right now, and how we can turn it all around for the better.

Continue reading "The Great Turning: The world getting better, already in progress..." »

6 best practices: Engaging in social networking for social change

By Ari | Aug 9, 08 03:56 PM

as a vegan lesbian, i find this doubly gross
Originally uploaded by arimoore

I'm a Flickr addict. I have nearly 450 contacts and am in over 280 groups; I admin or moderate an additional 8 groups, two of which I started. Sometimes I worry I'm spending too much time on the site, but I get so much out of it I think the effort is more than worth the return - I've gotten feedback on my drawings that's been a huge motivator and inspiration for future work; I've had dialogues with activists and others that have gone on for days and changed minds all around (including my own, many times); folks have found my work and used in their own projects or published it with their articles - and even an upcoming book - while I've found images to use in pieces for our clients, in lieu of stock photography. All in all it's been a very positive experience, and I've picked up a lot about how to be more effective as an activist and as a member of the Flickr community. I thought I'd share a few of the things I've learned.

Continue reading "6 best practices: Engaging in social networking for social change..." »

Jack and Jane - Environmental Pioneers

By Shira | Aug 1, 08 02:30 PM

"Sudan? Monkey riding a rhino"

By Shira | Jul 30, 08 04:08 PM

Sudan? Monkey riding a rhino
Originally uploaded by George Eastman House

I just discovered Flickr: The Commons.

humans are so...creepy

By Shira | Jul 16, 08 05:30 PM

considering euthanasia for wild horses
gps for tracking hunting dogs
celebrity chef suffocating chicks on TV
running cars on cow fat
sheep as dialysis bags

Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #3: Travel

By shirari | Jun 30, 08 06:26 PM

Get ready for an hour and twelve minutes of non-stop queer vegan rambling! Wait, that didn't sound particularly attractive. Rest assured it'll be worth a listen - in this third installment of Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast we talk about our recent trip to Israel, Amsterdam, and Iceland, and how we attempted to take best advantage of the fuel used to have a experience that was as low-impact and culture-rich as possible. You'll hear about a kibbutz that turns soda cans and other trash into eco-friendly buildings, bikes by the boatload, naked showers with Europeans, friendly ducks interrupting breakfast in a tent, a town where street art is loved and not hated, and delicious, delicious falafel.

Shira's voice is kinda quiet in this one, sorry about that! We're still working out the technical kinks here. If you're actually downloading and listening to these, please comment and tell us what you think! Thanks to those of you who've written to us or commented already, we're so happy folks are giving these a listen.

Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #3: Travel »
June 30, 2008 - 72 minutes - 32.9MB

Show links:

Previously:

"Chickens are decent people." - George Carlin

By Shira | Jun 29, 08 07:06 PM

About four minutes into this amazing monologue about a woman's right to choose, Carlin asks, "How come when it's us, it's an abortion, and when it's a chicken, it's an omelette?" While Carlin was not a vegan (or vegetarian), he was an astute observer of American society, including its schizophrenic attitudes towards animals.

Carlin died just as I started reading Lenny Bruce's autobiography How to Talk Dirty and Influence People. Carlin has cited Bruce as an influence many times and was actually at the famous Lenny Bruce performance when Bruce was arrested for obscenity.

While America has a long way to go in the struggle for social justice, I've got to give props to these comedians for moving us forward in significant ways and paving the way for today's politically progressive comics. After all, could Stephen Colbert be named the 3rd most influential person of the year by TIME Magazine readers if Lenny hadn't pushed the envelope in the '50s and '60s? Nope.

More photos from Reykjavik, Amsterdam, and Israel

By Ari | Jun 26, 08 10:41 AM

shira and a troll friend
Originally uploaded by arimoore

Better late than never, here are my photos from our recent trip, finally all organized and described and tagged on Flickr. You'll find cute animals and magical forests, street art and graffiti, beautiful architecture and ancient ruins, macro experiments and lens flares, geologic wonders, funny and strange signs and art, and lots of ecological sustainability and animal rights stuff. Comments highly appreciated!

Previously: Two and a Half Weeks in Israel, Amsterdam and Iceland (Photos by Shira)

Heinz UK Pulls Ad Showing Two Men Kissing

By Shira | Jun 25, 08 01:31 PM

I'm not sure what's more shocking - that this ad was pulled because of complaints or that it was aired in the first place. I can't imagine Heinz putting an ad this gay on U.S. television, Americans are way too homophobic. Further evidence that capitalism serves profit, not people, and definitely not the chickens whose eggs go into Heinz mayonnaise.

Now if Heinz is looking for new ideas for the American market, they need look no further:

Monkeys, Pigeons and Vegans Oh My!

By Shira | Jun 19, 08 03:34 PM

Doesn't this photo make you smile? It's of a monkey and pigeon who have become close friends at an animal sanctuary in China:

The 12-week-old macaque -- who was abandoned by his mother -- was close to death when [he] was rescued on Neilingding Island, in Goangdong Province. After being taken to an animal hospital his health began to improve but he seemed spiritless -- until he developed a friendship with a white pigeon. The blossoming relationship helped to revive the macaque who has developed a new lease of life, say staff at the sanctuary. From Mail Online

This story gives me a "new lease on life."

Also, check out this awesome clip on CNN about going vegan. It's one of the most positive non-dismissive segments about veganism that I've ever seen coming from the mainstream media:

Rustie, the Fluffy Interruptor

By Ari | Jun 18, 08 12:11 PM

I first got to know the Socialist Party NYC when Shira and a friend and I went to their screening of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. Halfway through the screening a big friendly orange cat came wandering in to watch with us. During the follow-up discussion, he was dissatisfied with the amount of attention he was getting, got up, walked right over in front of Tommy, who was facilitating, and plopped down - rather cutely and awkwardly, on his back or butt if I recall correctly - right there in the middle of the conversation. That helped get our attention where he wanted it.

Here he is! I was introduced to him properly at my first SP-NYC meeting, and ran into him many times afterward. This shot was sent to me by the amazing activist David McReynolds, who I also met at my first SP-NYC meeting, and who writes, "here is Rustie (named after Bayard Rustin), the War Resisters League cat (he lives in the office)." Thanks Rustie, for helping me become an anti-capitalist.

Should Animals Be Doing More For The Animal Rights Movement?

By Shira | Jun 13, 08 04:11 PM

Should Animals Be Doing More For The Animal Rights Movement?

In other words, animals can't organize, so we humans have to speak up on their behalf. I love the Onion, especially when they make fun of PETA.

Cat update: Integration

By Ari | Jun 5, 08 08:58 AM

cuddle fest part III
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

Let me give you a cat update! It's been a while. So, we adopted Snow. But it wasn't easy - it turns out cats are so territorial that when you bring in a new cat, not only do you have to keep the new cat in quarantine for health reasons, you then have to carefully integrate her into the household, once she's healthy, a process that can take weeks or even months. They're now successfully sharing food bowls, romping around the apartment together, and Sid and Zora are getting more and more cozily happy again (see photo), so we're pretty much done with this difficult stage. I thought I should write about it though, because when we were figuring it all out, online accountings were really helpful for us. So, to add to the dialogue:

We gave the cats safe spaces and lots of respect. The cats all needed a lot of space to feel comfortable in. The resident cats will feel very threatened if the new cat comes up on them unexpectedly, so we kept Snow in the front room of our place and gave Sid and Zora the rest of the apartment. Zora didn't like being picked up during this period because it made her nervous to lie prone in our arms with this other cat around, so we laid off that for a while. (She's now back to wanting to be cuddled like a baby!)

We did scent-mixing. Before the cats really started interacting, we switched their bedding and toys around all the time, and would occasionally rub a sock on them all in turn a few times, mixing their scents up and getting Sid and Zora accustomed to Snow before they even got to meet her properly.

We arranged more and more frequent visits. First just glimpses through a cracked door, then carefully chaperoned visits with an old window screen propped in the doorway, and then, while we were out of town for a while with a catsitter at our place (thanks, Sam!), with a screen door keeping them apart but allowing for more and more contact and visibility.

making a screen door
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

We used Feliway. Honestly, I don't know for sure if this worked, but it sure seemed to. This is a synthetic cat pheromone you can spray in doorways and in other areas that make cats nervous; when they pass it they catch the scent and feel happier and more at ease. Everyone did a lot of purring and seemed more open to playing in each other's presence when we used this.

We used separate food dishes and litter boxes. This way no one felt they'd be ambushed. Gradually we moved them more and more close to each other until they were so comfortable they were using them all interchangeably, and so we eliminated the extras and now they're all sharing everything. Yay!

We took our time. Every time we tried to rush the new relationship by not following our careful integration plan, Zora got very upset and the whole process was set waaaay back. Don't hurt your cat friends by rushing them into something that's very difficult for them, and you'll have a much more positive outcome. If I could change one thing about our integration process, it would be allowing even more time. The more slowly you take integration, the more quickly it'll happen successfully.

Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary: Letter from a Vegan World

By Ari | May 22, 08 12:16 PM

Letter from a Vegan World, a blog post by the abolitionist folks at Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary:

At a time when most animal rights organizations are actively promoting, advocating and rewarding "humane" animal products and farming methods, I am writing to you on behalf of three of the recipients of that mercy.

To the industry, they are known as production units #6, #35, and #67,595. To the "compassionate" consumer, they are known as feel-good labels: "organic dairy", "rose veal", "free-range eggs". To welfare advocates, they are known as "humane alternatives". To each other, they are known as mother, son, sister, friend. To themselves, they are simply what you and I are to ourselves: a self-aware, self-contained world of subjective experiences, feelings, fears, memories – someone with the absolute certainty that his or her life is worth living. (Read more)

Two and a Half Weeks in Israel, Amsterdam and Iceland

By Shira | May 12, 08 05:36 PM

Israel (232 Photos)

Amsterdam (232 Photos)

Iceland (207 Photos)

Photos from Ari and more about the trip coming soon :)

Nim Chimpsky, humans, and the animal family

By Ari | May 7, 08 10:53 AM

An activist friend of mine, Jesse Lokahi Heiwa, sent me a link to Chris Colin's The chimp who thought he was a boy, a Salon interview with Elizabeth Hess on her new biography, Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human. What a read. I was once interested in doing sign language research with primates, and today am very glad I didn't end up going that route. On the one hand you get this real sense of our connection with our ape cousins, and a new illumination of their personhood, but on the other, you can't really forge such a close (and arguably productive) relationship without harming the ape you're communicating with. Apes aren't meant to be pets, actors, research subjects, or companions to humans - they're evolved to hang out with other apes. The interview, and I'm sure the book, paint a very sad picture of how hurt Nim was when people stopped treating him like a human and started treating him like an ape again.

The article begins "Sometimes we're animals." Colin means it in the sense that what members of our species did to Nim was "bestial," inhumane (inhuman). But I think he's got it backwards. Humans are always animals; the other animals are our family, like it or not. We may try to "elevate" ourselves from their ranks, call human actions moral ones, and equate animals with lawless cruelty. But when we treat our cousins badly, our behavior isn't bestial but all too human. Only we set up research labs, and only we have the power to call the shots on our brothers' and sisters' lives with impunity. I think we need to spend more, not less, time thinking of ourselves as animals, and develop some empathy out of that connection.

This is what happens when you move to the woods, part 2

By Ari | Mar 29, 08 11:06 AM

Yeek. The creepy Craig's List land postings aimed at hunters just don't end. Does this listing's conflation of snowmobiling, boating and skiing with killing deer, turkeys and fishes bother anyone else? On the one hand you have innocent fun running around in the outdoors (or, you know, polluting it with a snowmobile, but whatever), and on the other hand, you have hunting down a living being and violently extinguishing his life so you can eat his flesh and maybe stuff his skin so you can hang his dead body on your wall for posterity. That's "sport"? Seriously?

Anyway, using a list of free-living animals currently living on a piece of land as an incentive to folks who would like to come and kill them to come buy said land, is, in my opinion, disgusting and sad. Every time I see a listing like this one I want to buy the land just to save the animals from being killed off by some other buyer who's actually attracted to land listings like this one.

Earth Hour, Blackout Sabbath, and other symbols of sustainability

By Ari | Mar 29, 08 10:37 AM

Today I was happy to see Google blacked out in support of Earth Hour, tonight's hour of energy awareness (8pm - 9pm). Turn out your lights to participate, if you're into it.

However, reading about Earth Hour, I couldn't help but think Rufus Wainwright's Blackout Sabbath - 12 hours of no energy use at all, on the summer solstice, June 21, along with setting personal goals for sustainability - is a lot more hardcore. The World Wildlife Fund, who's behind Earth Hour, should have talked to Rufus and set their sights a little higher, pushed people a little harder!

On Rufus' short sample list of actions one can take for the environment, he even includes going vegan (my fingers are SO crossed right now that he'll join our vegan ranks... c'mon Rufus, you can do it...). Veganism is such an obvious step toward sustainability that it gets a little infuriating when I see Treehugger and WorldChanging and the like continually ignoring it as an option and suggesting people find "sustainable fisheries" and "happy meat", as if that solves much else besides making people feel a little better about oppressing animals.

I don't think I'm going to participate in Earth Hour, but I do think I'll do Blackout Sabbath. I loved the blackout too, and I think it could be magic to spend that time making art about the earth and the future, or writing by (vegan!) candlelight about the times to come and how we can make it beautiful. I like setting goals for myself, and I like participating in consciousness-raising events like fasts and the like, because I like, well, raising my consciousness. These events are symbols, but important ones: They're fissures in the wall of separation we put up between our energy-consuming, self-centered, here-and-now lives - and the future, our children's future, the future of the earth. We don't like to look over there, to see what we're actually setting up for ourselves. If it takes an hour (or 12 hours) of reflection and awareness to really take a good look at what we're doing and how we can change, then that symbolic act is a very useful one.

But in the end, we need more than just temporary observances and symbolic acts, right? If you're out of a room for over two minutes, there shouldn't be a light on in there. If you've got appliances with power indicator lights on them that are plugged in all day, they're just sitting there sucking up energy, and should be unplugged until they're needed. If your home just doesn't stay cool in the summer or warm in the winter, maybe you need to fix your insulation so all of that energy doesn't just fly our the window. In every situation we have the power to make decisions that add to the problem, or that make the world a better place. There are easy little things we can all do every day, all day, to go beyond symbols and toward true sustainability. What do you do? And do symbols help, or distract from this larger, deeper movement?

Celebrate Foodswings' birthday - Sunday, NYC

By Ari | Mar 26, 08 10:24 AM

yet more foodswings deliciousness
Originally uploaded by arimoore

On Sunday, March 30, the delicious and amazing "vegan fast food joint" Foodswings in Williamsburg, Brooklyn will be hosting an anniversary party. If you are in NYC and like fake meat and french fries and milkshakes, you must go! There will be three menus to choose from: their mighty-fine regular menu, the midnite munchies menu, and the elusive, long-cancelled brunch menu, which you can only take advantage of during parties like this one. Foodswings catered our vegan wedding and we still get compliments about the tasty, tasty food from our mostly-omnivorous friends and family, over a year later.

Plus, you can't beat the atmosphere, or the neighborhood. You've never seen such tight pants, or such decked-out bikes, or such fun hats. Foodswings is a great place to pick up hand-drawn punk show fliers and read a copy of Arthur Magazine or the Onion. It's also right around the corner from Cinders Gallery, one of our favorite galleries in NYC, and from The City Reliquary, home of the Giant Pencil Collection and numerous labeled chunks of cement from exotic locations like Coney Island. In short, it's one of our favorite corners of NYC. See you on Sunday?

Vegan Treasures from My Mom

By Ari | Mar 17, 08 06:05 PM

My mom runs an online business selling vintage women's clothing: Vintage Lucy. I wanted to help her make the leap from eBay to her own shop, and I thought I could make her a PayPal shop using Movable Type - but I don't usually do jobs that involve animal exploitation, and Mom's amazing collection happens to contain some wool, leather, and feathers. I did end up making the site, and am now helping her do some outreach.

I have to admit that I'm really glad that I compromised my ideals to work with her on this site! 100% vegan though it may not be, it can help my mom make a living. And it so happens that Mom has become increasingly open to animal rights ideas over the years. She dabbles in vegetarianism and veganism and is constantly educating herself and changing; she cares for and loves many animals, and recently has done a little animal rights activism. She added a new category of items to her site called Vegan Treasures - as she points out, "wearing vintage & pre-worn is recycling, saving precious animals & the Earth." Check it out - there's some very beautiful stuff in there (all of the photos above are from this category): Vintage Lucy Vegan Treasures (No animal products used in these beauties.) Who knows, maybe this is only the tip of the vegan iceberg for my mom...

Tiny houses = small footprint

By Ari | Mar 9, 08 11:10 AM

A tiny house means fewer materials and less energy used in construction, lower fuel-use and emissions. It also (potentially) means that more of your land is left undeveloped, leaving room for our free-living neighbors to move back in.

Here's an adorable video of Tumbleweed's Jay Shafer giving a tour of his tiny house:

Another tiny house company: Martin House-To-Go
See also: The Small House Society, Tiny House Blog

Vegans feeding people

By Ari | Mar 2, 08 04:05 PM

I was just doing some research into overlaps between veganism and mutual aid, and was a little shocked at how few programs for hungry folk are run by vegans. It's too bad, it seems like a really good idea! It's safer to prepare and handle than animal-based food, and can be cheaper, too - and giving cruelty-free food to people who need it seems like a natural extension of the vegan ideal of ahimsa (most good / least harm).

Here are a few organizations that are vegan or vegetarian - anyone know of any others?

Food Not Bombs - freegan, anarchist free vegan food movement
Vegfam sustainable, vegan agriculture projects aimed at reducing hunger and providing disaster relief
Food for Life Hare Krishna-run lacto-vegetarian food aid and disaster relief program
The People's Potato worker-owned vegetarian soup kitchen
Freegan.info freegan feasts, trash tours and community meals

Snow Kitten Found a Home - Ours!

By Shira | Mar 1, 08 02:42 PM

ari and snow
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

For those of you wondering if we found someone to adopt the kitten we brought in from the cold last week, the answer is yes - us! She is ridiculously cute and affectionate, and we have totally fallen in love with her.

We got her checked out by our vet, and she's in really good shape aside from healing ears (we think she might have had frostbite). She still is being quarantined from Sid and Zora since we have to wait another week to get her tested for FIV, but we have a feeling that they're all going to get along.

Our little family is growing - hooray! And her name is...Snow.

Related: Snow Kitten Needs a Home

Snow Kitten Needs a Home

By Shira | Feb 22, 08 10:52 AM

Watch video of the snow kitten!

Last night, Ari and I took in a kitten who was stuck outside in the cold. He/she (we're not sure) had been visiting our window for several nights, and seemed genuinely interested in coming inside. We already live with two cats who we adopted off the street, and we don't have the resources to take care of a third, but we're trying to find him/her a home.

As you can see from the photo and video, this little kitten is adorable and striking and really loves human affection. We think he/she will also probably get along with other cats, based on interactions with our cat, Sid, through the window.

We will probably end up taking this cat to a no-kill shelter in the next day or two, but if any of you are in Brooklyn/NYC and would like to offer him/her a home, we could bring him/her to you and even hook you up with some supplies to get started. Email us ASAP at info@shirari.com.

Tofu and Soy Milk Explained, by Puppets

By Ari | Feb 4, 08 06:08 PM

(via invisible voices)

Vegan Ice Cream Tasting!

By Shira | Jan 29, 08 03:43 PM

wheeler's black label vegan ice cream tasting
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

A couple of weekends ago Ari and I went to a free tasting of Wheeler's Black Label Vegan Ice Cream at a tiny gallery in the East Village called Little Cakes. The two flavors we tried were peanut butter chocolate chip and espresso, and they were both delicious.

The company is based in Boston, but they're planning on expanding their distribution. To get the word out, they're throwing free tasting parties around the country, and anyone can volunteer to be a host.

While I have mixed feelings about vegan facsimiles of animal products -- they usually are highly-processed and not nearly as healthy as whole foods -- I still "need" an occasional fix, and am looking forward to the day that Wheeler's is in my grocer's freezer. Once you taste some, I'm sure you'll agree, even if you eat dairy.

No more Alba Hawaiian lip balm for me

By Ari | Jan 29, 08 10:19 AM

Alba Pisses Me Off!!
Originally uploaded by Flower~

Alba's amazing vegan lip balm is about to become not vegan. They're adding beeswax! It's such a shame. I will miss the pineapple coconut deliciousness. If you too are an unhappy vegan, write them a letter.

Fortunately, there are a lot of other cruelty-free options available. (Merry Hempsters, Literati, Pussy Pucker Pots, Eco Lips, DIY...)

If you're not boycotting bee products yet, please read Why Honey is Not Vegan. For a glimpse into the world of industrial beekeeping, visit Honey Bee Insemination Service.

On Cat Petting

By Shira | Jan 27, 08 06:33 PM

sid's in my lap
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

One of the many benefits of working primarily from home is more quality time with Sid and Zora, our cat housemates. I'm really into petting. Don't get me wrong -- playing is awesome, too, and it certainly seems just as important to them, but if asked to choose between the two, I'm going with petting.

While petting Sid this evening, I was thinking about the fact that I don't really know whether the way I pet Sid is the way that everyone pets their cats. Is there a universal cat/human language that all cat adopters intuit?

A quick search on YouTube reveals a range of cat petting approaches including butt tapping, "extreme cat petting!", and an automated cat-petting machine.

I also found this one, which best approximates my "style," and I discovered that it's always a good time for a cat massage.

This is what happens when you move to the woods

By Ari | Jan 10, 08 09:10 AM

Shira and I are planning a move to Ithaca, New York late next summer, and have been trawling Craig's List for cabins and the like. Earthy crunchy vegans like us aren't the only ones who dig the area; hunting-oriented listings like this are really common. Note that there are 76 acres of "forrest" being sold here, but the only photo is a fuzzy closeup of future hunting victims. Creeeeepy.

Shirari Industries

Posts tagged with "Animals"

New Ithaca Freeskool Mushroom Hunt Video

Joy and delight!

The world is changing: Gawker said something intelligent about animal rights

Popo-chan (Thank you, Flickr)

Celebrate a compassionate Thanksgiving this year

Dehumanizing humans: Why animal rights should matter to us all

Adorable excited penguin video

I ♥ Coconut Records

Food for the Planet Opening Weekend - A New Vegan Restaurant in Ithaca!

Recent design and illustration work

Ed Begley has a forum on Treehugger!

I ♥ Flickr

Guinea pig cucumber fight (remix)

Guinea pigs eating watermelon

Photos from Israel

Tesla's beloved pigeon

An island in Canada, a tick bite, a beach in Israel, a cup of coffee in our livingroom

Peeps are made of people

This one's for you, animal family

Clouds and rain and sky and deer and music and freedom

Check Out My Article About Food, Inc. at Documentary.org

What is up, media?

No, bringing animals into the world to die is not humane

Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #6: Economies

Dissection on Valentine's Day: Where's the love?

"Sometimes It's Hard to Breathe" - I finally edited my footage from our trip to India in 2006

Warriors: Man, being a feral cat must be rough

Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #5: Top 8 Activist Strategies

Locavore Movie from Japan

Radical solidarity - an artist's statement

Further Evidence That Animals are People

Shale Shocked

Cool folks we're working with in Ithaca: Ithaca-Area Vegan Meetup Group and Shaleshock

Happy Thanksgiving with Love

Same-sex marriage and caged chickens: Human freedom, animal rights

America's First Dog

Ari's Early Animal Rights Influences

The Ithaca Green Buildings Open House

Spreading the Word About Ahimsa Ecovillage

A new vegan cat community

Flickr: "popularity" and social change

13 changes we've made to help the earth

It's gay week - and I love Ian McKellen!

Jonathan Safran Foer Tells It

An update on Ahimsa, our vegan ecovillage project

UN says eat less meat to curb global warming

Bird Peace illustrations

"Bee-Boys" ask us to save the honey bees

The Great Turning: The world getting better, already in progress

6 best practices: Engaging in social networking for social change

Jack and Jane - Environmental Pioneers

"Sudan? Monkey riding a rhino"

humans are so...creepy

Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #3: Travel

"Chickens are decent people." - George Carlin

More photos from Reykjavik, Amsterdam, and Israel

Heinz UK Pulls Ad Showing Two Men Kissing

Monkeys, Pigeons and Vegans Oh My!

Rustie, the Fluffy Interruptor

Should Animals Be Doing More For The Animal Rights Movement?

Cat update: Integration

Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary: Letter from a Vegan World

Two and a Half Weeks in Israel, Amsterdam and Iceland

Nim Chimpsky, humans, and the animal family

This is what happens when you move to the woods, part 2

Earth Hour, Blackout Sabbath, and other symbols of sustainability

Celebrate Foodswings' birthday - Sunday, NYC

Vegan Treasures from My Mom

Tiny houses = small footprint

Vegans feeding people

Snow Kitten Found a Home - Ours!

Snow Kitten Needs a Home

Tofu and Soy Milk Explained, by Puppets

Vegan Ice Cream Tasting!

No more Alba Hawaiian lip balm for me

On Cat Petting

This is what happens when you move to the woods

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