WE ARE DEVOURING EARTH

More information:

HEART TREK TO SEEK OUT EMPATHY: ANIMAL NATIONS UNDER ATTACK BY MAN 

http://e-rastrillo.blogspot.com.es/2014/08/heart-trek-to-seek-out-empathy-animal.html 

SRISAYAM: ELEPHANT PAINTING SELF PORTRAIT

Elephants are other nations on planet Earth. Therefore, they are sovereign. They are also our brethren. Let us give elephants all our love and respect.

Srisayam is a genius elephant at the Thaielephant Conservation Center, Thailand.

You can learn more and purchase these unique paintings at http://www.ExoticWorldGifts.com

WHAT MAKES US HUMAN?

By Gundhramns Hammer

March 13, 2013

There are hundreds of books that deal with this business of what makes us human. Philosophers, biologists, zoologists, psychologists and many other specialists have written about this subject. 

The idea is always to put man above the animal kingdom as if looking for an excuse to fuck up the rest of creation. And they certainly do find the excuses, for as Buddha said "The world we see is our own fantasy".

Whatever they come up with, they are wrong. 

This is what make us human: 

Etymologies: 

Human, from Latin homo, derived from PIE, dhgem = dung, shit, earth , without spirit or soul. Therefore, a human has no soul, is a piece of dung. Man is a golem.

Animal, from Latin animus = soul, life, spirit, derived from PIE root ane = to breathe, to blow. Therefore, an animal is a spirited, soulful being. An animal is a sentient being with a soul.

CELEBRITIES IN CHINA STAND UP FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS

 Thank You, Yu Kewei, Ai Weiwei, Sun Li, and Yao Ming!

Several celebrities in China, including pop singer Yu Kewei, artist Ai Weiwei, actress Sun Li, and former NBA star Yao Ming, following in the footsteps of actor Jackie Chan (who has spoken out against bear-bile farming), have joined forces with Chinese animal welfare activists to raise awareness of animal abuse in China.

Chinese artist and architect Ai Weiwei in his home--Ouwerkerk/Redux

Though China passed a Protection of Wildlife law in 1988, a similar law for the protection of domesticated animals (including companion animals) has not been passed. Frustration over the slow pace of proposed legislation coupled with a fondness for pets in the more affluent China of today have helped fuel a growing concern for all animals in China. The number and vitality of animal welfare organizations, such as the Chinese Animal Protection Network and Animals Asia Foundation, have greatly increased. Petition drives, rallies, and protests promoting animal welfare are common now. The involvement of high-profile celebrities has been a contributing factor. The objects of their attention include consumption of dog and cat meat, bear farms (producing bile for human use), and shark hunting (primarily to obtain shark fins for soup).

A bear in a Chinese bear farm; bile is drained from a hole in the bear's 

abdomen--World Society for the Protection of Animals

In 1949, dogs were outlawed in China’s urban areas as decadent and extravagant at a time of shortages. The growing popularity of dogs and cats as pets today, however, has forced local governments to relax these regulations.

Dog meat, eaten in China for centuries, continues to be sought after by some. Commonly said to increase body temperature, particularly desirable in cold weather, dog meat also is thought by some to have medicinal properties. Cat meat, particularly in south China, is considered a delicious and uncommon delicacy. Farms across the country cater to the dog meat market, but many dogs and cats are stolen. Some animal rights activists estimate that at least 2 million dogs and cats are butchered in China each year.

Recently the pop singer Yu Kewei photographed a truck in the southwestern province of Sichuan loaded with dogs headed for a slaughterhouse in Guangxi province to the southeast. According to thestar.com, she posted the photo on Weibo (a Chinese equivalent of Twitter where reportedly she has hundreds of thousands of followers) and received a flood of support. Unfortunately, the truck passed into Guangxi before the police in Sichuan were able to act on her message to them.

In 2009 and 2010 a filmmaker and animal rights activist, Guo Ke, wrote and filmed the documentary San Hua, depicting the cat meat industry in China. It was produced by the famed Ai Weiwei Workshop, Ai Weiwei himself an advocate for animals. 

The film centers on the demand for cat meat in Guangdong province that fuels a cruel trade in cats across multiple provinces. Featuring shots of sellers bringing sacks of cats to a Shanghai alley for ultimate transport to Guangdong’s capital, Guangzhou, Guo also interviews chefs and customers in Guangzhou who make and eat such delicacies as soy-stewed cat, dragon-fighting tiger (cat and snake meat together), and boiled cat. Particularly disturbing is the comment of one chef who, after throwing cats into a bucket and beating them with a stick, said: “The worse you treat them the better they taste. It makes sure the blood gets into the meat and it tastes delicious.” According to Guangzhou’s Yangcheng Wanbao (Yangcheng Evening News), the people of Guangdong province consume 10,000 cats a day in winter.

Chinese actress Sun Li in an anti-fur ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Asia in Beijing--Andy Wong/AP

Actress Sun Li actively opposes the use of fur and bear bile farms in China. Having visited Animals Asia’s bear sanctuary near Chengdu, Sichuan province, many times, she reflected on her first experience there:

“I was a little afraid because I didn’t know how to communicate with the bears at the beginning. Then the staff told me that I should open my heart with love. I want to share my view with all of you that the earth belongs to every living being—and we should share the love with each other, and give our love to the bears.”

Perhaps no other celebrity is more associated with animal welfare in China than the former NBA star Yao Ming. Currently on tour in Kenya to film an anti-poaching documentary by the organization WildAid, Yao Ming is determined to raise awareness of the slaughter of elephants and rhinos for tusks and horns. 

Retired Chinese NBA star Yao Ming at a press conference for an anti-shark-fin campaign in Shanghai, China--AP

Earlier this year he visited Animals Asia’s bear sanctuary near Chengdu, protested the bear bile industry in China, and also visited Animal Asia’s large cemetery of bears having died from injuries related to bile extraction. Yao also has condemned the weekly slaughter of as many as 1.5 million sharks for shark fin soup. 

Way to go, Yu Kewei, Ai Weiwei, Sun Li, and Yao Ming! Don’t stop now! Keep up the good work!

To Learn More

• WildAid
• Chinese Animal Protection Network
• Animals Asia Foundation
• Asian Animal Protection Network
• Cages of Shame

How Can I Help?

• Beijing Cat
• Hong Kong Dog Rescue

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Advocacy for Animals
Link:
http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2012/09/big-names-in-china-stand-up-for-animals/#more-10688

HOMO DAEMONICUS: THE GEOCLASTIC NAKED APE

Source: Gundhramns Hammer        

            

                                             WARNING: MAY OFFEND SENSITIVE VIEWERS

Are you still proud to belong to the one and only totally insane species on Earth: Homo insapiens economicus = Homo daemonicus?

MEAT INDUSTRY: LEGALISED ANIMAL CRUELTY

By Hugo M. G. von Österreich und von Toskana
Member of the Union of Concerned Scientists (USA) 

Source: Earth in Transition

                                        



We are constantly bombarded with the word "change" in the news nowadays, being climate change the most common of them all. We all know that everything under the Sun and far beyond in the entire Universe is always changing.   

Our bodies change with time as well. Yet we hang on to old ways and old traditions. Old habits are hard to quit or kill.

And one of the toughest to change is the habit of eating meat. We normally sit at the table to eat it without ever questioning where it came from, how it was produced nor if it is really safe to eat it. We just eat it. 

Mother sheep with her lambs. Source: Fanpop!

       

I used to do so until I saw a flock of sheep crying aloud and running around searching for their offspring, which had been sold by the shepherd and taken away to the slaughterhouse. Since that day on a long time ago I have never ever tasted another piece of meat of any kind, including fish and shellfish. No animal protein is my motto now and I am happier and healthier as a vegetable consumer. I invite you to bring a positive change into your life and become a vegan as well. There is life after meat. Healthier life!

We must become good wardens of Mother Earth

All of you know things are indeed changing, not fast but nevertheless the wagon is moving along. Many people are fighting for Animal Rights and there is a lot of concern about the environment and other important issues about our planet.

We humans are beginning to realise and take it seriously that planet Earth has finite resources, that it is a close system. We have done a lot of damage to Earth´s supporting systems and thus far we are left with a small window. And if we do not start taking care for it as we should we will soon join the Labyrinthodonts´ club, the fossil record.

And one of the best ways to start out with this change along the sustainable line is to consider quitting the habit of eating meat, particularly if it comes from factory farms (Video 1). These animal concentration camps require a lot of natural resources which otherwise should be channeled to other purposes. Instead of feeding the cereals and soybeans to animals we should eat these crops. This makes even more sense when we know that there are literally millions of starving human beings around the world. Furthermore CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) put out a lot of greenhouse gases which disrupt the biosphere chemical equilibrium.

                                             Video 1. Shocking chicken industry.

On the ethical side, it is not fair to treat animals the way we do at these concentration camps. If we already have laws to protect our pets, why is it taking us so long to put a stop once and for all to this horrible cruelty that is happening right now in the factory farms?  

Why are we human beings so callous when it comes to these animals? They also have the right to live as much as we do.

There is only one thing that stands in the way to give them the Rights they deserve: Human greed.

So we must take a very close examination within ourselves and sweep our own hearts out of all of the psychogarbage we carry around. Then this cardiac ecology should be projected onto our homes and family and next our neighbours and cities, continuing with the entire country and finally we should embrace the whole Earth. 

We are the change. If each of us changes there is hope for all of us. Big things are made up of small things. We are the captains of the ship of change and we must take the right direction: a truly sustainable stewardship of the Earth. Not just words but true sustainability with loving and tender care.

Animals Rights is a right direction

The struggle for Animal Rights, fighting against the legalised animal cruelty at the factory farms, is well worth it. Through it we come closer to what we enjoy calling ourselves "human" as in humane.   

On this march, it is quite comforting to know that some people have already taken the right direction: People that are working hard towards changing the nasty habit of eating our brethren in our societies.

And animals indeed are our brethren since we all share the same origin and spaceship Earth. Besides their lineages are much older than ours, so we should have respect for them as our Elder Brothers and Sisters.

Steering the ship towards Animal Rights is a good direction. It does not matter how we look at it we shall never loose as a whole.

Meat bites back

Now if we want to look at this matter form the medical point of view, there is plenty of scientific evidence that meat consumption is bad for us. Numerous diseases and many types of cancer are linked or why not say directly that these diseases are caused by eating meat: Lung cancer, testicular cancer, endometrial cancer, brain tumors, colorectal cancer, etc. (see references) and follow these links:

• cáncer de mama/breast cancer (en mujeres/women & hombres/men), 
• cáncer de próstata/prostate cancer,
• cáncer de testículos/testicle cancer, 
• cáncer de ovarios/ovarian cancer,
• cáncer de útero/uterine cancer,
• cáncer de riñón/kidney cancer,
• cáncer de vejiga urinaria,/urinary bladder cancer,
• cáncer de hígado/liver cancer,
• cáncer de vesícula biliar/gall bladder cancer,
• cáncer de tiroides/thyroid cancer,
• cáncer de boca/oral cancer,
• cáncer de faringe/pharyngeal cancer,
• cáncer de laringe/laryngeal cancer,
• cáncer de esófago/esophagus cancer,
• cáncer de estómago/stomach cancer,
• cáncer colorectal/colorectal cancer,
• cáncer de pulmón/lung cancer,
• cáncer de páncreas/pancreas cancer,
• cáncer y tumores cerebrales/brain tumors and cancer,
• leucemia/leukemia,
• úlceras gastrointestinales/gastrointestinal ulcers,
• infecciones urinarias/urinary infecctions,
• cálculos renales/renal calculi, 
• cálculos biliares/gall bladder calculi,
• salmonelosis/salmonellosis,
• endocarditis bacteriana/bacterial endocarditis
• enfermedad de Crohn/Crohn´s Disease
• gastroenteritis/gastroenteritis,
• estreñimiento/bowel retention,
• apendicitis/apendicitis,
• síndrome urémico hemolítico/hemolytic uremic syndrome
• listeriosis/Listeria infection,
• meningitis/meningitis,
• meningoencefalitis/meningoencephalitis,
• síndrome de Guillaim-Barré/Guillaim-Barré Syndrome,
• venas varicosas en las piernas/leg varicose veins,
• venas varicosas en el vestíbulo vulvar/vulval varicose veins,
• venas varicosas en el pene/penile varicose veins (enfermedad de Mondor, Mondor´s Disease of the penis),
• disfunción sexual/sexual dysfunction,
• disfunción hormonal/hormonal dysfunction,
• hipertiroidismo/hypethyroidism,
• ansiedad y trastorno bipolar/anxiety and bipolar disorder,
• enfermedad de Hodgkin/Hodgkin´s Disease,
• linfoma de non-Hodgkin/Non-Hodgkin´s lymphoma,
• mieloma múltiple/Multiple myeloma,
• obesidad/obesity, 
• gota/gout
• enfermedades cardiovasculares/cardiovascular diseases,
• diabetes tipo 2/type 2 diabetes,
• hemorroides/hemorrhoids,
• triquinosis/trichinellosis,
• neurocisticercosis/neurocysticercosis,
• parásitos intestinales/intestinal parasites,
• teniasis/taeniasis,
• anisakiasis/anisakiasis 
• toxoplasmosis/toxopalsmosis,
• encefalopatía espongiforme bovina/bovine spongiform encephalopathy (EEB/BSE), (v-Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease, CJD o "enfermedad de las vacas locas"/"mad cow disease")
• enfermedad de Alzheimer/Alzheimer´s Disease,
• tuberculosis bovina/bovine tuberculosis,
• brucelosis humana/human brucellosis,
• migraña/migraine
• artritis crónica reactiva/chronic reactive arthritis,
• anafilaxis, angioedema, urticaria/anaphylaxis, angioedema, urticaria,
• síndrome alérgico oral, choque anafiláctico oral/oral allergy syndrome (OAS), oral anaphylactic shock
• hipereosinofilia/hypereosinophilia,
• hepatitis E/hepatitis E,  
• esclerosis múltiple/multiple sclerosis, 
• epilepsia/epilepsy, 
• celulitis/cellulitis 
• etc., etc., etc.

Wish a Happy Christmas to animals too!

As we approach the Christmas Holiday we should take some time to think about those that have nothing and the animals which will be killed to satisfy people´s appetite for meat during these days and beyond the holiday. We should show some respect and consideration to animals too. 

It is not fair to talk about love at Christmas time when we are stuffing ourselves with the body of what once was a living and sentient being. To do so amounts to be a grand hypocrite and from here on, from this point what else can be expected from us? 

The world is already full of corrupt people and we should never join their ranks.

We must always strive for making our planet a better place to live in. It is our moral duty to hand in a wholesome Earth to future generations of not only humans but also the rest with whom we share this beautiful spaceship: EARTH.
 

References

These are just a few of the hundreds of papers that deal with the medical problems that are linked to meat consumption.  You may check out the references at the end of each publication to extend your knowledge on this topic.

Alonso Melero M. R. (1994). Nuevo marcador epidemiológico en Salmonella enterica subespecie I serotipo Enteritidis. Tesis Doctoral, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España. 192 p.

Balzan S., de Almeida Quadros C., de Cleva R., Zilberstein B. & Cocconello I. (2007). Bacterial translocation: Overview of mechanisms and clinical impact. J. Gastroenterol. Hepatol., 22: 464-471.

Bernard R.W. (1996). Meat-Eating. A Cause of Disease. Human Research Books, 48 p.

Brands D. (2006). Deadly Diseases and Epidemics: Salmonella. Chelsea House Publishers, Philadelphia, PA, USA. 102 p.

Cross A.J., Ferruci L.M., Risch A., Graubard B.I., Ward M.H., Park Y., Hollebeck A.R., Schatzkin A. & Sinha R. (2010). A Large Prospective Study of Meat Consumption and Colorectal Cancer Risk: An Investigation of Potential Mechanisms Underlying this Association. Cancer Res., 70 (6): 2406-14.  
 

FAGRO (n.d.) Microbiología de la Carne. www.fagro.edu.uy. 44 p.

Ferreira de Holanda L. Rodrigues Holanda & Araújo Pereira B.J. (2011). Influencia da carne aviária no desencadeamento das crises enxaquecosas. Neurobiologia, 74 (1): 43-48.

Gill C.O & Harris L.M. (1982). Contamination of Red-Meat Carcasses by Campylobacter fetus subsp. jejuni. Appl. Environ, Microbiol., 43 (5): 977-980.

Goldbohm R.A., van den Brandt P.A., van´t Veer P., Brandts H.A., Dorant E., Sturmans F & Hermus R.J.J (1994). A Prospective Cohort Study on the Relation between Meat Consumption and the Risk of Colon Cancer. Cancer REes., 54: 718-723.

Jensen W.K., Devine C. & Dikeman M. (Eds.) (2004). Encyclopedia of Meat Sciences. 1st Edition. Academic Press, Waltham, MA, USA. 3 Vols. 1500 p.  

Kotula A.W. & Stern N.J. (1984). The Importance of Campylobacter jejuni to the Meat industry. J. Anim. Sci., 58: 1561-1566. 

Lake R. (2002). Risk Profile: Toxoplasma gondii in Red Meat and Meat Products. Institute of Enviropnmental Science & Research Limited, New Zealand, Client Report FW0138, 36 p. 

Lam T.K., Cross A.J., Consonni D., Randi G., Bagnardi V., Bertazzi P.A., Caporaso N.E., Sihna R., Subar A.F. & Landi M.T. (2009). Intakes of Red Meat, Processed Meat, and Meat Mutagens Increase Lung Cancer Risk. Cancer Res., 69 (3): 932-940.

Miki K., Maekuna R., Hiraga T., Hirotani A., Hashimoto H., Hitada S., Miki. M., Hoshimura K., Naka N., Motone M., Fujikawa T-, Takashima S., Kitazume R., Kamzaki H., Nakatani S., Watanuki H., Tagusari O., Kabayashi J. & Ito M. (2005). Infective Tricuspid Valve Endocarditis with Pulmonary Emboli Caused by Campylobacter fetus after Tooth Extraction. Intern. Med., 44 (10): 1055-1059.

Shahibi F. (Ed.) (1998). Flavor of Meat, Meat Products and Seafoods. 2nd Edition. Blackie Academic & Professional, London, UK. 212 p.

Uribe C. & Suárez M.C. (2006). Salmonelosis no tifoidea y su transmisión a través de alimentos de origen aviar. Colombia Méd., 37 (2): 151-158.

Vincent C., Boerlin P., Daignault D., Dozois C.M., Dutil L., Galanakis C., Reid-Smith J., Tellier P.-P., Tellis P.A., Ziebell K & Manges A.R. (2010). Food Reservoir for Escherichia coli Causing Urinary Tract Infections. Emerg. Infect. Dis., 16 (1): 88-95.

Warris P.D. (2000). Meat Science: An Introductory Text. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK. 310 p.

WHO (2002). Risk assessments of Salmonella in eggs and broiler chickens. FAO/WHO, Microbiological Risk Assessment Series 2, 302 p.