Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Brother Tree

 






Go, then, toward the high-growing trees,
And before one of them which is beautiful,
High-growing and mighty,
Say these words:

'Hail be unto thee! O good, living tree,
Made by the Creator!'
Then shall the River of Life
Flow between you and your Brother,
The Tree,
And health of the body,
Swiftness of foot,
Quick hearing of the ears,
Strength of the arms
And eyesight of the eagle be yours.

Such is the Communion
With the Angel of Life,
Holy messenger of the Earthly Mother. 

from The Essene Gospel of Peace, Book Two

Friday, July 27, 2012

Fuck Tim Hortons!

i am so sick and tired of seeing tim hortons garbage wherever i go. with all the disposable crap they give away, it's quite obvious that tim hortons doesn't give a shit about the environment. fuck you tim hortons! fuck you very much! and fuck you to all the thoughtless cunts who buy their crap and toss the shit on the ground.

people fill their bodies with garbage and don't give a fuck how it negatively impacts them, so they believe they can also treat the earth with the same kind of callous disregard. it makes my blood boil!

this is what happens when we separate ourselves from the natural world and place the economy above it. we treat the earth like it's nothing more than a dumping ground for our waste and pollution.


here's a little poem i wrote in honor of tim hortons. learn it, know it, live it. it goes like this:

fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons!

fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons!

fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons! fuck tim hortons! boycott tim hortons!

until they reduce
the amount of garbage they produce!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Calgary Stampede and Animal Exploitation - A Conversation

Meat Eater: The animals there actually get treated pretty well. They have access to high-quality vets, the best of food, far better than any horse in captivity or the wild. It conforms to all canadian laws, and the SPCA and Humane society watch over it every year, giving advice. Sure a few horses die, but that's out of over 7500 animals every year.

Vegan: yea, and black slaves got treated pretty well too, right? i notice you don't mention calf roping...is that being "treated well"?

conforms to canadian laws? well whoopie whoop. many things that cause harm to the environment, people and animals are within "the law"...but that doesn't make them moral.

"sure a few horses die". yea, so what eh?...as long as some people got to be entertained, after all, every creature on this earth is here for man to exploit, right?

Meat Eater: The horses have some of the best veterinary care in the world, and the best food and housing. Their standard of living is far above any other horse. Not only are there laws in place to protect these animals, the SPCA and Humane Society endorse the stampede, and make sure as little cruelty as possible happens. That's why stampede horses live far longer than average horses. Learn the facts before you go off on a silly rant.

Vegan: and yet every year there seems to be another chuck-wagon accident where another horse needs to be "put down" because of injuries. is being a slave to humans more enjoyable to the horses than having their freedom? these animals are not property, they are living, sentient beings with inherent worth.
rodeos are not entertainment. they glorify human exploitation of animals and cause needless suffering.
learn to empathize with the suffering of another creature before defending the status quo.


Meat Eater: So a better option would be to release all these horses? Good thinking, then they can die of starvation in the wild. Really humane. The stampede constantly makes changes to support the welfare of these animals. The deaths are tragic, but sadly unavoidable. The men and women in the stampede work with these animals, and make their welfare a top priority. Have you even ever been there?

Vegan: you sound like the way a slave owner would have spoken about his chattel.

say your statement again only replace "horses" with "slaves" and "stampede" with "plantation" and see how it sounds.

just as the stampede needs healthy animals to do the work of entertaining people so too the plantation needed healthy slaves to do the work.

perhaps both are fed, housed and kept from becoming too sick or injured, but nevertheless, because of the very nature of the business, injury and death invariably occurs.

but more to the point, the very idea that a human being could be considered property by another person was at last realized to be unjust and immoral and was (at least in theory if not in practice) abolished.

but that idea when first brought to light, met with strong opposition and ridicule. people did not know how their economy could survive without the necessity of the institution of slavery. but we learned kinder, more compassionate and more reasonable ways to organize our society...and we are still learning.

to answer your question, a better option is for people to finally come to the realization that we do not possess some god-given right to use another sentient being solely for our own purposes and amusement. non-human animals have their own interests. they have a well-being, just like us. they have inherent worth quite separate from any instrumental value they may have for us.

we need to respect the lives of the other creatures we share this planet with and allow them their space and habitat so they can be who they are, namely, autonomous beings with a good-of-their-own.

as they live, there will be struggle. there will be death as one animal does what he must in order to survive. but there will also be, freedom. freedom from exploitation and suffering caused by us.

we so dearly value our freedom, but we so blithely and callously take it away from so many of our non-human animal kin.

let us not hinder what these animals must do to survive, let us rather help them if they are injured or sick so that we may release them back to the wild. let us use our skills and know how to gain a more complete understanding of their physical and psychological suffering so we may allay their wounds. let us finally be the thoughtful and considerate stewards of this garden we call...earth.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Calgary Stampede - Animal Abuse and How We View the Natural World

albertans don't give a shit about nature. oil, meat, and pickup trucks...that's what drives our mentality.

with the 100th anniversary of the calgary stampede, record crowds are pouring in through the gates to watch caged animals released into some enclosure to be harassed, badgered, roped and beaten. whether it's calf roping or horses in the chuck wagon races, these animals are invariably injured. but the only time we hear the word injury, is when it pertains to some "manly" cowboy who fell off a bull or got trampled upon.

when will this barbaric form of "entertainment" be abolished? what is wrong with people that they feel they have some god-given right to use and treat other sentient beings in any way they see fit? they want to control all of nature, and what they can't control...they destroy.

the oil and gas industry, agriculture, our growing human population building more and more houses, consuming more and more things, creating more and more waste, is responsible for the end of nature. all that's left are a few pockets preserved here and there, and even they are in no way isolated from air and water pollution or our desire to get at whatever "resources" may lie beneath their soil. and they are certainly not immune from trash being tossed on the ground when people go to visit them.

not so long ago, this province used to teem with roaming bison. now the aspen parkland and grasslands have been virtually eradicated, along with the buffalo, to make way for pastures for grazing cows. cows that will be murdered to feed our lust for meat.

as if it's not bad enough that we needlessly kill these animals, we have to exploit them in rodeos in front of cheering crowds. that's sick!

we don't need majority rule democracy, because it's the majority who is responsible for causing so much harm to other living beings and the natural world. what we need is people to learn how to empathize with other creatures who have the capacity to suffer. what we need is people to learn how to have respect for nature, for the plants and animals we share the planet with. what we need is enforcement of laws and strong penalties for people who pollute, poison, and destroy wild nature.

what we need is a shift in our thinking from believing we are apart from nature, and can therefore do whatever we want with it, to realizing that we are all a part of nature. we all have one breath. the sooner we come to understand that human animals have no preeminence above non-human animals, the sooner our biosphere will replenish itself and begin to heal from the damage caused by us and our thoughtless greed.


Friday, July 06, 2012

Birch Cup

maybe this doesn't mean anything to you, but it does to me. on the wood bison trail at elk island national park, there is a birch tree with an interesting looking "cup" shape that's surrounded by bark where a section of trunk once was. i always liked it and thought it was something unique.

the birch cup had been there for many years, until about a week ago when some fucker smashed it. i went walking along the trail today and it was all ripped apart, destroyed.

okay, so maybe no one was hurt and the tree itself is still standing, but it just shows a wanton disregard and even hatred for nature by the person or persons who did that. why can't people just leave nature be or do something to help rather than hurt or destroy. people fucking suck!