Cache Valley Vegans

Hello,

The other day my friend mentioned that USU had a vegan group.  I was interested to see if I could find  more information online but it turned out that all of the information was outdated and the group
was no longer.  I only know a few other vegans in town, but I am aware that there are more than that!  So in attempts to connect vegans in my town I decided to make a facebook page.  It's pretty amazing because it got 45 likes in 2 days!  I couldn't really believe it, it seems like there are more vegans out there, and since facebook and twitter doesn't do the best job of linking it google search, I decided that a blog may be the best way to go.


To access the Cache Valley Vegan facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/cachevalleyvegans?ref=hl

To access the twitter page:
https://twitter.com/LoganVegans

So there it is for all of the USU vegans, Logan vegans, Cache Valley vegans, or those who just may be interested in learning more about it, and meeting with others, these sites are for you!

Our first potluck will be May 31st, 12:30pm at Lundstrom Park

A foraging hiking trip will be May 17th, 9am and will be meeting at First Dam to go up the canyon together with a local foraging expert! 

So far it looks like some things that members will be doing:

--meeting with store/restaurant managers in obtaining more vegan options
--hikes to learn about local edible plants
--local vegan cooking classes
--potlucks
--play dates among families with kids -- connecting families with other
   vegans, and addressing social elements of food choices-- (if anyone is interested in this please email me and I can get you connected to other families)
--perhaps other types of events -- whatever we feel like :)
   maybe movie nights or lake trips... or maybe trips to slc
 

Owning animals

This is a fantastic article:

http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/pets-the-inherent-problems-of-domestication/#.U0F6Vl6nTt4

I adore animals.  I love being around them, but I cannot justify breeding them and keeping them dependent on us just so we can love them.

There are so many animals in this world, and so many need a home.

Let's create animal sanctuaries.

Let's end animal mortuaries, and the excess of beings that we can not possibly take care of.

Balance can be restored.

And maybe with that balance, our love of the natural world can expand, and our love for animals
can be shared with wildlife.

Today, we end up killing wildlife so we can maintain caged life -- that was once wildlife but is no longer due to our manipulation of their evolution.

It doesn't seem right to me.

Can we love animals, as they are, as they were born to be?

Most amazing eco-commercial you will ever see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iIkOi3srLo&feature=youtu.be

Please share :):)

This commercial actually makes me want to do all the things it says to 'not' do!

Brilliant.

Could you imagine if we all decided to do those things?? What a different world we'd live in :) 

Greening your Company

How can a company become Greener?

1. Donate your profits.  Yes, this is huge.

Not only is it amazing for the world, but it is also great for marketing.
Donating 10% is a good start, but the more the better.
Who to donate to:  There are so many places to give money, but if you want to go green you have to
focus on donating money to NGOs who are working on saving endangered animals (like African Wildlife Foundation), indigenous people and their lands (like Amazon Watch), protecting wild lands (like Nature Conservancy), preventing bad political policies (like Food and Water Watch).
Please do avoid: cancer research studies (blackhole), there are many agencies that typically tend to be the go-to agencies for many people who feel like giving back.  The point of going green is donating to what actually promotes the oxygen we breathe, what promotes physically our sustenance on planet earth, which are all of the ecosystems.  It's not a bad thing to give to agencies that have humans as their focus on their agenda, but unfortunately we have this really unbalanced view of the planet where humans are center to everything -- kind of like how we used to think that the sun circled around the earth, because the earth was the 'center' of the universe.  Currently our perception is that 'humans' are the center of life.  But actually that thinking is exactly what will cause the end of our civilization if we don't adjust it accordingly.  Life is the center of life, and humans are a mere strand in this beautiful web of connections on planet earth.

2. Track down where all of your inputs come from:

Sustainable systems create happy people on all levels of that system, they don't pollute, they work with nature not against, they promote animal welfare, and wildlife.  Of course since our economic system has drived us pretty far away from models that are totally interconnected with these values -- our goal is to get them back as much as we can.  Or if we truly dedicated, we start from scratch and recreate success in a sustainable way.

Ask yourself these questions while contemplating on them deeply:

1-People-- where do your employees live, what are their work conditions-- this may go pretty far down the chain, what are they paid, are they happy? why are they interested in your company?
2-Money -- who are your consumers? Why do they buy your product? Does it serve their integrity?
3-Resources
    a-- Paper-- Where does it come from?  Who works where and for how long in order for that product                         to end up at your company?  Is it logged unsustainably?
    c-- Computers
   d --- Furniture
   e--- Machinery/Equipment
where does all of it come from, what are the working conditions of the people who work in the mines for the computers made, or the truck drivers who haul it, or the engineers who put them together, are they local, how many continents did those items have to travel to come to your business?
How can you give back? In what way can the lives of those at the 'bottom' of the chain be benefited the most.  Mine tailings cause huge environmental damage and can destroy the health of soils and bodies of water in the vicinity.  Tailings create acid run off that kill off wildlife and cause other types of destruction.  Is it possible to fund engineers to re-create equipment or materials using more plant based materials?  Is it possible to fund locals in the community to come together with the help of an expert to clean up their waters and restore their lands -- perhaps they could even plant bamboo for a new source of sustainable paper for your company!  Think big, clear your mind, let ideas flow into you. The greener you become, the more honored people will be to work for you and the more honored your customer base will be to support your work.

4. What are your outputs?
   a. Is the product healthy? Do they have animal products, or harmful ingredients--pesticides,                        preservatives?
       Supporting animal products is very taxing on the environment.  Cattle ranches in S America is          perhaps the biggest threat to the Amazon.  It takes far more calories to support animal operations            than it would to just support people with those same calories.  Also the way we raise animals today        'economically' is very taxing on the environment.  The amount of waste and excrement that comes          from these operations is hardly manageable. Even if it were to be shipped to be treated or recycled,        it's very expensive (to ship because of the weight), and often the main way to recycle the nutrients          is on agricultural land, while this may be a better option than synthetic nutrients, it doesn't address          the fact that large amounts of excrement isn't really that beneficial to the soil, it contains a lot of              salts, and phosphorus which can bind up other important elements in the soil.  A lot of the nitrogen        will eventually find it's way back into the land through water ways, which causes algal blooms and        kills fish by depleting the oxygen.  Animal products also are linked with many health problems in          people especially in industrialized countries where 'nutrients' are in excess and overload.  But I              won't get into that further.  Basically animal products are not green.
   b. Does the product support families and communities?
   c.  Is the product resource efficient? Is it used with minimal resources?  Once it the product is bought,         does it use a lot of energy?  Does it produce it's own energy (perhaps solar or human powered) ?
   d. Is the product affordable?
   e. Does the price account for environmental costs?
   F.  Is it beautiful?  Will it be useful for years to come?  Is it practical?  Does it have a variety of uses?

That's all for now
Enjoy

:)

   

Building Ecology

The best practice for pest management on farms, is building the ecological webs.

In a conventional farm, substances are sprayed over the whole field.  Depending on the pesticide, it either will kill all the of the bugs, or select few.  But it's difficult to target specific organisms without disrupting others.  If one organism is targeted -- and let's say it kills the larvae, suddenly the predator that typically feeds on that organism will need to find another food source, their numbers will drastically dwindle. And unlike the 'prey' or the 'pest' species who has evolved to produce many offspring and very quickly as a response to be being attacked by predators, the predator population has evolved to be slow reproducing with few offspring to make sure through it's numbers it doesn't deplete it's food supply.  This makes it very difficult for predator numbers to bounce back, as 'prey' or 'pest' populations can and do -- and often times with greater resistance to the pesticide if the pesticide was sprayed in 'sublethal' doses. The predator doesn't really have that quick of a turn over rate to build tolerance as the 'pest' species does.  Thereby, pesticides further erode top insect 'predators' from the landscape, while further strengthening pest populations.   This severely impairs the resiliency of that agroecosystem (the farm's ecosystem).  Because now that farm is very dependent on chemicals to 'control' outbreaks.

Synthetic fertilizers also create a very 'unnatural' environment for plants.  Since the nutrient is so readily available and typically spread very evenly on the fields, plant roots will stay very close to the surface.  They don't need to 'scavenge' for nutrients in the soil.  This creates an environment of plants which become very dependent on regular waterings as well as nutrition.  This is because plants who live under more 'natural' conditions, where nutrients come through compost and other organic debris, it creates a reserve of nutrients.  Not only does organic debris maintain water more readily, but the micro-organisms in this matter also break down the nutrients in webs and patterns, making it necessary for plants to stretch their roots further out.  Essentially the more 'outstretched' plant or trees roots are, the more resilient they will be to change in weather patterns or in infrequent 'nutrient' inputs-- because the roots have access to a greater proportion of soil.

Organic practices come closer to replicating natural systems in many cases than do conventional farms.
The less we target to exterminate 'pests' the less we accidentally end up targeting beneficial organisms which feed into the larger ecological system in the farm.  The more diverse the farm is, the more resilient it can be to extreme weather situations.  The better it will be in breaking down organic debris into nutrients for plants.  Different micro-organisms specialize in the breakdown of different types of organic matter.

Also many conventional farmers spray fungicides -- which don't typically get a lot of media attention, but this can dramatically affect soil health.

They do this, in order to prevent fungal diseases on the plants, but when these fungicides seep down into the soil, they prevent beneficial fungal relationships between plant roots and fungi.  These mycelium networks attach to tree and plant roots and act as somewhat of an extension of roots to the plants, they will help the plants by finding nutrients and water for the plant, and the plant will benefit the fungi by providing energy from photosynthesis to the fungi.

Everything works together in such beautiful harmony.

The more we can learn nature's processes, the easier it will be to team with her, to create beautiful bountiful systems.

How to be Successful

It seems that most of us, have this idealized version of ourselves. Sometimes we actively try to work on parts of ourselves that seem like we can shift to make 'better' in some way. And sometimes we succeed! However, sometimes, we hold this image of what success means for us in our minds eye. Every day we are trying to live up to this image, and every day we may find ourselves falling short. We judge ourselves for not being who we absolutely expect ourselves to be. When this happens over and over again, we feel like we are running into a wall. And it's hard to even want to try.

The good news is, it's possible that you are the only one who expects that idealized version of yourself. It's possible that others expect exactly who you are at every moment, because either they know you--or they don't and they really wouldn't know what else to expect. So actually, we can cut ourselves a little bit of slack. Our success doesn't rely on us becoming that idealized vision of ourselves. Our success relies on just being true to ourselves, in each moment. Our success relies on showing up, just being present in our lives. The moment that we stop showing up, that's when we have not succeeded. When we continually think of what 'good' work is or 'accomplishment', it's easy to be hard on ourselves, especially on tasks that we have never done before to expect the 'best'. The truth is, we can't expect perfection, but we can embrace doing the next best thing in every moment, whatever that may be, and 90% of the time, it's just showing up.

Super Bowl Sunday

I don't really know the last time that I attempted to watch the superbowl.  My best guess is that it could have been 4 years ago?  Maybe more?

Back then, I didn't really give 2 thoughts about it.  I never actually watched it, it was just an excuse to get together with friends and eat lots of food.

Today, my family was getting together for the superbowl.  I mean, it's American culture... It's how it goes.

But watching the superbowl, was like the most painful thing I have done in years.  I don't really watch TV as it is, and put me in front of a sports game... Yeah, I don't think so.

All I could think about, is how unhealthy all of the team players looked.  Seriously obese, disgusting and waddling around the field.  I do not have any issues with people with extra weight, but you know that these football players eat to gain weight.  You know that they are gorging themselves to get bigger. And for what reason?  To 'dominate' the other team or the other players.

It's atrocious.

Not to mention how terrible the commercials were.  'Look at my big cool truck', 'Drink an awesome ice cold beer'.  It seriously makes me think, and it makes me sick to think that what, over 4 million people watch the superbowl????

Sorry, it just blows my mind at how mainstream culture is entertained.

Could we be more shallow?

I also learned that sex traffickers capitalize on the large numbers at the superbowl.  Okay so there are several articles on the topic.. and none of them really make any sense.  Many of them claim that it's a myth, yet they go on talking about the increased numbers of men taking advantage of prostitutes and etc etc other types of 'males' expressing their 'dominance'.  Of course they would, what else is football???? It's all about being the 'strongest', being the 'best', being a 'celebrity', being 'rich', owning lots of 'stuff' that you don't need... etc etc.  It's like the epitome of the worse America has to offer.  Here is an example of a terribly confusing article on sex trafficking and the super bowl.  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/opinion/the-super-bowl-of-sex-trafficking.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0

Can our culture.. become a little more... decent?????  Wouldn't it be cool to have a dominant culture that cared about ALL PEOPLE and cared about REAL ISSUES in the world, and cared about having GOOD CLEAN FUN, LOVED NATURE, and cared about treating all living beings with RESPECT? That would be awesome.

That's all folks.

Sometimes a girls gotta rant.