Excuse the silence, I just had a baby.

Shira, Lion, and Ari, a vegan family

Well, my wife did anyway! I’m the other mother.

Photo by Elaan Greenfield

Do you support the rights of whales and dolphins?

If you support animal rights, sign the Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans: Whales and Dolphins:

Based on the principle of the equal treatment of all persons;
Recognizing that scientific research gives us deeper insights into the complexities of cetacean minds, societies and cultures;
Noting that the progressive development of international law manifests an entitlement to life by cetaceans;
We affirm that all cetaceans as persons have the right to life, liberty and wellbeing.
We conclude that:

1. Every individual cetacean has the right to life.
2. No cetacean should be held in captivity or servitude; be subject to cruel treatment; or be removed from their natural environment.
3. All cetaceans have the right to freedom of movement and residence within their natural environment.
4. No cetacean is the property of any State, corporation, human group or individual.
5. Cetaceans have the right to the protection of their natural environment.
6. Cetaceans have the right not to be subject to the disruption of their cultures.
7. The rights, freedoms and norms set forth in this Declaration should be protected under international and domestic law.
8. Cetaceans are entitled to an international order in which these rights, freedoms and norms can be fully realized.
9. No State, corporation, human group or individual should engage in any activity that undermines these rights, freedoms and norms.
10. Nothing in this Declaration shall prevent a State from enacting stricter provisions for the protection of cetacean rights.

Agreed, 22nd May 2010, Helsinki, Finland

Do you support this declaration? Click here to add your name.

Will you stand up for animals in this year’s Ithaca Festival Parade?

Just saw this on Facebook:

Please join Finger Lakes Animal Rights on Wednesday May 29th, to march in the Ithaca Festival 2013 Parade, themed “Where the Heart Is”. We’ll be walking resources — carrying signs displaying titles of books, podcasts, films, etc. related to making the world a better place through veganism. Anyone is welcome to join in. A great opportunity to show our community that it’s a win-win situation to Wear a Heart for ALL animals.

Finger Lakes Animal Rights parade banner

More info and ongoing updates: www.veganedu.org/parade/

Contact & RSVP: fingerlakesanimalrights@gmail.com

If you’re not vegan yet, I bet this movie will convince you

Or maybe not, who knows! But this movie does seem to be very convincing to a lot of people. See if it works for you, maybe!

Community screening SATURDAY in Ithaca:

DOVE (Demonstrating Our Values Through Eating) & Club Veg Film Series
FORKS OVER KNIVES: Join the Conversation That’s Changing the Way America Eats

Saturday, April 13th, 7 – 9 PM

At the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca ANNEX Building, 208 East Buffalo Street, 2nd floor, Ithaca

FORKS OVER KNIVES examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.

“A film that can save your life” ~ Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

“I Loved it and I need all of you to see it” ~ Dr. Oz, The Dr. Oz Show

“Great movie” ~ Mark Bittman, New York Times columnist

“Convincing, radical, and politically volatile” ~ John Anderson, Variety

Who: Open to the public, childcare available
Cost: FREE (optional desserts and popcorn available for sale)
Reservations: Reservations for childcare REQUIRED by Wednesday April 10th.
Reservations for attending helpful for setup purposes. Reserve by emailing clubveg@gmail.com. For more information call 272-1126 before 10 PM
Make sure to include your name, number in your party, if you want to reserve childcare (and how many children and what ages).

DOVE & Club Veg planning meeting precedes the movie starting at 5:30. If you would like to get involved with DOVE (Demonstrating Our Values through Eating) an Action Team of the Unitarian Social Justice Council OR Club Veg as a volunteer, come to a meeting for volunteers. Delicious vegan dinner available for $10/each. Reservations required if you would like to order a dinner. See reservation information above.

Do you know how to listen?

I attended a free listening workshop here in Ithaca in 2011 that was really amazing. I went after I’d already been in Ithaca’s Talking Circles on Race and Racism — which are so wonderful, but so dependent on good communication. I really think I could have been a better listener (and a better white ally) if I’d attended the Listening Workshop before the Talking Circles!

The main idea is that usually, people aren’t really, truly listening to each other. They’re kind of waiting so they can speak. For instance, when someone says something about oppression, the other person isn’t necessarily listening with an open heart, ready to hear every painful detail — they’re usually going through a whole list of automatic, unhelpful responses (agreeing or disagreeing, questioning, giving advice, problem solving, thinking of a similar experience, coming up with reasons or explanations, etc. — there’s a list on our refrigerator!). The result is that we don’t actually hear what the other is saying. It takes awareness and practice to move away from these automatic responses, but I’ve got to say that it is well worth the effort. It really changed the way I communicate with people, for the better.

Think about what widespread adoption of this approach to communication could do for our world. Learning to be better listeners can only help our struggles for social and environmental justice. When someone speaks of their experience of racism or classism or heterosexism or sexism or any other oppression, it may stir up memories of things you read, or movies you saw, but that doesn’t mean that those are fit responses; the other is talking about their life, and now is not the time for anecdotes about movies, but for listening. Likewise, it might be painful to hear how we harm animals by not being vegan, but shouldn’t we at least listen to the voices of those we’re harming (via their proxies and spokespeople, those humans who can speak in words we can understand, who seem to have animals’ interests in mind)?

If you’re an activist, my guess is you’d like to be listened to. We have to be the change we want to see, so we need to work on our own listening.

Anyway, I can’t recommend these programs highly enough — and there happens to be a Listening Workshop SATURDAY, April 13th, 9am-12:30pm (they ask folks to please be 5 minutes early).

It will be held at the Ithaca Community Childcare Center (IC3), which is a really cool building at 579 Warren Road Ithaca, NY 14850 between the medical campus and Boces on Warren Road. Please bring snacks/beverages, and register at: www.thelisteningworkshop.com. It is 100% free.

Conference: “A Politics of Disability, Animal Liberation, and Queering”

Dear vegans of today: Thank you for being awesome. This is so incredibly far beyond anything that was happening when I was an 18-year-old baby vegan. How far we’ve all come!

1st Annual Conference “Engaging with Eco-ability”
Binghamton University, New York
April 27 and 28, 2013

Theme:
A Politics of Disability, Animal Liberation, and Queering

The 1st Annual Conference “Engaging with Eco-ability” will be hosted at Binghamton University April 27th & 28th, 2013. The conference will be organized and moderated by Anthony Nocella II and JL Schatz. The goal of this conference is to lay the groundwork for an edited book that’s part of the Critical Animal Studies series published by Lexington Books.

Sponsors include Binghamton University English Department, Binghamton University, Institute for Critical Animal Studies, and Students for Critical Animal Studies.

More info / RSVP on Facebook.

TODAY: Celebrate People’s History Art Show at the Ink Shop

Art Opening Friday, April 5th – Ink Shop Printmaking Center

People’s History: This show, curated by Ryan Clover-Owens, will feature artwork from the Just Seeds Artists’ Collective, a group of contemporary artists who have addressed a myriad of topics in the “Celebrate People’s History” series, from Emma Goldman and Malcom X to the Occupation of Alcatraz and the Zapatista uprising in Mexico. The show is an educational program of the Durland Alternatives Library at Cornell University and is comprised of about 60 posters.

Ink Shop Printmaking Center (2nd floor)
at Community School of Music and Arts
330 MLK Street / E. State Street 1st floor
Legacy Foundation Gallery Hallway Ithaca, NY 14850

Ink Shop Hours: Tuesday to Friday 12 -6 PM, Sat 12-4 PM; CSMA Hours: Monday-Thursday 10-6 and Friday 9-5

Contact: The Ink Shop 607 277-3884
Email: artists@ink-shop.org Web site: www.ink-shop.org

Event listing at AlternativesLibrary.org »

New vegan book club starting up in Ithaca

Via the Ithaca Vegans group on Facebook:

For those of you not on the meetup website I am starting a vegan book club and discussion group. The first date is for Sat. May 4th at 3:00. I suggested the first book, The Lucky Ones by Jenny Brown founder of Woodstock farm animal sanctuary. We will also discuss what else everyone wants to read. If you are interested let me know. – Stephanie

Happy birthday César Chávez

Happy birthday to the late, great César Chávez: a labor rights and environmental justice activist, and a vegan. He said,

I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry and unhappy like we do. I feel very deeply about vegetarianism and the animal kingdom. It was my dog Boycott who led me to question the right of humans to eat other sentient beings.

10 things you can do to help bees

This morning I started to read Bee Deaths From Colony Collapse Disorder On The Rise As Researchers Point To Pesticides on Huffington Post, and then I realized I’d rather find out how I can help, instead of just feeling bad about the problem. Here are some suggestions I found on the interwebs.

1. Stop buying GMO, non-organic food, and support organic agriculture instead. Buy used and/or organic clothing.
2. Learn about where your food and clothing comes from and how much pesticide went into its production.
3. Stop using pesticides in your own lawn and garden.
4. Sign petitions banning pesticides, and support the use of organic alternatives.
5. Encourage your local government to do more to help bees.
6. Attract bees by planting clover, flowering trees, and herbs that bees like. Provide a water source so they can take a drink when they visit.
7. Let your veggies go to seed after harvest, to help fatten up your bee neighbors for the long winter.
8. Educate yourself about bees so you can be more sure of how you relate to them and what you might like to do to help them.
9. Pass on your knowledge about bees. Your voice is powerful, and the bees can’t speak for themselves! Make sure that kids understand that bees are an important part of their ecosystem.
10. Provide bee habitat, but make sure you’re keeping bees and humans safe from hurting each other by marking bees’ homes.

    The only one I saw folks mention elsewhere that I didn’t put here was “become a beekeeper / support your local beekeeper.” I don’t feel that it would be my place to confine and manipulate others and take things they make, or to encourage others to do that. It takes the average worker bee her entire life to produce just one twelfth of one teaspoon of honey. They make it for their colony, not for us.

    If you do choose to use bee products, please make sure they’re locally produced and that you feel good about the way the bees are living, from birth to death. Since your decision impacts the lives of other beings, you may want to educate yourself about some of the ethical problems with beekeeping, honey, and beeswax. Thank you!