zenpawn » environment

Why Vegan?

Erin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:06:03 +0000

As we approach the end of another calender year, especially one in which so many environmental disasters have occurred, both “natural” and man-made, and head into the infamous 2012, it seems appropriate to remind ourselves, or more likely our friends and family, why we choose to be vegan.

Powerful, don’t you think? (Hit Like or Tweet below to share.)

May the New Year find you and yours happy and healthy.

Mushrooms From Irene

Erin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:52:02 +0000

A few weeks ago, Hurricane Irene — downgraded to a Tropical Storm — tore through the Northeast well inland, hitting New Hampshire and even Vermont. Not something we see often in these parts. Ice storms on the other hand… pretty common.

The result? Flooding, downed trees, busted dams, torrential rain, and a couple days without power (not nearly so daunting as in the middle of winter!).

And, there was another result, noticeable a couple days after the soaking rains had moved on: a bumper crop of new and varied mushrooms all around my property. Check these beauties out!

Anyone good at identification? Just curious; don’t worry, they’re not getting anywhere near a dinner plate! LOL. I just think they’re spectacular. Always been a fan of mushrooms.

Biosphere 2

Erin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:45:43 +0000

Two years and 20 minutes, that’s how long Jane Poynter spent in Biosphere 2 alongside Calorie Restriction (CRON) pioneer, Roy Walford and six others from 1991 to 1993.

Here’s her story as recounted at the recent TEDx event in California, the first of the new independently-run TED Talk offshoot seminars.

I hope you enjoy this bit of environmental and dietary history.

Poll: What’s Your Favorite Bean?

Erin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:02:36 +0000

Excluding peanuts, …

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
What? You say your favorite legume isn’t listed? Apparently, I lose this game of twenty questions. Please do tell.

Furthermore, what’s your favorite way to make them? Leave a comment with your mouth-watering preparation.

Remember my post about the
Global Seed Bank?
Maybe it’s better to have our own…

Swine Flu – Influenza A (H1N1)

Erin — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:44:41 +0000

I’ve been thinking about this for the past week: what to write about the so-called “swine flu.”

Being without cable I think has provided me a little shelter from the hysteria. Instead of fast clips, sound bites, and conclusion-jumping, I’ve had the chance to read the ostensibly more thought-out articles found in (digital) print.

Some have lived up to this charter, if you will, but the medium has not been spared its own unique ballyhoo. This is the land of conspiracy theorists whose views seldom find favor among mainstream venues.

You know, ideas such as whether our government has cooked this rare concoction of strains up in its own labs, its release not an accident, but intentional; or maybe it’s all a grand scheme to finally usher in the New World Order. Hogwash!

Not that these things don’t/won’t/can’t happen, rather I don’t believe they’re orchestrated by human conniving, though maybe stupidity. There is no conductor here but Time.

Look, we’ve found Patient Zero!

This cute picture’s been making the rounds, and I just had to include it. My caption’s OK, but my friend had one that just cracked me up when he posted it on Facebook: “You little bastard! You’ve killed us all!”

While I do agree with the sentiment of those in the health movement that a good diet is essential to proper immune function, it makes me uncomfortable when folks declare a sort of untouchability by way of their vegan, raw food, what have you, diet. Just as when some in the Calorie Restriction Society talk as though their long life is a guarantee. Seems like tempting fate to me, and you won’t catch me being so smug. That said, eating well can only help (probably more than these), and you’ll feel better for it regardless, so just do it!

If there’s a silver lining to all this, it’s that attention has been brought to the horrible living and dying conditions of factory farmed animals. Take for example the CNN videos posted on VegSource.

For a detailed timeline of this particular outbreak and strain and more information on the biology of flu in general, see this Wikipedia entry.