Who Should Advocate for Animals?

The short answer: Everyone who wants to.

The long answer: Seriously, everyone who wants to. Everyone considers different things acceptable. If you eat meat, but think wearing fur is wrong, and it bothers you enough for you to want to take action, go for it*. Write a letter. Attend a demo. Do whatever you can to end the suffering you've witnessed.

You may be afraid others will consider you a hypocrite if you advocate for some animal issues and not others, but fuck them. You're not doing it for the dude with the shoes made out of recycled condoms** and the Leaping Bunny tattoo. You're doing it for the animals and they need all the help they can get. If the animals could only depend on vegans to speak for them, they'd be pretty well fucked; there aren't that many of us.

That being said, Martha Stewart's promo for Farm Sanctuary pisses me right the fuck off. Not because she's not vegan, but because she directly profits from animal exploitation and abuse. Whole Foods is one of her sponsors. She's not speaking out against factory farms out of concern for the animals, but because she profits when people buy "happy meat" instead.

Should we be glad more people are converting to cage free/free range/grass fed/raised-in-a-spa animal products? Maybe. Probably not. Organically raised animals may suffer less than factory farmed ones, but there's no doubt that they still suffer. And die. If there are people who are currently eating happy meat who would have gone vegan if they didn't have this "more ethical" option, then more animals are suffering than would have if people like Martha weren't pushing these farming methods. And that's fucked up.

*But maybe also take a moment to sit down and think about why.
**Can we make this happen? Please?

WVBS T-Shirt Contest!

Remember the Herbivore Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale t-shirts? They were awesome, but now they're gone. So we want to print a NEW WVBS t-shirt. Designed by YOU. Here's how it works:

1. Send your design to info@veganbakesale.org by February 19, 2012.
2. One week later, we'll announce two winners!
3. We'll create tee shirts (and maybe other products down the road, such as aprons) emblazoned with the winning design, and sell them on the new WVBS Zazzle store (in progress). We'll proudly and enthusiastically mention the designer and link to their websites or portfolios in the product descriptions. Of course, the winners get free tee shirts.
4. Profits from the sales will go to Compassion for Animals, to help with the cost of running and promoting the WorldwideVegan Bake Sale.

All the fine print and details are here: <CLICK> and if you have any other questions, just email info@veganbakesale.org! Happy shirting!

Whalentine's Day Bake Sale

Yes! Sea Shepherd NYC's annual(?) vegan bake sale is on its way!

Come on down, get some sweets for your sweetie (or yourself. or myself) and support Sea Shepherd's many amazing marine conservation campaigns (currently, Operation Divine Wind has our crew interfering with illegal whaling in the Southern Ocean (no whales killed yet this season!) while the Cove Guardians are in Taiji, Japan for the annual dolphin slaughter).

When: February 12, 2012 from 12:30 to 5:30 PM
Where: Mooshoes, 78 Orchard Street
Who: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, NYC Chapter
RSVP: Facebook Event Page
Sign up to participate: Google Doc

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