Happy World Vegan Day 2009!

I would prefer people would go vegan, but this is a great first step. Go Meatless on Mondays:

If we all just commit to one day a week without eating meat, the effect will be great over the course of the year:

• Our greenhouse gas emission reductions equal US switching from a car with average fuel efficiency (that’s about 22 mpg for the entire fleet) to a high efficiency car such as the Toyota Prius (50 mpg).
• We will save about 1 ton of water, enough to fill up the bathtub 22 times per week
• If everyone in the US did this, we’d collectively save about 12 billion gallons of gasoline

(from TreeHugger)

While you are checking out the Meatless Monday website, make sure to check their recipes, such as Zesty Carribean Banana Muffins.

Looks like Mother Earth even in the time of great danger still knows how to show us that she cares about us. Let’s return the favor. Let’s…

• Bike to work ~ reduce air, noise, and visual pollution.
• Live in 20 minute neighborhoods ~ Save time, money, and your life
• Make electricity out of sun, wind, and tide ~ It is cheaper and almost maintenance free
• Go vegan ~ Much healthier and better for the environment

Happy Earth Day 2009!!

Happy World Vegetarian Day!!

Go VEGAN!

Here are some random pages I saw and I thought were cool/funny/interesting/crazy:

• Pay off your share of the US national debt

Transportation

• Bike to work is healthy
• Energy cost of movement
• Live longer, run
• Cool and scary photos of traffic from space

Vegan

• Naked chicks protesting against UK guards wearing fur
• E. coli in Whole Foods beef

Social Security Number

• Protect your SSN
• How secure is your SSN

Interested in some awesome Japanese vegan dishes?

I usually do not like to advertise companies, but I really like these guys. Everybody, meet Alchemy Goods. This company makes all sorts of practical accessories made from recycled bike parts. I recently purchased their wallets and they are great. They are soft, smooth, they do not slide around, and they are environmentally friendly, since they are made from recycled materials.

The AG’s products may or may not be 100% vegan, since some tires and tubes include animal products to make them run cooler. But, considering that most alternatives are made from leather, they are significantly better. Also, since they are recycled, they are much better for the environment.

As you are probably aware if you live in US there will be some minor elections this fall. There are several interesting propositions on those elections. Here are some that I have a strong opinion about:

Proposition 1: Build a high speed train between the San Francisco and Los Angeles area. The major opposition falls into three major camps. There are people who say that since California cannot pay for education and health care, why spend money on this. Second argument is that it would never really be complete and it is a waste of money. Finally, the third argument is that it would have a huge environmental impact. Since I am not a finance person, I will ignore the first two. I assume somebody did the math. The only thing to add is that the money will be saved by people not having to drive or fly there. Also, since less people would drive, there would be substantial positive impact on the environment.

Proposition 2: This one has to do with the ethical treatment of farm animals. Though I don’t agree with people abusing farm animals in any way especially not for food production, I think baby steps can help sometimes. That said, baby steps when they really do something, not like a recent PETA fiasco with the Canadian KFC, where now PETA is promoting KFC. But hey, opposition says that the cost of eggs will go up. That is a good thing, isn’t it. So, I would say opposition to any animal cruelty is a great thing. Especially when it involves words such as “Go Vegan!“.

Proposition 4: Requires parents to be notified and consent to the abortion on a minor. Though in general I agree that the parents should be involved with the life of their children, unnecessary delaying potentially harmful pregnancy on a minor can be extremely serious. In addition this law would increase the underground abortion sites which are generally extremely unsafe, unsanitary and dangerous, compared to the abortion in the proper medical setting. Finally, I see this proposition to be a stepping stone towards making abortion illegal.

Proposition 8: Constitutional amendment with text “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” To quote a famous philosopher Wanda Sykes: “if you don’t believe in same sex marriage, then don’t marry somebody of the same sex.” But in general the message that people should get into their thick head is that this one does not affect them at all! Environment, diet, exercise, financial decisions, etc.. will all affect them, but letting same sex people to marry will not. For more information, check out Let California Ring. Also, check out the arguments against same sex marriage.

Let’s all work together to make this world a happy place. Let’s not bicker about who can associate with who, who has a right to live and who does not, who has access to prosperity and who does not. We are here together and let’s work together to make everybody’s life happy. That includes your life, my life, cats lives, chickens lives, and even lives of people that you do not agree with. And finally, let’s make the lives of our children happy, buy not destroying the environment they will be forced to live in, but protect our precious planet for our children, cats children, chickens children, and anybody else they will share it with.

Choices you make affect everybody. Remember that.

(from A Life Connected)

Another vegetable on the long and growing list of evil vegetables. This time it is:

Thank nature the peppers, habaneros, and cilantro are still ok, so we can at least make the green salsa.

So, how about this, let’s stop the salmonella by not using animal products.

So, go Vegan!!

Vegan Freak is a great book and a must read for any vegan wannabe, vegetarian, a family member of vegan, or somebody who cares about animals in any way. In addition to the book, there is also a great website with forums and other useful information. It also contains Vegan Freak Radio, which is a lighthearted weekly podcast on all things vegan.

In the last Vegan Freak Radio show (June 20th), hosts Bob and Jenna talked to Professor Gary L. Francione. Dr. Francione is a great spokesperson for abolition of animal exploitation.

This was a great interview and worth listening whether you are vegan or not.

Why is the vegetable being vilified?

• Spinach
• Scallions
• Peanuts
• Tomatoes

To quote Dan Brook: “As with e. coli, the media seem to blame vegetables (spinach, scallions, now tomatoes), but the culprit is the farming of animals for meat, especially factory farming.”

Also, from Latina Viva Health: “…, animal waste can get into fields in the form of run-off from contaminated water supply systems and infected animals that sneak in and relieve themselves.”

So, go Vegan!!

It turns out that I am way more dangerous than your hospital or court house bomber. Why? Well, I guess because I am vegan.

Let’s start with this:

• FBI looking for vegan potluck terrorists (from Boing Boing)
• In preparation for the Republican National Convention, the FBI is soliciting informants to keep tabs on local protest groups (from Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages)

What is so dangerous about us Vegans? How about environmentalists? Well, everything. Think about it. The loss of revenue to the meat production that I cause. Average American eats about 200 lb of meat per year. Assuming that an average pound of meat costs $5, I cost meat economy about $1000 per year. Then there is of course the 50 or so gallons of milk products a year, which at the cost of let say $2 per gallon costs producers hundred or several hundreds of dollars.

So, by the time we are done with that, I cost animal exploitation companies thousands of dollars of lost revenue every year. But it does not stop there. Every person I influence increases this lost revenue. Now, according to: Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act passed in late 2006 it is an offense to do pretty much anything for the purpose of damaging or disrupting an animal enterprise except by means that are protected by the freedom of speech. In other words, I can write an article saying that people should be vegan, but I cannot actually be vegan.

I can easily extend this argument to energy industry. My cycling commute is about 70 miles a week or 3500 miles a year. That is about 11 tanks of gas and each tank costs about $60. So, I cost gas industry at current prices about $600 a year. And my commute is not long and my car is pretty efficient. Imagine I would drive an SUV and commute 40 miles a day.

So, why don’t you join me in becoming a terrorist. It is super easy. Just stop eating meat. It is bad for you anyway. Studies after studies show that. Also, while there, stop consuming dairy and eggs. It has been almost proven that it causes several types of cancer. And if you want to be really radical, jump on that bike. You will save money for gas, money for gym, and by the time you come to work, you will be refreshed and stress free. And you can laugh at people being stuck in traffic.

Why are we so much against torture of people but when it comes to animals we are ok with it?

It was January again and with it the annual meeting in Salt Lake City. However, since I do not work for KW any more, I had to organize my own trip. So MK and I packed the snowboarding equipment and got there. It is funny how short the flight to SLC is from here. We spend snowboarding four days and though initial plans were to visit some other ski resorts, we end up hanging out at Snowbird all the time.

Snowbird was phenomenal as always. They just received lots of fresh snow, so it was powder most of the time. Also, because of the overcast weather, there were not a lot of people there. This was also the first year I tried the new tunnel that goes through the mountain. And the last day I took couple of nice videos of SP snowboarding. This was of course right before I smashed my camera.

It was a fantastic trip. Beside spending awesome time on the slopes, I managed to visit some of my ex coworkers and some other friends that attended the meeting. I also ended up eating in my favorite vegan restaurant in SLC called Sage’s Cafe.

Ok, 2007 is over and 2008 is here. First of all, Happy New Year!! to everybody. Yeah, it was a good one. Here is a recap:

• Lots of travel
• New Job
• Drive from NY to CA
• Move to CA
• Lots of biking
• Meet new people
• More biking
• Found several vegan restaurants
• I love this place
• Even more biking

So, time to make some New Year resolutions. Here they are:

• More biking
• More fun
• Meet more people
• Do more for the environment and peace (kind of cliché)

Beyond this, I will attempt to do a century a month thing this year, next to biking to work every day.

Just wanted to show you some cool vegan web sites:

• Vegan Freak
• Vegan Cycling
• Vegan Fitness