Two FREE 10-min Documentaries to Help Your Friends Understand Your Lifestyle

[Apple_Blossem]

Here are two, free, downloadable videos which opened my boyfriend and friend's eyes to why I am a vegetarian going vegan. Before, no one understood my lifestyle. After watching these two, free videos, which are ten minutes in length, three friends decided to become vegetarian.

A picture's worth a thousand words! - We can tell people a thousand times that factory farming is cruel - but no one actually gets the picture until they see it for themselves.

This documentary is narrated by Alec Baldwin. It includes graphic, non-edited footage of factory farming and the inhumane people who are hired to work there - the people who "take care of" the animals. It also shows HOW we support the veal industry by drinking milk. It is the reason why my boyfriend and myself became vegetarian overnight.
http://www.meat.org


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The second film is about 14 minutes and is not gross at all. It's an excellent movie from the medical perspective! It is by Dr. Michael Klapper about the benefits of a vegan diet. It shows actual arteries which are clogged up by meat and dairy consumption. It was the main reason why my boyfriend and I are becoming Vegan. Its free to download.
http://www.movieflix.com/movie_info.mfx?movie_id=2044

I play the Meet Your Meat video first, then the second one. When they walk away, they do not question my diet.

[chickendude]

I think the "Meet Your Meat" movies have led a lot of people to go vegetarian or vegan.

I'll have to check out that other clip when I get home. Thanks!

[Lex]

Thanks Apple B! I’ve emailed the links to myself at work (where I have access to amazing modern technologies like broadband and a keyboard )

[laurin]

I've tried to send my friends information and videos, but they either say they'll watch it and don't or simply just say "I can't watch that stuff". So you can eat it, but you don't care about how and in what mannerism you got your food? Honestly, it make's no sense. But I will keep trying!

[tipsy]

go to google video & type in vegan...

you get all sorts of good things, including a downloadable (& postable) version of earthings, meat your meat, and some peta comercials... as well as some (more) scientific, less gruesome stuff.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=vegan

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=meet+your+meat

[RubyDuby]

I've seen the Meat Your Meet video from petas site a bunch of times. (had it streaming on myspace page for awhile, but it was discouraging ppl from revisiting my page ) Thats a great video though!

Thank you so much for the nutrition video! I'm sending it to all my meat eating family and friends who refuse to watch animal torture. (wont watch it, but will still support it... got me )

[absentmindedfan]

I haven't seen Meat Your Meat before, but I knew full well what happened in farms and slaughterhouses. I've just watched a fair amount of it and it only further entrenches my view that if anyone can watch that video and still eat meat they have something psycholgoically wrong with them. To be able to see that much suffering and shrug it off requires a total lack of empathy and compassion. And if these scummy omnis wont offer compassion to my fellow creatures, then they cannot expect compassion from me.

[Rachael-Louise]

I only watch half of this before I was in tears, well actually I was in tears within a few seconds but my husband actually had to turn the screen off because I was hysterical, anyway can someone please explain to me exactly what is involved in the 'Dairy side' of this industry just so I have good knoladge?

BE WARNED EXTREMELY UPSETTING CONTENTS!
http://www.meat.org/index.asp

[BlueGreenEyes]

I didnt watch the link as I already watched similar when I was researching veganism.

The cows are used as milk machines, the farming industry doesnt care about the cows welbeing as long as they are making a profit. I sure that there are people on the forum that know much more about this then I do but what I discovered really shocked me, such as the cows themselves having to be constanty pregnant or lactating, and that the calves are ether killed soon after birth or used for veal. Once the cows production of milk goes down she is sent to slaughter (I think about 3 or 4 year might be wrong) and made into low grade meat products. I personaly feel that milk though white is running with the blood of innocents!

Sorry to wax poetical but I feel strongly about this, and people dont seem to make the connection between milk and death but its there!

[Rachael-Louise]

That is awful! I can not believe this happens, it is just as bad as eating meat if that is the case!

[BlueGreenEyes]

Yes yes it is!!!!!!!!!! but try to tell vegetarians..........

[cailean]

It's an easy thing to assume that eggs and milk are better because the animal doesn't die in the process. But in some ways dairy cows have worse lives than beef cattle. Meat and egg chickens both have it bad, but the conditions that egg chickens live in, coupled with the insta-death for male chicks make that whole process pretty horrible.

I get some disagreement from some vegans on this, but I don't think there's anything wrong with eating unfertilized eggs from chickens that live happy lives. It's not like they're using them. It's the farming practices that make this a problem (and naturally the wide-scale taste for eggs means we're not going to get enough happy chickens to borrow eggs from.) It's the way the farming is done that makes it so unethical, and it's so needless.

[BlueGreenEyes]

Cailean while its true that I have LESS of a problem with 'happy chickens' there are still huge problems involed:

you would still have to have some way of dealing with the male chicks, you would still have to cage the chickens at least some of the time. Also what would you do to stop them flying away when they arnt caged, clip their wings? Even if you where to buy the chickens from an 'ethical' breeder I'm sure that some if not all of thier brothers would have been kulled.

I respect your right to your opinion but I dont think that keeping chickens to eat their eggs is vegan even if you got ex battery hens.

[BlueGreenEyes]

sorry if that was a rant

[Rachael-Louise]

I am actually really surprised at my Sister for continuing to eat Dairy chocolate when she is soooo strick about everything else! I think I may have to have words!!

[BlueGreenEyes]

you should show her earthlings that was what made me deside to go vegan i am sure it has a dairy part in it plus you can get some great vegan chocolate its too good if you know what i mean (wobble, wobble) lol

[harpy]

More facts about dairy farming here - http://www.ciwf.org.uk/farm_animals/...re_issues.aspx They also have pages about egg farming there. And you could also have a look at the Vegan Society site as well.

I really think milk, eggs and meat are three sides of the same coin (bit of a logic problem there but you know what I mean )

[cailean]

I don't personally keep chickens, and I don't eat eggs currently either.

I grew up on a hobby farm, and my parents have had chickens on and off (and currently do have some). They eat meat but they don't kill those birds. They don't kill male chicks, either, though they don't breed them on their own so that is a good point. Again, not talking about any specific birds, just the concept of if we didn't hurt any of them.

They have a large shed that they roost in at night, and a large coupe outside. They're often let out to free range as well... my parents have enough land to provide them with comfort. Their wings aren't clipped. They've had a couple leave once, when a fox came after them, but for the most part they've always come home to roost. Perhaps you think any confinement is wrong, but if so, are you against keeping any pets, such as dogs or cats?

Strictly speaking, eating eggs is never vegan regardless, and I can certainly agree with the idea that most people won't have this option. But if we're not worried about the labels, I'm just thinking about the ethics of the particular situation. Although there are larger issues at play, I can at least say that my parents' chickens are seemingly happy birds.

[BlueGreenEyes]

I know what you mean harpy its something i would have said

[BlueGreenEyes]

I do have pets from my pre vegan days and as there are so many unwanted animal out there I wouldnt even try to rehome them but after they die......I'm not sure....... can you ever really know if your pets are happy being confined? mine seem happy but they are hardly with me of their own free will.........

I was just saying the problems with 'happy' chickens is that you are saying thats its ok to own animals so long as you dont kill them and I just have a problem with the concept of owning animal.

I am sure that your parents birds are cared for well but can you ever know if they are happy? Anyway I dont speak bird so I dont know,

btw its nice that your parents birds can fly if they want to...... it must have been nice growing up with space around you!

[Adena]

I read somewhere on the forum that if a free roaming chicken has an egg as they naturally do, and you take it, it will produce another one to replace it, then if you take that, it will make another to replace that etc - so actually free range chickens make a lot more than they naturally would do so, which can cause the chicken a lot of stress and actually make it bleed, which people think is normal because women bleed - but chickens are not actually meant to.

[harpy]

Although no egg-eating is vegan, I personally don't feel strongly about small-scale egg production where the birds are well-treated (although I think some people will argue that it's still exploitation and that the birds wouldn't keep laying if their eggs weren't removed - haven't really looked into that).

My main problem is with industrial-scale egg production, and (again without knowing much about it) I doubt if the more humane, no-slaughter approach to egg production is sustainable on a large scale because you would have to keep feeding hens that were no longer productive, and also of course all the "unneeded" male birds that hatched out (that are usually killed by egg farmers).

ETA sorry VeganBride, was writing at the same time as you!

[Adena]

Hah that's quite alright! Yeah definately see what you're saying on the industrial-scale humane front - if only people would just leave animals alone, I recon that'd pretty much work all round...

[cailean]

I'm not sure about that, I'll have to look into it. This isn't a fully thought-out idea, just working through it

As for pets, I can't really say much about cats, the only one I've had wanted to kill me, but the domesticated dog has evolved and adapted to be around humans for the past few thousand years. Not all breeds are as happy in confined spaces, and there are certainly requirements for how much room dogs need, again depending on breed. But dogs can certainly be happy living in "captivity" with us.

My mom also breeds dogs. I can guarantee that those are among the happiest dogs ever. These are little dogs - Cavalier King Charles Spaniels - and they have a large yard to run in and get walks all the time. If you open the gate they will indeed get excited and try to leave. Some of them will look around and immediately come back. Some of them would run into the street, or into danger. This isn't a breed that has any survival skills, so we're not about to let them run free... that would be inhumane.

This is not really a sign that they're unhappy, but they do like to explore new environments. Dogs display happiness pretty clearly, and these dogs are happy. Philosophically we can't know the internal states of any animal, of course, but then we can't certainly know the internal states of any other person. But based on our several-thousand-year relationship with dogs, I can confidently say that these are happy animals.

There are less humane breeders, of course, who look at this as a business. There are also puppy mills, which are horrible. Abuses are abuses and I'm certainly against those. But I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with keeping pets as long as you understand the comfort needs of the species and breed you're keeping. You can't keep a lion or an elephant as a pet, unless you happen to own an African nation for them to run around in. But a dog? Sure. Most dogs love people. Cavaliers, specifically, aren't fully happy unless they're sitting on the couch with a person.

[Rachael-Louise]

Oh my God I just watched the Earthlings video and honestly was almost sick! How the **ll can that go on!? Those poor animals! What were they doing to that poor cow?!

[BlueGreenEyes]

I was shocked when I watched it I cryed and resolved to become part of the solution and not part of the problem any more.

[BlueGreenEyes]

cailean not to be rude i am sure that your mom is a good breeder (my pets are from a god breeder also) but I am guessing that she turns a good profit when she sells one of the puppys. These are animals that have been bred so that they like people and want to be around them, it wasnt their choice. Your moms dogs may be happy but where their ancestors? so many pedgree doys have health problems assosited with because of breeders wanting them to look and act a certion way, some dogs cant give birth naturaly anymore or can hardly breath. what i am saying i just have a problem with the whole system of breeders and breeding even in the best case I feel its exploitative and ethicaly wrong.

[BlueGreenEyes]

sorry to go off topic

[cailean]

Actually she's had a loss on her last two litters, but I'll agree that my mom isn't a typical breeder. She is more interested in the dogs and their well-being than making money from it. But I've met other breeders, and the good ones are the ones that genuinely love the breed and love their dogs.

Yes, there are problems with some breeders, but there are also breeders who are concerned about the health of the breed. There are specific health problems that occur in Cavaliers, and she doesn't breed dogs that show those characteristics.

The problem with saying that dog breeding as a whole is exploitative and ethically wrong is that you ignore those who do it right. There are problems, and in some places they are widespread. But if the act itself is not inherently wrong, and some people are doing it right, then it's a sign that we ought to improve regulation in that area rather than ban it outright. We want to prevent abuse, rather than cause the extinction of those breeds that are healthy.

[cailean]

Yeah, we're a bit off topic now. Oops.

[BlueGreenEyes]

lets agree to disagree

[BlueGreenEyes]

Rachael are you alright?

[cailean]

Fair enough. I'm sure that we can agree that even if dog breeding isn't perfect, if dog breeding were the worst cases of animal abuse we'd be in way better shape than we are now.

[sandra]

I think everyone who eats meat/dairy/eggs etc should be made to watch what really goes on. Too many people like to close their eyes to the abuse and pretend everything is 'humane' (whatever that means) and painless.
I don't believe animals should be used for any reason..........whether it's small or large scale. An animal has as much right to it's body and it's life as we do. Humans need to respect that.

[BlueGreenEyes]

YES!!! I agree, I think that people prefer not to think about upsetting things. Parents tell children that the cow 'gives' them the milk! and i think most people dont think beyond that.

[Rachael-Louise]

Rachael are you alright?

Yes thankyou, I am alright just feeling really sad about the poor animals, as I type I am actually going through all my cosmetics... What do I need to avoid?

[BlueGreenEyes]

ummm...... I dont really wear make up sorry.... I'm sure someone else will know..... can tell you about sun cream, soap and moisturiser but I am sure that other people will know

[sandra]

Yes thankyou, I am alright just feeling really sad about the poor animals, as I type I am actually going through all my cosmetics... What do I need to avoid?

Hi Rachel-Louise, finding vegan cosmetics shouldn't be a problem. There are lots of companies who make vegan cosmetics e.g. Beauty Without Cruelty, Urban Decay, Gosh etc. There are a lot more............I think there is a thread on the forum about vegan makeup which you might find useful.

[Rachael-Louise]

http://www.animalaidshop.org.uk/cosmetics.htm Does that website look kosher?

[BlueGreenEyes]

I have used animal aid for stuff and they are great! i would recomend them for suncream and cute posters! havent tryed anyother products though (oh i got a toothbrush from them )