Find out what the UK wildlife want from Santa this Christmas.

Breathing Places is an important project about getting involved in conservation and protecting wildlife in the UK. I’m not sure that these animals are 100% anatomically correct though….

A slobbering advice column written by a dog for eco-minded dogs & their owners

Dear Lola: Finally, its summer again! Time to hike, run, and play with Buster at the park or on the trail. Are their any eco-friendly options out there to pick up that squishy stuff?
Sincerely, CONSIDERATE DOGWALKER

DEAR CONSIDERATE DOGWALKER: First, let me give you a big paw on the back for picking up after Buster. Like many dogs, a walk to the park, around the neighborhood and on the trail makes my day, but sometimes nature calls (no, not the howling of the wild). Whether it’s in the brushes, on the sidewalk, near a hydrant (a dogs version of the port-a-potty), or on a neighbor’s lawn it is important to do the right thing and pick up. Because no one likes the reminder of what your dog ate for dinner last night. Not to mention, it’s a dog owner no-no to leave piles behind, so beware you can be charged a heavy fine for not picking up. So be courteous of those joggers, law-abiding dog walking citizens, neighbors, and speed walkers out there because no one likes to step in dog poo.

I know many people opt to use an empty grocery bag, just please keep in mind these take 100’s of years to break down. Possibly clogging the throats of poor innocent earthworms and dung beetles. Luckily, there are eco-friendly alternatives out there. The two I recommend and use are Skooperbox & Spike Brand Business Bags. Trust me, the earthworms and dung beetles will thank you for it.

The Skooperbox is made from 100% recycled paper, hooks conveniently onto your leash, just scoop and toss. So say good-bye to that squishy feeling, and hello to no more grabbing because with the handy scooper your hand never has to touch that mess again. Best of all it is 100% biodegradable and breaks down in 30 days.

Spike Brand Business Bags are made from corn, are strong, compostable and biodegrade without a trace in 45 days.

So go ahead, enjoy the walk! Now every business trip you make with Buster can help make for a cleaner planet & a cleaner conscience.

Barkingly yours,
Lola the eco-dog

You can find this and other eco-friendly products at www.pawlux.com. Paw Luxury specializes in selling earth friendly products. We offer quality products that are stylish, durable, all natural, organic, holistic, sustainable, biodegradable, fair trade, and Made in the USA. Our motto is “healthy dog, healthy earth, and happier life”.

If you have a question or need advice from Lola the eco- dog on ways you & your dog can go green just email her at asklola@pawlux.com. Lola the eco-dog is here to help!

The battle against the violations of animal rights its not that evident, even among “green” activist groups of today. If we look at today’s activist groups, we consider it normal for them to be against sexism, racism, capitalism, the consumer society, the army, nuclear energy, environmental pollution, etc. But why isn’t it normal that the activist of today is also a vegetarian or a vegan? Why are animal right activists the outsiders of the action world?

Most of the time, when an individual activist is not being consistent, it is considered quite normal. No harm is done and nobody thinks anything of that. Because living green all the time is difficult: sometimes we have to take the plane, we need a long bath, we buy a Nike football, we take our car to go to our local grocery store,… Everybody ‘understands’ these minor errors, and this activist won’t be judged in any way. However, animal rights activists are scrutinised and judged almost immediately. Just after mentioning the fact that they are vegan, they promptly have to defend themselves: “So you don’t think wearing plastic shoes is polluting?” , “Are you sure all your clothes are fair trade?”, “Why don’t you consider on helping the children in Africa?”, … The shortcomings of the vegan appear to be much worse than those of the non- (vegan) activist.

Moreover, people become angry when we request them to keep their hands of animals, but at the same time, they consider it normal that we are against racism and global warming. It seems nobody knows, or wants to know that all these beliefs and convictions go hand in hand. For example veganism and the environment: “Cattle-rearing generates more global warming greenhouse gases, than transportation.” (UN report of 29 november 2006) “Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems and urgent action is required to remedy the situation” (senior UN Food and Agriculture Organization official Henning Steinfeld)

Wouldn’t it be common sense for all the green movements to take on the battle of animal welfare? Wouldn’t it be logical that on a protest against tree-cutting, nobody will eat meat? That on an anti-fascist demonstration, everybody denies the food if it is not vegan, instead of gladly consuming the available ham and cheese sandwiches?

Of course it is very important that an animal rights movement is also against racism, sexism, environmental pollution etc. Also, animal rights magazines should be printed on recycled paper etc. But this won’t be very difficult: it’s hard to even find a veggie that is not “green” or at least trying to be green in every way possible.

With this article, we are not judging. We are merely asking questions, thinking out loud… Maybe you will start asking questions also…

It is our own strong belief in vegetarianism that inspired us doing what we are doing today: we started our online boutique with vegan chic footwear for us green girls! Check out our website at www.georgette-shoes.com or www.georgette.be and enjoy!

Inspired by the article of Erik de Gier in “Ravage Digitaal”

The Brits are apparently known as animal loving types. In fact there are 30 million people in Britain who own a variety of furry, scaly and feathered creatures, contributing to at least a £4 billlion pet food industry (source – The Independent Online). Additionally, according to an article on Google Answers there are between 40 – 60 million dog owners in the US alone, not to mention all of the other nations around the world.

In the grand scheme of things thinking about green pets may seem a silly and frivolous thing to discuss but when you consider those figures you can’t help but ask the question:

How big are our pets’ carbon paw prints?

I’ve always wanted a dog. Its just one of those little girl dreams that I’ve never grown out of. Sad as it sounds I was the kid who got really excited when a dog ran onto the school field and at home-time lured it back to my house with a packet of biscuits or my left over sandwiches in the vain (and highly unlikely) hope that my mum would say “no problem, of course you can keep him”. By the time I got my own home and could make my own decision about getting a dog my partner and I were working long hours and out of the house all day. Wanting to be responsible dog owners we decided that it would be too cruel to leave a dog alone for that length of time and resigned ourselves to believing the only way we could have a dog would be to win the lottery and quit work altogether. That was as likely as my mum letting me keep the stray pooch from the school field!

Now, however, my situation is very different. Running Make Hay (our own business) from home we’re in the perfect situation to have our very own dog, maybe two! But wait, there’s a new dilemma. How could we keep a dog or two or ten – hang on, I’m getting carried away – and make sure it fits into our lifestyle? We’re not perfect, but we do consider very carefully where we buy our food, clothes and things for our home taking into account environmental impact, human rights and animal welfare. Would it be possible to do the same with dog food, treats, toys and bedding?

OK, so toys and bedding are easy. Just carrying out a quick search on Google this morning I see there’s no shortage of places where you can buy hemp and biodegradable puller toys and doggie beds. I could even make my own dog bed with some recycled fabric. Sorted!

Food is a very different matter though. For starters I’m vegetarian and made that decision 19 years ago because I didn’t want to support the cruel farming and slaughtering methods that were commonly used back then. Fortunately nowadays we have more choice with the kind of meat we can buy and although I don’t eat it myself I know I can get organic and free-range meat for my partner who isn’t a veggie. I’m not the sort of person who would preach my choices to other people, I personally don’t think that’s the way to effect positive change but a dog would be my responsibility and since it couldn’t debate with me on the merits of free-range versus factory farming my choices would inevitably also be his / hers. Making a wild guess (ahem) I would say that many of the known dog food brands we see in the shops probably do not include meat from ethical sources. Knowing what I know about factory farming there’s no way I could support it for as long as I own the dog, probably the best part of fifteen years. I guess you could say, “well buy organic meat and cook that for your dog then”, but I don’t think I could afford that. So what would I do?

Alicia Silverstone is one of many famous vegans and from what I understand about her lifestyle she’s pretty strict right through to her pet owning. I don’t doubt for a second that she loves her dogs but is forcing them to be vegans too healthy and fair?

OK, so now my lacking knowledge of dog biology is going to show but humans are omnvivores and dogs are carnivores, right? So humans, as long as they plan their diet carefully, can live entirely on non animal products and be super healthy. Vegan humans can eat fruit, veg, pulses, grains and soy and may sometimes take supplements to ensure a balance of necessary vitamins and minerals but can we plan an equally balanced and appropriate diet for our carnivore canine? Well, I don’t think that’s been decided yet. Some clearly believe you can, Alicia being one of them, others would argue that it’s just not natural. I haven’t made up my mind yet.

I guess my point here is that when we take an animal into our home we should be considering how their lives will affect the environment and how our own lifestyle choices relating to the environment affects them.

In case you were wondering, we’ve decided against having a dog for now. It is a huge responsibility that we don’t want to take lightly. Previously I’ve had house rabbits as pets (sadly I lost Del, my house bunny, recently) and I’ve found that giving them a green lifestyle is very easy, especially as their strict vegan diet would give even Alicia Silverstone a run for her money. Our bunny ate home grown or local, shop bought organic veg, plants from the garden (even the ones I didn’t want him to eat!), had a home-made bunny bed and even helped us to recycle by letting us put shredded office waste paper in his litter tray which would later go in the composter.

I’d love to hear about how other animal lovers have tackled these issues, not just dog owners but those with all kinds of animals – four-legged, feathery or wet.

Did you know that November is World Vegan Month?

There are many reasons why people decide to go vegan. One of the popular reasons is environmental concern. Many vegans believe that avoiding animal products in general and boycotting factory farming in particular can actually save the world.

At online ethical fashion boutique Bourgeois Boheme we decided to reveal the myths and truth about the “V” minority group.

10 MYTHS ABOUT VEGANS

1. “Vegans are the pale anemic bunch”
No way Jose! Get yourself a bucket of cold water before you click into Vegan bodybuilders website. Olympic champion Carl Lewis, gorgeous Alicia Silverstone and hot Joaquin Phoenix are amongst famous vegan hotties. You may find the list of vegan celebs at www.goveg.com .

2. “If you want to know what’s in fashion, don’t bother asking a vegan”
The best fashion accessory for Vegans is the one matching their beliefs. The mainstream has now caught on that “Green is the new Black” and compassionate fashion is in vogue. Stella McCartney is one among many designers who refuses to use fur or leather in any of her prêt-a-porter collections.

3. “Vegans are Fruit loops”
There may be a few fruit loops amongst them but there are a few rather brilliant minds too. Mr Janez Drnovsek, president of Slovenia, is vegan, and just to name few revered veggie brains – Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, Albert Einstein and Leonardo Da Vinci. Maybe tofu is the next brain food …

4. “Vegans live on rabbit food”
Vegans love their rabbit food but they also love to tantilise their taste buds with scrumptious cuisines from around the world. Does the sound of Brazil Nut Choc Temptation sound too good to be vegan? Go to veginity.com for this recipe and more.

5. “Stylish Vegan footwear = Oxymoron”
Not anymore! Happy Vegan feet can now step out in style with stores like Bourgeois Boheme, www.bboheme.com . Footwear and accessories for both men and women are ethically sourced from around the world. Look out for the new collection under their own label coming out in the vegan month of November.

6. “Vegans love animals more than people”
The furry, scaly and warty ones are their passion but high on their priorities too is the welfare of their fellow 2-legged Homo sapiens variety too.

7. “Vegans will not rest until they convert the entire world into Vegans”
They would love everyone to be vegan of course but they do understand that this is the real world. Another way around is to set up a little country of vegans! One group hopes to purchase an island to establish their very own vegan island community.

8. “Vegans are all humourless, angry extremists”
You can speak out for animals and to have fun at the same time too. One such “cheeky” way is getting your gear off and running nude along the streets of Pamplona. Intrigued? Go to PETA’s (People for the Ethical treatment of Animals) runningofthenudes.com for more details.

9. “Vegans are tree huggers”
Indeed they are and they love hugging lots of other things too! Actually, veganism and environmentalism go hand in hand. Did you know that farmed animals, cow’s flatulence for one, produce more greenhouse gas emissions (18%) than the world’s entire transport system (13.5%)? Go to the Vegan Society for further interesting facts.

10. “Vegans have a chip on their shoulders”
“Let’s say you were stranded on a deserted island and your only food source was a turtle, would you eat it…?”
Vegans are bombarded with such absurd scenarios everyday; it’s not surprising that they may snap back! If you really want to know what vegetarian ethics is about go to Vegetarians International Voice for Animals website.

Happy Vegan Day!!!

Bourgeois Boheme
www.bboheme.com

For further information contact Vika Lebedeva
vika@bboheme.com
Bourgeois Boheme, PO BOX 803, Richmond TW9 4XW, UK
Office: 0208 408 2220
Mobile: 0794715567

I have recently transgressed (again) from being vegetarian to vegan. Since I was 12 I have been going through stages of being vegetarian and vegan and for about four years I was weak and went back to animal based food and products. However I am now 100% COMMITTED to being vegan and will never ever go back to animal based food or products.

Important! I am not writing this post nor will I be writing the subsequent Veganism posts with the aim of converting you all to being Vegan. Instead I am writing about veganism to share with you an element of my life and also to hopefully start a discussion / debate on GGG how our lifestyle choices can affect the planet and even our health (whether in negative or positive ways)

So you may be asking ‘Why vegan? Well I personally believe in the vegan principles and ethics. Also I am now 100% committed to being vegan because it is better for the environment and also my health.

Principles and Ethics

Some may argue that we are born omnivores (meat and veg) and that eating and using animal based products is only natural. But is killing any animal (including human) ‘natural’? Is exploiting any animal (including human) keeping them locked up in pain and suffering ‘natural’?

I don’t think that it is ‘natural’ at all. Yes in the animal kingdom and in the circle of life some other animals kill other animals for food and some even ‘fun’. But these animals do not have choice – as humans we have a choice to choose that no animal including humans suffer in order for us to survive as a species. We do not need to eat animals to survive. We do not need to exploit anyone or anything including animals, humans or the planet to survive.

For more information about vegan principles and ethics then please watch the The philosophy of Vegan Values: The practice of non-violence Youtube video, go to the Veganism article on Wikipedia, or go to The Vegan Society website.

Environmental Benefits

Being a vegan is better for the environment compared to an animal based diet because fewer resources are used.

Here is a simple demonstration:

Land + Water + Energy = Crops

Land + Water + Energy + Crops = Livestock and dairy products

I could go into this in much further detail but the post would be far too long. However hopefully from the simple diagram you can see by eating meat or having dairy products additional resources are being used. So to me it makes sense to just eat the crops. Yes energy and land is needed to grow crops and I will write more about vegan farming / agriculture in another post.

If you want more information about the environmental benefits of being vegan then please check out an interesting online essay called ‘Logical Environmental Reasoning for a Vegetarian Lifestyle’.

Also some food for thought is, in “A 2006 study by Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin, assistant professors of geophysics at the

University of Chicago, found that a person switching from the average American diet to a vegan diet would reduce CO₂ emissions by 1,485 kg per year.” Source: Diet, Energy and Global Warming study.

Health Benefits

As the vegan society says “How many times have you been told to eat more fruit and veg? Contrast this with how many times you’ve been told to eat more burgers…” The typical vegan will eat more fruit and veg than the average meat eater! And who can deny that an increase of fruit and veg is bad? Also people who “avoid meat also tend to have lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein, and higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, and phytochemicals” Source: “Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada: Vegetarian diets (June 2003)

A well balanced vegan diet provides a range of health benefits compared to meat eaters and even vegetarians. For further details about the health benefits and for some recipe ideas etc, check out Super Vegans – Living proof vegan diets and nutrition.

Next Post

My next veganism post will explore about how easy it is to be Vegan using organic and locally sourced food. But in the mean time feel free to leave comments about your experiences of being a vegan or your arguments for or even against the various benefits of veganism including environmental.

Ever since seeing them on a local news feature a year or two ago I’ve been following the progress of the Battery Hen Welfare Trust.

The work of these guys is amazing, they rescue ‘ex-bats’ (as they call them) and re-home all over the UK. This October alone they got 1,323 hens out of battery farms.

One of the best things we can do to support the Battery Hen Welfare Trust is to make sure we buy free-range eggs. Get knowleadgable about which shops sell them and bug the ones who don’t to change their ways.

In their latest newsletter the BHWT talk about a whole new way of farming eggs – respectfully.

Respectful Eggs care for both the environment and the welfare of their hens. The farms are powered by wind and solar energy, the hens are fed on a locally sourced feed, the egg boxes are fully recyclable and most importantly of all the hens have a free range life where natural behaviour is encouraged.

To find out where you can buy Respectful Eggs and more about the farms visit www.respectful.co.uk.

Oh and you can see what their happy hens are up to on ‘Chick Cam‘ too!

Upon this night of Halloween festivities consider some of those creatures which Halloween myths have turned into monsters such as bats! I really do think that Count Dracula has a lot to answer to when it comes to the misconceptions about bats and their spooky image.

Here are a few bat facts to get rid of those myths:

1 – In Europe, bats only eat insects – in fact a pipistrelle can eat up to 3000 midges a night

2 – Bats rarely live in belfries, much preferring somewhere quiet and free of cobwebs.

3 – Bats are more closely related to people than to mice.

4 – Bats do not build nests but hand up or crawl into existing cracks and crannies in trees and buildings.

5 – Bats can see, but they need to hunt insects at night and so use a highly sophisticated echolocation system to find their way around in the dark.

6 – Like all mammals, bats have fur and give birth to live young, which they suckle on milk until they can fly and feed themselves.

7 – A pipistrelle, Europe’s smallest bat, would fit on the end of your thumb.

8 – There are 16 species of bats found in the UK of which 11 are considered to be vulnerable or rare.

9 – Numbers have declined because of loss of places to shelter and feed, use of toxic timber treatment in lofts and persecution due to myths and misunderstandings.

Fancy a treat this Halloween – then why not treat yourself or a friend to an unusual present ‘Adopt a bat!’ Dont worry it doesnt involve living with one – but you do get an adoption pack and your donation helps towards the conservation programme.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust are taking part in the Great British Duck Race on Sunday 2nd September at 1.30pm.

Don’t worry, no animals will be harmed, these are rubber ducks. In fact 165,000 of them are to be sent down a 50 metre channel of the River Thames, carried along by the natural current.

All of the ducks are numbered and the first one to cross the finish line will win its proud owner a prize of £10,000!

So, if you fancy your chances at winning a huge amount of money AND supporting a great charity at the same time then adopt a duck - visit the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust Website.

To find out more about the Great British Duck Race visit www.thegreatbritishduckrace.co.uk