OP
OP
I just found it on Netflix, yay! Will watch it tonight
US Excited to meet other Vegans!
- Thread starter jessicaoutdoors
- Start date
Lou
Forum Legend
Welcome.
There is a documentary titled Running For Good. I saw it online for free when it first came out. But it's worth the $4 they charge for it now. One hundred percent of the profits go to an animal sanctuary. so you get a documentary to watch AND help animals.
The movie is about Fiona Oakes and if you don't know anything about her you can just google her.
There is a documentary titled Running For Good. I saw it online for free when it first came out. But it's worth the $4 they charge for it now. One hundred percent of the profits go to an animal sanctuary. so you get a documentary to watch AND help animals.
The movie is about Fiona Oakes and if you don't know anything about her you can just google her.
OP
OP
Ahimsa, I loved this documentary and so inspiring! If these extreme athletes can be at their best just think about what it can do for us 'normal' people.
Super impressive and it completely makes sense. I can't wait to share this with others and appreciate the perspective of professional athletes and peer-reviewed studies. Plus the Dolphins are my NFL team going on 20 years so that helps... 
Thanks again for the recommendation!
Lou
Forum Legend
It's been a while since I saw the film but I thought they were Titans.Plus the Dolphins are my NFL team going on 20 years so that helps...
OP
OP
Thank you Lou! I have not seen it yet, but will certainly check it out. I'll plan on watching it this week and will let you know what I think. I find that I always find at least one piece of useful information when I take the time to listen to others or look at new research. I appreciate the recommendation!!
OP
OP
I'm glad you enjoyed the documentary J, I certainly did. Years ago most people became vegans for ethical reasons, now we also know about the health benefits and the environmental impacts of animal agriculture, which are enormous. In fact, I tend to think that if nearly everyone became vegan we wouldn't have to worry too much about global warming, but as things are we're basically doomed. It seems to me that becoming vegan is a no-brainer these days and yet the vast majority are still carnists. I know that ethical veganism is very much about empathy and to some degree enlightenment, but surely people care about health and having a planet for their children grow up in? These are just basic aspects of caring, no special qualifications or attributes required, lol. Nevertheless, this does not seem to be the case with most humans, and therefore I despair! Talking about global warming, have you watched "Cowspiracy" on Netflix yet? I'm very interested in climate change and environmental issues but getting back to the health aspects of veganism, I often wonder how much information you get in the US about what's really in your food? I watched a very interesting documentary a few weeks ago called, "Dispatches: Dirty Secrets of American Food" it was one of the most interesting programmes I've seen in years; and quite shocking! You can Google it and watch or perhaps you can find it on YouTube. In my opinion, if this documentary doesn't put most Americans off eating animal products then I can only say that I do not know what will.Ahimsa, I loved this documentary and so inspiring! If these extreme athletes can be at their best just think about what it can do for us 'normal' people.
OP
OP
I will also check those out as well and I like getting information from different aspects regarding global warming and the long-term effects on our health. It seems that many of these things are interrelated and I really believe that people would make better decisions if they were more well informed. I heard about Cowspiracy when it came out and there has been a lot more recent news about the greenhouse effects, etc. of animal agriculture. The filmmakers for that documentary, Kip Andersen & Keegan Kuhn, I believe they were also in What the Health where he probed various organizations including the American Heart Association and Diabetes Association. It was in regard to the recommendations for food and health that science shows would not be healthy, yet they recommend the American public to eat various types of dairy and meat including processed deli meats. They also dig in and find the source of large donors to these Associations to find that some of the largest contributors are meat/dairy producers with obvious interests in promoting the consumption of animals. If those Associations put out the negative health effects, it would obviously damage those industries heavily. I haven't yet seen Dispatches: Dirty Secrets of American Food, but am interested to see it. I still have an image burned into my brain from the What the Health documentary of a puss-filled part of a pig that they were processing and they talked about how the USDA allows so much puss to mix in with the meat. Disgusting! Also, imaging how painful that must have been while the pig was alive is appalling. If that doesn't make you not what to eat meat then I don't know what does!! Along those lines, you asked about how much information we get about what is in our food. At a regular grocery store, they provide little to no information on the source for the mass-produced items; however, if purchasing from a local type market it is more likely to get more information on the processing and sourcing. What type of information do you get on food there in the UK? Do they import a lot of food there from other countries or can you get a lot of local foods?
You may not be able to access the "Dispatches programme in the US, so I'll watch it again tonight and let you know the important facts when I get up in the morning. Many people in the UK are worried about this US/UK trade deal which we now find ourselves having to do thanks to this stupid Brexit. 
America wants us to buy their food, but standards in America are far lower than what they are in the UK/EU, but it also means that many in the food industries here will lose their jobs, as your food is that much cheaper. I'm not just talking about meat and dairy either, American fruit and veg is also full of carcinogenic and neurotoxic insecticides/ pesticides banned many years ago in the EU. In answer to your question, I think that those who want to be informed in Britain are provided with the information they want, but things are changing with more factory farms appearing across the country. We do import a lot of food from a variety of countries but most foods from the US are banned. We can get a lot of local organic produce as well but that tends to be quite expensive. Britain only produces about sixty per cent of its own food, so we need to import the rest. There are quite a few vegans in the UK now and even more veggies but we still only represent about ten per cent of the population. I think you're partly right about education J but the lack of sufficient empathy and compassion plays a much larger part. 
America wants us to buy their food, but standards in America are far lower than what they are in the UK/EU, but it also means that many in the food industries here will lose their jobs, as your food is that much cheaper. I'm not just talking about meat and dairy either, American fruit and veg is also full of carcinogenic and neurotoxic insecticides/ pesticides banned many years ago in the EU. In answer to your question, I think that those who want to be informed in Britain are provided with the information they want, but things are changing with more factory farms appearing across the country. We do import a lot of food from a variety of countries but most foods from the US are banned. We can get a lot of local organic produce as well but that tends to be quite expensive. Britain only produces about sixty per cent of its own food, so we need to import the rest. There are quite a few vegans in the UK now and even more veggies but we still only represent about ten per cent of the population. I think you're partly right about education J but the lack of sufficient empathy and compassion plays a much larger part. Okay, here goes! The US uses six carcinogenic growth hormones banned in most other countries, the main one being Ractopomine, which is given to pigs. In the EU animal faeces is washed off the carcass, in the US it's just treated with chemicals so you not only get to eat the faecal bacteria that's not been killed off but you get to consume the chemicals as well. E-Coli poisoning is four times greater in the US than the UK. The antibiotics used are five times higher than in all other countries and their excessive use has resulted in antibiotic resistance in humans. As for fruit and veg, the pesticides/insecticides used, like Propargite, can sometimes be at levels a thousand times higher than in other countries and it's been linked to brain damage, especially in children. So, if you're looking for an explanation as to why there is an increase in autism and ADHD in the States I don't think you have to look much further than what's in the food. Washing the fruit and veg doesn't help much either as these pesticides sink in at a cellular level, so best buy organic produce when you can. Finally, Trump removed the speed limit on meat production and carcass inspection to a matter of seconds for both. Nearly all health and safety rules have been lifted as well and instead of using outside inspectors to oversee the killing and examine the carcasses for infections (2.5 seconds is allowed for the latter) they can now use their own employees! All of this is so food can be made quicker and cheaper. Most people in the UK only know about the chlorine washed chicken and yet they're still worried about a US/UK trade deal, imagine how they'd feel if they knew the full story!
OP
OP
You are a wealth of information, Ahimsa! I believe it and agree that the agricultural processes from start to finish are subpar with the focus on efficiency to meet the immense demand. I was unaware of the difference in standards between the UK and the US and I guess just assumed they were about the same...The lobbyists here for the various agricultural industries have lots of money and sway in relation to our policies and regulations, instead of being driven by the health and safety of both humans and animals. I feel like the entire system needs to be scrapped, but there is far too much money at stake and the ag industry along with the pesticide manufacturers will fight to ensure their industries don't lose money or become eliminated. I think it is such a large scale problem that only drastic change will help and it will take time. As a result, I am trying to do my part by reducing my contributions to these industries and I do try to buy organic when available. Which is another issue and I know the cost to become Certified Organic can be substantial with initial certification, inspections, and annual fees. This is unfortunate because I personally know some small producers (one is a grape grower and the other a coffee bean grower) who wholly practice organic farming, yet they are unable to use the "organic" designation because they are unable to pay the high fees to label their product as such. As a result, they are unable to communicate to the common buyer on their packaging etc. that their product is grown using organic methods. In the end, I think we have a lot of transparency issues along with the fact that we have limited information about where our food is coming from and what happens before we buy it at the grocery store. Ideally, I would grow my own food, but am too mobile to properly take care of a garden especially in the desert. Maybe someday when I retire...
You are a wealth of information, Ahimsa! I believe it and agree that the agricultural processes from start to finish are subpar with the focus on efficiency to meet the immense demand. I was unaware of the difference in standards between the UK and the US and I guess just assumed they were about the same...The lobbyists here for the various agricultural industries have lots of money and sway in relation to our policies and regulations, instead of being driven by the health and safety of both humans and animals. I feel like the entire system needs to be scrapped, but there is far too much money at stake and the ag industry along with the pesticide manufacturers will fight to ensure their industries don't lose money or become eliminated. I think it is such a large scale problem that only drastic change will help and it will take time. As a result, I am trying to do my part by reducing my contributions to these industries and I do try to buy organic when available. Which is another issue and I know the cost to become Certified Organic can be substantial with initial certification, inspections, and annual fees. This is unfortunate because I personally know some small producers (one is a grape grower and the other a coffee bean grower) who wholly practice organic farming, yet they are unable to use the "organic" designation because they are unable to pay the high fees to label their product as such. As a result, they are unable to communicate to the common buyer on their packaging etc. that their product is grown using organic methods. In the end, I think we have a lot of transparency issues along with the fact that we have limited information about where our food is coming from and what happens before we buy it at the grocery store. Ideally, I would grow my own food, but am too mobile to properly take care of a garden especially in the desert. Maybe someday when I retire...
You are a wealth of information, Ahimsa! I believe it and agree that the agricultural processes from start to finish are subpar with the focus on efficiency to meet the immense demand. I was unaware of the difference in standards between the UK and the US and I guess just assumed they were about the same...The lobbyists here for the various agricultural industries have lots of money and sway in relation to our policies and regulations, instead of being driven by the health and safety of both humans and animals. I feel like the entire system needs to be scrapped, but there is far too much money at stake and the ag industry along with the pesticide manufacturers will fight to ensure their industries don't lose money or become eliminated. I think it is such a large scale problem that only drastic change will help and it will take time. As a result, I am trying to do my part by reducing my contributions to these industries and I do try to buy organic when available. Which is another issue and I know the cost to become Certified Organic can be substantial with initial certification, inspections, and annual fees. This is unfortunate because I personally know some small producers (one is a grape grower and the other a coffee bean grower) who wholly practice organic farming, yet they are unable to use the "organic" designation because they are unable to pay the high fees to label their product as such. As a result, they are unable to communicate to the common buyer on their packaging etc. that their product is grown using organic methods. In the end, I think we have a lot of transparency issues along with the fact that we have limited information about where our food is coming from and what happens before we buy it at the grocery store. Ideally, I would grow my own food, but am too mobile to properly take care of a garden especially in the desert. Maybe someday when I retire...
So, Jessicaoutdoors, you live in the desert and you like to run around a lot, which in that sort of heat has to be a little cuckoo in anyone's book so why don't you change your forum name to: Roadrunner, Beep Beep ( Geococcyx Californianus, Accelerati Incredibilus.) Lol. Joking aside, I'd love to live in a hot dry climate like you but then I have a terrible fear of snakes, especially the big poisonous ones, so I couldn't live in a country/state that has them. I know you Roadrunners eat rattlers for breakfast but quite frankly I'd die at just the sight of one! Talking about hot climates and assuming that you've lived in Arizona for many years, have you noticed a discernible annual rise in temperatures? In the UK it just seems to be getting wetter in the wet areas and drier in the drier ones, other than that we're not noticing much ... yet! However, we are starting to notice that the price of food is rising all the time due to the difficulties in growing it. I guess that before long it will be difficult to obtain certain items, like carrots, in which case you won't have to worry about Bugs Bunny for much longer, lol (my emojis don't work on the PC I'm using.) Finally, before I bore you to death, how bad is the virus in Arizona and how do you feel about being vaccinated? Covid-19 is raging across the UK and so far, despite our lockdowns, we've lost more people than any other European country, even more than the US if you look at it proportionately. The British government have made a real mess of handling this virus and so by Christmas we may well have something in the region of a thousand deaths a day, which for a country that has about a fifth of the population of America, that's a hell of a lot. Therefore, we are now looking for a remote property in the Welsh countryside where it'll be safer and we can grow some of our own food. Retirement has come a lot earlier than I ever expected but it's better than dying early of this awful virus that's for sure, or at least I hope it will be. Oh well, must run, say hello to Wile E. Coyote for me in passing ... Beep Beep!
