Those Meat Sweats

I’m slowly making the shift to veganism. Typically I don’t eat meat, eggs, fish, milk or yogurt. If only I could curve this cheese addition and I’d be one happy girl. I've chosen the word typically because when visiting I can let a few things slide. An egg here, a little milk there. For me, and me alone, there’s a fine line between my beliefs and being a crappy dinner guest. I like to suss out each situation as it arises. Personally I categorize myself as having a pant-based lifestyle rather than being a vegetarian because I don’t go for the meat alternatives; I have a diet consists of the more natural items. There aren’t any soydog’s or artificial bacon slices in any of my cupboards.  This lifestyle choice suites me because I want to be healthier and more importantly, there’s that whole animal thing. And here’s where I’m going to get messy.

Hugo

When I think of Factory Farms I think of Hugo. We have created an industry out of inhumane and cruel lives for animals. As humans, who the hell do we think we are to abuse our power for the sake of, what, taste-buds?  I was fortunate enough growing up to contribute very little to the continuation of commercialized farms. My dad was a hunter and we got our beef from local free range farming communities. We paid $2.50 for a dozen eggs each week. However, factory farms isn't my sole reason behind staying away from animal products; animal shit and over consumption is.

A main contributor to Global Warming is methane, which is the second most prominent  greenhouse gas produced by the United States. Cattle and other domestic livestock produce methane through their digestive process and also from the storage of manure, ‘cause its all gotta go somewhere.  Agriculture contributes to 25% of the production of Methane, which is absurd considering coal mining only produces 9%. This percentage doesn’t take into account the greenhouse emissions released through what is required in caring for the livestock (don’t even get me started on corn production) such as the transformation, crop production for food and waste created from the unused animal parts (EPA, 2014). In North America we prefer everything in abundance and this includes food. We are producing and eating meat in an unsustainable manner. The average American typically eats about 200lbs of meat each year (PSR, 2014). I repeat, 200lbs each year.

I thought you should know that one has ever died from a protein diffidence and you can get your vitamins, excluding B12 (kudos Clara) from other sources. Need iron? Try eating anything green, like spinach or kale. Stop telling me that you don’t stay full for long if you don’t eat meat, if this is the case then it’s because you’re eating crap.  I’m not telling you to start living a plant-based lifestyle, I’m merely asking you to perhaps question, rationalise and justify what you are putting in your body and the associated costs of doing it. Why do we have to base our meals around our meat? Just try a meatless meal every Monday.

This is the extremely simplified version for my veganism shift and lifestyle choice. I could continue on but my explanation is much more entrancing and vulgar when turned into a wine-induced rant. Below are three sources that truly express my views.

Weekday vegetarian (Ted Talk) by Graham Hill

I think this is a good balance between what I believe and what most of you believe. It provides some great facts in a quick five minute blurb.

Vegucated by Marisa Miller Wolfson

This is a documentary full of fantastic information that shows the struggles of a few everyday American’s exploring the vegetarianism lifestyle.

Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin

This provides some intriguing fact and presents the material in a great f-bomb manner.

Smiles,

Kirstin

Once you come to terms with why you don`t eat cats, dogs, monkey and dolphins, you begin to understand why I don`t eat cows, pigs, chickens and labs – Edward Sanchez

References

EPA (2014). Overview of Greenhouse Gasses. Retrieved from http://epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/ch4.html

PSR (2014). US Meat Production. Retrieved from http://www.psr.org/chapters/oregon/safe-food/industrial-meat-system.html#dietdisease

Didn't we almost have it all?

Happy Thursday,

I was given a lottery ticket at work the other day for wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day. It was a chaotic kind of day, an unruly morning and a messy afternoon, which was a product of a power outage during payroll cut-off and too many priorities. I was feeling overwhelmed and I could tell I was giving off vibes of frantic disorder and turmoil.  Anyone who knows me knows that I do not work well under such conditions. This setting only leads to possible mistakes and probable tears. I’m an emotional train wreck where I feed off of other people’s feelings. It can be exhausting to be me.

A new day approached and apprentice testing was taking place. An employee and my colleague came bounding up the stairs and as swiftly as yesterday’s anxiety lingered, it started to dissolve. I could actually feel the good aurora flow from this guy as he told me that he passed his electrical apprentice test. This is a test, he exclaimed, that would change his job, his situation and the life he knows it. Rather than high-fiving me as I suggested, he gave me a hug. He left me grinning as I received an emailed from our head office telling me that payroll has been successfully uploaded and I could freely enter our system. Walking to the photocopier I couldn’t shake those positive vibes he left behind and my day ended with Pad Thai lessons and local beer.  Like I said, I’m an emotional wreck and it can be exhausting to be me.

Perhaps that`s the way life works. Maybe good does attract good. I went for a run the other day in hunt for not one, but two pairs of gloves I had lost; one of those being my favorite knitted mitts that I took to Peru with me. I wasn`t expecting to find them, I simply needed to burn some energy and thought that I may as well keep an eye out for them. While jogging on a back road I saw a tree laying over a portion of road with a Tim Horton`s Roll Up The Rim cup.  I stopped and after some minor confliction of teeth vs. fingers to unroll the cup, I determined that it was a winner. Somehow a free doughnut more than made up for the lost gloves. Maybe good things happen to people who least expect it because they are simply content and aren`t asking for any more in life. I was told I would always be materialistically fulfilled in life, which, at first I thought was ironic because I`m quite a minimalist. Someone pointed out at me that maybe that is why. Maybe I am so lucky with where I am living and my job is because I`m not looking for them to be such a huge part of who I am, they are not my identity.

You cannot rely on one thing to be your whole happiness. I will not rely on one person, event, aspiration or object to be my single source happiness. Sure I have goals of marathons, East Coast adventures, traveling and tattoos, but I also make sure that I enjoy my day-to-day life and my bad days do not signify a bad life. I will not let those bad times cast a shadow on those amazing days.

Someone else came to my desk asking about a T4. He noticed my untouched scratch ticket and mentioned winning the lottery. I told him good luck and admitted that I hadn’t scratched the ticket yet because the moment didn't feel quite right. He smiled and agreed with me in that he too was hanging on to his. The ticket currently resides on my fridge. Maybe I`ll win my $10,000 (towards volunteering internationally) on that perfect day. That day when I appreciate all that I have and it won't really matter if I win it or not because life is good.

Smiles,

Kirstin

Be a fountain, not a drain. - Rex Hudler

International Women’s Day Post.

Happy Women's Day!

So. I promise to be that friend (and I was that sister). I will hold your hand and ask you that blunt and tasteless question, that difficult topic of readiness and selected life path. I'm going to ask you what you're going to do when you come to me and tell that you're pregnant.

I’m Pro-Choice; I  support abortions. Please keep reading. I won’t go into detail to defend my belief, in that I think all women ultimately have right to make this decision because it’s their body. I won’t waste time in telling you that no woman should be coerced or guilt driven into a lifetime of responsibility that they aren’t quite ready for or simply don’t want to have. To comment on the long-standing argument of a fetus being a child at the time of conception, I just want to ask, why do we could a child’s age when they leave the birth canal and enter into the world rather than at the time of conception?

Please keep reading. This isn’t the point of such a heated topic. I’m not about to try to change your perspective on abortion. I want to discuss a way in which I believe women can have this internal argument less, or possibly avoid the abortion decision altogether. I believe accidental pregnancies and unwanted babies could be significantly lowered if British Columbia and Canada as a whole provided free Birth Control Pills to the general public.*

Birth Control Reasons.

The cost of abortion is covered under BC Medical Coverage. Did you know that? You can get on the BC Medical Service Plan (MSP) as long as you’ve lived in BC for the last three months or if you are covered by someone else's Plan and all information will be kept confidential (Health Wise Staff, 2013). It costs roughly $500 to perform an abortion (Womens, 2013). Without Extended Health Care coverage the cost of Birth Control Pills are roughly $15-$50 per month (Galvin, 1995-2015). Mine were $30 per month, which for awhile I was mailing to my sister in Miami because she didn't have Extended Medical Coverage. The first argument that comes to mind would be that in order for MSP to be able to cover the cost of birth control pills, provincial taxes would increase, but I want to contradict this.  In BC the annual average of single and two parent families who are mentally and physically able to work, and on social assistance are 4,754 and 14,235 people within British Columbia (Time Reports, 2015). We know the cost of living in Canada, specifically BC, is not low.  I believe this number would be significantly lower, and therefore the taxes that go towards living assistance and the costs incurred to perform abortions will be lowered because less people would need them, so the left over funds could be used to counter the costs of Birth Control Pills. 

I understand that Birth Control Pills won’t protect against STI’s or HIV/Aids, but this isn’t the point of the conversation, the point is to lower pregnancy rates. Further, I don’t think that covering the costs Birth Control Pills will promote sex. I think it will help omit pregnancy. The option to be sexually active is ultimately up to the individual regardless of this contraception, which is the same for Sexual Education in the classroom

Regardless if you’re Pro-Life or Pro-Choice, I think both sides can agree that the increased use in Birth Control Pills will help omit having to make decision to have an abortion.  So now that we’ve found something to agree on, the only question is what are the next steps in making this happen?

Smiles,

Kirstin

I'm that Liberal, Pro-Choice, Outspoken, Feminist they warned you about. - A button I found.

Reference:

 

Galvin, Mary. (1995-2015). About Birth Control: The Birth Control Pill. Retrieved from     http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/sexual_health/bcpills.html

Health Wise Staff. (2013). Health Link BC [Abortion]. Retrieved from http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthtopics/content.asp?hwid=tw1040

Time Reports. (Feb 28, 2015). BC Employment and Assistance Current Month Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.hsd.gov.bc.ca/research/15/02-jan2015.pdf

Womens (2013). Types of Abortions. Retrieved from http://www.bcwomens.ca/Services/HealthServices/abortion-reproductive-education/abortion-services/types_of_abortions.htm

*Oops, I guess I did provide my rationale for being Pro-Choice, but I knocked it down from three to one paragraphs.