MEAT'S NOT GREEN!! August 29, 2008

Posted by Ryan at August 29, 2008 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 12 ) | TrackBack

Oh boy, have I got a fun update for you today...

That's right, we're hitting the ground running this fall by launching our exciting new campaign, called "Meat's Not Green"!

All of the politicians and people on TV talk about "going green", but are you as tired as we are of so-called "environmentalists" who say they care about protecting the planet while they chomp on pieces of animals' flesh? Did they not hear that meat is the #1 cause of global warming? Well, it's time to clear things up for them!

Click here to sign our petition to add a warning label to meat packaging, so that people know that when they are buying meat, they are not only contributing to the torture of animals, but the destruction of the environment too!

After signing the petition, make sure to create your own fun label! And there are all kinds of other fun things on the site too, such as as a calculator to find out how green your diet is and a badge for posting on your MySpace or Facebook, so go wild!



Pretty awesome, right? Mine's going to say "Warning: Meat is murder for animals and the planet!"

So what is your warning label going to say?

- Ryan!

The peta2 Advice Blog: Kissing Meat-Eaters July 24, 2008

Posted by Marta at July 24, 2008 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 10 ) | TrackBack

Feel uncomfortable kissing someone who has just eaten meat? This is for you!

I feel weird kissing my boyfriend knowing he just ate a cheeseburger. How should I handle that?

-Doesn't Like Burger Breath

So your boyfriend just ate a cheeseburger. First of all, ew. Believe it or not, I have dealt with this a few times in my years, and after shedding some light on factory farming for the boy, you'll be a master at turning boys vegetarian (seriously, I rule at this!). Sitting down together and watching something like "Earthlings" or "Meet Your Meat" is a good way to educate. Sometimes seeing a visual rather than simply hearing it has a lot more impact. If your boyfriend is anything like mine, he'll give up the meat in a second—even if it's simply out of respect for you! xoxo, Shan (the queen of turning boys veg)

I couldn't agree with you more and to be honest I think your boyfriend should have a little more respect for you than to try to kiss you after he has just eaten a cheeseburger. I would just let him know that you think it's gross and I think he will be more interested in kissing you than eating a burger in the future. - Martin

I have a whole list of rules on the conditions under which my boyfriend will get a kiss—if he's eaten vinegar, baked beans, brown sauce, ketchup (the list goes on and on) he's going to get the hand block right in the face! However, with a meat eating boyfriend, these boundaries are all the more important. There's nothing more repulsive that finding a rogue piece of hamburger caught up in that bit of fluff on his top lip (which he refers to as his "moustache")! If you lecture your lad about his meat eating, you'll just push him away so I would try the "softly softly" approach by taking your fella out to a veggie restaurant and treating him to a vegan chicken sandwich, or soy cheese Pizza, and then smothering him with kisses! He'll soon make the connection that when he eats cruelty free, he can have his (vegan) cake and eat it, without facing the hand block! - Violet

Have a relationship question (that relates to animal rights, of course!) that you're dying for us to answer? E-mail peta2@peta2.com with the subject line "Help me peta2! I need advice!" and your question just may be answered by us in our next advice blog!

Have advice for Doesn't Like Burger Breath? Comment away!

Oprah is Going Vegan for 21 Days! May 21, 2008

Posted by Patricia at May 21, 2008 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 7 ) | TrackBack

Photo Credit: NPX/starmaxinc.com

You read that right, Oprah Winfrey is going vegan as part of a 21 day cleanse! She announced on her show yesterday that she is thinking about going vegetarian. She read Quantum Wellness by Kathy Freston, and has decided to eliminate all animal products from her diet as part of an "inner makeover", i.e.: a vegan cleanse for three weeks!

I love me some Oprah. I was an Oprah fan long before most of the country even knew who she was. I grew up watching Oprah when she did double-time as an anchor and as a co-host of a chat show on WJZ-TV channel 13 in Baltimore and have been enamored of her ever since.

Of course now that she's Oprah Winfrey: Media Mogul and World-wide Mega Star, she has the power to influence millions and save countless animals. She's already started blogging about the experience stating, "Wow, wow, wow! I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying. I had been focused on what I had to give up—sugar, gluten, alcohol, meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese. "What's left?" I thought. Apparently a lot. I can honestly say every meal was a surprise and a delight, beginning with breakfast—strawberry rhubarb wheat-free crepes."

Yum, crepes. Sounds delightful to me! Here's hoping she sticks to her vegan diet, and that her legions of fans follow in her footsteps.

xox
Patricia

P.S. If you're considering eliminating animals from your diet but aren't sure where to start, we can help. Start by taking the seven day veg pledge!

Models Wearing Meat...Seriously March 14, 2008

Posted by Patricia at March 14, 2008 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 37 ) | TrackBack

The set of America's Next Top Model became a meat market this week, literally. In the oh so cleverly titled "Where's the Beef?" episode, the models were taken to NYC's meat packing district where they posed with carcasses and dumpsters full of the dismembered body parts of tortured animals.

As if that wasn't gross enough, they actually dressed the models in pieces of raw, bloody meat. I'm talking like skirts and underpants and bras made from flesh. It was like a scene from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I kept waiting for Leatherface to jump out and chase them around. It was hideous.

Now, I know that several people involved in the show care about animals, so this is straight out of left field. I just don't get it. I have no idea what they were thinking, but here's what we are thinking...

PETA's official response is this:

No matter how beautifully it is presented, flesh from a tortured animal is flesh from a tortured animal. Meat represents bloody violence and suffering, so if that's the look they were going for—they achieved it. Instead of swathing models in meat, we wish they had followed in the footsteps of PETA pinups Pamela Anderson and Alyssa Milano who show off their "natural beauty" in outfits made of lettuce leaves for PETA's "Let Vegetarianism Grow on You" ad campaign.

My official response is this:

(Insert sound of puking here.)

The photos are way too disgusting to post but if you want to see them, click here and have your barf bag ready.

xox
Patricia

P.S. Any way you look at it, meat is disgusting. So please, don't wear it or eat it.

Harris Teeter Victory February 21, 2008

Posted by Pulin Modi at February 21, 2008 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 4 ) | TrackBack

You may remember that Safeway recently announced some pretty significant improvements to its animal welfare standards. Well, Harris Teeter, a subsidiary of Charlotte-based Ruddick Corporation, which has nearly 200 stores in seven states—has announced groundbreaking plans to improve conditions for some of the animals who are killed for its stores. According to the company's new plan, which places it at the forefront of the grocery industry regarding animal welfare, Harris Teeter will do the following:

• Give purchasing preference to suppliers that use or switch to controlled-atmosphere systems—the least-cruel method of bird slaughter, begin purchasing 2 percent of its turkeys by the fall of 2008 from suppliers that use this method, and increase its purchase of chickens killed by controlled-atmosphere slaughter systems by 5 percent over each of the next three years (for a total of 26 percent).

• Give purchasing preference to suppliers that are phasing out gestation crates—restrictive metal enclosures that confine pregnant pigs—and increasing the amount of pig meat that it purchases from suppliers that are phasing out gestation crates by 10 percent in 2009, 15 percent in 2010, and 20 percent in 2011.

• Introduce a new line of Harris Teeter-branded cage-free eggs, give purchasing preference to producers of cage-free eggs, increase the amount of cage-free eggs that it sells from 6 percent to 9 percent by 2009, and work toward increasing that amount to 12 percent in 2010.

What does this all mean? Basically, as an individual and as an organization, it's without a doubt best to not eat any flesh or eggs. Animals don't have "meat" on their bones for us to consume—it's a part of their bodies! And they don't lay eggs for people to steal and eat—it's actually part of their menstrual cycle. However, it's by far better to have Harris Teeter make these changes at the corporate level as standards for farmed animals become gradually better than to make no improvements at all. So we commend Harris Teeter for taking a step in the right direction.

-Pulin

Are You a Meat-Guzzler? January 28, 2008

Posted by Marta at January 28, 2008 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBack

Big shocker—raising animals for food is terrible for many reasons, but if you haven't been keeping up with the news, did you know that going vegetarian does more for the environment than switching to a hybrid car? It's true.

I grew up in California, and when I was younger, I would drive from San Jose to LA with my family several times a year. We would pass a gigantic feed lot on the 5 that always seemed to stretch on forever—as far as the eye could see. And before you could even see the lot (and long after you passed it), you couldn't escape the smell. I felt like the horrendous stench (methane) was being burned into my nostrils and it would give me a headache each time we passed by.

I can't even imagine actually being stuck there, like so many cows are—and you also don't have to be a genius to know that something that smells that strong and that bad cannot be good for the environment. Take a look at this article ("Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler") from The New York Times—you can see the feed lot for yourself.

The article is awesome, so be sure to read the whole thing. Here's a little quote:

If price spikes don't change eating habits, perhaps the combination of deforestation, pollution, climate change, starvation, heart disease and animal cruelty will gradually encourage the simple daily act of eating more plants and fewer animals.

Mr. Rosegrant of the food policy research institute says he foresees "a stronger public relations campaign in the reduction of meat consumption—one like that around cigarettes—emphasizing personal health, compassion for animals, and doing good for the poor and the planet."

Raising animals for food is bad for the environment, plain and simple. Stop eating meat and you'll help the environment. It's win, win, people.

And in other newspaper, uh, news...did anyone see the USA Today article about how the animal rights movement is goin' strong? Check it out. And FYI, those are my girls rocking the Mars Candy Kills demonstration in the top photo in the article—amazing, right?

♥ Marta

PS - A big THANKS to Holly and Fitch, without whom this blog would not be possible.

Dropdead's "Meat Sucks" Is Back!! December 4, 2007

Posted by Patricia at December 4, 2007 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 5 ) | TrackBack

As a special treat, here's a guest blog from Violet over in peta2 UK...

Question: Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, and The Spice Girls—what do these all have in common?

Answer: They've all made (pretty shambloic) so-called "comebacks" over the last few months.

Frankly, we were happy to see the back of this lot then, and nothing's changed. But let's not tar all "comebacks" with the same brush—in my opinion (however much this will damage my "cred") Take That's comeback was nicely done! But, if there's one comeback that everyone is very, very excited about it's Dropdead's highly sought after limited edition "Meat Sucks" shirt!!!

peta2 US ran a contest with friends Oli Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon and Dropdead clothing where Oli designed the acclaimed shirt, all proceeds from the shirt were donated to benefit animals! There were only 300 shirts made at the time and they sold out in a flash. Now they're back with a vengeance and would you believe it, just in time for Christmas!

Click on the image to get your hands on one!

I've got mine!!!
Happy shopping!

*Violet xx

P.S. Apparently Ricky and Bianca are coming back to EastEnders—result!!

P.P.S. Dear Mr. Pret A Manger Man, please bring back those delicious red pepper sandwiches. They're delicious.

Beef Made From Kitties and Puppies?! July 26, 2007

Posted by Marta at July 26, 2007 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 ) | TrackBack

Our office has been getting tons of calls from people asking what we're going to do about KittyBeef.com and PuppyBeef.com, which claim to sell prime cuts from kittens and puppies. Well, we're not really going to do much about it at all other than wish we'd thought of the idea for these hoax sites ourselves. You see, for anyone who's horrified by the concept of having puppy chops or kitten nuggets for dinner, they're just one step closer to realizing that chowing down on pigs' butts or chickens' breasts is sickening, too!

In case the thought hasn't crossed your mind, animals killed for food are just as capable of suffering as the animals we share our homes with. While many people may be thankful that KFC doesn't stand for Kentucky Fried Cat, the fact is that chickens do love to be with their friends and families and be free to live out their lives without fear of being beaten, starved, or otherwise exploited. That's why we encourage anyone interested in helping any animals to take the Veg Pledge.

So the morals of the story are as follows:

1) KittyBeef.com and PuppyBeef.com are hoax sites.

2) Animals are not food, they are friends.

3) Chickens are not nuggets.

4) Those interested in helping animals should check out the peta2 Street Team.



-Pulin