What's wrong with this picture?

I came across this image while searching around during my previous post. It kinda jumped out at me as being, well, a little ridiculous.

Ummm... all leather is recycled. I know the company using this image are trying to be 'environmentally friendly' but come on. Someone used that skin for their whole life. They sheltered under it. It kept them warm, it felt the cold. It protected them from the elements and from diseases and infections. Someone needed that skin. Someone's life depended on that skin until we killed them, tore it off them, processed it chemically for days and days to prevent decay and made it into something else for us to use secondhand. Something entirely less vital.

Sooooo yeah. All leather is recycled.

With the soulful eyes...

From the age of eight until the age of twenty-two I enjoyed one of the most precious friendships I ever hope to be gifted with. I had a best friend in the form of a Beagle. He was my constant companion; we grew up alongside each other, sometimes lost our temper with each other (but always made up) and comforted each other during difficult times. Losing him was one of the hardest things I've ever done and I still miss him everyday. One of his most inspiring personality traits was that he never whinged. He was so stoic. Over the years there were times when he was sick or he was injured and he never ever once complained. I thought it was just one of the wonderful things about my dog in particular, but when I came across this post on the inspirational Tree Kisser I realised it was a characteristic he was destined to have.

As a vegan I am obviously against testing on animals, as well as being against animal experimentation in the name of 'scientific research'. Even so, reading Tree Kisser's post made me burst into tears because I know firsthand the loving and gentle nature of a Beagle. Obviously all animals are deserving of protection and freedom from barbaric practices like product testing, but I guess the image of those poor little guys really hit home. I remember seeing a few of them while I was watching Earthlings, in cages, with wounds and obviously ill and in pain. But there was no malice there, no anger. Only sadness and disappointment. As if mankind weren't horrible enough, I try to imagine the reaction humans would have if kept in the same horrific conditions and routinely tortured. We certainly wouldn't be anywhere NEAR as forgiving, placid and sweet-natured.

So everytime you buy some moisturiser or foundation, mascara, lipstick, shampoo, conditioner or even just handsoap, look for a label that says 'we do not test on animals'. Free yourself from complicity in the systematised torture, abuse and murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent, trusting creatures. It's just not necessary and it's absolutely heartbreaking.

What if

Disclaimer: I am not racist. I mean no offence to any readers. But discrimination should not be supported in any form; you can't say that one type is acceptable (speciesism) and another (racism) is not.

An ad for formula in some junk mail the other day got me thinking (the formula was listed as casein-based).
What if we decided that the mammary secretions of a species entirely separate to our own was not cutting it nutritionally? That if our children needed to be formula-fed, then it should at least be as nutritionally sound as their own mother's breastmilk? And what if we decided that in order to get that formula, we'd target helpless inhabitants of refugee camps in war-torn African countries and mechanically rape and impregnate all women of child-bearing age? We'd look after them and feed them while they were gestating for nine long months, while they were preparing mentally and emotionally for the arrival of their child. And what if, once the child was born, we tore the newborn away from his mother, ignoring her protests and her grief, ignoring the baby's confusion and suffering? What if we took the milk that was destined for that little baby and we collected it from the mother, pasteurised and dehydrated it and used it to make formula for Western babies? What if we murdered the male babies and kept the little girls captive so that they could grow up and be routinely mechanically raped and contribute their own milk once they came of child-bearing age? And what if we kept their mothers imprisoned and constantly bearing children she wasn't allowed to hold until she was no longer able to produce adequately profitable amounts of milk, at which point, at best, we'd leave her to her poverty.

And mothers in first-world countries could breathe sighs of relief that despite not breastfeeding for whatever reason, at least their children were able to be raised to be big and strong on nutrient-full human milk. "Thank goodness for formula", they'd say.

What if?

Thank god for milk.

Train to Auschwitz

My day had been relatively normal. My partner and I were heading into the city for the afternoon when I noticed a truck in the left-hand lane of the freeway. It was a sheep truck but it took me a while to realise that this wasn't empty as I'd previously thought. As we passed it slowly I had plenty of time to realise it was full of sheep, some baking in the full sun on the top level, all of them crammed together in tight quarters with no room to move. I saw plenty of woolly bottoms, but I also saw lots of faces looking confused and sad. Down the length of the truck I made eye contact with many of the sweet-faced animals before the cruel-faced driver stared back down at me and then they were in the rearview mirror. I turned to my partner as I thought of the horrible fate that awaited them and burst into tears. "They're all going to die", I cried.

I've seen sheep trucks my whole life, heading towards the harbour to be shipped off to God knows where for slaughter. They always upset me, but I think now that I have a pretty good idea of what lies ahead for them, the despair was palpable. I can't save them. Every day hundreds of sheep, maybe thousands leave our port and sail out to sea, still cramped in those tight quarters, some dying in transit from exhaustion or dehydration, only to be greeted at their final destination by a slow tortured and painful death, usually after seeing their companions go before them. Stopping the live export trade is a tiny step in the right direction, but it's not enough, and we haven't even achieved that yet. I'm trying to do my bit by not contributing to that process anymore, but sometimes the sheer enormity of what I'm trying to stop just gets to me.

I only hope those poor friends didn't see me crying so that maybe at least for now, their worst fears haven't been confirmed.

Vanity

Okay, so I'm in the middle of the difficult process of trying to find a suitable replacement for my non-vegan beauty products. I'm not talking facial masks and extravagant hair treatments, simply my facial moisturiser. At the moment I use Olay which has always served me pretty well, up until I started caring about testing on animals, that is. Now I haven't bought anymore Olay since then, and although I've cut down severely on my usage, I still do use it occasionally.

I'm a creature of habit. I've used Olay mosturiser on my face every day for about the last nine years. I like it and I don't really want to change. My main problem is finding a moisturiser that contains sunscreen as I have very pale skin which burns in about 10 seconds flat. I also happen to have very oily skin which is prone to pimples and it is really hard to find a moisturiser that doesn't make me look as though I've quickly dipped my face in a frying pan of sunflower oil before leaving the house.
I bit the bullet the other day and forked out $20 for a 75ml tube of Invisible Zinc facial sunscreen. I thought for the cost I'd surely be getting a superior product but it was like spreading margarine on my face, with a sheen to match. The stuff was just so thick and über greasy I had to wipe it off after about ten minutes. I've also been eyeing off Sukin for a while because I love their foaming cleanser, but the only moisturiser that contains sunscreen is also part of the Ageless range and is a bit dear.

So all I can do for now is reluctantly keep using the old products I already had and keep my eyes peeled for new possibilities. If anyone has any cruelty-free suggestions, I'd love to hear about them!


Editor's note:  The moisturiser with SPF 15 is not listed on Sukin's website.