When you live in an area that is overpopulated, with houses one on top of the other, and the air is dirty, you have to savor each and every tree.  Yet as I’ve gotten older, living in the same place my whole life, I’ve found that most people don’t care about the trees.  They cut them down with no remorse; no concern for the air that will be that much more dirty without these natural filtration systems, and without regard to the beauty that is lost.  At the very least, you would think people would miss the privacy that the branches provide when you would otherwise be able to see straight into your neighbors’ windows. 


            There has been a giant pine tree growing in my neighbor’s backyard since I was a child.  There has not been a day in my life that, if I look out the back windows of my house, I wouldn’t see it towering above, with a Mockingbird singing from the tippy-top or squirrels running down its trunk.  When the old woman living there died, I knew the tree’s time was up.  But for about a year, it remained, although I feared still that the day would come when this magnificent tree would be cut down, and I’d be able to wave to my neighbors from the window because there would no longer be long green branches to cover the view. 


            The past few days, the new owners have gutted the house to its bare bones, and today, they began taking down the tree’s branches.  Against my hopes that they were merely trimming it down, I watched them climb higher and higher, undressing the tree of its swaying pine branches until the trunk was bare.  And I ached as I watched, knowing that soon, this symbol of my childhood, this tree that has watched me grow up and has inspired me with its beauty, would soon be gone.  And this small town would look more like a city than a suburb, and the need to flee to the places that remain with trees would be stronger than before. 


            So this small space that I live in has gotten smaller, feels even tighter, and all the animals that called that evergreen home throughout the years and throughout the seasons will be displaced, making it that much harder for them to survive in this already sterile environment of buildings and streets and useless lawns.  The concrete seems to be filling in around me, and I need to run before it covers me.  The tree that seemed to touch the sky, that was so vibrant and alive, is now only in my memories, and I watched it die, empathizing that fear and dread that that being must have felt in its final moments as the ruthless blades cut through its limbs, one by one, until finally its core was sliced.  I can see more of the sky, but there’s less beauty in that when there are no trees against it.


            And the smell of pine fills the air as the branches are put through the grinder… 



- Lisa Selvaggio




 




 



 

            I haven’t really had much to say regarding the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that has been ongoing since April.  I have simply been left speechless and outraged, and there seems no end in sight, so it seems that those feelings won’t be going away either anytime soon.  Aside from posting headlines on our social networking sites for Paragon Earth to help keep people informed, my soul has been busy aching over the images of destruction, and the fire inside me has been burning higher and stronger every time another lie or selfish line comes spewing forth from BP’s mouth; never mind the lack of action by the U.S. government, its rejection of help offered by foreign nations (http://ow.ly/23i7d), and the blatant disregard by all at fault of the solutions set forth by everyone from non-profit organizations to celebrities to everyday citizens.  While the people cry over lost profits due to the loss of oil or of fish stocks, I care only for our planet and for our future.  The threat is one that could very well destroy our oceans, the oil even reaching the northeastern coast where I reside.  It all seems unfathomable, so unreal, but it’s reality, and there seems nothing that we can do.  While we all go about our days, going through our routines, living life, the animals in the Gulf try to do the same but find themselves poisoned and struggling to survive instead.

            I have come to realize even more strongly that corporations control this country, as the EPA seems to have little authority over what BP does, and, as I stated already, the government has been largely absent in attempts to clean up the oil and provide funding to local governments trying to do it themselves.  For example, why is it that, when the EPA told BP that the chemical dispersant they were using was too toxic compared to other alternatives, the corporation continued on?  Why is it that Louisiana hasn’t yet received any of the funding it’s requested to start their own cleanup?  Who is really running our country, and our world? 

            Our selfish dependency on oil is what led to this.  There are alternative forms of energy out there.  And while it will take years for those sources to become as reliable or efficient or abundant enough as oil, there hasn’t been enough action towards those goals in the meantime, so the deadline for alternative energy sources keeps getting pushed back.  While other countries are so far ahead of the game, America drags its feet, because oil companies and corporations are too closely connected with the politicians in charge.  We have all sold our souls to corporations like BP for the convenience, for the laziness they allow us to have.  And the oil spill in the Gulf is one huge reminder of the cost: the death of our only home and of our kindred animal and plant spirits. 

            Because humanity on a whole has lost its connection with the planet--the Mother that brings forth all life--we allow such reckless actions as drilling 5,000 feet below sea level.  Our desperate attempts at controlling oil stocks, at profiting off a natural resource that should remain within the core of the planet because it has its purpose there, have caused the worst environmental disaster in human history, and we will deal with the consequences for decades or even hundreds of years to come.  This oil will not only affect the local animals and environment, it will affect the world.  In turning our backs on the Source of Life we have turned our backs on ourselves and our future.  And despite the devastation, you will see pro-oil lobbyists and politicians still drilling, still selling, still dealing this destructive drug we have become so addicted to. 

            And we are all at fault, myself included, but mostly because we have no choice.  So many of us want to change our daily habits to become “greener” but are left with few options, especially if you’re of the lower and middle classes and find it difficult to afford more expensive forms of energy.  Lack of oversight, lack of concern, the lust for money, the greed…the list goes on for the reasons that this tragedy occurred, like so many before it in the oil industry, and like so many to come.  Yet no one ever learns, and the common populace is ignored and used and our votes fall on deaf ears, because no matter what, the corporations’ wishes are the only ones that are fulfilled.  Our water and air are polluted all in the name of profit for the elite, and we suffer the consequences alongside the wildlife and the plant life. 

            So it’s about damn time we do something about it.  Anyone with suggestions, comments, insights, etc. who wish to begin an intelligent, open-minded discussion here, please feel free to leave your comments below.  We need to take back control, but we need strength in numbers and we all need to do our part to work towards the solutions.  Let this be the last time an oil spill destroys our present and threatens our future.       



- Lisa Selvaggio



*For headlines regarding the BP Oil Spill, visit www.paragonearth.org

        I hear the tales of bombs exploding and people running for cover in the mountains or dying in their homes; of children shot for stealing a piece of bread in hungry desperation; of eating food with mold because there is nothing else; of soldiers, limbless, begging for water; of being drafted at 17 and surviving a sinking ship and seven years of imprisonment.  This is the reality that my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins faced during the war that brought the world to its knees.  Years passed during which they lived in extreme poverty, dirt, and fear.  And what I can’t say I would have the strength to live through, these people survived. 


        In nightmares only can I envision the night lit up by bombs and guns blasting; the poster of the dictator telling you that you have no rights to speak out as a citizen or be out in the streets past 7pm.  These are the stories they don’t teach you in history class.  These are the stories that shed so much light upon the people in my life who I have at times taken for granted because I never fully understood just how hard they lived or how strong they were…and still are.  These ordinary people are heroes to me; anyone that can survive through what they did has to be.  They lived through what I fear happening here, and I realize ever more strongly that we must all work to maintain peace and freedom before it is taken away. 


        Be careful who you elect into power.  It’s so easy to take things for granted.  Crying about this economy seems somewhat ridiculous after being reminded of a time when humanity’s deepest fears manifested, and people were dying in attempts to bring freedom back.  But at the same time, what we are going through now is a wake-up call to not let things get worse, to not hand over control to people who may end up abusing it in the end, and to stay educated and awake enough to see corruption coming, masked to look like a savior.


        It was my family’s tenacity that brought me to life.  And perhaps a part of them—that rebellious, freedom-craving part of me that doesn’t like being controlled—is in my bones and in my blood, reminding me, maybe in some form of cell memory, of what was and could be again if we’re not careful.  That ancient part of me lived through it just as they did, and refuses to see it again.  And a new appreciation is found for the comforts I have had, and for those people who worked so hard to make it possible because they never gave up even when it seemed completely hopeless and life wasn’t really life.  I don’t even know how to repay them; I don’t know where to begin.  After all, it is because of them that I can focus on achieving my dreams and act like a spoiled brat when things don’t go my way or I feel lost. 


        When I think on it, real-life heroes are flowing through me, though they never got famous, though their names will eventually be forgotten.  Their courage and ability to see through one of the darkest times in human history and make a better life for themselves is super-human to me.  These ordinary people aren’t so ordinary anymore, and I look to them for my strength, hoping that one day I can accomplish half of what they did, without fear and with the fortitude to take risks and the resolve to make things right.




- Lisa Selvaggio 

In an effort to humanize animals to bring to the forefront their plight in varying situations, captive and free, beginning with animals on a fur farm, leading into those in vivisection labs, to those in factory farms, on to those in the wild, and finally to our beloved domestic companions. I relate to them, and I sympathize; do you?



    He's slammed to the ground and stepped on, and from that moment, I feel a weight on my chest.  He's hung by his feet and cut, his skin pulled off in one piece, and from that moment, I feel a hand reach in and rip my heart out.  I see him look up, a bloody unrecognizable mess of flesh that has somehow lived through this ordeal, and I'm suffocating and slowly dying along with him.  She's just had babies but she's stuck in a cage, and she knows their fate.  Her mind left her a long time ago but a part of her reason remains, her instinct for survival is there, her instinct toward love is alive.  In an act of mercy, she kills her young, sparing them a lifetime of suffering and torture in a cage.  And I feel the being that's not even yet conceived inside me, and I can see the life ahead of it, and I decide, just like she did, to keep my child from the pain of this world, and so it never comes to be.


      I watch them through the bars of their cages.  They have sadness in their eyes, desperate for help, desperate for someone to come and save them.  There are untreated bruises on their bodies and cuts in their flesh.  They are bleeding but no one stops to clean their wounds and bandage them, no pain medication of any kind is administered.  Chemicals are pumped into their veins, strange sci-fi contraptions are screwed into their bodies, and they are injected everywhere with god knows what.  These are the only moments of freedom they get outside of their cells -- moments when you can hear them scream, moments when their eyes show nothing but fear, moments when these majestic, strong creatures are reduced to pleading for mercy that never comes.  The torture is long, the physical pain never ends, the mind's strength wanes, and the body slowly dies, trying to take the spirit along with it.  And all I can do is watch from the sidelines because I have no right to intervene.  I can scream but my voice isn't strong enough, I can fight for them but the law's not on my side.  So with every injection, I feel a sting, with every bleeding sore, I feel my own strength diminish, and with every one of those animals that dies only to be replaced by countless others, a part of me is taken too.

      She's so gentle and calm, she doesn't ask for much.  Her dream is to be free in the wide open air, fresh food always beneath her feet.  She just wants to give birth and watch her babies grow, wants to interact rather than be alone.  Instead she's forced to become pregnant when she's not ready, when her body doesn't have the strength it needs.  She's hooked up to a machine that steals what should be her baby's food, and then her baby is stolen.  She'll never see it again.  He's been taken to another place where he will never know the warmth of the sun on his face, where he'll never drink his mother's milk, where he won't have the room to move or grow.  His life will end soon, he doesn't have much time, but his mother's body will be used like a machine until it is exhausted and deemed useless.  And the loss they feel, the emptiness of not knowing freedom and family, is one I know too well. 

      They're wild and free, they have families and they love the water, they love the mountains.  But one by one they're caught in painful traps, one by one they're shot dead, one by one they're caged and used for entertainment, or their body parts are used in superstitious or superficial ritual.  One by one their populations dwindle, one by one they become the last ones until there are none left.  One by one they die of poison because their homes are being attacked and destroyed as well, and they have no place left to go.  "Civilization" begins pushing itself in on them, and one by one they are crushed, run over, and forced away with no regard.  One by one they die of starvation, of lack of shelter, of capture, of needless hunts on their kind, regarded as prizes or threats.  One by one their dignity is torn away and they are left with nothing, dead or forgotten, abandoned when they're no longer needed.  And when their space is taken, so is mine, and when their air and water are poisoned, so are mine, and when they're caged and forced into submission, so am I.

      All she ever wanted to do was make her owner happy, and all he ever wanted to do was keep his owner safe.  Instead, they're kept from food, clean water, and shelter.  They're chased and hit, beaten down.  They're left out on the streets to fend for themselves.  But all they ever wanted was a warm hand to hold them and a smiling face to greet them.  Instead they're set afire, or thrown out a window, or left on a highway, or drowned.  In some places, their kind are captured and slaughtered for food, but not before being tortured.  But she's so gentle and sweet, and he just wants to play, he promises to obey.  They don't fight back, and when they do, it's of no use, they're not big enough to avoid being overtaken.  And every time their trust is abused, every time they are taken in with greedy intentions, I lose my trust in others, I become afraid, and I can't believe what they say. 

      I feel their pain because they are me.  They are a part of me and I'm a part of them.  We are different, yet the same.  We feel fear and pain, but we also feel love and security.  We just want freedom and family, we want happiness, we want life.  It's as simple as that.  I know that, just as I feel them, they feel me, and all I can do is try to be a fraction of what they are, have a fraction of their strength, a fraction of their beauty, a fraction of their intelligence.  So all I can do is try to help, make some changes in my own life to bring about positive change in theirs, and hope that someday we'll all feel their pain and realize what we've done.   



- Lisa Selvaggio

*Appeared in Paragon Music Magazine March '08 issue, has been published in The Animals Voice March 2009 e-newsletter, and has been published in Starfish Story Magazine's Premiere issue for 2009
*Also available at http://www.paragonearth.org/articles/break_out_and_save_them.php and http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/ar-break.html

 

           Wolves in the Rockies have been delisted from the Endangered Species List. 
It doesn’t matter what political party is in power, animals always finish last – not just in the U.S., but around the world. 
Now the wolves are being hunted, because humans think that two-legged animals have more rights than four-legged animals and they think that only humans can balance Nature, only humans can determine a healthy wolf population, and humans, not wolves, should be controlling the populations of prey species like elk. 
The mind reels. 


           
Strip down a human to what a human really is, to what s/he really has: pathetic excuses for “claws,” the lack of fangs for killing prey and eating flesh, and no protection from the elements in the form of fur or thick hair. 
Humans are essentially weak and helpless creatures who have always used animals for their own advancement. 
We haven’t evolved as other species do, by adapting and slowly creating better, stronger physical features to survive. 
Instead, we have used donkeys to carry our loads, we have used horses to travel long distances with speed, we have used elements of the earth to create bows and arrows and blades for killing animals that we should be prey to (like the wolves). 
We have placed ourselves so proudly atop the food chain while at once detaching ourselves from the life intertwined in this universe and, more specifically, on this planet. 
Our exploitation of other animals has made us even lazier than we intrinsically are, and therefore even weaker, focusing instead upon development of industry, money, and technology. 
Those things evolve, while we do not. 
Even women have lost their connection to their own bodies, using, for example, birth control pills that pump hormones into their systems to make them have fewer menstrual cycles in a year, completely altering the body’s natural rhythms without a second thought. 


And yet humans still think that they can decide, using their unreliable charts and graphs, how many animals of a given species have a right to life; that 600 wolves, for example, in a region covering three states, are sufficient. 
600 humans surely wouldn’t be sufficient for survival, so why would it be enough for wolves? 
It is enough, according to those people’s standards, because it keeps the wolves from killing the pet dogs people leave outside unattended and from eating the cattle and sheep that are ranched. 
A solution, from a vegan like myself: If you understand that the farm animals shouldn’t be raised for food, then you wouldn’t have to keep them, and then you wouldn’t have the problem of them being attacked by wolves and you wouldn’t have to feel so self-important in keeping the wolf numbers down. 


A few of us have raised our consciousness and recognized the connection we have to all life on this planet, from the tiny organisms living in the deepest, darkest depths of the vast oceans to the birds that migrate through our skies from one hemisphere to the other. 
If only all of us would evolve, mentally and spiritually, to that place, then we may once again begin evolving physically to better adapt to this changing planet. 
Until then we are doomed to an artificial existence, working against Nature until She shakes us off, as George Carlin stated, “like a bad case of fleas.” 


Deepak Chopra once said: “The old paradigm was survival of the fittest. 
The new paradigm is survival of the wisest.” 
It’s time we all realize that Truth, for our own survival as well as the survival of other species that support our very existence on this aching Earth.     

- Lisa Selvaggio

            Some people will say that humans are superior to animals in the sense that people have an imagination. 
They can imagine things that are not there, they can plan ahead and look back, and they can create something that is completely new. 


           
While watching a show on Animal Planet that tracked a lion pride in Africa, I noticed how a lion cub, after having eaten her mother’s kill, started playing with the leftover flesh and fur of the carcass, pouncing towards it, running from it, and attacking it as though it were prey. 
Is this an example of imagination on the lion cub’s part? 
I think so. 
Clearly the animal is training for the future, for the days when she will be the one on the hunt for food, but what’s also clear is that the cub has the ability to imagine that that piece of animal skin, once belonging to the animal she just devoured, is something other than itself. 
In the cub’s mind, it is something alive and it is a prize to be had. 


           
Anyone who owns a pet can probably attest to their animal’s imagination as well. 
A young cat chasing a string or walking away with a toy mouse in its mouth, acting as though it has just had a triumphant kill, clearly knows that the mouse is not edible, yet pretends as though it is, in much the same way that a little boy will play with “army men” toys, yet in their minds be right in the thick of the action. 
Doesn’t that count as a form of imagination? 
If the animal couldn’t imagine, then the toy mouse would simply be a toy. 
For both the human child and the animal, it is all a part of growing up, of training the mind and body for the future, for survival.

           
Just because animals may not feel the need to build skyscrapers or travel into outer space does not mean they lack imagination and creativity. 
They build their shelters differently, using the Earth and nothing more. 
They don’t have labs to create synthetics and break down materials into their simplest, elemental forms to be recreated into something different. 
Perhaps they don’t bother re-evaluating the way they do things because they’ve been doing it with such a high level of success for hundreds or thousands of years, sometimes longer than humanity has even been around. 
Why fix something if it’s not broken, right? 
They evolve as they should, with least effort; and with the changes of the planet, not against it. 
So a bird species may build a nest the same way over and over again, but it’s because that species has already spent the time perfecting it, and it works. 


Humans, on the other hand, misuse their imagination and creativity. 
Missiles and weapons used for destruction; irradiation of food, land, and sky; poisonous building materials; prescription drugs and vaccines laced with chemicals that alter the body’s natural processes and create more disease; waste in outer space; and plastics that never break down---these are some of the things that human imagination has created. 
I’m not sure we should be so proud. 


           
In the end, there is not much differentiation between the human animal and animals of other species, if you truly observe their behaviors and don’t simply attribute it all to instinct. 
I think there is a level of intuition, imagination, and connection to the Source of Life that animals understand on a level that we have not yet touched. 
They look too different, and they don’t speak our language, so we automatically assume that they are dull and mindless creatures, following deeply embedded instinctual codes of survival. 
But I give them much more credit than that. 
Our horrendous laboratory testing of animals may yield results that prove they dream as we do, or that they have cognitive abilities beyond what we first imagined, but all of that is unnecessary if only we stopped and observed, truly observed with an open mind and heart, just how perfectly adapted other species are at surviving. 

           
And I’m sure the caged animals being exploited by humans imagine themselves free, or they wouldn’t be fighting to be back in their wild habitat, they wouldn’t be sad in their isolation, they wouldn’t cry, and they wouldn’t go mad. 
I’m sure the elephants, who visit the spots where their kin were laid to rest, have the ability to remember the past. 
I’m certain that the ape who keeps holding her baby, imagining that it is still alive days after its death, can remember and can wish that it isn’t true, just like we do when we lose a loved one. 
And I’m sure all the animals of this planet that we are quickly destroying, thanks to our “imagination,” can envision a future, if only in their minds, of the way it should be---maybe because they can remember, in their soul memory, what it was like before we creatively began to take the world apart.   

- Lisa Selvaggio

           
Becoming the person I am today has taught me many things, not only about animal-related issues and myself, but also about other people, namely friends. 
I’ve come to realize that when you become as entrenched in a belief or way of life as I am, your true friends are the ones who have enough of an open mind to accept you for who you have become, and are willing to let you be. 
I can say I’ve lost some friends over the past few years, one or two of which can probably be attributed to my vegan lifestyle and their disagreement with it. 
I can also say that on my music magazine’s Facebook page, we’ve lost “friends” because we would post about an animal issue and someone felt the need to debate us on it as opposed to simply letting us promote what we feel. 
Everyone, from strangers on the internet to friends and family, feels the need to start up an argument about my eating habits or my feelings toward other species. 
I don’t incite these arguments; people just seem to feel they need to defend their lifestyles and so they’ll often ask why I am the way I am and proceed to give reasons that I’m wrong. 
If I don’t push my opinions on them, why do they feel the need to debate me in the first place? 
I really think that it’s because they feel the need to defend themselves around me because I live a radically different life from theirs. 


           
People are really interesting. 
They’ll say a delicate ecosystem of small mammals and plants is at risk because of, for instance, a deer overpopulation that eats all of the vegetation. 
As a response to the problem, brought about by urban sprawl and predation, they decide to cull the deer. 
What I see here is a species that needs to look in the mirror. 
We are the ultimate invasive species. 
We are killing this planet wherever we go, from the cutting down of forests to the breaking apart of mountains to the dumping of waste in the oceans. 
It must be something to be another animal, to see Homo-sapiens encroach and destroy everything in their path, to see their population grow out of control to the point that they may not be able to sustain themselves any longer. 


           
I have to laugh when I hear people talk about a fragile ecosystem in distress or being threatened by an overpopulation of another species, all the while dumping trash into landfills and polluting the oceans with plastic that kills, and destroying the atmosphere with smokestacks and taking up valuable land to house cages upon cages of animals that will be destroyed inhumanely for their fur, and covering everything in concrete. 
Any chance humans get to plow over a forest for farmland or for a shopping center or for more homes, in an effort to sustain the ever-growing population, they take it. 
Yet they don’t seem to see the destruction left in the wake of these actions. 
But the deer you must fear, they will eat away the delicate balance and so they must be hunted and controlled – yet another thing humans never learn: try to control one species with your mathematical equations and graphs, but it never works, and another species is always thrown off balance. 
You can’t do what Nature can do, and it’s not your job.
           
So let’s have a debate, but look in the mirror first, and look at humanity and what it has done and what it continues to do, and see the effects of the actions. 
If you still feel that things don’t need to change, that one individual making a change can’t make a difference, let’s talk.     

- Lisa Selvaggio

           
There is the one caught in the trap, its leg held hard, unable to break free and in excruciating pain. 
The breath, the life, the walking in the wilderness called home, the pulse, the blood, and then snap! 
The pain, the confusion, the agony, the blood that spills out. 
And the endless cries for help that never comes, the heart beating faster, the blood pouring more swiftly. 
Then the attempt to break free by chewing at the hard metal trap. 
The blood from the mouth, the teeth breaking, the gums gone numb. 
Until death comes with its slow approach, welcomed, or a fast blow to the head by the profit-hungry soulless monster. 


           
That is just one scene shown as part of the footage in the Tribe of Heart documentary titled “The Witness,” showing one man’s revelation of his connection to animals and then his plan to expose the cruelty behind the fur industry. 
This is just one scene, amidst the others of animals ranging from foxes to hares to ferrets. 
Then the scenes, filled with animal cries of those raised on fur farms in barren cages, cannibalizing each other, going mad with grief and a need for freedom that will never come. 
The man, heartless, grabbing the animal after cornering it, anally electrocuting it so as to preserve the coat that will be used for some human’s “fashion.” 
These scenes I can never get used to. 
They will always leave me breathless, tears streaming down my cheeks, wrenching and twisting my heart. 
Even just typing this makes me hands shake and my head weak. 
Because I have always been repelled by fur, I have never understood its purpose, never seen its supposed beauty after its been ripped from the animal it rightfully belongs to. 


           
I sit at the dinner table at Christmas, and the women who love to try to prove to others that they are richer than they are discuss their dreams of mink coats before moving on to a discussion of old furs no longer used for clothing but rather turned into stuffed animals. 
I cringe and hold it in. 
They know who I am, they know what I am about, and yet they continue talking, almost to spite me, it seems. 
But it’s family, and I have to keep my cool. 
You can’t just run away from these people when you’re done arguing, you have to face them again. 
“That’s how it used to be,” they say after someone bursts forth with, “If you want a stuffed bear, why don’t you just go out into the woods and club a bear cub and leave it at that, so that the seal can keep being a seal and the fox could be a fox!” 
I can’t help but laugh at this comment, since it is really ridiculous that they take an old coat because “the fur starts to decay” and use it in a stuffed animal that isn’t even the same species. 
“But that’s how it was, they didn’t have synthetics back then, it was all fur,” they try to justify, as if they were born in tribal times instead of the 1950s. 
“No synthetics” – I doubt that much (see this site for proof). 
I think humanity had gotten to the point by then that it didn’t need animal skins anymore to keep warm. 


           
At work, a coworker walks out into the cold winter weather of the northeast wearing a big fur hat someone brought back for her from Russia. 
I feel it, asking if it’s real, saying “how could you” as she confirms it is real. 
She replies that she doesn’t care about the animals killed for fur, because she never fed them, never cared for them, and so they mean nothing to her.  Yet, t
his woman owns horses. 
I’m sure she would hate to see one of them end up in an illegal slaughterhouse to be used as meat, despite the fact that she’s a meat-eater, as I’m sure she wouldn’t want it killed just so someone could use its mane.  The horse is the same as any other animal, captive or wild, yet she cares only because she has claimed ownership over it.     


           
What will it take, I wonder, for people to realize that fur is not necessary, and it shows nothing of their status or wealth but everything of their ignorance and inability to empathize with animals that deserve to live – have a right to life – as much as the dogs or cats that they pamper with spa treatments and cute little outfits? 
What will it take for people to view the footage I view and make the goddamn connection? 
What will it take for people to understand that the cow, the pig, the chicken, the fox, the rabbit, the mouse, the bird, the reptile, the fish, and the pets they keep are ALL animals – thinking, feeling, knowing beings, living and evolving just like the rest of us? 
When will people stop making the distinction between the animals they can eat, the animals they can keep, and the animals they can skin? 
When will the brainwashing end, and when will people wake up, and what will it take? 
When will people realize that using animals, especially in cruel ways, is not a topic for debate? 
But most importantly, when will people realize that humans are animals too, equal and no better than the rest on this planet?

           
I don’t know if the day will ever come when an animal is respected and not trapped or raised for its fur, but I will work nonetheless to spread education about what goes into making those coats people love to show off. 
They may not see the bloody corpse of an animal that was skinned alive, or the animal caught in the elements with no way of breaking free, or the caged innocents with absolute fear in their eyes. 
I see those eyes on the screen and they haunt me. 
I see the images and they replay in my mind as the mindless chatter goes on outside of me and I try my best to be respectful as they continue to walk all over me. 
I see the blatant sadism and I question how people could be that way, as others justify it and think nothing of the violence and hatred. 
And then they wonder why people are so cruel towards each other. 
They, and their snide remarks about my lifestyle, my lifestyle which breeds life, not death. 
They make jokes or start arguments because they are afraid that they are wrong, and so they feel the need to justify their actions without even being provoked. 
And so my anger rages, and the passion burns brighter, and I promise those animals that I will try, at least try, to help them, even though I’m not quite sure yet just how I will.   

           
There is the one who was alive and feeling, whose life was stolen for someone else’s selfish want. 

- Lisa Selvaggio

*Also showcased under Featured Editorial of The Animals Voice January 2010 e-newsletter http://www.animalsvoice.com/enews/01-10.html
*Also featured on All-Creatures.org at www.all-creatures.org/articles/ar-whose.html

These words fall upon deaf ears. 
I wonder if my task is futile. 
Finding then grabbing onto inspiration to have it end there? 


Scandalous voices are heard. 
The reward reaches the one who is the whore, selling the self to the great distraction, the grinding machine, its teeth grating. 
White-collar criminals, liars poisoning the blind who indulge in their own misdirection, misinformation. 


They could change, if only they knew. 
They could find a way to break the spell, unbind themselves from the falsities. 
Instead they carry on, inhibiting themselves and taking me prisoner as well. 
I, forced to live in their cage, struggle to pry the bars apart and step through. 
And my words fall upon deaf ears, so the eternal struggle continues with nothing more than a dubious promise made to oneself of some reward in the next plane of existence.

The need for glamour and material possessions outweighs the raw emotion and passion, and blood and flesh and bone is needed to fill the void created thereof. 
The derivation of pleasure from someone else’s pain, from some form of destruction, from the mushroom cloud that paints the sky. 
And we all choke on the smoke of our own stagnation as I bellow my words upon brainwashed ears unwilling to hear my Truth. 


Drums beating the wrong rhythm—war drums—enticing violence. 
Ignorance breeding itself and bigotry in young minds, 21st century hate. 


The skin that shows itself if only to attract a camera’s lens and produce a name in the paper, not realizing it has been sold to the patriarchal scheme that enslaves and claims possession of the desperate and astray. 
And too many words fall upon indifferent ears, unwilling to wake.

So I become mad with ambition, refusing to change, refusing to fall prey to the game they all play so well, refusing to partake in the dying, refusing to buy their lines of deceit. 
The world can fabricate its own artificial nature, but I refuse to bow down, be taken. 
I refuse to become enslaved, to be led by gluttonous killers. 
The Spirit rages within and refuses to forget its Source; the Woman is still connected to the breathing pulse of Life. 

            So these words may fall upon deaf ears, but they are Alive!

- Lisa Selvaggio

      Everything stripped clean across the barren land---clarity in death, when the cold winds blow harshly, biting the skin raw, as the sun in its brightness lies about its warmth.  Everything here sleeps except the broken, the tired, the lost, seeking salvation in dreams of water that does not freeze.  Seeking a spark to illuminate and light the way.  Craving to hibernate, to hide away, but having to take stock because things will only continue to fall apart even after the seeds have cracked open into buds when the soil breathes new life. 
     
All the friends that said their promises, and all the friends now gone.  Memories buried in snow, which covers the ground with a false sense of purity---don't step in it for fear of ruining the blanket and releasing all those emotions again.  Stuffing everything down to instead focus on survival. 
     
Fighting oneself more than the cold.  The snow can fall and the icicles can hang all they want, waiting for something, someone, to help change things, to help bring back the time lost.  But the world seems too far gone, and every continent's been bought, so there is no escape.  And the heat from the fire is stifling.
     
The cold is real but there is something artificial about the air, about the clouds that cover the clear blue horizon.  Life is slow, yet there is a promise for growth and renewal---an empty promise that will soon be forgotten once realized unfulfilled, buried under the slush that transforms into slick ice at night to fool the careless wanderer.  The crisp leaves replaced by cracking sheets of ice lining the concrete, hiding amid the blades of grass.  A need to tread carefully.
     
The promise of Winter's end---the season may slink away for its own repose, the snow will melt and set the flowers free---but life may still hold ice and bitterness for me...

- Lisa Selvaggio

Wow, it feels like it's been forever since I updated this blog with a new entry. Probably because 2009 has been a terrible year and nothing has gone right so far.

I'm here to let you know that there is still hope, though, for all those scraps you have lying around the house since the holidays. Every year we create tons of garbage from wrapping paper, boxes, food scraps, etc. Well, what if we could help our own lives along as well as that of the Earth and the species we co-exist with? Instead of putting all that trash into a landfill where it takes even longer to break down, use it in your own yard to help preserve hibernating plants and local wildlife that need shelter.

Here are just a few ideas to help you utilize your trash, and some pointers on how to avoid create as much next year:

1. Cardboard Boxes:
Just about every gift you buy these days comes in a cardboard box. Dolls, video games, appliances, they all come boxed up. Instead of sending all that cardboard to the dump, or even to the recycling plants, why not give it a second life in your garden? If you're anything like me, 2009 was so hectic you probably never got around to properly winterizing your yard. Take the cardboard boxes and cut them into sheets or strips and use them as a layer of mulch to protect delicate root systems below the ground from the penetrating frost. Even if you've already had some snow this year, there is probably still time to add this insulating layer. One important note, though: If you are going to then top the boxes off with some soil or wood chips to weigh it down, strip off any printing that is on the box. Most boxes are made separately from their printed wrappers, which are glued on during assembly,  so they should be easily removed with a sharp knife and some patience. The reason is that color inks contain traces of heavy metals that are bad for the biology of your soil, as well as harmful to your plants (and to you if they bear crops), so make sure to only use the bare cardboard. If the boxes are only printed in black and white, then it should be fine.

2. Wrapping Paper:
Most wrapping paper is color and is probably best kept out of the garden. Plus, it's very light and easily blown away, creating litter everywhere. Instead, why not shred it up and use it as the cage liner if you have a pet bird? It'll can save you a few trips to the pet store to buy cage substrate, and can then be thrown away when it is soiled. It's not a permanent fix, but at least it gives it one more cycle of use before it gets sent to the trash heap.

3. Ribbon:
You know those few feet of ribbon that came wrapped around your gift from your crafty Aunt Edna? Why throw it away? If you grow any tall varieties of vegetables in the summer and need to support them so they stand up straight, why not save the ribbon for tying the plants to the stakes? It may not look very pretty at first, but after a few weeks when the plants have grown in and start flowering you probably won't even be able to see the ribbon. If everyone reused just a few feet of ribbon we could save literally thousands of miles of it from ending up in landfills every year (source). What would be even better is if you choose to wrap a gift for someone else with ribbon, choose a cloth ribbon instead of plastic or nylon. Cloth ribbon will biodegrade much easier in the long run.

4. Christmas/Holiday Tree:
Yes, I use the term "holiday tree" because Christmas is not the only holiday that uses a tree. There is also the Yule, which is arguably the source for most modern Christmas traditions, but that's a topic for a separate blog entry. Anyway, according to Earth911.com you can recycle your real tree (obviously, don't do this with artificial trees) by dropping pieces of it into a local body of water (check with local regulations first!). If you have a pond in your yard you can drop a few tree limb clippings in there to help with aeration and nutrients, as well as providing shelter for your fish, if you keep any. There is also the option of chopping the tree up for firewood. If you have a fireplace in your house, or a fire pit in your backyard, this is a great way to utilize that tree because as we all know, you pay $6 or so for a small bundle of firewood that lasts you one night. A full tree could get you through a few weeks if it's big enough.  You could also use some of the tree limbs and stack them cross-crossed in a corner of your yard, away from other buildings, as shelter for small mammals and ground-nesting birds.

5. Food Scraps:
This one might seem like a no-brainer, but many people forget to compost or to find other ways of using scraps. Big family dinners produce big family waste when they are over. Why send all that garbage to decay somewhere else when you can let it decay in your yard and improve your soil quality? Better soil quality means less money has to be spend on fertilizers in the next growing season. Get an indoor composter, if you don't like the idea of having a pile of rotting garbage in your yard, it's a great way to use up scraps of food, like that leftover quiche that you never really wanted in the first place. Did your health conscious sibling get a juicer this year? If so, ask if you can have the dried pulp that the machine stores after each use. Fruit and vegetable pulp makes great compost because it's already shredded up and partially broken down. Less surface area means quicker decomposition, and a faster turnaround on that nutrient rich natural fertilizer. If you start from now you might have a decent sized batch ready for your spring planting.

6. Shopping Bags:
Lots of people these days are using cloth or canvas bags to go shopping, but many still leave the house without them or won't shell out the $5 that some stores are asking for a plain bag with their name on it. Why pay $5 when you can get reusable bags for free? They may not be cloth, so they will wear out faster, but you can reuse a lot of those large paper department store bags the next time you go shopping. If you buy a large item from a big chain store like Macy's (for example) they may give you a large paper bag with their logo on it. Why not use those the next time you go shopping? You can keep light groceries in those bags if they are made well. If they seem too flimsy, you can still recycle them, or even use them turned inside out as wrapping paper for next year's presents.

7. Flowers:
Some people put out large flower centerpieces at their dinner tables when hosting holiday dinners or parties. If the flowers are real, they inevitably wilt and dry out, and wind up in your garbage can. Instead of just throwing away those flowers, why not let them dry on a paper towel, or hang them in a doorway for a few days, and then leave them outside in your yard where they can become food for squirrels and chipmunks? If the flowers release seeds when they are dried, they will also help to feed any birds that don't or have not yet migrated for the winter. In fact, if you are going to use your tree clippings to provide shelter to our furry or feathered friends, you can leave the dried flowers near the opening or right inside the shelter area as an incentive for them to move in.

8. Give Better Gifts:
This may seem like an odd piece of advice, but think about it. How many times did you get a gift that you didn't necessarily ask for, but thought was cool anyway. In the long run, since it wasn't something you had anticipated needing, or getting, you don't have as much use for it as you thought you might, and you don't want to be rude and give it back for an exchange, so you keep it. It collects dust for a while, and a few years later when you're cleaning out your closet you find it and decide it's safe to throw away now because enough time has passed. Now think about how many of the gifts you give suffer the same fate. Or worse yet, even the gifts you give with the best intentions of fulfilling someone's request, if they are made poorly, can break and become trash quicker than you anticipated. Why not give a better, more durable, useful gift? If you can't think of anything that fits that description, then why not skip giving an item and give an experience? Trinkets and baubles only take up space and become trash later on, but memories can last a lifetime if they are good ones. Why not give someone tickets to a concert or sporting event. Maybe they like the theater? There are many cities that have their own theater districts that put on some great musicals, plays, or operas. You can even just give someone a gift certificate to a nice restaurant. You are still giving them a very nice, thoughtful gift, but you won't be contributing to the tons of garbage we produce every holiday season, which can typically be 25% higher than the rest of the year.

Think these over, perhaps you already do some of them. Maybe you can implement some of them today, in order to secure a cleaner tomorrow.

That's all for now, Happy New Year everyone!
-Rob

Just a quick request to anyone reading this blog. I recently entered a few of my shots of Cradle of Filth guitarist Paul Allender into the Billboard Magazine "Ultimate Music Moment" Contest.



While the main categories are awarded by a panel of judges, there is a Fan Favorite section where the public can vote. The winner will be published in Billboard Magazine and the Photo District News publication when the contest is over. I'd really appreciate it if everyone could take a minute and sign up with your email address to vote.



PLEASE CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE IMAGE.



I need lots more votes to beat out the leader right now. Every little bit helps. If you have a Facebook or Twitter, or any other networking site, please urge your friends and family to vote as well.



You can only vote once per email address.



Thanks!



Also, even though I don't always agree with PETA's tactics. They did do a very cool thing by interviewing Paul Allender himself about his views on animal abuse. You can see it here:


Learn more about Cradle of Filth at peta2.com.





More soon!

Since yesterday's entry on Vegan Jalepeno Poppers was such a success, I thought I would share another recipe with all of you. 



Since I stopped eating eggs, I would often crave an egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast. I would make them every so often in the morning to give me that protein boost I need to start the day. But since eggs are about as ethical as back alley abortions, I will not eat them anymore. But still, when you've grown up your entire life eating a certain way, and certain foods have become your favorite, you do start to crave them sometimes.




Well, I've got some good news and some bad news. The bad news first: If you look around the web for vegetarian/vegan scrambled eggs, you get a lot of recipes that use tofu, but the list of ingredients usually topples some of the more petite sky scrapers out there. The list of steps and things you need can be enough to make you just eat a banana as you run out the door for work. Here's the good news: I had figured "it can't possibly be this involved to make some scrambled tofu!" And it wasn't! I've been making this for about 2 months now, and unless I accidentally didn't season it with enough salt or pepper, you would never know it's not real eggs.




Want to know how to make it? Here you go:




What you need:




1/3 of a pound of Firm Tofu (can be drained, but for this particular recipe it actually won't matter)
Salt
Pepper
English Muffins or Bagels
Vegan Rice Cheese Slices (American or Cheddar)
Vegetarian Bacon (optional)
Hot Sauce (optional)




I prefer Tabasco sauce for the hot sauce, and personally, I use english muffins, though small frozen bagels do work just as well.




So here is what you need to do:


1) Put a small amount of oil in a frying pan or skillet and put on medium heat

2) Put 1/3 of a pound of tofu into a plate and using a fork, mash it in from the corners, and up and down each side into the middle, until it creates crumbles that are consistent with the size and shape of a typical scrambled egg serving

3) Cook tofu in pan until lightly browned.

4) Toast english muffins or bagels, and cook bacon in your desired method.

5) Place bacon strips on bottom half of muffin or bagel, then tofu, then season with salt and pepper and tabasco if desired.

6) Top off with a slice of cheese, close muffin with it's top, and enjoy!




See? Simple, no need for yeast and turmeric and all that other stuff that people say you need just to make it taste like eggs.




The secret here is that if you make a sandwich of egg whites, they have no flavor of their own, they, much like tofu, are very bland and take on the flavor of whatever seasonings you use. So by seasoning with different flavors that are common to real egg sandwiches, you're getting all the tastes, and none of the snotty yuckiness that are eggs. Goes great with a cup of coffee or orange juice.




This recipe usually can make 2 sandwiches if you spread the tofu out well. On top of that, it's got all the same amounts of protein as real eggs but without the cholesterol. And if you use Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the pan you're also coating it with beneficial Omega 3s.

Right now we're at the edge of 2 seasons overlapping. One slowly gives way to the other every year and if you're like me you're deeply immersed in both. That overlap time can be a time of slight confusion coupled with excitement. I'm obviously talking about the summer growing season and football season!

So now that we've FINALLY gotten some summer-like weather here in New Jersey (all of June was rain, July was abnormally cool) I'm seeing my backyard crops finally perk up and yield their proper amounts. On top of that the NFL pre-season starts in a week and it's time to consider what kind of tasty, green-conscious and animal-friendly snacks I shall be indulging in as I root for another NY Giants Superbowl win.

So I take a stroll through my yard and look at the various meals that are possible. One thing that I've missed ever since going mostly vegan is jalepeno poppers. It shouldn't have taken me this long to realize that they'd be easy to make, but it finally dawned on me to give it a try. The truth is there are some vegan alternatives that are great, and almost just as good as the real thing that we all grew up eating, and then there are some that no matter how hard they try, they just can't quite get right.

So here is a quick recipe I threw together last night to try and test the palatability of vegan poppers.

You'll need:
6 Large Jalepeno Peppers
1 Block of Vegan Cheddar Cheese (or Monterrey Jack Cheese) - your favorite brand will do. 
    *NOTE: Most of the blocks of "vegan" cheese still contain casein, a milk protein. Your searching will depend on how strict you are as a vegan*
Tempura Batter (can be bought in a box or prepared at home from scratch. Very easy to make)
Plain Bread Crumbs
Olive Oil
Vegan Sour Cream

What you do:
1) Remove the ends from the peppers. If they are really large, cut them in half to make 2 tubes, and remove the core and seeds
2) Cube the vegan cheddar and slide inside the pepper tubes.
3) Dredge the poppers in the tempura batter and then immediately roll in bread crumbs
4) Fry in a deep fryer or a frying pot for about 3-4 minutes at around 350 degrees
5) Remove from oil to a paper towel on a plate to drain and cool slightly.
6) Serve with vegan sour cream on the side for anyone who can't take the heat.

Now, I came up with this completely out of the blue yesterday and I'm glad to say it was a success. I didn't have any left to take pictures of, so maybe the next time I make them I'll share an image or two. The great thing is that they come out exactly like the real thing, and possibly better. The cheddar I used was kind of mild, so I may try another brand next time. It's all trial and error but they're very easy to make and are great snacks for the big game, or a Ghost Hunters marathon.

Even though the weather in my area has been absolute crap for about a month on end now, I am surprised and happy with what I've been seeing around me.

It seems that in the face of an economic collapse, or a "recession" if you want to sugar coat it, people are turning to their yards for what they need.

There have always been the people who like to garden and grow vegetables in their yard when the weather is right, but then there are the people who didn't really care for all that work. But now that people have begun to feel the stinging of a failing economy, more people are doing what they can to be more self-reliant. This manifests itself in more people gardening and growing their own food, in whatever amounts, than what we've typical seen in recent years.

For instance, near my house there is a family whose front yard is so small it can't possible be more than 6 feet wide by 3 or 4 feet deep. Most people wouldn't consider using that for anything other than a small plot of grass and maybe some flowers. This year though, despite it's small size and awkward location (it's raised from the sidewalk quite a few feet and could be potentially dangerous to do any real work on) they are growing rows of crops. I'm not yet sure what they are growing, but it looks like they have a good 3 or 4 rows of plants already staked and on their way. They are also building a small wooden fence around the area to keep neighborhood jokesters out of their food.

In my own yard I'm growing a bigger variety than I have in recent years, which now includes berries, sage, and eggplant in addition to the usual assortment of peppers and tomatoes. I've got enough right now to last me until the Fall, and I can harvest the herbs as I need them and the other food as it grows in. I'm even trying to grow some Stevia, which is the hottest rage right now as a sugar substitute. The great part about Stevia is that it's a sugar substitute that isn't made from all kinds of scary chemicals that wreak havoc on your body. You can dry the leaves and then proceed to prepare it in a number of different ways, most of which I will at least be attempting before the Winter hits.

The point is that more people are learning that we in fact can be self-reliant, and take matters into our own hands when given certain circumstances. Sure, you can't grow everything you eat all year long, but think of how much you spend on groceries each week, now imagine if you could cut that down by a quarter, or even half, by just investing some time and elbow grease into the yard you're already paying for anyway.

And don't fret, if you don't own your house, or don't have a yard because you live in an apartment or condo or townhome, there are always potted gardens. There are many other alternatives out there, all you have to do is look for them, and if you don't find them ,just be creative. You can even grow plants indoors using an inexpensive fluorescent light fixture that plugs into a regular household outlet as a substitute for the spectrum of light that the sun gives off.

That's all for now, happy gardening!

-Rob

So after an eventful and stressful week or two, I finally get a night where I decide to not do anything that will make my mind reel. I decide to take it easy, just kick back, grab a drink, maybe watch some TV, watch the neighbor with the mental condition beat his dog in the middle of the street.... wait... what? That wasn't in the plan.

So there I am, all ready to relax and most importantly mind my own business for a little while and I get called over to the window to see a cop car in the middle of the street and my mental patient neighbor beating his dog. As it turns out the dog got off his leash that keeps him chained to a porch that is less than 10x10. The dog ran down the block, most likely in an attempt to escape the hell he was living in, only to be called back by his owner and smacked in the face several times. Well, anyone who knows anything about anything will tell you not to hit a dog. I like to think people shouldn't hit animals at all, but even so, you don't grab a year and a half old boxer by the collar and start smacking him in the face. As you would imagine, the dog retaliated and put a nice gash in this idiot's wrist. There was a cop car oh-so-conveniently stopped in the road right in front of this.

Wouldn't you know they called the whole damn cavalry. It seemed like every cop car in town came rushing to the block along with an ambulance for Mr. Tough-guy. So now the dog is chained back on the porch, every neighbor within eye or earshot is outside watching, and general confusion sets in. People are talking about how big dogs are dangerous, and how there are kids on the block, and how they were bit twice as kids and don't trust dogs, and all this other ignorant crap.

Basically, this guy and his girlfriend are both certifiable. No joke, they've both been committed, the woman multiple times. One time because she sent one of her previous dogs after a cop. The guy has restraining orders against him from his family, has been to prison for one reason or another, and jumped off a highway overpass and lived! These are people that clearly should not be owning animals, especially big breeds that need specific care and training.

There's more! This couple didn't buy the dog, in fact there have been multiple complaints about the dog from around town. It seems that the dog has been passed on from owner to owner without ever being registered with the town. People apparently can't handle him and keep giving him to whoever will take him. Lucky dog ends up with the two craziest people in town.

In the end, the dog was chained to the house as animal control was called. Once the dog saw the flashing lights and the snare poles he knew what was happening and started barking. Feeling threatened he went into self-defense mode (note how I don't use "attack mode," that's reserved for animals actually trained for attacking), and started snarling and jumping around the porch. Finally, after about 20 minutes of not being able to snare him, even with 2 poles, the police had to empty an entire can of mace into the dog's face to keep him from moving so they could snare him and put him in the truck. But that wasn't enough because minutes later one of the police officers on the scene greeted a friend of his who brought his small son, they were apparently called to come and see the dog. For no other real purpose other than to gawk; real respectful guys.

I understand that if you have a dangerous animal, you're going to want to know your kids are safe, but that's not really the point here. This story can happen to anyone, on any block, in any town. The point is that A. Crazy people should not be allowed to own animals, especially if it's the kind of crazy that involves prison time and adult diapers. And, B. If you can't handle an animal, don't just dump it off with the first nice looking person you see. You might have the best intentions in the world, but you have no idea what that unsuspecting adopter might have in store. Animals that get passed around like a hot potato can end up with a variety of trust and loyalty issues, which can sometimes manifest themselves in acting out in various ways. The best way to handle an unwanted or uncontrollable pet is to seek out a no-kill shelter that will be willing to work with your animal, or a breed-specific rescue group. Every state has rescue groups for just about anything, and if you need to travel a little bit, just understand that it could mean the difference between a happy life for the animal, or a tragic drug induced death after an episode like this one.

This poor boxer doesn't stand a chance now, he's been passed around so many times, has no real record of ownership, has a major psychological issue, or two, and now has shown his teeth (and tons of aggression) to a group of police officers. That dog will be dead by dawn and nothing will happen to the people who caused this end result in the first place. The abusive owner that was taken to the hospital for stitches and rabies shots will be let off the hook, as will his psychopath middle aged girlfriend. The chain of people responsible for the many homes the dog had will most likely never be tracked down. But what bothers me most is that this cycle continues all over the place; abandoned animals, passed around to people not prepared to deal with a given species or breed, and nobody with the common sense, or even the heart, to understand that certain animals need certain kinds of understanding. They aren't all "feed and watch" pets.

- Rob Acocella

Just a quick blog entry to mention that we've now added ad rate info to our site. Just go to the "Quick Links" section of the navigation bar for the drop down menu. From there you can click to view our ad prices. Banner location and pixel size information will be posted soon (as soon as we get all the details sorted out).

In the meantime, since we aren't set up to accept donations yet, consider helping us out and keeping us running by buying banner ad space for your company or website. 


We've also got special rates for non-profits. We're not just talking about the big organizations either, even if you just volunteer at a local animal shelter that needs a little exposure, we can give you a great rate. Our regular prices are also very affordable for everyone in this tough economy. A great chance to advertise those recycled bottle cap necklaces you've been making or those hand drawn illustrations and paintings you've been trying to sell.


That's all for now, I've got a million things rolling around in my noggin, just waiting for the dust to settle so I can decide what to write about next.


-Rob

So, I was doing some web surfing tonight and came across a great article on NaturalNews.com about chemtrails. I gave it a quick skim and decided it would make for a good blog and bulletin post on our Myspace pages.

Shortly after posting it I got a message from a friend of ours from Ohio saying how he sees them all the time. This is nothing new though, we've spoken with many people from around the country, and have even heard accounts from around the world of these nasty chemtrails appearing in the sky and the various results that people would encounter.

The truth is that in the end nobody will completely know what is going on wih these things until either:

1) The government agency responsible for them comes clean about what they are and their purpose

or

2) Some whistle-blower, ex-employee type spills the beans. Most people wouldn't even know about it because the news, as well as the person's identity would most likely be yanked from public view pretty darn fast.

There have been a broad range of assumptions as to what and why they are. All we know at this point is that water and soil samples taken after they appear have shown some high amounts of pretty nasty particulates and compounds, all of which are known to cause adverse reactions in the human body.

It seems like the word is starting to spread, even Discovery did a special on them about a year ago, although it proved to be little more than an hour of wasted airtime as it was probably edited to the point where it became completely inconclusive. We watched it and got little from it other than that someone, somewhere, wants you to think that (if you believe in them) they are a way of counteracting Global Warming. They claim the high amounts of aluminum found in the atmosphere and in water and soil samples due to these chemtrails are used to reflect UV rays back into space. The article I found tonight, however, has this to say about Aluminum:

"Aluminum causes extreme neurological disorders. Dementia, uncontrollable spasms, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's Disease can be caused by long term aluminum exposure. Breathing in those particulates over time is a definite long term hazard."

So, it's either for combating Global Warming, or to give us all dementia. If you ask me, that's far too broad a range of possible outcomes for me to feel safe just accepting these lines in the sky.

Whatever they are, all I know is that I've noticed people around me being much more irritable when they cover the skies, which lends itself to the theory that it's an experiment in controlling people's thoughts and moods. I also watch them as they spread out (unlike regular contrails, which dissipate in minutes) and completely cover the sky, changing weather patterns completely. As someone who enjoys nature, and as  photographer, sunlight is something I highly value, so when you start taking that away from me, I tend to notice, and since it causes me to watch the skies until the sunlight comes back, I take note of how long it takes, and it can sometimes take as little as a few hours, and sometimes it can go all day, sometimes multiple days if they're really putting thick layers up.

That's enough from me though, make sure you check out the article here: http://www.naturalnews.com/026200.html and form your own opinions.

Spread the word, the only way to combat this kind of thing is with outreach. We need to educate everyone that will listen.

-Rob Acocella

Animal Lovers

Everyone loves animals, some more than others, and in different ways. Some love them enough to free them and never eat them, others love them with a little salt and A1.

Here's a quick blog update from the road. Yes, I'm on the road, 1200 miles from home, and just HAD to come on here and add my 2 cents to a conversation topic that's already been done to death.

Few things are more annoying than this: You're laying on the beach just relaxing, getting some sun, listening to the waves crash, the chatter of the sea birds flying overhead, the wind blowing gently, and then suddenly it happens. With all of the vast expanse of sand stretching most likely at least a mile left or right of you, a group of people, usually young and loud, decide to set up camp a mere 4 feet from your chosen spot. Disturbing your peace, they launch into loud, obnoxious conversation of the high school valley girl kind (So, like, I was totally, um, what's the word, oh yeah ::snaps bubble gum:: tired last night, so I totally like, got some like, sleep). Then they start laughing, screaming, and doing all things possible to make you want to force-feed them fistfuls of sand.

That's one thing that is hard to beat, but for me, the nature lover that I am, there is always worse, and then, they do it. They bust out some cigarettes, and when they're done, right into the sand with the butts. Someone please explain to me why people do this. Even if you don't care about the fact that the fiberglass filter you're smoking through is non-biodegradable and will still be there 100 years later (if it's not swept out to sea due to beach erosion) and you don't care that hundreds of birds die needlessly every day from having stomachs full of plastic and other artificial parts that they mistake for food, what about your own investment? Yeah, sometimes the only way to make people see a reason to be more responsible is to put it into terms that they DO care about. Most beaches, even if they're free to get on, charge you some kind of rate for parking. For instance, in NJ, not only do you pay anywhere between $15-$50 for a full day of parking, but most beaches charge you a good $6 (at least!) just to walk onto the sand. In Florida, most beaches are free because they are run through municipalities of large cities that already bring in a lot of cash from tourism, but you still have to pay for parking.

Those parking and/or entrance fees go towards two main expenses: lifeguards, which are only on duty for certain hours and then it's "Swim at your own risk," and clean-up. So even if you're not from town and you aren't paying property taxes to the city for them to conduct basic local cleaning, you're paying good money to walk onto something that by all natural rights should be 100% free, and the reason is so that they can A.) save you from drowning, and B.) make sure there's no medical waste for you to drive through the sole of your foot when you least expect it.

Most people would reply to this and say, "Well yeah, I have the right to litter if I'm paying for them to clean it up, right?" In a way, you're actually right, but what about if you're in a party of 2 or more people and you only had to pay for parking. What if your whole group is doing that? Then your measly $1 per hour doesn't do a whole lot when you have a caravan of people dumping' their shit into the sand instead of using the trash bins that are typically spread out around the area in easy to access places. Plus, wouldn't it anger you if you were just a single visitor paying to be on the beach and then you see a whole family leaving tons of garbage behind? All that means is that next time around the prices will be higher because the cost-benefit factor is tilted and they can't keep up with all the waste people leave behind.

I pay to be on these beaches too, and unlike the typical sheeple out there, I actually care about what happens there and what we do to the planet that allows us to survive here. We have no more rights than anyone else to be alive and use what nature gives us, but we hoard it, and when we feel we've used all we can, we use theoretical slash and burn techniques to make sure nobody else can use what we didn't. Which is why after we're done repainting the pristine skies with high rise apartments and billion dollar hotels, we start charging for people to set foot on what the Earth gives us for free. We subsidize and privatize things that aren't ours to own and then we trash it because we feel justified since we have to pay. However, that's backwards thinking--we're paying because we've wrecked it all.

This turned out to be a longer entry than planned, so I'll leave you with this: Next time you have to pay in some shape or form to enter any kind of natural area, be it a beach, a forest, or a preserve of some kind, remember what you're paying for, remember why you're really paying, and just apply some basic responsibility and don't leave it worse than you found it. Eventually someone will be hired to clean it up, but they can't do their job if you keep making it worse.

-Robert Acocella