Indefinite Detention Bill Passes in Congress-Why Aren’t More People Angrier?

As you, my readers, may or may not have heard, a bill recently passed in the United States Congress known as the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. This bill has caused (something) of an uproar in many circles because it allows for the indefinite detention and torture of Americans and any other people who are suspected of being terrorists. Furthermore, this would all be without any of them having a right to a trial. Not only that, but President Obama’s staff have made it clear that he has no intention of vetoing this bill, and as of this writing, he has signed it into law.

As an animal-human-earth liberation supporter, this new bill is very disturbing to me. Human rights, of course, are an important part of my philosophy, and this bill would allow terror suspects, regardless of where they are or what country they are from, to be detained without the right to a trial, indefinitely, but the US government. A certain other terror bill makes this an especially chilling new law for animal activists and environmentalists like myself, since under it, animal rights and environmental activists may be considered terrorists, and thus, terror suspects, as well.

But the worst part of all of this is that it’s barely being covered by the mainstream media. Where’s the outrage? Where’s the cavalry for our rights as Americans? Two of the above links are from alternative media sources (the other is from this blog). Someone besides those outside of the mainstream needs to speak up and get people to get mad about this and do something!

But hope does spring eternal. The American Civil Liberties Union currently has several online actions for their supporters to get more people to rally against this new law. Still, since Obama, a Democrat, passed this law (as well as an extension of the USA PATRIOT Act), and Bush, a Republican, passed the PATRIOT Act, maybe it’s not the party that the President is in that’s the problem, but rather the system itself. What do you all think? And what will you all do about these assaults on our freedoms?

If I don’t write again soon, I wish all of my readers a happy and free holiday season!

Ancient Sequoia Forests and The Fight to Save Them

Over the past half-century or so, there has been a lot of talk about saving ancient Sequoia, or redwood, forests. But why is this issue so important?

Many activists feel the need to protect these great trees because they, like our rainforests, are one of the natural wonders in the world. Found mostly on the west coast of the United States (in places like central and northern California and southern Oregon), these trees can reach up to heights of 360 feet, and are known to live for thousands of years. Because of their longevity, the Sequoia forests are what are known as “old growth forests”, and have thus gained unique ecological characteristics, including “large trees and standing dead trees, multi-layered canopies with gaps resulting from the deaths of individual trees, and coarse woody debris on the forest floor”. And of course, just like all forests, these forests are home to many nonhuman animal species.

Unfortunately, redwoods face certain threats today, mostly from the logging industry. It has been said that of all the redwoods on the West Coast, 95% have been logged as of now. There were once 2,000,oo0 acres of redwoods. Today, there are fewer than 106,000 left.

So what has been done to save these trees? Some activists, such as those in Earth First!, have gone as far as taking part in tree-sitting, an act of civil disobedience in activists literally sit in trees that are set to be cut down, refusing to leave until the trees are spared. One such activist, Julia Butterfly Hill, performed a tree sit that last two years.

But obviously, not everyone can make it to the West Coast to sit in a redwood, so what can the rest of us do? I often talk about the value of educating people who may not be in the know so that they become aware of  the issues affecting our planet. I can’t stress the importance of this enough. Get the word out to everyone you know, especially if you or your friends or relatives live on the West Coast and can get active for these trees. You don’t have to sit in the trees, but even organizing a demonstration and getting loud can be helpful.

Come on people, let’s save the redwoods!

Rainforests of Southeast Asia, and Threats that Face Them

The Southeast Asian region is known for many things, but one of the natural wonders it is most known for are its rainforests. These rainforests are the oldest in the world, dating approximately 70 million years back. They are home to many different flora and fauna (tigers, elephants, tapirs, rhinos, and, perhaps most notably, orangutans). But now, several forces are threatening to destroy these areas (wow, that sounded very movie trailer-esque. But I digress).

The primary threats facing the Southeast Asian rainforests are logging and deforestation. Because so many trees are being cut down at such a fast rate, and, just like all other rainforest, cannot be replanted, many of the species who depend on the forests to survive are dying out or critically endangered. For instance, the Javan rhino has gone extinct, there are only about 300 to 500 Sumatran rhinos left in the wild, the Javan tiger is no more, and the Sumatran tiger is well on its way to extinction.

In addition, the mutual relationship between Southeast Asian wildlife and plant life has been radically upset by these changes. As the trees are cut down, animals’ habitats and food supplies for the herbivores (and thus, the carnivores, eventually) dwindle, and this will eventually cause the entire ecosystem to collapse. In fact, it is projected that all of Southeaast Asia’s main rainforests will have been destroyed within the next decade.

So, why am I telling you all this? I’m hoping that you’ll all do something about it. Tell people. Hit the streets. Spread the word. Help stop these majestic rainforests from being destroyed!

For more information, visit the Rainforest Action Network’s website. Peace, love, and keep hope alive!

Save the Trees!

Greetings, fellow blogosphere surfers! I know it’s been a while since I posted a blog post, and there’s a topic I’d really like to cover. So, for the next few days, I’ll be writing about trees. More specifically, about trees and forests that are currently being threatened by the government, big business, and other entities. now, I’ve already written about the Amazon Rainforest, but the trees and forests I’ll be writing about include:

• Ancient Redwoods
• Indonesia’s Rainforests
• Tongass National Forest
• New York’s Catskills Forest Preserve
• and others I may learn of, as well.

Hope you’re all looking a forward to it as I am, so until next time, peace and love.

(PS, if you readers know of others I could write about that I didn’t list, just leave a comment below with the name of the forest. Thanks!)

Circuses are Harmless Fun? Not for the Animals…

What can you say about the circus? I personally was never partial to them, even as a young child. They smelled weird, and clowns freaked me out. But one group of performers about whom I seldom thought were the animals (the elephants, tigers, lions, and so forth). I never really thought about why an elephant would stand on his or her head, what would possess a tiger to leap through a flaming hoop, or what made bears ride tricycles. Even after I became a vegetarian, I never gave it much thought. When I converted to veganism, however, and began to learn more about animal rights, I learned an ugly truth.

This clip, from the documentary “Earthlings”, shows that the reason why wild animals in circuses that use them (including, Carson & Barnes, Ringling Bros., UniverSoul, Cole Bros., and others) perform acts that are unnatural to them is not because they want to, but rather, because they fear punishment if they don’t. A device commonly used in training the elephants is a bullhook, also known as an elephant goad. A photo of a bullhook can be seen here.  The tool is used to inflict pain onto the creatures (not to “guide” them, as has been claimed by trainers and circus publicists) in order to force them to perform acts that they otherwise wouldn’t. As for the other animals used in circuses, like the lions, bears, and tigers, why do you think wild animals like those, who would normally claw a human being’s head off in their natural habitats, submit to their trainers so easily? Judging by what I’ve learned and seen, it’s because their trainers beat and prod them into submission. When not being beaten or trotted out before rowdy audiences, animals in the circus spend close to 11 months in cages while traveling.

What’s more, even if these creatures were not abused, they’ve still been taken away from everything that is natural to them. Elephants don’t belong in chains; they belong in the savannas of Africa. Tigers shouldn’t be leaping through hoops; they should be sunbathing in the jungles of Asia. There are plenty of good circuses out there that don’t utilize animal “performers” including:

• Cirque du Soleil
• The New Pickle Family Circus, and
• Circus Oz, to name a few.

So I’m not saying the circus itself needs to be abolished (even though clowns still freak me out). All I’m saying is that animals in circuses suffer, animals are not here to entertain humans, and circuses are still fun without animals. So spread the word, and when the circus comes to your town, let them and their patrons know what I’ve told you here. The site I linked to previously is the site for Born Free, USA, and they have a ton of info about how to plan your own anti-circus demo. Until all are free!

Animals in Entertainment Series

I haven’t posted in a while, so I’ve thought about starting a new series about the issue of animals in entertainment. By this, I refer to animals used in circuses, rodeos, zoos, racing, fighting, and other exploitative activities. Now I’ve already covered marine animals in marine parks, so there isn’t any need to bring that up again. But nonetheless, stay tuned for more information about the numerous ways animals are exploited for no other reasons than profit and the amusement of humans, and why, if you patronize any of these activities, you shouldn’t any longer.

More criticisms of AR that annoy the hell out of me….

Many times, when I’m debating face-to-face or posting about animal rights on Twitter or various message boards, I get all too many arguments like this:

• “Animals can’t comprehend fear or pain.” -this one I got from a former co-worker.
• “Stop thinking of animals like they’re humans.”
• “You think of life like it’s a Disney movie.”

Well, to address this first comment, which is an argument put forth by Rene Descartes, if animals don’t understand fear or pain, what do they feel instead? To paraphrase Gary Yourofsky, it makes no sense to claim that every part of an animal works except for the brain. I can understand why people would want to make an argument like this, though, for as illogical as it is. After all, no one wants to think that their steak, slice of ham, or chicken nuggets were once terrified living creatures who would have pleaded for their lives if anyone would have listened or understood.

The second and third comments are related, so I will address them both.I’m certain that I’m not the first AR activist who’s been accused of “humanizing” animals and taking too much of a “wide-eyed idealist” attitude toward them, and that I won’t be that last. Well, of course I understand that in nature, animals fight and eat each other all the time. But the fact remains that humans have no real need to kill animals for food, clothing, recreation or science, as opposed to say, wolves, who are carnivores who need to kill other animals for food, or mongooses, who kill cobras in self-defense (as well as killing other animals for food). How then, is saying that we shouldn’t kill if we don’t have to taking a “Disney Movie attitude” toward animals? If anything, it’s more logical than saying we should kill out of habit or for taste, or just “because we can”.

Well, honestly, I just wanted to address those comments. Until next time, readers!