Category Archives: Global disasters

On ‘personal choice’ and trying to be a ‘popular’ vegan

Posted on November 13, 2021 by There's an Elephant in the Room

I’m sure we’ve all heard – or maybe even used at some time – the tired old assertion about ‘my personal choice’? My first hearing was when it was actually snarled at me through gritted teeth by a former … Continue reading →

Posted in Awakening to veganism, consumer demand, Global disasters | Tagged animal rights, climate disaster, diet, disaster, ecological disaster, end of life as we know it, extremism, famine, fire, flood, Flooding, food shortage, human superiority, justice, moral choices, personal, personal choice, planetary collapse, plant-based, speciesism, truth, victims, violence, wildfires | 5 Comments

Last call for planet Earth

Posted on August 16, 2021 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Today I was motivated to write a short blog on passing a roadside advert that has stood for many years, directing shoppers to a butcher in a nearby village. Bragging about ‘100% Scottish beef’ and ‘award winning pies and sausages, … Continue reading →

Posted in Addressing resistance to change, Global disasters | Tagged animal agriculture, Apocalypse, Business as usual, climate, climate catastrophe, climate disaster, climate emergency, famine, fires, floods, fossil fuel, IPCC, polar melting, temperature records, wildfires | 6 Comments

Lies, damn lies, and statistics*

Posted on March 27, 2021 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Summary (for clear image) February is the month that FAO (The Food and Agriculture Organization, a specialised agency of the United Nations) publishes the annual global statistics of the number of land-based individuals slaughtered in the latest statistical year, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Global disasters, Statistics | Tagged amphibians, antibiotic resistance, avian flu, chickens, climate, climate catastrophe, data, diet, health, increase, insects, media hype, motive, not a diet, pandemic, plant-based, plant-based eating, plant-based options, slaughterhouse, species extinction, Statistics, veganism, wishful thinking, zoonotic, zoonotic disease | 3 Comments

Looking at language: Pests

Posted on January 18, 2021 by There's an Elephant in the Room

I recently posted about fireworks and the devastation they cause, illustrating the post with a tragic picture of countless dead birds on a city street following new year fireworks. It is well documented that fireworks terrify all the living individuals … Continue reading →

Posted in Addressing resistance to change, Global disasters, Terminology | Tagged animal rights, badgers, balloons, bears, consumer demand, death, decency, fireworks, foxes, harm, insects, litter, littering, pest, pests, pigeons, poison, pollution, rabbits, rodents, slaughter, speciesism, strays, toxins, trap, vandalism, vermin, wedding doves | 3 Comments

Dress rehearsal for the apocalypse

Posted on March 29, 2020 by There's an Elephant in the Room

As we look out on silent, empty, streets, watching while statistics of the sick and the dead skyrocket out of control, and the sickening chill of fear clutches at our hearts for our loved ones whom we are powerless to … Continue reading →

Posted in Addressing resistance to change, Global disasters | Tagged animal rights, breast milk, Chickens and eggs, consumer demand, coronavirus, dairy, factory farming, farming, intensive, links, milk, respect, vegan, veganism, virus, zoonoses, zoonotic | 11 Comments

Slaughter numbers jump by 2.2 billion

Posted on February 10, 2020 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Despite the euphoria caused by the proliferation of plant based dietary options in shops and restaurants, the statistics don’t bear out the wishful thinking about veganism taking over the world any time soon. In fact, given the accelerating climate catastrophe … Continue reading →

Posted in consumer demand, Global disasters, Statistics | Tagged 2018, climate catastrophe, diet, environmental destruction, increase, plant based diet, Statistics, vegan | 27 Comments

In the inferno – thoughts about selective empathy

Posted on January 6, 2020 by There's an Elephant in the Room

As Australia burns, the media shows harrowing scenes of indigenous species like koalas and kangaroos, injured, burned and dying. We see so many human interest stories, individual koala mothers with infants clutching at their fur being rescued and cared for; … Continue reading →

Posted in Global disasters, Uncategorized | Tagged climate crisis, climate disaster, climate emergency, farming, inferno, joey, Journey, koala, livestock | 17 Comments

Thoughts on the price of folly

Posted on September 12, 2019 by There's an Elephant in the Room

Planet Earth is experiencing an escalation of extreme weather events. This escalation will continue for as long as we fail so utterly to grasp that one of the main causes – if not the main cause – is our own … Continue reading →

Posted in Global disasters, Sentience | Tagged anger, animal agriculture, climate crisis, climate disaster, death, death row, disaster, disease, disgust, ecological disaster, fire, flood, Flooding, folly, images, sentience, slaughter | 2 Comments

‘Transparency in advertising’ – bring it on

Posted on August 9, 2019 by There's an Elephant in the Room

As expected the animal use industries are mounting an increasingly bizarre pushback against the labelling of substances for which they long ago co-opted names. There are frequent media outcries about who has the right to use words like ‘milk’, ‘sausage’, … Continue reading →

Posted in Addressing resistance to change, Global disasters | Tagged advertising, breast milk, burger, climate, climate change, climate crisis, climate emergency, dairy, diet, environment, environmental destruction, extreme weather, guidelines, health, healthy, marketing, milk, nutrition, plant based diet, plant-based, plant-based eating, plants, sausage, supermarket, sustainability, transparency, transparency in advertising, truth in advertising, vegan, veganism, weather | 7 Comments

Straight talking about ‘factory farming’

Posted on July 11, 2019 by There's an Elephant in the Room

There seems to be some sort of blind spot in our collective consciousness about the term ‘factory farming’ and all the various types of *CAFO in which our numerous species of victims are incarcerated. For a start, the creating of … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, factory farming, FAQ, Global disasters, Terminology | Tagged animal agriculture, animal rights, CAFO, ecological disaster, environmental destruction, ethical, factory, factory farming, family farm, farming, feed conversion ratio, health, humane, locally raised, organic farm, planetary collapse, planetary destruction, welfare | 9 Comments