Humane Society shows us what's under the hood of America's egg production - again. 99% of Americans will likely bat their eyes at it over their morning McMuffin - again. I think people have troule understand that their eggs come directly from these facilities, and they are all the same - all the time.

Anyway, watch it as a reminder of why it matters. Ask the people you share this post with to watch this video, and one in the preceding post (the TED talk by the HSUS president) back-to-back.

A phenomenal presentation by Wayne Pacelle - President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) - at TEDx. It's not graphic or shrill - which make it all-the-more compelling. The best way to describe it is 'a mirror'. Hold it up to everyone you know.

Exactly the right message - bridging the gap between the object in the styrofoam and the living animal it came from - the gap that makes it all too easy to forget the savagery that underlines our 'civilized' society.

Everything we eat comes down to two things in the end - shit and sunshine. Plants growing in manure, converting light to energy that supports all the the higher orders of life.

Well, scientist in the Japan have recently hacked this fundamental life-chain to produce food without light entirely -- in fact it comes straight from where the sun don't shine -- 'meat' made from human feces. (I'll wait while you clean that up. No rush.)

The jokes are too easy, let's skip them (and yes, that fridge at 1:33 does say 'shit burgers' on it).

Today, Erik Marcus (of vegan.com fame) sent out this email (below). In a nutshell, he's dropped the price of the Kindle edition of one of his bestselling books, Ultimate Vegan Guide, to $0.99 (yes, that's 99 cents). Erik has updated his popular guide for 2011, and calls the steep price cut "one of the greatest sacrifices I’ve made to date for animals".

Now, NoShmeat is not a vegan website. However, it recognizes the astonishing over-consumption of meat characteristic of the modern diet (most of it shmeat), and advocates a dramatic reduction in meat consumption. In working toward that goal, it would be a terrible waste not to tap into the great knowledge and experience of the vegan community, which has managed to thrive without any animal products whatsoever. Anyone who is serious about improving their health by cutting down the amount of animal products in their diet would be wise to have several top vegan resources on hand -- and Erik's work is as good as it gets.

Just saw this, and recommend: "Calf Rescue at E6" -- A non-graphic, informative 'mini-documentary'  -  back-story of the recent investigation that uncovered calf abuse at a Texas CAFO, and the fate of some of the rescued calves. Blunt, clear commentary on the link between veal and dairy. Gets a bit too sappy at the end for my taste, but that does not detract from its value.

This doc is very intelligently compiled -- pay attention to what the The Gentle Barn does with the rescues.