Chickens. Cows. Bees. The Gulf. Stuff You Can Do.

Courtesy Flickr user mamboman1

1. Chickens! Yesterday* was UPC’s International Respect for Chickens Day. Talk to your friends and family about chickens this week, folks. Their personalities, their relationships, their desires, their suffering. And for the love of logic, help them understand that you can’t “respect” chickens if you’re eating them and their eggs — that doing something that requires the killing and, the vast majority of the time, the mutilation and massive suffering of the birds as well is not “respectful.” Also, gross them out with the egg-menstrual cycle comparison. That’s always a crowd-pleaser. On a lovely note, though, one of my favorite chicken stories is that of Louie and Libby of Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary. It’s a good one to share with those who insist that these wonderful birds can’t possibly think and feel. 

2. Cows! Have you read Marji’s post from a couple days ago on milk and mothers and calves and her firsthand experience with a birth? You should. It’s moving. It’s important. It’s true. And if we were on top of things ’round here, we also would have written about Liberation BC’s brilliant Cow Ribbon campaign by now. It may be too late to get a specially made ribbon in time for your Mother’s Day gatherings this weekend, depending on where you live, but you still need to check out this wonderfully creative effort and find out how you can get involved and spread the word (including via your Facebook page and Twitter accounts and via e-cards you can send and flyers you can download). 

3. The Gulf. No exclamation point. Too solemn. I’m ashamed I haven’t been keeping on top of the oil spill beyond my angry post about the “oh no! kill them before the oil does!” crap. It’s so monumentally tragic that I’ve steered clear, not sure I can process it right now. But the lovely Doris of About.com is made of better stuff than I am, and she’s written a post about what you can do that you should check out. “Do something,” says Doris. Listen to Doris. 

4. The Bees. The Death of the Bees. Really, really no exclamation point on this one. I felt like I was going to throw up as, after I’d already written all the above, I read this article shared on Facebook by our friend Sheryl. I’ll be honest — I’m feeling completely demoralized after reading this. You may too after reading it. Is there a chance at turning this around? Who knows. But if you want to give it a shot, support organic farming, oppose and avoid pesticide use, and do some bee-friendly gardening (tips here, here, and here). And stop eating their honey. Support bee colonies and the growth of bee colonies without taking their food. 

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*I’ve been self-absorbed and sorting through life-stuff in recent weeks and months, tuning in to my usual news and info sources only rarely, paying far less attention than I should to what’s happening in the world outside my head — thus the recent habitual lateness covering topics. I hope to suck less by the end of May and start of June, after meeting a major deadline and, with luck, moving into a new home, but in the meantime, you have my advance apologies for sparse posts or continued late-to-the-party posts. I’m crossing my fingers for regular posting to return next month.