Meat Free Zone |
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A Store For Life
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The Importance of the MeatFreeZone The MeatFreeZone is an idea who's time has come. It is crucial that we have MeatFreeZones in our society for so many important reasons. The three main areas of concern for the MeatFreeZone are Animals, Health and the Environment. All three subjects are vast and in dire need of reform�yet the three have one major component in common�and that common denominator is raising and eating animals for food. In other articles we will go into greater depth about these individual subjects, but for now, a very brief resume of each will suffice to get started. Animals: Currently in the USA alone, over 10 billion animals are raised and slaughtered for food every year (not including fish). The number is so large that the mind can't fathom the magnitude �roughly 27 million animals a day�1,100,000/hour�18,000 per minute�300 per second. In the time it takes you to read this article upwards of 50,000 animals may have been killed. Most animals now are raised in Factory Farms�conditions so crowded and stressful and mechanized that they have no connections to farms of past generations anymore. Animals are now just "units" or numbers (not the sentient creatures that they are) and are looked upon as merchandise. They are treated often with the same cold objectivity that inanimate objects are handled at conventional manufacturing factories. The goal of a factory farm is to produce the most meat for the lowest price in the shortest possible time. Health: Our society is now the unhealthiest that it has ever been , thanks to the S.A.D diet (Standard American Diet) While modern medicine has learned how to "cure" and keep people alive by miraculous technology and pharmaceuticals, it has ignored the more logical and intelligent approach called "Prevention". This country has NO concern with preventing the major diseases that most people die from�heart attacks, stroke, cancer, diabetes,etc �just to name a few. The SAD diet is now also standard in Western Europe and other parts of the world where developing countries seem to feel that a meat centered diet is appropriate for their newly developing standards of living. The SAD truth is that had they kept with their more "primitive "or native based diets composed primarily of plant foods, then the health of those nations would not be going down hill at a pace equal to ours. And poor health not only means sick people, it means a staggering amount of time and money and energy spent on a society that is so sick. Why we have adopted a diet so rich in animal foods that are killing us is a fascinating subject and will look into it in more detail in future articles. Environment: Most people are aware the Planet Earth is in trouble due to environmental reasons (global warming, melting icecaps, ozone depletion, toxic water and air, desertification, drought, extreme weather patterns and on and on). But most have no idea that their food choices are probably the number one cause of this. It has been said (and adequately proven) that "the single most destructive environmental activity that humans partake in is Animal Based Agriculture". The statistics are overwhelming when one hears how much land is devoted to raising crops for animals, how much water is used to grow the crops and to supply water for the animals, how much topsoil has been depleted the process, how much fuel is used to run tractors, propel trains, or refrigerate animal carcasses, how much antibiotics and pesticides are used, and on and on. There have been great studies done on all this and you can see them discussed in detail in other pages on this site. |
The Meat Free Zone (MFZ) campaign is intended to make the MeatFreeZone logo as recognizable a symbol as the "Smoke Free Zone". The idea was originally conceived when The WARM Store in Woodstock, NY, was in operation throughout the '90's (Woodstock Animal Rights Movement). The store was truly a meat free zone as it was the first cruelty-free, Vegan, socially conscious animal rights store in the United States. Now that the Vegan and Vegetarian movements have been growing so rapidly, more and more people are showing concern about the food in their diet and their overall health and nutrition. Many people are giving up eating fish, chicken, beef, pork (pigs ), dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream) and eggs. Headlines of Mad Cow disease, E-coli and salmonella are in the news with greater frequency. Vegan and vegetarian recipe cookbooks are standard now in all bookstores and many restaurants have added Vegan and Vegetarian options to their menus. We hope you will help us with the Meat Free Zone campaign by putting the signs up in your homes and workplaces and by spreading them to all the vegetarian and vegan restaurants that you know and frequent. And someday we will have true "meat free zones" in establishments that serve meat.
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