When was the last time you went to a panel discussion of everything eco-aweosme? Next Tuesday, Cinco De Mayo (May 5th), please mark this down on your calendars! Yours Truly, along with Chloe Jo Berman of The Girlie Girl Army, Michael DuDell of Ecorazzi.com and VEGdaily.com & Elizabeth Olsen of Olsen Haus Shoes, will be discussing the latest and greatest in green lifestyle excellence.
May 5th, 8pm
North Face Store,
2101 Broadway (@ 73rd)
New York, NY 10023
(212) 362-1000 1 2 3 trains to 72nd st
These Neto Stripes, Plimadrille Shoes, Black High-tops, and Contrast Plimsoles are great for spring!
FOOD, INC. is a film exposing the food industry’s dirty secrets:
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment.
Gilt Groupe’s Earthweek sales include Edun, Matt + Nat, Stella McCartney, Loomstate, and Stuart + Brown. Gilt Groupe is a website offering invitation-only sales of coveted and luxury fashion lines at discounts up to 70% off retail.
I am inviting all my readers to join. Simply click HERE.
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Check out the VeganXpress app for your iPod/iPhone. It lets you know what is vegan at popular chain restaurants and fast-food places. If you’re ever stuck in the middle-of-nowhere, this could be quite the life-saver.
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If you’ve never heard Ingrid Newkirk speak, this is a must. Listen to Ingrid’s speech at The International Non-violence Conference in Bethlehem in 2005. It is the first time anyone has been invited to speak on a non-human issue.
Nigel Barker cares about stuff – and he’s not a sissy. I recently chatted on the phone with this amazingly talented, compassionate, and influential photographer. We talked about everything from his fashion industry work, to his time spent in Haiti exposing some of the worst poverty, to his documentation of the controversial seal hunt. He doesn’t think that you can be a fur-wearing environmentalist, and he likes to shop thrift. Listen to our conversation:
Are you a size 9? The Discerning Brute has teamed up with NOHARM to give away a pair of snazzy vegan ankle boots in US size 9! You can easily win these handsome leather-free shoes worth $300! Wowee! So, why don’t we dig leather here at DB? Find out.
2. These shoes are golden! Cool, Vegan, fair-trade, and eco-friendly, does it get any better than that ? Jinga was started 3 years ago by two gals who give back at least 5% of sales to a social project in a Rio de Janeiro favela (shantytown) which provides activities and education to children to keep them away from gangs! (Thanks to reader Michael B. for this info!)
3. Undercover Animal Lover. This guy is an ethical vegan who risks his safety killing animals all day and shooting undercover footage so we can get a glimpse into the heavily-shrouded meat and dairy industries. Can you imagine? Read this rare interview with TIME magazine, and check his HBO documentary Death on a Factory Farm airing March 16.
4. This Sunday, March 15th, eat good vegan food and help farm animals!
Farm Sanctuary’s Dinner Night Broadway East 171 East Broadway, New York, NY 10002 Sunday, March 15, 2009 Reservations for your party are available between 7:30 and 10 p.m.
Reserve your table online at www.opentable.com or by calling Laurie at 212-228-3100.
Be sure to mention Farm Sanctuary when making your reservation.
5. One of our favorite organic companies, Loomstate, is having a party at one of our favorite eco-boutiques, Kaight, on Friday March 20th. Get a free Loomstate organic tee with any purchase of Loomstate S/S ’09!
6. Person to know: Historian and Activist GEORGE DRAFFAN
” ‘Development’ is a euphemism, much like the word ‘efficiency.’ Efficiency within the current system is really about how fast you can turn forests and mountains into wastepaper and soda pop cans. Is that good? If the purpose of life is to consume and destroy, then international trade and industrial civilization are definitely proven ways to speed that up .”
“I have heard people suggest that because humans are natural that everything humans do or create is natural. Chainsaws are natural. Nuclear bombs are natural. Our economics is natural. Sex slavery is natural. Asphalt is natural. Cars are natural. Polluted water is natural. A devastated world is natural. A devastated phyche is natural. Unbridled exploitation is natural. Pure objectification is natural. This is, of course, nonsense. We are embedded in the natural world. We evolved as social creatures in this natural world. We require clean water to drink, or we die. We require clean air to breathe, or we die. We require food, or we die. We require love, affection, social contact in order to become our full selves. It is part of our evolutionary legacy as social creatures. Anything that helps us to understand all of this is natural: Any ritual, artifact, process, action is natural, to the degree that it reinforces our understanding of our embeddedness in the natural world, and any ritual, artifact, process, action is unnatural, to the degree that it does not” — Derrick Jensen (Author, The Culture of Make Believe)
Have you ever had this conversation with someone? You know, the one where you try to describe the actions of this culture – the affects our society has on wild nature, on each other, on children, on women, on animals, on indigenous peoples, on the poor. You see an interconnectedness, a pattern with a possible origin, and the response you get is “well, people are natural, everything comes from nature at some point, therefore everything we do and say and think must be natural“. You know deep down that this rationalization is flawed but you just can’t articulate why. You accuse the person of being nihilistic, or of rationalizing every terrible thing this culture has resulted in from genocide to child labor to domestication and Monsanto, but you still haven’t pinpointed the line that must be drawn between “natural” and “unnatural”. I found that the quote above really hits the nail on the head, without having to be an ecologist to understand it.
1. Viori’s Tees and Scarves, 100% US-grown organic cotton, water-based inks, made fairly in the USA.
2. NY Coalition for Healthy School Lunches is an organization that promotes plant-based farm-to-school nutritional and educational implementation. I had a chance to go eat a delicious, vegan meal with the kids in Harlem last week, and I have to say that the menu, which was designed by a collaboration between Candle 79 and the school, was really yummy! Find out how you can get involved by clicking below:
3. Reware’s JuiceBag ES300 Solar Messenger charges iPods, Cell Phones, GPS, Cameras, etc, and is made from recycled soda bottles.
4. Refinding’s reclaimed accessories, made from reclaimed materials like trading cards, nylon, matchbooks, and type-writer keys.
6. Sameunderneath Knit Blazer on Sale, 75% organic cotton, 25% polyester
7. HBO premieres the documentary “Death on a Factory Farm”. Get program schedule here. Watch a clip from the doc:
8. Of The Earth organic cotton hoodies.
9. Veg News weighs in on obstacles to estimating the number of veg kids. The CDC fails at surveying.Read the article:
10. Do you ever have a clogged drain and you end up buying the toxic, animal-tsted Draino? Finally there’s a pure, natural environmentally-friendly, enzyme-producing bacteria that liquefies grease, fats, and other organic wastes and controls odors in drains, garbage disposals, and septic systems. Earthworm! What’s best? It’s only five bucks at VeganStore.com.
THE GREEN SCARE is something you need to know about if you are an environmentalist, an animal advocate, or even a social justice advocate, regardless of the types of action you participate in. The term ‘green scare‘ specifically refers to the government’s expanding efforts in prosecuting, harassing, and villianizing animal and ecological activists. It draws parallels to the “Red Scares” of the 1910′s and 1950s. In essence, it is a deliberate effort to “chill” dissent, activism, and campaigning that economically damages the industries benefiting from the exploitation of animals and the natural environment. It is first known to have appeared in 2002 in the wake of the February 12 congressional hearings titled “The Threat of Eco-Terrorism”, and its most notorious incarnation is the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (S. 3880), a current United States federal law introduced by Republican Thomas Petri of Wisconsin. The law was passed under a suspension of rules (a motion made in order to accomplish something that is normally not allowed.) Of the six representatives present to vote, Dennis Kucinich is the the only one who expressed opposition, saying the bill was“written in such a way as to have a chilling effect on the exercise of the constitutional rights of protest… people who, the law says, well, their first amendment rights are protected…“
The SHAC 7 case
The Green Scare has resulted in animal and environmental activists being legally considered on-par with murderous terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda – equating property destruction and liberating animals with taking lives. Prosecutors and juries now consider any criminal activities conducted in the name of animal advocacy or environmentalism ‘terrorism‘, and trials in the United States and the UK (having similar laws), have resulted in activists being condemned to especially lengthy prison sentences – sometimes lengthier than those given to many rapists, child molesters, and murderers.
Friend of DB, Kelly Overton wrote on CounterPunch in 2007, “The imprisonment of the group, known as SHAC 7, is nothing more than history repeating itself. Those who first called for an end to slavery were imprisoned. Those who believed women should vote went to jail. Civil rights activists, supporters of gay and lesbian rights, and now animal rights activists have all been jailed.”
The United States Department of Homeland Security names the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front as the top two domestic terrorist threats, even though no person has ever been injured or killed in an action claimed by those groups. This may seem illogical, but it clarifies the true interests and role of government in curbing activism – protecting the profits of corporations at any cost, even when corporate activities threaten to undermine the stability of the planet’s ecosystems (which our lives depend upon). Television shows like Law & Order have parodied the ‘eco-terror’ phenomenon, often exaggerating the circumstances to involve murders, which paints a very inaccurate picture in the minds of mainstream, television-watching people.
Corporate news sources do a poor job of objectively covering (or covering at all!) the chilling effect of this campaign – so much so that most people don’t even know it’s happening! One of the most worrisome aspects of this campaign is that it is suspected to be part of a broader initiative to chill dissent in general – and since animal and environmental advocates have fewer mainstream sympathizers than most, they are the easiest targets.
A scene from the upcoming documentary on the Green Scare:
Don’t be jealous! Ever since I watched a green-haired Todd Oldham on “House of Style” back in the nineties, I knew that I had to get crafty with him one day. So, with Valentine’s Day around the corner, Todd and I got together at his downtown NYC studio to show you how to make some heart-shaped gifts that come from the heart. We both agree that this holiday is all about affordable, DIY craftiness.
From his features in ReadyMade & Dwell, to crafting Amy Sedaris’ interactive vaginal diagram on the Chelsea Lately Show, and with a line of vases for FTD, a classic menswear-inspired carpet collection, and design book series called Place Space, Todd is a royal of the creative world. To top that, he is a photographer, filmmaker, interior designer, fashion designer, and can see through walls …well, maybe not the last part.
Mr. Oldham is no stranger to being ethically handsome, either. A vegetarian and environmentalist, he has worked with Peta on undercover investigations, encouraged the sales of plantable oak trees through FTD, and even raised money for the NRDC. He continues to find innovative ways to use eco-friendly, recyclable, and animal-friendly materials (from soy based inks, to un-coated, recycled cardboard) in his products, and one thing we agree on is that having mainstream skills along with aspirations for environmentalism, animal rights, and social justice, is a recipe for making change from the inside.
Chocolate Heart Cake
Organic, Vegan, Cake by Joshua Katcher & Todd Oldham Photo: Jodi Taylor
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
• Two 9″ heart-shaped baking pan
• 3 cups organic all-purpose flour
• 2 cups organic, unrefined sugar
• 1.5 cups organic cocoa
• 2 tsp aluminum-free Baking Powder
• 1.5 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup organic coconut oil
• 1/4 cup organic canola oil
• 1/4 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup prepared egg-replacer (Energie or Brand)
• 1 Tbs vanilla
• 2 cups almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
• 2 cups cold coffee
• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips Icing
• 1/2 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (not melted)
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance (or other non-hydrogenated margarine)
• 4 cups organic powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 cup soy creamer
(for pink, add 1/8 cup beet juice or 3 drops of red veg-based food coloring) Marzipan
• 1 cup marzipan
• Natural veg-based food coloring
• Small cookie cutters
CAKE DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375º, and coat your pan with non-stick cooking spray or canola oil.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl: Flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, & salt.
3. In a separate bowl (or using a mixer) beat the coconut oil, canola oil, shortening, egg replacer, and vanilla until fluffy.
4. Pour the coffee and almond milk onto the dry mix, then add the whipped oil and egg-replacer, and stir in the chocolate chips until the mixture is smooth.
5. Bake for about 30 minutes (or until edges pull away from sides of pan).
FROSTING DIRECTIONS
1. Beat the shortening, coconut oil, and margarine until smooth.
2. slowly add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time.
3. Finally, add vanilla and soy-creamer and beat for about 5 minutes until fluffy.
*Once cakes have cooled, take out of pan. If storing prior to decoration, line pan with wax-paper, then put cakes back in tins. SEE VIDEO FOR DECORATING INSTRUCTIONS!
Alternate decorating idea! photo: Jodi Taylor!
Heart of Flowers
Heart of Flowers by Todd Oldham & Joshua Katcher
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
• 20 carnations
• heart-shaped pan (at least 2″ deep)
• 2 – 4 bricks of floral foam
• water
• scissors
Ruffeo Hearts Lil’ Snottyhas some amazing new products, and a snazzy new website to boot. If you don’t remember, these Brooklyn-based designers turn deadstock, and reclaimed fabrics into geometric fashion wetdreams. From the ‘Rainbows Shooting From a Mystical Pot of Gold’ underwear/bathing suit, to the ‘Big Black Double Barrel” hoodie – RHLS continues to mystify – creatively and ecologically.
Vuori makes organic garments that celebrate activists. Their range of menswear is graphic tee-shirts made from 100% organic cotton. What’s so great about organic cotton? The fact that it’s not conventional cotton!
“Vuori honors the men and women whose heroic efforts, so often unnoticed, propel us towards a more sustainable future. Using fashion as a medium, Vuori recognizes the environmentalists, activists, and humanitarians whose visions inspire us to live with more awareness. On the inside of each garment, we pay tribute to these individuals and their respective heroic endeavors”
Thieves is made by Canadian designer Sonja den Elzen. This is a really sophisticated line – something that big designers who haven’t caught on to the fact that we live on a finite planet should be afraid of – because artists like Sonja will be taking their jobs in the next few years! My favorite is the organic cotton twill trench! drool…
The line does use wool, silk, and found antler buttons on certain garments- but it’s mostly animal friendly. The images below are totally vegan and 100% organic cotton.
Posted by TheDiscerningBrute 
If you’ve never heard Ingrid Newkirk speak, this is a must. Listen to Ingrid’s speech at The International Non-violence Conference in Bethlehem in 2005. It is the first time anyone has been invited to speak on a non-human issue.
Things We Talked About:
Thieves is made by Canadian designer Sonja den Elzen. This is a really sophisticated line – something that big designers who haven’t caught on to the fact that we live on a finite planet should be afraid of – because artists like Sonja will be taking their jobs in the next few years! My favorite is the organic cotton twill trench! drool…
