Archive for March, 2010

Holy Ground: Spirituality and Barefooting

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Hello;

My name is Wolf, and I am a barefooter. A person who generally goes without shoes most of the time.

I am really big on the spirituality of going barefoot.

More than any of the other reasons that can be heard (good for your knees, back, feels good, etc), I believe that going barefoot has a deep spiritual connection.

A famed survivalist Tom Brown Jr. states that we must all find our way of maintaining a connection with the earth, any way we can.

We are all made of this Earth. We are connected to the earth in so many ways, wearing shoes cuts us off from that important connection with energy flows which makes us whole and complete.

The way I keep connected with the Earth, and to keep the life force energy flowing through me is to go barefoot. I believe that going barefoot allows me be more in tune with the ebb and flow of the Earth Mother.

In times of global warming, glaciers melting, low inland water levels, and environmental disasters, going barefoot forces us to realise we are connected to the earth, and we are connected to everything that happens here. It helps attune us to how the Earth is crying out for change.

Earth rewards us going barefoot by building up our toughness, and makes us the fittest for survival. (As Earth has shown us only the toughest survive). The constant purity of feet in shoes ends up keeping us “too clean” which leads to an increase of allergies (such as peanuts, and gluten), conditions (such as asthma) which were largely unheard of when it was more common to go unshod.

I have large, tribal tattoos that on both of my feet, which help remind me of our primal, earth-based existence.

The Christian Bible, the Koran, and Jewish Texts all state we must remove our shoes on holy ground. To me, the Earth herself is holy ground. It stands to reason then, that we should be barefoot everywhere to celebrate her.

I have been fortunate enough to travel around the world, and coast to coast in North America. All of these travels have been barefoot. Each time I visit a place, I can feel the energy of a place through my feet, and I am connected to each new place.

People speak of “Leave No Trace Camping”, “Carbon Footprint” and other such new concepts to be friendlier to our Earth Mother. Not one of those concepts (often represented by a bare foot print) state that you will leave no trace, help stop supporting sweat-shops (which produce shoes), and help save the environment (use less resources, not step on sensitive plants, etc.) by not wearing shoes. An Earth-Conscious approach helps us celebrate our Earth Mother and her innate spirituality.

Such are the spiritual reasons why I go barefoot.

Wolfmaan

(Niagara Falls)

Visit The Society for Barefoot Living.

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Letter to Gerald Kaufman re the digital economy bill

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Dear Mr. Kaufman,

thank you for your recent letter in reply to mine on the Early Day Motion on the labelling of products containing battery hen eggs. I’m writing to you today because I’m very worried that the Government is planning to rush the Digital Economy Bill into law without a full Parliamentary debate or really thinking about its consequences.

The law is controversial and contains many measures that concern me and many other voters, including removing people’s internet access on the allegation of a copyright holder – this is an absolute travesty of justice and civil liberties. The controversial Bill deserves proper scrutiny so please don’t let the government rush it through. Many people think it will damage schools and businesses as well as innocent people who rely on the internet because it will allow the Government to disconnect people it suspects of copyright infringement with virtually no evidence at all.

Industry experts, internet service providers (like Talk Talk and BT) and huge internet companies like Google and Yahoo are all opposing the bill – yet the Government seems intent on forcing it through without a real debate. If this bill passes the Government will lose the goodwill and votes of tens of thousands of young people and those involved in the IT industry. As a constituent I am writing to you today to ask you to do all you can to ensure the Government doesn’t just rush the bill through and deny us our democratic right to scrutiny and debate. I hope you will agree with my points and add your voice to the increasing clamor against this bill’s truly horrifying measures.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah McCulloch

If you would like more information on why the Digital Economy Bill is a terrible idea, please visit Why should You Care About the Digital Economy Bill?.

Go write to your MP.

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Why I’m becoming a vegetarian properly

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

Why Im becoming a vegetarian properly

It wasn’t my flatmates bringing home buckets of chicken from Chicken Cottage and leaving the living room a graveyard that did it. It wasn’t the fact that after eating meat I’d feel ill for hours – the taste was far too good. No, what made me decide that I am never, ever going to eat meat again, was the mink. Last night, a friend of ours, who calls himself a vegetarian got this poor, dead mink out of a bag and announced he was wearing it on his shoulder out to a club night. I was utterly horrified. Someone had taken a living, breathing animal, murdered it, hollowed out its insides, sewn up its mouth and replaced its eyes with glass, and then sold it as a fashion accessory. Its little paws wiggled as my friend waved it around; I hugged it and mentally apologised for what had happened to it. The last time I held a lifeless animal had been when I buried my guinea pig Robbie.

I was somewhat vitriolic on the issue of someone bringing fur to my house. My friend responded by claiming it was ok because it was fifty years old. But wearing fur creates to the impression that is socially acceptable in our society to take an animal, bash it on the head, and then dance around in its carcass for fun. I was more vitriolic. My friend got annoyed and claimed that because I eat meat more than he does I wasn’t qualified to speak on the topic.

Whether I eat meat more than he does I have no idea. My meat consumption has been on the slide for almost two years and is now largely restricted to gelatine in Haribo, a willingness to not try very hard to stick to vegetarianism in wider society, and the occasional overwhelming desire for a kebab. I spent most of last summer vegan when I was living in Ireland and New Mexico for health reasons. But I’ve slipped, little and often – there are so many meat eaters in the world because animals taste so amazingly good: like the old adage has it, “Meat is murder. Really tasty murder”. But as I was staring at this lifeless mink in my arms I realised that however much I may enjoy meat and however easy it is to get hold of a phenomenally wide range of products produced from the suffering of millions of animals a year, I never really paid attention to the first part of that sentence. Meat is murder. And looking at this poor, dead mink, dead not from necessity or survival, but so someone could wear it at parties, I came to the conclusion I didn’t want to be part of that. Not now, not ever.

So I am not eating meat again. I also don’t intend to buy anything new containing fur, silk, leather or wool (though the last because I can’t bear the feel more than anything). It’s hard practically to be vegan outside the house so I’m not going to try too hard on that front, but I’m not bringing home cheese, eggs or milk. My main problem is all those irritating hidden ingredients in things like cochineal (a red dye made from insects commonly used in sweets and deserts) and amino acids derived from animal. But now I am paying attention.

After consulting my flatmates, both vegans given to lapses, we are now instituting a ban on anyone bringing dead animals to our house in any form (except leather clothes, because practically we can’t enforce our friends having to take off their shoes, belts, and in some cases, trousers, at the door. Fur is banned). We will also all be joining the Animal Rights Collective at the Universities of Manchester, which promotes giving up animal products and campaigns against vivisection and animal rights abuses. I can’t stop my friends wearing fur, but I can stop contributing to animal suffering myself. I can save a few animals, even if I can’t save that mink.

If you would like more information on vegetarianism and veganism, you can start here:

http://www.vegsoc.com

http://www.vegansociety.com

Animal Rights Collective:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=346421336789

American+mink Why Im becoming a vegetarian properly

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Letter to Chris Davies MEP re battery hen welfare

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Hi Chris,

I’m a member of your constituency and a Liberal Democrat Member, and I am seeking your support for an amendment within the current regulations for the European Parliament and the council on the provision of food information to consumers COM(2008) 40.

ENV Committee Vice-Chair Carl Schylter MEP has proposed commission amendment (No 362) for the inclusion of farming production method for all multi-ingredient foods containing eggs or egg products. This proposal supports an identified need for animal welfare labelling resulting from a significant number of consumers being interested in high-quality products across the European Union. For these consumers, high quality often includes higher animal welfare standards. In 2012 the EU bans the conventional ‘battery’ cage; following the ban the EU is likely to see increased imports of conventionally caged hens eggs produced outside the EU to supply food processing companies and the foodservice sector.

Egg packs containing shell eggs have to be labelled with the farming method, therefore consumers can (and are) choosing to purchase eggs raised by higher welfare standards. Processed food which contains egg/egg derivatives does not need to be labelled with farming method making it difficult for consumers to choose higher welfare products produced on EU farms.  To uphold EU welfare standards it is vital that consumers are able to distinguish between processed food containing eggs produced by hens in conventional cages and those produced by higher welfare standards in the EU.

I would like to see clear labelling on food products containing eggs from caged hens and would like to see greater incentives for British free range and barn farmers through Government aid. I’ve already written to my MP Gerald Kaufman to ask him to support EDM 234: PRODUCTION METHOD LABELLING ON PROCESSED FOODS CONTAINING EGG AND EGG DERIVATIVES,which supports the barren cage ban and the provision of such labelling. He signed the motion, and I hope that you will agree with the sentiment and on March 16th please vote in support of amendment No 362.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah McCulloch

Visit the Battery Hen Welfare Trust for more information.

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Letter to Student Direct re: Israeli Deputy Ambassador

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Dear Student Direct,

Joe Sheffer writes last week that “the Executive… should remember
that they were elected on an extremely limited Mandate” and for that
reason the Israeli Deputy Ambassador should have been allowed to
speak in our union. While I agree entirely with this statement, the
Constitution outlines that the mandate of the Executive is, first and
foremost, to uphold Union policy, policies that are chosen and passed
by us, the student body. The Union policy that bans Israeli diplomats
from our union was passed by an overwhelming majority at the largest
General Meeting in living memory, with nearly 1200 people in
attendance. However, as it has been discovered, it would have been
against the law to cancel the talk (but not to have refused to let it
happen in the first place).

So the problem that our Executive faced was not simply whether to act
in their own interests or those of the student body. It was whether to
break the law and obey the will of hundreds of students who cared
sufficiently about a cause to mandate our officers to act on it,
something virtually unseen in UMSU for years, but which left those
officers personally liable for a potential multi-million pound lawsuit
as Trustees; or to keep the law and disregard their responsibilities
as members of the Union’s Executive to uphold Union policy, which is
ultimately the reason for their existence. This was a decision that
caused many of the Exec deep angst, and their votes were recorded
accordingly in Student Direct last week. I have my own opinions on
that decision and I’m sure that many do too.

This is all in hindsight – as Co-Chair of myUMSU I have spent nearly
10 hours cumulatively trying to get hold of all the relevant
documents, policies, and laws, and looking through them to try and
work out whether the Israeli Deputy Ambassador was allowed in our
union or not – could we expect sabbs who have actual jobs to do the
same? Our Executive had to make a decision under pressure and facing a
large number of students liable to be disappointed with them whatever
they decided.

This issue simply wasn’t a case of Action Palestine vs. All Other
Students. It was, and is, an issue of union democracy and what to do
if the policies that are passed by a democratic majority of the
student membership conflict with the law. If our Exec take it upon
themselves to claim they have no mandate to uphold the explicit wishes
of the student body because a belief they hold that some other
students, who have remained silent, disagree with that policy, we may
as well just stop pretending that Union listens to us at all.

So Joe simplifies the issue far too simply as “students wanted to hear
someone from Israel speak and our Exec wouldn’t let them”: try “the
Politics Society accidentally arranged a talk against union policy on
Israel and all hell broke loose when the Exec believed they couldn’t
cancel it”. I would suggest the solution is to sit down and work out
how to prevent such situations happening again, or I do fear Gabriel’s
beard will fall out from stress. And then where would we be?

Yours,

Sarah McCulloch

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