Category: Environment
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Is eating vegan healthy? It’s complicated
It may be old news to many that Lizzo gave up being vegan, but for me it was news that she ever had been. Apparently she had a moment where she decided to follow “a vegan diet” and became something of a poster girl for a time. And then she decided her body needed animal…
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Travelling while vegan: Costa Rica gets a B
I am travelling home today from Costa Rica, where I participated in a long-awaited wildlife photography tour. As I like to do when I travel, I want to comment on what it is like to travel as a vegan in this part of the world. My comments won’t be representative of the whole country because…
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On the matter of protein and dessert
It’s a well-known fact that if you tell someone you’re vegan there is a very good chance that they will ask you what you do for protein. People picture a plate. It is divided into three parts; meat or fish, potatoes or rice, and veggies. When you say you’re vegan they imagine an empty third.…
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Can Jane Goodall inspire you to go vegan?
The world lost Jane Goodall last week, but her legacy of advocacy for non-human animals will have a lasting impact. Many people have lamented her death, posting tributes and professing to share her values. In 2017, Jane Goodall wrote: “There are three main reasons why we should eat less – or preferably no – meat.…
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The “Wellness Industry” Is Not Kind to All
I recently celebrated my birthday by spending the day at Thermea Spa Village in Whitby, Ontario. These Nordic-style spa villages are a thing now, where different temperature pools and saunas are interspersed among loungers and hammocks and wood-burning fire pits. You’re encouraged to do a “thermal cycle” of heat (sauna or hot pool), cold plunge,…
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Is McDonald’s new McVeggie worth supporting?
McDonald’s Canada has been trying out a new veggie offering. According to the McD’s website, the McVeggie “features a breaded veggie patty made with a blend of vegetables (including carrots, green beans, zucchini, peas, soybeans, broccoli and corn) and seasoning, topped with shredded lettuce and mayo-style sauce served on a toasted sesame bun.” PETA says…
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Is it rude to eat animal products in the presence of vegans?
Awhile back I foreshadowed some future topics for the blog, all of which took up the intersection of ethics and etiquette in a way I find interesting. I find it interesting because mostly I think it’s a matter of ethics and environmentalism; but since so many people don’t consider the ethical or environmental impact of…
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Vegan options at non-vegan restaurants
Last week I posed three questions for future discussion. Today I’m going to focus on the first of these questions: If you’re a restaurant offering vegan options, is it right to frame them as burdensome favours for difficult guests? It’s not the best-worded question because it seems as if the obvious answer has got to…
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Thoughts to foreshadow future topics
Getting back to the blog after an hiatus, you’d think I’d have no end of topics lined up. Instead, I just have a swirl of thoughts that I need to wrestle into some sort of order before I can give them their due. So today let me get started on taming the swirl by identifying…
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Reconnecting with the blog’s purpose
I’ve been flailing around quite a bit with respect to the blog this year. A number of things have contributed to the wildly inconsistent post schedule (if you can even call it a schedule these days). Sometimes when I’m faltering with something I care about I find it helpful to remind myself why I care…
Vegan Practically 