Showing posts with label Animal Rights. Show all posts

Are you enjoying this cruelty-free january?

To all of you who are trying out veganism this January, how you doing so far? It's past half of the month I hope you don't find it too difficult?

I hope all of you are aware of the amazing resources on Veganuary's website here. For my fellow Sydney and Melbourne folks, have you visited the Cruelty Free Shop yet (they also ship nationwide)? Newtown and Fitzroy are great places to visit but sometimes you can find vegan-friendly kitchens in more 'mainstream' areas (hurray to Lord of the Fries). And a lot of the times you can also ask the chef to remove animal products in your pasta, ask nicely though.

If you would like to meet more plant-powered people or just want to have a good time, come to Sydney Vegan Festival on 22 Mar in Marrickville. For more info and tickets click here

I would love to hear your thoughts if you're doing Veganuary or just generally intersted in veganism. Or questions, I'd try my best to answer.

First of all, I have to say this to all inexperienced hikers, this film is not a guidebook. It is based on a true story but that doesn't mean that you will survive as well. Always train before a long hike and Know Your Limit. It's a good thing to be determined but you need to know when to stop and have the courage to give up (especially when you're hiking in group, the last thing your friend would want is seeing you dying in front of them trust me).

And don't ever litter.


Ok back to the film. It was a stunning flick. Not just the landscape or Reese Witherspoon, but the emotions flooding through the screen. As a hiker myself (a hiker that's too broke to do as many hikes as they want to), I could relate to the heroine so well. I mean, my mum's still alive, I've never tried heroin and I don't sleep with every guy that offers. But all those things that she felt on the track, I've experienced them many times before as well, and that makes the movie a bit special to me.

Also I appreciate the feminism and subtle anti-hunting message in the film. Portraying a hunter as sexual offender and a fox as intelligent animal. It could be just me looking for excuses to like this film more but that's just my honest thought.

Reese Witherspoon delivered such a transformative performance in this film. Haven't seen Walk The Line yet so to me Witherspoon was still that Legally Blonde girl (and Rachel's sister to a lesser extent), until I saw this film. The rage, loss, confusion and that sorrow. It was so convincing and made it really easy for me to enjoy the story. Deserves ten rounds of applause. I am going to see Still Alice next week so let's see whose performance I like better.

And I was surprised to see Laura Dern (you can tell that I never do much research before a movie), great kind of surprise. I've had a girl-crush on her ever since Jurassic Park and it's great to see her back. Thanks to Witherspoon and Dern the key mother-daughter relationship was so heartfelt and sincere.

Last thing I want to add, I did know the director's the one that did Dallas Buyers Club but I had no idea he also directed C.R.A.Z.Y, which had such an important role in my teen years and I strongly recommend to all of you who don't hate Drama.

8/10, very biased maybe but it's my rating

Wild is coming to Australian cinemas next Thursday 22nd Jan.

I'm adding PCT to my hiking bucket-list now.

A report from BBC on Lonesome George, the Pinta Island tortoise that died 2 years ago.

I find the interview with local fishermen at the beginning of the clip quite interesting. Illegal fishing has been a huge problem around the world to local ecosystems and biodiversity and I'm all for establishing protected marine reserves and robust laws preventing poaching and overfishing. And personally I despise poachers and illegal fishermen. However this did highlight the conflict between locals who used to rely on such activities and conservationists. How can we smoothly introduce conservationist ideas and laws into local communities with minimum impact on their economy? Ecotourism is usually the way to go but in this case it's also brought negative impact on local ecosystems (maybe not so eco after all).

Share your insights.

For some background information you can check out IGTOA (International Galapagos Tour Operators Association)'s page here

So from the 2nd to the 6th of June I will be wearing my tiger onesie to school and work, as part of the WILD ONESIE WEEK campaign run by WWF in the hope to raise public awareness of endangered species and hopefully, raise money to support WWF's work to protect these animals from poaching and habitat loss.

If you would like to donate and help stop beautiful Siberian tigers and Sumatran orangutans from disappearing from this world you can head on to my fundraising page by clicking my picture above. I will be posting photos everyday throughout the week as well and if you're sydney-based you're most welcome to come humiliate me.

But please don't feel like you have to give a certain amount of money. A fiver would be already good enough as I understand that most of my friends are povo students without stable income.

And you can always share, share it with your facebook mates or your fam I don't mind strangers laughing at my stupid photos.

ps. If you need that extra push, June is my birthday month. (but ofc I wouldn't mind if you insist to give me a bottle of Tom Ford)

An excellent speech I discovered today through Ourhenhouse on the linkage between animal rights and human rights activism.

Very inspiring and I would recommend this to everybody.

Fashion For Fair Sex Tee (Black) 350 sek exkl. shipping

A recent campaign started in Sweden calling for EU to address and stop human trafficking and sex slavery.

I see prostitution as a occupation just as respectful as others and I know that some people are proud of what they're doing (although of course you can argue that they were just acting). However the cold hard fact is people get nasty when money is evolved and the number of women and children trafficked every year to Europe and forced to provide sexual service out of their own will is heartbreaking and infurious.

Therefore, even though I do personally think that asking for a complete ban on prostitution is too agressive, it might be the most efficient way to prevent trafficking from happening. How efficient? I don't know. I don't think those who enslave women and children really abide by the law but at least it could kill off the visible ones.

In an ideal world people would respect each other and sex workers would only do it because they want to. But we're not living in that world. Just like in an ideal world people would respect cattle and chickens and people could keep exotic pets without breaking apart their families and driving the species to extinction.

Maybe you'd think I'm insensitive to compare women and children to cows and tigers but I don't think other animals deserve less respect than we do. The tragedies behind your dairy products or cute cheetah cubs would definitely not be any less inhumane.

Just some thoughts, I think I've rambled enough, should probably wrap it up now.

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Back to the topic, please sign the petition here to stop human trafficking and sex slavery

You can also purchase the amazing looking tees here to financially support the project. If your country is not listed in the shipping destinations you can email them to add it to the list.

Also, as I've mentioned above, petitions to ban private exotic pet ownership here. Or you know, just think twice before you decide to get a different pet than anybody else. Think about the dirty trade behind those cute eyes and the bloody tragedy how the cub lost its mum.

For dairy and other farm animal rights, first please support free-range/organic etc products. Here's a pledge to help ban battery hen cages in Australia.

Welcome to share ongoing animal-/human- rights petitions with me.

Platic Pollution killed this bird. Picture Credit: Greenpeace Australia

It's always been normal for me to categorise, rinse and recycle rubbish and I've always seen that as a part of my life and what we should do as a citizen of this planet. So when I moved to Sydney a few years ago I was shocked that so many of my neighbours didn't care about what would end up in the landfill. Maybe I've just been really unfortunate and only lived in bad suburbs but I still can't believe how overly simplified the recycling program is here and thinking there are people who can't even follow that just makes me cringe every time. And the fact that there is only one teeny tiny recycling station in the whole Randwick city and only TWO teeny tiny bins there are for uncoloured styrofoam. Just think about how much styrofoam could end up in the open wild poisoning this land and all the other creatures living on it.

I've lived here for almost four years and I've heard and seen a lot about Australian spirit and its nationalism, whether in the form of racism or just pure pride of being an Aussie, but to me, a real Aussie that treasures this amazing country should be someone that doesn't trash this land, and that of course applies to everybody else in the world.

So here it is, Greenpeace Australia has launched a campaign calling for 'Cash for Containers' in NSW. Although it is not directly stopping plastic pollution and wasteful landfill it definitely will encourage more consciousness and recycling and reduce tragedies like the picture above. Please take a few seconds to take action for a more sustainble Aussie way of living.

Saw a bloger's post today on his swimming with captive dolphins in some dolphin-themed park and it broke my heart.

Slavery does still exist today but some of us just don't see it. I had the chance to swim with wild dolphins in Kaikoura in New Zealand earilier this year and that experience was just magical. Sure it was cool to be able to get that close to a dolphin but the best part? It was knowing that they were all free and happy and they could swim to wherever they want. When they flipped out of the water and did amazing and hilarious flips, I knew that they weren't doing it so they could get a meal, they were doing it because they wanted to. 'What a bunch of attention whores,' that's what I said to my friends, with literally tears in my eyes.

Please don't support this sickening industry that makes money on the suffering of other lives, not to mention that dophin captivity is also one of the main drivers of the inhumane Taiji dolphin slaughter.

For more info, please visit related animal rights group websites.

What's wrong with swimming with dolphins? | WSPA

Plight of the captive dolphins | WSPA

Delfinarier – en delfins mardröm |WSPA (Swedish)

Releasing Captive Dolphins | Save Japan Dolphins

And please join the fight to end this cruel practice

First by not supporting facilities that keep captive dolphins on display for commercial purposes.

Then you are more than welcome to make your voice heard by signing petitions or contacting your local MPs (Riksdagledamöter om du är svensk) or Senators on this matter.

Captivity is cruel - don't go to a show! | The Petition Site

No More Dolphins Swimming in Las Vegas | Change.org

Please call a public referendum regarding the addition of more captive cetaceans at the Vancouver Aquarium! | Change.org

Ask Sea World to release their Orcas and dolphins to ocean sanctuaries | Change.org 

Kolmården - sluta hålla delfiner i fångenskap! | Djurens Rätt (Swedish)

CHALLENGE THE DOLPHINARIA INDUSTRY | Born Free Foundation 

and heaps more ...

God Jul till alla mina fina vänner och min älskade familj <3

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year xx

Spent two nights on this, think it looks quite alright

Help stop the dolphin massacre in Taiji, Japan

Please feel free to share the image if you would like to. It would be nice to cite me but it's not necessary as long as you keep the right message. Also if you speaks Japanese please feel free to change the slogan to Japanese and share it among your friends, followers etc (contact me for a slogan-free version).

 What we can do 

 1. Stop visiting marine parks or any facility with captured dolphins. The most effective thing we can do as non-Japanese is to cut down the driving force.

 2. Write to Japan's PM, tell him about your concern and it's time for its government to realise that whaling and slaughtering dolphins is only ruining its reputation https://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment_ssl.html

 3. There are loads of petitions that you can find online, simply google 'dolphin taiji petition', here's one for example: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/stop-the-dolphin-slaughter/

 4. Raise the awareness. It's always good to spread the word but if you can make your voice heard by Japanese people (your friends, your twitter followers, Japanese SNS etc) it would be even better because they are the ones who can stop this. And most importantly don't be a racist, most Japanese people are very friendly and kind to animals. The slaughter is not a simple consequence of their tradition, most of the funding driving the massacre comes from the western world. So don't be rude and aggressive, blaming a country that you don't know much about doesn't make you clean.

Pray for the dolphins.

Sorry if my drawing is too much for you. It's my style. And if you can come up with a better slogan please let me know, I'm useless with words.

And please let me know if for whatever reason you want the original sized with/without slogan.

I went to Sydney Fashion Festival hosted by Mercedes-Benz at Sydney Town Hall this Friday night with a friend. Had another plan before 8 so I couldn't go to the Trends runway show (the plan got cancelled that day and I was so gutted), nonetheless I still had a good time at the Instyle Red Carpet Runway. Well, sort of.

Brought my own tote from Lush. A silent protest ;) Was carrying my expensive Gram sneakers inside haha

Before the show started

Can't remember which show this was from (and this is what happens when you procrastinate ;b)

Maticevski

Jumbo mug Chai Latte with soy milk my friend was showing off his two phones in the background

A slightly longer review on Blackfish and Gloria

Blackfish (USA)

I still have to say that this is a must see. If you are unsure about documentary, at least check out the trailer:

As a documentary itself I don't know what i should say because I generally love documentaries more than many other genres and scenes of orcas swimming in open water in the wild can easily make me cry like a baby in the cinema. So obviously i wasn't whatsoever bored or anything during the entire film. The background soundtracks were kinda cheating, took me a hideous amount of effort to stop my mental breakdown in the cinema.

I still don't know how to describe this film. I wish someone went there as well so now i can harass your inbox with my enormous sorrow and anger.

The film will be in cinemas/theatres on 19 July in the U.S. so my American friends please check this out! You won't regret it I promise! (dates: http://www.magpictures.com/dates.aspx?id=df6cf88f-28aa-4be9-8293-06213d2e5b50)

I'm not sure if it's going to have a general release in Australia or other areas of the world but feel free to check out their facebook page Blackfish

Gloria (Chile)  

I'm glad i chose this after the heartbreaking documentary. The leading actress Paulina García definitely deserves her Silver Bear (my b*llshit Spanish tells me she's called the Latin American Meryl Streep according to Wikipedia)

Romantic yet bitterly realistic. But I promise you this is nothing depressing. Personally I would put it in a more Comedic Drama group. Besides the silly jokes that cracked up the entire cinema (again the fact that I failed to find any generation gap between me and the other audience (60+) upsets me greatly), the heroine Gloria is just adorable (now it does sound horrifying that I'm using that word on a 58 yr old woman). She might have been lost and depressed and frustrated and done stupid things but at the end of the day (well we all know it always takes longer than a day) she can still stand up and dance to music with a smile on her face. She might not have the strongest heart but she does deserve an applause, which was why we all gave her that at the end of the film.

Two very pleasant hours even though a few unexpected nudities scarred my pure heart a little bit but they weren't anything unnatural or odd, which is really nice (well i don't think explicit love scenes with two 60 yr old wrinkled bodies can attract any audience anyway :b)

And now I really want to go to Chile, or learn Spanish. Maybe I'll do both.

ps. I like the random Swedish reference lol

I would be ashamed if i don't rave about this film

This is a film that everybody should watch. I don't even know how to describe the heartbreaking inspirations it gave me. For everyone who used to love training shows in zoos or circus as a kid like me, this is something you need to know. They don't deserve these inhumane treatments they've been given to. All animals deserve freedom and families.

Many Thanks to Sydney Film Festival for the screening.

FREE THE ORCAS!