Sushi

[Valo's Moirana]

Originally Posted by birdlady49

If we truly wanted to avoid anything made from animal remains, we wouldn't be able to drive as tires have animal ingredients. The road the car traverses on has animal products in its ingredients. Everything we touch, everything we look at, has former life as part of its construction.

that's surprising... never heard of it - thought tires was simply natural rubber, heavily crosslinked and inforced by carbon black.... something new every day.... now i have to neglect my report and check this out LOL

[Buteo]

Farming doesn't mean the pressures on the wild populations is eased.
In fact, in some cases, it actually increases their problems.

Studies have now shown that Salmon farming raises more than just fish. They provide an unmoving site of food for a huge population of sea-lice, flukes and other external parasites. These farms are all situated on the reproductive migration routes of wild salmon. The parasites size & life-cycle means they then easily infest the passing wild schools in record number. This significantly increases the load on the wild fish's metabolism. Not just for providing the nourishment for dozens of hungry mouths, but to fight off the infections and internal parasites that the exterior bugs pass along as they feed. Many are weakened and succumb or become food for larger predators. This is directly reflected in the drop in wild populations where farming has been recently started.

[birdlady49]

Stearic acid, used to shape the tires comes from animals. Here's a list of what other products are made from fats and fatty acids (the bolded items were done by me for emphasis):

animal foods
biodegradable detergents
biodiesel
cellophane
cement
ceramics
chalk
chemicals
cosmetics
crayons
creams and lotions (sheep)
deodorants
detergents
explosives
fertilizer
fiber softeners
floor wax
glycerin
glycerol
antifreeze
herbicides
horse and livestock feeds
industrial oils and lubricants
insecticides
insulation
linoleum
livestock feed
lubricants
makeup
matches
medicines
mink oil
nitroglycerine
oil polishes
ointment bases
oleostearin
paints
paraffin
perfumes
pet foods
pharmaceuticals
plasticizers
plastics
printing rollers
protein hair conditioner
protein hair shampoo
putty
rubber products
shaving cream
shoe cream
soaps
solvents
stearic acid (sheep)
tallow for tanning
textiles
tires
water proofing agents
weed killers

And here's the link from where I got this list, which is only the tip of the iceberg: Mad Cow/CJD - Staggering List Of Products Made From Cattle

And here's a great article about going vegan:
Veganism isn't about personal perfection. At least for most vegans it isn't. Its about doing the least harm and the most good. I will eat bread without knowing if the mono and di-glycerides are of vegetable or animal origin. Often the manufacturer doesn't even know. If its an ingredient that can be either from vegetables or animals, I don't always worry about it. I've memorized many ingredients that are always of animal origin and avoid those. Will I buy bread that contains whey or honey? Absolutely not!

You have to find a balance between perfection and livability. Does it help any animals if I spend my time obsessing over glycerides? I don't think that it does. But it does help to avoid obvious animal products. If people quit using the obvious animal products and those go away, then the trace ones and hard to figure out ones will go too.

Am I a vegan? Yes. Am I perfect at it? Nope. The goal for me isn't perfection, its compassion. Perfection is impossible. There are animal products in tires and in some plastics. Even if you bought vegan clothes and organic vegan grown produce, they would still be trucked to market in a truck that had tires that had animal products in them.

I'm not saying that it doesn't matter, but you do need to decide how to best maximize your time and your enjoyment of life. If you are really concerned with eliminating every trace of animal ingredients from your diet, do it slowly. Pick one or two products every week and analyze every ingredient that you don't recognize. If any are iffy, call the manufacturer. It will take time, but its managable. But also think if your time would be better spent elsewhere. You could go to a protest or put up vegan information leaflets on public bulletin boards. Just some ideas.

[Valo's Moirana]

thanks ellen for all the info.... as i said, something new every day

[fluffy_stitch]

i saw a documentary a couple of years ago that looked at an experimental tuna farm in japan,it said that they need so much food to grow big enough that it may not be possible to have sustainable tuna farms,i also saw that there was some concern that since tuna are such voracious predators that pollutants are accumulating in them from all the smaller fish that they eat,dont know if its true or not but its not a nice thought if you eat tuna.

[kiwilito]

it's hard to avoid using animal products. I have been a vegetarian for almost 20 years. I usually check and make sure the products I buy have not been tested on animals. I shop at healthfood stores for pers. hygene and cleaning products and do not eat any animal products(at least I try ). It is hard sometimes because there are soooo many products that contain animal products that we are not aware of.
Thank you for that list,birdlady49.

[Abyssinian1]

If the issue is overfishing, there is a great article series that started this week in the NYTimes. You can access it from the main webpage at The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia the first parts of the series ran on Sunday and Monday and I'm not sure if they wrap up today or not - it may go all week.

While it focuses on the illegal fish trade, it also points fingers at the countries that demand tons and tons of cheap fish to feed their growing populations. The fish that live in the waters of the world's poorer countires are being taken by the richer countires, either by unfair trade practices or illegal fishing. The problem is far too large for any one person to do anything about and it is tied into the global economy as well as global population growth. The only thing you can really do as an individual is to buy less of everything. But that would go against many of the values endemic in American society, which is to consume more and more, buy lots of new things and 'keep our economy going'. Feh.

Bottom line - we are eating ourselves out of house and home.

[jimpierce7]

hey ya know, once upon a time not too many years ago, there was a city on a bay that thrived on its Cannery Row. They believed the fish would never run out and it would last forever. Funny thing. All the canneries are closed down now. But we still gots tourism!!! Welcome to Monterey!!

[Abyssinian1]

Yup - I've been to Monterey, to both the Aquarium and to Cannery Row (which has the feel of Estes Park, CO, only substitute sea lions for elk and the ocean for pine trees). Oddy enough, once an industry nearly wipes something out and the industry subsequently tanks, tourism seems to be the next step in the cycle. I wonder how much money the canneries made as opposed to the nature parks and the Aquarium and the eco-tours of Monterey Bay adjusted for inflaton? Food for thought. So to speak.

[birdlady49]

Originally Posted by jimpierce7

hey ya know, once upon a time not too many years ago, there was a city on a bay that thrived on its Cannery Row. They believed the fish would never run out and it would last forever. Funny thing. All the canneries are closed down now. But we still gots tourism!!! Welcome to Monterey!!

Yup, been there and read the book (Steinbeck, wasn't it?)

Mostly I'm writing this message because I love your new avatar. Frankly I was getting sick of looking at you in the cage!