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Vancouver Climate Strike a sign of hope for all of us – including the animals

On September 27th, approximately 100,000 people took the streets of Vancouver for the global Climate Strike.

The Vancouver Humane team joined this inspiring event, which was youth-led and called on governments to take immediate action on climate change.

Organizers had anticipated around 15,000 people would join the strike. Instead, it ended up being the city’s largest protest since the Walk for Peace in 1984, when 115,000 marched in support of nuclear disarmament.

The incredible turnout illustrates the reality that climate change truly impacts all of us and that reality is already being felt across Canada. On average, the country is currently warming at twice the global rate, with Northern Canada warming at almost three times the global average. Across Canada, climate change is leading to increases in precipitation, heat waves, intense forest fires, water supply shortages and an increased risk of coastal flooding. It’s also a major contributor to the planet’s growing biodiversity crisis, which currently threatens over one million species with extinction.

As the widespread support for the Climate Strike reflects, the time for climate action is now and addressing the issue requires that we all do our part. Collectively, we must call on decision-makers for system-level changes that ensure we reduce emissions in order to limit warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius. The upcoming federal election is an important opportunity for calling on candidates to commit to meaningful and science-based measures for tackling climate change. 

At the same time, we can make individual-level changes in our daily lives that can also have a major impact. A growing body of research is calling for a significant reduction in global meat consumption and a transition toward a more sustainable and climate-friendly plant-based diet in order to meet our international climate commitments, avoid the worst impacts of climate change and to help tackle the growing factory farming trend and biodiversity crisis.

So while the climate emergency can seem daunting, there is so much hope in the collective call to action brought forward by the 7.6 million people from around the world who participated in the week of actions surrounding the Global Climate Strike.

Here are a few of our favourite photos from the Climate Strike:

 

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Faux Meat Burgers And Your Health: Facts And Fallacies

A guest blog post by Dr. Chana Davis (PhD in genetics) of Fueled by Science

Check out more of Chana’s work on her website, instagram and facebook pages.

Restaurants and grocers across the country are struggling to meet the demand for the hottest new food trend: plant-based burgers. These new kids on the butcher’s block meld features of meat with those of plants in an unlikely marriage and are being sold alongside their muses in the meat case.

At the same time, these burgers are also facing a lot of skepticism and criticism. Can something that tastes so good also be good for you? Can meat lovers truly have their cake and eat it too — reduce their red meat intake, increase their veggie intake, all while enjoying a decadent burger??

Are fake meat burgers healthy?

This article takes a science-based look at plant-based burgers and your health and examines many common concerns including: safety of novel ingredients (soy leghemoglobin), number of ingredients, use of additives, and label as a processed food.

Warning! You may find that you need to rethink some of your favourite rules of thumb for choosing healthy foods.

Plant-Based “Meat” Is Not A Viable Replacement For Whole Vegetables.

Why not? Whole veggies are loaded with fiber, one of the most critical, yet under-consumed nutrients. We need dietary fiber to keep our systems running smoothly and to feed the little bugs in our gut that keep us healthy. Plant-based burgers score slightly better on fiber than meat (a big fat zero) but are still sadly lacking. 

Whether we’re talking about heart health, cancer, diabetes, or obesity, the message is loud and clear: eat your veggies! A good rule of thumb is to fill half of your plate with (whole) fruits and veggies (see Canada Food Guide). Don’t forget to eat a diversity of fruits and veggies to get the full rainbow of micronutrients that they offer.

Faux Meat Provides The Same Nutritional Benefits As Ground Beef

Compared to typical ground beef (20% fat or more), plant-based burgers provide similar amounts of:

  • calories (~250-280 calories)
  • high quality protein (20 grams per patty)
  • iron (~16%-25% bioavailable)
  • other micronutrients (*Varies by brand. The Impossible Burger from Impossible Foods dials up the zinc and B vitamins including Vitamin B12. Beyond Meat does not [yet].)

Much ado about sodium

Plant-based burgers have been criticized for their sodium content. While this criticism is technically valid, it lacks appropriate context. A typical beef patty contains about 80 mg of sodium, whereas plant-based burgers land at around ~370 mg. In most cases, this sodium is naturally occurring (we need it to live!), not added for flavour.

Is 370 mg of sodium a lot? Not really. You could eat 4 patties and still land on the low end of healthy recommended daily intake for sodium (1,500 to 2,000 mg per day). Rather than fixating on the sodium content in their patty, consumers would benefit from choosing their toppings and bun wisely: a fully loaded fast food burger can easily contain over 1,000 mg of sodium, of which only 1/3 is from the patty!

Learn more about sodium needs and sources Some shockingly high sources include bread products, processed meats, tomato sauces and soups.

Plant-Based Burgers Offer Potential Health Benefits Over Ground Beef.

Each of these benefits is relatively small, especially for infrequent burger consumers, but together, they tip the health balance in favour of plant-based burgers.

Benefit 1: A (slightly) healthier mix of fats

An average 80/20 beef patty contains nearly 20 grams of fat, of which about half are saturated fats. This means that a single patty gets you nearly half of the max recommended saturated fat intake for adults (5-10% of calories). The most decadent of the new veggie burgers contain the same or slightly less total fat, but the mix is more favourable – less saturated fat (5 to 8 grams per patty) and more unsaturated fats. Reducing saturated fats is a win for heart health – as long as you replace them with unsaturated fats, rather than with sugars. Furthermore, most faux-meat burgers use coconut oil as their source of saturated fat, which may be less harmful than the saturated fats found in beef. Coconut oil appears to raise “good” HDL cholesterol (while also raising “bad” LDL).

Learn more about coconut oil and get Harvard’s scoop on good and bad fats.

Benefit 2: Low to no trans fats

A single standard beef patty (80/20 cut) contains 1-2 grams of ruminant trans fats, thanks to the bacteria in the cow’s rumen. These naturally occurring trans fats are remarkably similar to industrial trans fats, such as those found in old-school margarines and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. The World Health Organization and others are taking a cautious stance on ruminant trans fats, regulating them the same as industrial trans fats. They recommend limiting total trans fats to under 2 grams per day, which means that one beef patty gets you close to the warning zone. The only potential trans fats in plant-based burgers come from canola oil, which can contain trace amounts of trans fats when heat is used during processing

Learn more about ruminant trans fats: Fueled by Science (video), World Health Organization 2018 draft guidelines  and recent review (Nestle, 2014).

Benefit 3: Lower risk of food-borne illness

Plant-based burgers are safer to handle raw than ground beef, due to the reduced risk of contamination with pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli. When I visited the Impossible labs, I happily sampled a raw patty! 

Raw ground beef must be handled with great care due to the risk of pathogenic bugs from cow innards that can contaminate meat during slaughter. These same gut bugs can contaminate water used to irrigate farms and end up in fresh produce, notably leafy greens. In theory, a large scale shift away from animal farming would make fresh produce safer too!

Benefit 4: Lower cancer risk (maybe)

In 2015, the World Health Organization labeled red meat as a Class 2A “probable carcinogen” based largely on a strong link with colorectal cancer. While controlled trial data are lacking, there is a strong mechanistic basis, particularly when using certain high-heat cooking methods, which generates well known carcinogens (such as Heterocyclic Amines (HAs) and Polycyclic Hydrocarbons. This link is well established in animal models but it is unclear how much red meat you would have to consumer, and under what conditions, to translate to a real-life increase. As always, the dose makes the poison!  

Learn more about red meat and cancer risk from the World Health Organization. Also, see Examine.com’s suitably skeptical review of the link and the potential mechanisms.

Plant-Based Burgers Use 100% Safe Ingredients

Food author Michael Pollan’s oft repeated mantra “eat [real] food, not too much, mostly plants” is an excellent rule of thumb. So too are his suggestions to emphasize minimally processed foods with short, lists of familiar ingredients.

At the same time, these rules have severe limitations, and one can be incredibly misled by applying them blindly. The main reason these rules generally work is that most additive-rich foods are engineered purely for craveability, with no regard for nutrition. Fruit Loops and Orange Crush soda are perfect examples. Yet, there is no reason that an engineered food can’t be made healthy if that is part of the product’s value proposition.

In general, I find that the simple rules like “choose whole foods” work well for apples-to-apples comparisons (like apples to apple juice) but fall apart for apples-to-zebras comparisons (like beef to veggie burgers).

A rigorous comparison looks beyond simple rules of thumb and includes a detailed assessment of nutrition and safety.

Processing

It is simply not true that everything from nature warrants a health halo (hello, bacon and butter) and that everything processed is toxic (hello, infant formula). Instead of painting all “processed foods” with the same brush, why not focus on the nutritional profile (and safety) of the final product? Using the “just the facts” nutritional lens, plant-based burgers come out ahead, as discussed above. Safety is also a non-issue as discussed below.

It’s also worth recognizing that the definition of processed foods is extremely murky. Indeed, “wholesome” staples such as yogourt, cheese, bread, and wine, involve modified ingredients and elegant chemistry, with the assistance of microbes. Plant-based burgers are no different.

Additives / chemicals

It’s natural, and sensible, to be leery of unfamiliar compounds, but this is not a valid scientific reason to reject something. An infamous fearmongering food blogger who won’t be named managed to get parents in arms about ascorbic acid in their baby food. Would they feel differently if it were labeled as Vitamin C?  How would you feel about sodium chloride in your food? Wait, that’s table salt!

Rather than paint all additives (and all chemicals), with the same brush, we should take an objective look at the ingredient list and ask how good / bad / safe they each are (at those doses)? Through this lens, everything in plant-based burgers gets a green light in my books, including methylcellulose (modified plant cell walls). Chemical should not be dirty word!

Number of ingredients

Choosing fewer ingredients can be a useful rule of thumb, because many foods contain extra ingredients that are added solely for extra craveability (e.g. salt, fat, sugar), with little nutritional benefit. Yet, when you scratch beneath the surface, this rule quickly falls apart.

First, this rule ignores the fact that ingredients are often added for a nutritional boost. I much prefer fortified milks to unfortified milk because I appreciate the easy source of Vitamin D, B12, and more. The ingredient list of the Impossible Burger would be half as long if it weren’t for the nutrients they boosted to match beef.

Second, this rule implies that any recipe with fewer ingredients is automatically healthier. When you apply this to your home cooking, the absurdity of this logic becomes apparent. Is a stir fry with 3 ingredients better for you than one with eight ingredients? What about homemade banana bread or granola? Should we be counting the ingredients?  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Minimalist Baker, but that’s because of the simplicity (and great taste) of her recipes!

Third, the concept of an “ingredient” is applied arbitrary. Purified chemicals like salt and sugar are single ingredients, made of a single chemical molecule. But beef?? Beef contains thousands of chemicals – fats, carbohydrates, proteins, connective tissues, and more.

Given that this rule has so many pitfalls, it makes much more sense to focus on the overall nutritional facts (alongside the safety assessment).

“Novel” ingredients

The only “novel” ingredient in plant-based burgers – heme – is actually rather ubiquitous. You have over 1000 patties’ worth of it in your body right now! Scientists at Impossible Foods discovered that heme in meat plays a critical role in its aroma, cooking transformation, and flavour explosion. Plants also contain heme, but in much lower amounts than meat. Rather than harvesting boatloads of soy fields to get enough soy leghemoglobin (heme’s carrier protein), they use fermentation to make vats of it using specialized microbes. This ingredient has been extensively tested for safety, despite the fact that it occurs naturally both in meat and in plants.

Learn more about the magic ingredient in the Impossible Burger and its safety testing

Plant-Based Patties Are Not A “Loaded” With Pesticides

Pesticide levels in these burgers are incredibly low and undeniably safe. Consider glyphosate, the world’s least beloved pesticide.  I would have to consume 5000-25,000 Impossible burgers per day to approach the already conservative national and internationally recognized safe daily intake of glyphosate. This is clearly a case of fearmongering. It’s toxic doses, not toxic compounds, that get us into trouble. Everything is toxic at high enough doses, and everything is safe in small enough doses. The threshold varies for every compound and we can use science to determine that threshold, and ensure we stay well below it.

Learn more about how  ‘the dose makes the poison’  from American Chemistry Council.

Another way to put the levels in context it is to compare the tested levels (11 ppb) to the EPA safe tolerance for glyphosate for soy – 20,000 ppb (20 ppm). Yes, they are nearly 2,000 times lower than the levels deemed safe. Indeed, these levels are nearly 10x lower than allowable glyphosate levels in organic produce (5% of conventional).

Learn more about organic vs conventional veggies in my article and from Health Canada. They may not be as different as you think. 

Plant-Based Meat Mimics Are Not Perfect

No food is perfect. Breast milk is as close to perfect as it gets… but even it’s not perfect for lactose-intolerant kids. Every food has its pros and cons. Here are some downsides to plant-based meats.

  • High cost. With time, this may not be an issue, as scale increases.
  • Allergenic potential. This risk is true of any legume product, and many of these burgers use soy or pea protein. Reactions are rare but may be severe, so caution is warranted, particularly for those with food allergies.
  • Saturated fat content. Though saturated fat levels are generally better than fatty ground beef, there is a lot of room for improvement, and this is an area of active research. Regrettably, saturated fats play a key role in the decadent mouthfeel of meat; and are a big part of why the new plant-based meats are nothing like the old ones.

So… Are They Healthy Or Not?

When we talk about healthy eating, it’s important to zoom out and look at the whole meal, the whole day, the whole week, and beyond.

The way that you serve these patties can make or break the meal. When served by a fast food chain, these meat mimics can weigh in a hefty 900 calories and over 1,000 mg of sodium. Things get even uglier when paired with fries and a drink. Yet, the patty itself is only contributing about 1/3 of the calories and sodium! 

It can be a very different story when you grill these burgers at home, choose your toppings and bun wisely, and serve alongside a large salad. Yum!

The Bottom Line.

  • Faux meat does not replace veggies. Aim to fill half your plate. Try my recipes if you are looking for inspiration.
  • Plant-based burgers provide many of the same nutritional benefits as beef but with fewer potential downsides.
  • Fake meat is safe – arguably even safer than beef!
  • The way you serve your burger makes or breaks the health factor. If health is a priority, cook them at home, choose toppings and bun wisely, and don’t forget the side of veggies!

In other words, meat lovers can have their cake and eat it. These burgers are a great option for vegetarians and vegans who miss ground beef. However, their main audience is a much bigger slice of the population: omnivores, reducetarians, flexitarians and others looking to reduce their red meat consumption, while still enjoying the decadent taste and aroma of meat.

Last but not least, let’s acknowledge the elephant in the room. The leading companies offering fake meat are mission-driven, with vegan roots. They aspire to reduce animal suffering, to feed a growing population, and to improve the health of our planet. It seems to me that any benefits to human health are icing on the cake.

In the words of the leading (vegan-founded) fake-meat innovators:

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Cambridge University Cuts Emissions With Less Meat & More Plant-based Foods

 

Back in 2016, Cambridge University made the decision to remove beef and lamb from its campus menus and offer more plant-based dishes in an effort to reduce its food-related emissions.

Cambridge pointed to the fact that producing beef and lamb emits 250 times more greenhouse gases per gram of protein than legumes (lentils, chickpeas, beans) and that one meal with beef or lamb has the same footprint as eight months of chickpea-based meals. They also highlighted that plant-based foods require less water and land than animal-based foods.

The school has since reported that the decision, which was part of its Sustainable Food Policy, has been effective in reducing emissions per kilogram of food purchased by 33 per cent and land use per kilogram of food purchased by 28 per cent. The move cut the school’s overall emissions by 10.5 per cent, while simultaneously increasing sales and profit.

“It is hard to imagine any other interventions that could yield such dramatic benefits in so short a span of time,” said Andrew Balmford, professor of Conservation Science at the University of Cambridge.

In swapping out red meat options for more plant-based dishes, the school focused on making plant-based dishes appealing and accessible. Cambridge’s catering team took part in plant-based cooking classes, visited restaurants with plant-based menus for inspiration and managers received training on marketing for sustainability rather than for profit.

Meanwhile, dishes added to the menu were strategically placed in the cafeteria so as to highlight them specifically and encourage customers to choose them over meat-based options.

When it came to the labelling of dishes, staff focused on the ingredients rather than identifying dishes as specifically “veg” or “vegan”. They hoped this would create universal appeal and that customers would focus on the deliciousness of the dish.

Some of the most popular plant-based dishes include Swedish style vegballs with mash and creamy mustard sauce, smoky Moroccan chickpea stew with saffron infused couscous and a sweet potato burger.

The success of this decision by Cambridge University serves as an inspiring example for other post-secondary schools and institutions that offer food service. It also comes at a crucial time, as a growing body of research concludes that a significant reduction in global meat consumption is essential for addressing climate change, the global biodiversity crisis and the high demand for meat that drives the cruel factory farming system.

Interested in introducing or expanding plant-based menu options at your school, workplace, business or in your community? Get in touch to learn about our Plant-Based Plates program! 

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Introducing Our New Plant-Based Plates Program

Since the launch of our Meatless Monday program in 2015 we’ve worked with public institutions, including schools and hospitals, to introduce more veg and vegan options to their cafeteria menus.

As the demand for plant-based foods continues to grow, so has our work to improve public access to these humane, healthy and sustainable menu options. We’re excited to launch our new Plant-Based Plates program, which expands on our Meatless Monday work to bring plant-based dishes to daily menus.

Through presentations, culinary support, menu sampling and outreach, we aim to help food service teams and food policy decision-makers put more plants on plates and to educate and empower the public in making more informed food choices that are better for animals, the planet and public health.

Earlier this summer, we kicked off our new Plant-Based Plates initiative by offering a culinary workshop and guest chef pop-up at the BC Children’s & Women’s Hospital. The hospital’s food service team explored making a number of plant-based dishes, including a Pad Thai and a Pulled BBQ Jackfruit Burrito. Vancouver Humane staff offered samples of the dishes during the lunch hour and handed out information and free recipes to hospital guests. The dishes proved popular, selling out during lunch, and the recipes have since been added to the café’s menu rotation.

Guest Chef Andrea Potter of Rooted Nutrition leads BC Children’s & Women’s Hospital staff in a plant-based culinary workshop.

We look forward to continuing to support institutions throughout Metro Vancouver in bringing their menus into alignment with the growing body of evidence that concludes a global dietary shift toward a plant-based diet is not only one of the most effective ways to reduce our individual environmental footprint, but it’s also necessary if we are to meet our global climate targets. This is why Plant-Based Plates will also focus on government food and procurement policies, encouraging a shift toward prioritizing animal-friendly and climate-friendly plant-based foods.

We all have a role to play in protecting animals, the planet and public health, and a great place to start is with what we put on our plates. Looking for recipes? Take our Plant-Based Pledge and receive a weekly recipe sent to your inbox! If you’re interested in bringing more plant-based meals to your school/school district, workplace or community, we encourage you to check out our new Plant-Based Plates website and get in touch with us! Please also consider making a donation to help us continue this important work.

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Thinking about going plant-based?

Navigating through the all the advice and information about plant-based diets can be confusing.  Arguments rage in the news media and online about the ethical, health and environmental considerations involved in moving away from animal-based foods.

Ethical arguments

The ethical case for switching to a plant-based diet is strong.  Science has shown that most animals are sentient. That is, they have the capacity to feel pain, pleasure, suffering or comfort. There is no doubt that the billions of animals raised for food suffer, mainly because of industrialized agriculture, which deprives them of the ability to engage in natural behaviours, forces them to live in confined spaces, subjects them to painful procedures, transports them in stressful conditions, and ends their lives prematurely in a slaughterhouse. 

Many people who have researched and thought about the sentience of animals and about the nature of modern animal agriculture have given up meat. For example, famed anthropologist and conservationist Jane Goodall has written that she stopped eating meat some 50 years ago “when I looked at the pork chop on my plate and thought: this represents fear, pain, death.”

Dr. Lori Marino, a renowned neuroscientist, recently wrote: “…the scientific literature on everyone from pigs to chickens points to one conclusion: farmed animals are someone, not something. They share many of the same mental and emotional characteristics that we recognize in ourselves and acknowledge in the animals closest to us – dogs and cats. To continue our self-indulgence, we resist the evidence and reinforce the status of farmed animals as objects, as commodities, as food.”

If you accept the ethical arguments against raising animals for food, the question then becomes: Okay, now what?  For a growing number of people, the answer is to simply stop consuming animal products. The good news is that it’s never been easier to do so, but there are still practical matters to consider.

What do I eat?

The first big one is: What do I eat?  This is where the debates over dietary health begin. It’s important to know that there is plenty of scientific evidence to show that a plant-based diet can be healthy. The Dietitians of Canada have stated that: “A healthy vegan diet has many health benefits including lower rates of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.”

However, if you’re concerned about health, you can’t just switch to a diet of veggie burgers, fries and vegan donuts. That’s why nutrition experts recommend a “whole foods” plant-based diet that focuses on including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, seeds and nuts.  It can take a little time and effort to learn how to plan, shop for and prepare whole-food meals, but fortunately there are boundless resources online and in print to help you. (One of our favourites is Easy Animal-Free. You can also sign our Meatless Monday Pledge and receive weekly plant-based recipes.)  In Vancouver, there are also plenty of plant-based restaurants to choose from, so going out to eat isn’t a problem.

The new meat alternatives

But what about all the new meat substitutes people are talking about, such as the Beyond Burger and the Impossible Burger?  These products are sometimes criticized for being processed foods or for being high in calories.  However, many also contain important nutrients such as protein and vitamin B12, which are important to a meatless diet. In many cases, the products have similar or better nutritional profiles than the meat products they’re replacing. The best approach to these foods is to eat them as occasional treats rather than as a staple of your diet. You can also check labels for nutritional information if you have specific concerns about ingredients. 

Vancouver Humane is very supportive of the rise of the plant-based food industry. If all the world’s burgers, sausages and chicken nuggets were replaced with plant-based alternatives it would likely mean the end of factory farming, which exists only to mass produce cheap meat. It would also mean the end of suffering and slaughter for billions of animals. That’s a prize worth striving for.

It’s also essential to know that eating the new plant-based meat substitutes is far better for the environment than eating meat. The global meat and livestock industry is a major contributor to climate change and causes considerable environmental damage and harm to wildlife.

Take a step in the right direction

So, for a variety of important reasons, it’s a good idea to transition to a plant-based diet. Not everyone can make that change overnight, so go at your own pace. Even just reducing your meat consumption helps and is a step in the right direction.  At Vancouver Humane, we recognize that change can be difficult and we don’t condemn people for their food choices. Instead we believe in providing helpful and reliable information, giving encouragement and being supportive.

If you’re ready to join the plant-based movement, please support our Go Veg campaign. You can help by eating more compassionately and by encouraging others to do the same.

Remember, every time you sit down to eat you can stand up for animals.

 

 

 

 

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Why is a humane society talking about plant-based diets?

“Put simply, when we eat animal products we hurt both farmed and wild animals”

 

Anyone who is familiar with Vancouver Humane’s work or follows our social media channels will notice that we encourage people to try a plant-based diet. Some people, especially those who see a humane society’s work as limited to helping companion animals, might wonder why we put such emphasis on changing diets.

The most obvious reason is that the fewer meat and dairy products we consume, the fewer animals need to be slaughtered. Another reason is that reducing animal-based food consumption negates the case made by industry for factory farming, which exists because of the demand for intensively-produced, cheap meat and dairy.  In short, eating fewer animal products means less slaughter and suffering. It’s also worth noting that 60 per cent of all mammals on earth are livestock, so addressing factory farming means helping large numbers of animals.

“There is substantial evidence that meat consumption contributes to global warming” 

But cutting meat consumption benefits animals in other important ways. Most people are now aware of the threat of climate change to the planet – and that means a threat to animals as well as humans. There is substantial evidence that meat consumption contributes to global warming. (The United Nations says that the livestock sector produces 14.5 per cent of human-generated global greenhouse gas emissions.) And there is no doubt climate change is having an impact on wildlife. As the WWF says, “From polar bears in the Arctic to marine turtles off the coast of Africa, our planet’s diversity of life is at risk from the changing climate.”

Aside from contributing to the harm to wildlife through global warming, meat consumption is having a negative impact on animals by causing other environmental damage. A 2017 WWF study found that excessive animal product consumption is responsible for 60 per cent of all biodiversity loss, due to the massive amount of land being used to grow feed for livestock. A previous study on biodiversity loss concluded that: “The consumption of animal-sourced food products by humans is one of the most powerful negative forces affecting the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems and biological diversity. Livestock production is the single largest driver of habitat loss, and both livestock and feedstock production are increasing in developing tropical countries where the majority of biological diversity resides.”  Put simply, when we eat animal products we hurt both farmed and wild animals.

“Livestock production is the single largest driver of habitat loss”

Our focus on reducing the consumption of animal products doesn’t mean we don’t also work to improve the lives of animals currently suffering on factory farms.  We publicly demand accountability for incidents of deliberate animal cruelty on farms and we routinely push for better conditions for farmed animals through, for example, government consultations.

We also make time to address other issues such as rodeos, animals in captivity and the plight of animals whose welfare is often overlooked.

And we haven’t forgotten our precious companion animals, who we help through our McVitie Fund when they are sick and injured.

It’s your donations that make all this work possible. Whether you want to make a better future for animals or help them right here and now, your support will make a real difference.

Take action: Our Go Veg campaign
News: Our latest article on the Daily Hive 

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Students lead the effort to create a better world

Students are saving the world. Just skim the news lately and you’ll come across headlines about 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg’s compelling call to action at the recent UN Climate Change talks, or about the growing #FridaysForFuture youth movement and the recent Youth Climate Strike. Globally, youth are mobilizing a mass movement focused on creating a better world.

Locally, we at the Vancouver Humane Society are also inspired by the youth who have led the effort to bring more humane, healthy and sustainable plant-based foods to their school menus and who have worked to educate and empower their peers, and are proud to support amazing young people in Metro Vancouver.

Shiqi Xu and Naiara Peruchena are two of those local students who have been inspiring change in their community. Our Program Coordinator, Emily Pickett, first met Shiqi and Naiara in 2016 and supported them in co-founding a Meatless Monday Club at their school, Sutherland Secondary, helping to promote plant-based menu changes in order to help animals. Since 2016, their club has led a highly successful Meatless Monday campaign, with the growing demand for plant-based menu items leading to their school’s food service provider to commit to transitioning 20 percent of the daily menu to plant-based foods!

Shiqi and Naiara also presented their Meatless Monday work to the North Vancouver School Board, asking for a letter of support, which the board enthusiastically provided. They were also successful in getting a student choice policy for animal dissection implemented in the school district, with support from the Animals in Science Policy Institute. The student choice policy allows students to opt out of animal dissection and participate in alternative learning methods.

Sutherland Secondary students Naiara Peruchena (on left) and Shiqi Xu (on right)

All that said, it came as no surprise to us that Shiqi was recently awarded the prestigious Loran scholarship of $100,000 to go toward her undergraduate studies. She intends to study bioengineering and wants to help develop biotechnology that will save lives while replacing animals used in testing.

“I am proud of the work Naiara and I have done in promoting healthy, sustainable eating in our school and school district, with VHS’ support,” says Shiqi. “Not only has this experience allowed me to build my leadership skills, but it also played a central role in igniting my passion for sustainability and animal rights. In my bioengineering endeavours in the future, my goal is to help improve the lives of both people and animals.”

We have no doubt that Shiqi and Naiara will go on to do great things for animals, people and the planet after they graduate this year, and that they will leave an inspiring legacy for the next generation of students set to take over the Meatless Monday Club, who we too look forward to working with!

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Delicious cakes from a creative vegan baker

Level V Bakery’s Monica Tang with some of her delicious creations

 

Level V Bakery is an online plant-based business in Richmond, BC, run by Monica Tang.  We talked to Monica about the challenges and rewards of starting a business… and her amazing vegan cakes!

 

Why did you decide to start Level V Bakery?

I always had dabbled in baking, but it wasn’t until January of 2017 that I took it more seriously, after my vegan BFF Maria ordered my very first cake.

Baking gives me a creative outlet since I need to be creative in order to replace eggs and dairy with vegan substitutes.

I wanted to impress people and show that vegan desserts can be delicious and look amazing too.

 

 

What has been the reaction from consumers so far?

The usual response I receive from vegans and non-vegans is that they cannot believe that my cakes tastes better than non-vegan cakes. They are also usually impressed at how moist my cakes are and yet also not too sweet. 

 

What are your most popular items?

My most requested cakes are the tiramisu, cookie dough, and chocolate peanut butter banana. 

The tiramisu was one my first cake flavours I developed. It’s an interpretation of a traditional tiramisu because one of my favourite non-vegan cakes I used to eat was a tiramisu from a Chinese bakery in Kerrisdale. It has three layers of vanilla sponge cake soaked in coffee, chocolate aquafaba mousse and is topped with a layer of coconut whipped cream. 

The cookie dough cake gives you the best of both worlds of chocolate and vanilla. This cake has five layers of vanilla sponge cake speckled with chocolate shavings – and in between each layer is a light chocolate frosting. It’s decorated with a chocolate ganache drip and cookie dough truffles. 

The chocolate PB banana cake was first created for my boyfriend (now husband) because it encompasses all of his favourite flavours. This cake has fresh bananas and peanut butter frosting in between five layers of chocolate cake. It’s also decorated with a chocolate ganache drip and addictive peanut butter pretzel chocolate gems.

Although these are my most popular flavours, I am always trying out new flavours and coming up with new creations.

 

What are the biggest challenges in making vegan desserts?

The largest hurdle I face making vegan desserts is finding the time and energy to try new recipes and to replicate items that need eggs. Things I’d like to achieve one day is to develop a vegan cream puff and vegan bubble waffles! 

  

Who are your customers?  

My main customers are vegans who share their cakes with their fellow vegan friends and omnivorous buddies. It’s great to know that my cakes can be enjoyed by everyone and doesn’t make one or the other feel excluded from the occasion they are celebrating. 

  

Do you plan to expand the business?

I may have the opportunity to provide vegan baked goods to a local organic grocer in the near future!

 

What is the hardest part about opening a vegan business?

I think the hardest part is to get started, even though there is a growing trend of vegan companies out there. I don’t really feel like it is about competing against each other, but to support other businesses, welcome new ideas, and to work together to achieve the goal of a vegan mecca.

 

What do you like best about your work?

The best part of making vegan desserts is to share them with other people and receive their reaction! I love it when people tell me what they think, how they like it, and what I could improve on.  

 

Do you think demand is growing for plant-based foods?

I do believe there is a growing demand. As more people become exposed to words like “plant based” and “vegan” and with an abundance of vegan options now available, people are starting to become more aware that the choices they make have a great impact on their health and the environment. 

  

Where do you see Level V Bakery in five years?

I haven’t even gave that a thought. Hopefully making desserts on a larger scale and providing to local grocers, cafes, and restaurants. But my dream would be to open my own bakery and have my own bricks and mortar store! 

 

Level V Bakery
Email: levelVvegan@gmail.com

 

 

Categories
Food and Drink News/Blog plant-based diet Promoted Recipes Uncategorized vegan vegetarianism

Earth Day: Go plant-based for the planet

Today marks the 48th annual Earth Day celebration and around the world events and efforts will be taking place to draw attention to the need for stronger environmental protections.

As the global community reflects today on the increasingly sensitive state of the planet and what role we as individuals can play in tackling what can sometimes feel like an overwhelming issue, it’s important to remember that every time we sit down to eat, we have an opportunity to stand up for a better world.

Animal agriculture has been identified as a leading contributor not only to climate change, but to air and water pollution, water use, land degradation, deforestation and biodiversity decline.

In fact, animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire global transportation sector. This is because animal-based foods are incredibly inefficient to produce and are very resource-intensive. The processes involved when it comes to raising, transporting and slaughtering animals for food are responsible for potent greenhouse gas emissions including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. To put this in perspective, beef production requires 20 times more land and emits 20 times more greenhouse gas emissions per unit of edible protein than common plant-based protein sources such as beans, peas and lentils.[1]

The production of animal-based foods also requires and pollutes large amounts of water. Agriculture accounts for 92% of our global freshwater footprint; approximately one third relates to animal products.[2] The water footprint per gram of protein for milk, eggs and chicken is approximately 1.5 times larger than for pulses (beans, lentils, peas). For beef, it is six times larger than for pulses.[3] The sheer volume of animal waste, along with fertilizers and pesticides used for feed crops, as well as hormones and antibiotics used on livestock create major water pollution issues. These pollutants seep into waterways, threatening water quality, ecosystems and animal and human health.[4]

Meanwhile, animal agriculture is a key contributor to land degradation and deforestation, with one-quarter of the earth’s land surface (excluding Antarctica) being used as pastureland. [5] The conversion of natural habitat to accommodate livestock and feed crops puts immense pressure on wildlife that struggle to survive in increasingly fragmented and degraded environments. Ineffective and ill-informed cull programs put additional pressure on predator populations, due to the perceived threat they pose to livestock profits.

While our diet can be a major part of the problem when it comes to protecting the planet, that also means it is a crucial part of the solution. A 2016 Oxford Martin School study found that the adoption of global dietary guidelines would cut food-related emissions by 29%, vegetarian diets by 63%, and vegan diets by 70%.[6] By reducing and eliminating resource-intensive animal products from our diet and supporting efforts to make more sustainable plant-based foods widely accessible, we can drastically decrease our individual and societal environmental footprints.

This Earth Day, join the growing number of people around the world who are recognizing the power behind what we put on our plate. Take our Meatless Monday pledge for recipe ideas and download our Live Well booklet to learn more about a plant-based diet. You can also support VHS’s efforts to introduce more healthy, humane and sustainable plant-based menu options in schools and other institutions.

[1] http://www.wri.org/blog/2016/04/sustainable-diets-what-you-need-know-12-charts

[2] http://waterfootprint.org/media/downloads/Gerbens-et-al-2013-waterfootprint-poultry-pork-beef_1.pdf

[3] http://waterfootprint.org/en/water-footprint/product-water-footprint/water-footprint-crop-and-animal-products/

[4] http://www.fao.org/3/a-i7754e.pdf

[5] http://www.wri.org/blog/2016/04/sustainable-diets-what-you-need-know-12-charts

[6] https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/news/201603_Plant_based_diets

Categories
animal welfare Captivity compassion cruelty News/Blog Promoted wildlife zoo

The truth about animals in captivity

Captive Sun Bear. Photo: Rob Laidlaw

 

On March 27, VHS hosted a presentation in Vancouver by Rob Laidaw, executive director of Zoocheck, on animals in captivity. 

Titled Nature in a box: the paradoxical and dangerous world of zoos and aquariums, Laidlaw’s talk was a compelling indictment of the captive animal industry.  Drawn from his own research and long experience of monitoring the industry, including visiting hundreds of zoos and aquariums around the world, the case against captivity was overwhelming. Below are some of the key points from the presentation.

Space, freedom and family

A major criticism of captive animal facilities concerns lack of space for animals, which Laidlaw explained is often not obvious to visitors:

“Space is a core consideration for nearly all captive animals, yet it’s something that is often overlooked, ignored or even dismissed by many animal caretakers. Some claim that animals don’t need a lot of space because they only travel when they are looking for food. Therefore, they say that if food is provided, the animals don’t bother traveling. That’s a myopic and unscientific perspective because animals are known to move around for a diversity of reasons, not just to find food. And when adequate space isn’t provided, there can be detrimental physical, psychological and social consequences to the animals. All animals should be provided with the largest living spaces possible. There’s no such thing as a cage that is too big.”

VHS hosted Rob Laidlaw’s March 27 talk, which drew a crowd eager to hear about the plight of captive animals. Photo: Emily Pickett.

Captive animals also lose the ability to make choices because of their restricted and often barren environments, which are damaging to their welfare.  Laidlaw described how they’re also deprived of their natural social context, such as being part of a family or larger social grouping.

“In addition to space, additional critical quality of life considerations include freedom of choice, proper social context and stimulation and activity, but these too are often given short shrift. When that happens animals suffer physically and they also suffer psychologically, as they can experience negative emotional states, like boredom, frustration, anxiety, fear and anger.  All aspects of animal welfare should be considered if the interests and wellbeing of the animals are a priority.”
Laidlaw recounted an experience that perfectly contrasted the lives animals have in nature versus the deprivation they experience in captivity. While visiting a zoo he noticed a non-captive lizard roaming the facility’s grounds, later finding the same species on display.

“After observing that changeable lizard moving about freely, running, climbing and foraging, and then seeing it’s captive counterpart in a tiny, glass-fronted exhibit unable to engage in any natural movements or behaviours, I realized just how abnormal the situation of the captive was. Nature should be what’s considered normal, not the animal in the cage.”

Zoos’ claims about “education” lack evidence

It’s common for zoos and aquariums to claim that they provide “education” about the animals they display, but Laidlaw said there was little evidence this was true and cited research that clearly contradicts such claims.

“There have been a number of studies examining how long zoo visitors look at animals. The results show that for some animals, particularly if they are not active, observation times can vary from about eight seconds to 90 seconds. There’s not much that can be learned about an animal in that length of time.”

He gave a sad example to illustrate the point:

 “My colleague was visiting a large Canadian zoo to see a bittern, a relatively small wading bird, in one of the zoo’s indoor pavilions. He decided to time how long people actually looked at the bittern. While he expected visitor observation times to be short since the bittern wasn’t one of the zoo’s popular, charismatic mega-vertebrates, like lions, bears and elephants, he was still astounded when the average length of time the bittern was observed turned out to be less than one second. In fact, most people just glanced as they walked by, even when the bird was pointed out to them.”

The future: alternatives to traditional zoo model

Laidlaw ended his presentation with a description of some alternative concepts to zoos and aquariums and a call for change.

“The traditional zoo model, with its relatively unfettered viewing of animals and mass-market entertainment approach is outdated and no longer makes sense. There are many new exciting kinds of facilities and technologies that should replace traditional zoos. They include regionally-focused wildlife facilities, multi-disciplinary centers, sanctuaries, specialist education and conservation facilities, virtual zoos and innovative interactive film technologies.”

The nearly 100 people attending the talk, judging by their enthusiastic applause, left with new insights into what life is like for captive animals, and, perhaps, a new-found desire to work for an end to the places where they are incarcerated.

VHS has long fought for animals in captivity, exposing poor treatment of animals at the Greater Vancouver Zoo and opposing cetacean captivity at the Vancouver Aquarium, including publishing this joint report with Zoocheck.