Lifestyle Hub

Surprising statements at real estate developer's seminar

I was on a panel of speakers at a real estate development seminar today. I was introduced as Down to Earth's Chief Vegetarian Officer, and was able to share some interesting facts with the attendees, like that 10 billion animals a year, 27 million a day, are slaughtered in the USA alone.

ALL VEGETARIAN Preferred Brands

Today we launched our new “ALL VEGETARIAN Preferred Brand” program. This program recognizes those brands that have made the decision to make their entire product range ALL VEGETARIAN, GMO free, natural, and organic (1).

Does caring for animals make you a sentimentalist?

| Innocent Animals

Review of Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer Chapter Three: “Words/Meaning”


Locavorism: Elitist food snobbery or practical solution to global warming?

| Environment

Locavorism, for those who haven't heard the term, describes the practice of buying food grown within a 100 mile radius of where one lives, in an effort to cut back on one's carbon footprint. Once upon a time, access to imported, specialty items was reserved for the rich or well-connected connoisseur. Now, however, the committed locavore has to go far out of his or her way to forage enough food from their local region to survive. This is especially true in Hawaii, where most of our food is shipped over thousands of miles.


"Save the planet; kill yourself?"

| Environment

Everyone is trying to reduce their carbon footprint and their negative impact on the environment. Businesses are starting to be required to measure and report on their carbon generation, and the trading of carbon credits is now commonplace in many countries of the world.

Respectful dialogue and education vs. forcing views on others

| Innocent Animals

It feels like we have lost the ability to respectfully disagree. This is occurring on the national and state level as evidenced by the increasingly partisan positions that our political leaders are taking, whether it be in the school furlough negotiations, or in the national health care debate. Even in debates where the people involved are actually close in their outlook and aims, often vitriol and bitter words are reserved for those who have the same general aims and outlook, but who differ in some of their views.


What's wrong with eating animals?

| Innocent Animals

This is the first in a series of weekly posts dedicated to our book club selections. Tune in every Tuesday to discuss the pressing issues raised by these authoritative and popular authors. Whether you have the time to read along with me or not, I'd love to hear your two cents. To pick up your copy of "Eating Animals" at amazon.com, follow the link at the end of the post.


Reply to a vegan

| Innocent Animals

I received an email from a reader of our e-newsletter who expressed concerns about the way cows are treated by the dairy industry. This was in response to my CVO column about Hawaii's Fresh milk which we are selling.


URGENT! Tell the USDA you don't want GMO's by Feb. 16

| GMOs

Tell the USDA that you care about GMO contamination of organic food. The USDA believes that there is “no consumer evidence” that we care about genetically engineered food intermixing and contaminating organic food. They are about to deregulate GE alfalfa without any limitations or protections for farmers or the environment. This, despite the recent report by Nielsen, Co. that 'GMO-free' is the fastest-growing health and wellness claim among store brands, with sales of these items up 67 percent in 2009 to $60.2 million. [2] As usual, the USDA ignores these statistics.


Fish are vegetables?

This is an interesting one, our General Manager forwarded me an email announcing the launch of a new product, fish oil in a vegetarian capsule "making it ideal for fish eating vegetarians (pesco-vegetarians)". First I knew that fish were vegetables!