Day 173 of our Green Year: Joining WSPA

In our effort to help, not only the environment, but the animals who are part of the environment, Layla and I have joined a few societies, including the World Wildlife Fund. For our 173rd Day, we have decided to join the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

The WSPA is an international organization that is active in over 150 countries with more than 900 member societies. Started in 1981 with the merger of the World Federation for the Protection of Animals and the International Society for the Protection of Animals, the society has the goal to create a world where animal welfare matters, and animal cruelty ends, while working to build a united global animal welfare movement.

So far, the WSPA has been quite successful in their fight against the cruel treatment and abuse of animals. They have launched campaigns against bull fighting, bear baiting and dancing, whaling, capturing dolphins, intensive farming of animals and the abusive treatment of working equines and companion animals.
In 1991, WSPA began a campaign known as the Libearty Campaign, which works to end the use of bear farming, bear baiting and dancing bears. WSPA funds member societies to help with bear cub rehabilitation and the creation of bear sanctuaries. Thanks to their hard work, bear baiting has been made illegal in Pakistan.
They also design educational programmes for kids to teach them how to work with and care for animals.

As animal lovers, Layla and I are proud to be joining WSPA.

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On another note, Erin Handy from the Trail Daily Times called us to do an interview for an update on Our Green Year since we are nearing our six month anniversary. Thanks to Erin and the Trail Times for helping to spread our message again.

Day 169 of our Green Year: Signing The UDAW Petition

A few years after the creation of the United Nations, one of the most important documents in human history was drawn up (by a Canadian. Go Canada!). It was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and it detailed exactly what each human on Earth was entitled to and it has been used by the United Nations as evidence against countries that choose to mistreat their populations, and has helped some dictators be charged with war crimes.

Well there is a new document being drawn up and it is the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare. The campaign has the goal of getting 10,000,000 signatures to help get the United Nations to sign into law a resolution that would give rights to animals around the world. In 2003, during the Manila Conference on Animal Welfare, 19 government delegations from the European Council, the United States and Saipan created a foundation text for the UDAW. Two years later, representatives from Kenya, India, Costa Rica, Czech Republic and the Republic of the Philippines agreed to create a committee to push for the initiative. Other countries have joined on with representatives of their own including Australia, Cambodia, Fiji, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Slovenia, Tanzania and the United Kingdom. The initiative has active support of both the European Union and the United Nations.

So far, the initiative has reached over 1,000,000 signatures, with Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica, becoming the one millionth signer.

This mandate is the most ambitious initiative on animal welfare that has ever been attempted and since there is no international protection for animals, it is highly important. If accepted by the United Nations, it would recognize animals as sentient beings, which means they are capable of suffering. It would recognize that animal welfare is an issue of importance as a part of the social development of nations. Lastly, it would act as an initiative to create better provisions to protect animals around the planet.

Layla and I are big animal lovers, and that is why for our 169th Day of Our Green Year, we are signing this petition in the hopes that our future will see animals with rights to protect them from harm, pain and suffering.

You can sign the petition here.
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For those of you who live in Ontario, I encourage you to send a letter to your premier regarding Bill 50. Introduced by Minister Rick Bartolucci, it would overhaul the 89-year-old Ontario SPCA Act to widen definitions of cruelty to animals and to address critical animal welfare issues. It will also allow investigators to bring abusers to justice.

If it is made law, it would make Ontario's weak animal protection laws into some of the toughest in the country, and the world. Some of the changes would include:

• Establishing new provincial offences against animal cruelty, including: causing or permitting distress, training or allowing animals to fight, and obstructing an Ontario SPCA Inspector or Agent.
• Giving judges greater flexibility to impose stiffer penalties, including jail time, fines up to $60,000 and a potential lifetime ban on owning an animal of any kind.
• Providing for inspection powers; allowing investigators to inspect premises where animals are kept for the purpose of exhibit, entertainment, boarding, sale or hire.
• Allowing the Society to apply for custody of an animal victim while the case is still in the courts; preventing the Society from having to return an animal to the owner during a trial if cause for concern is shown.

Send your letters of support of this bill to:

Hon. Dalton McGuinty
Premier of Ontario
Rm 281, Main Legislative Building, Queen's Park
Toronto, ON M74 1A4

You can also e-mail them to dalton.mcguinty@premier.gov.on.ca

If you do send a letter, take a picture and send it to us and we will put it up on our blog to show that you support helping animals! E-mail to crwbaird@wildmail.com

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On the weird search front, one of the searches that brought up our blog today read:
"has any human lived over 159 years?"...odd
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Below is two pictures of Layla and I in the garden today bringing up the potatoes. There were pretty big ones in there as can be seen.

Day 152 of our Green Year: Watching For Animal Testing

Layla and I are big animal lovers. We have two birds, two cats and a dog, and in the future will own many more animals. They are a part of our family and we treat them as if they were our kids. That is why for many years now, we have tried to make sure that what we buy is not animal tested in any way. For Our Green Year, we are going to continue our drive to keep all Animal-Tested products out of our home.

It is unfortunate that for many industries, especially cosmetics, they use animals as guinea pigs. Why do rabbits have to get perfume sprayed in their faces to see how it reacts with the skin? Why do cats or dogs have to be used to test the effects of certain eye-liners and mascara on the eye. There is no need for it and it needs to stop.

All products that have not been tested on animals now carry labels to show that. Since Layla and I are animal lovers, it will not be hard to continue buying products that have not been tested on animals. As well, we already make our own body wash, we buy healthy and organic shampoos, cosmetics and more, which all pride themselves on not being tested on animals.

One of the easiest things you can do to help our animal friends is to ensure that whenever you buy a product, you check to see if it has been tested on animals. If it says it is not tested on animals, then that is a product you want to have in your home and on your shelf.

**The picture above is of our little dog Niko**

UPDATE: Layla and I got rid of a large number of our large furniture today. For a full list, check out ourgreenyearjournal.blogspot.com
Also, Layla and I are now having our blogs featured on Green Blogosphere, which is a website that features some great ideas for going green. Check it out!

Day 83 of our Green Year: Local Eggs

In a continuing effort to go local, Layla and I have been looking for local providers for all the things we want for our house, from dog food to cheese. We are succeeding, and today is the day we go local with our eggs.
Eggs that come from the large factory farms are not the most environmentally friendly. The decision comes after reading a story that detailed what many chickens have to go through all so we can enjoy bacon and eggs.

In the United States, 340 million chickens are raised as laying hens through a nightmare life that lasts for two years. In some factory farms, a large portion of the hen's beak is cut off with a burning hot blade to keep them from biting handlers. Then, they are put in battery cages which are 18 by 20 inches, holding five to 11 hens. These cages are stacked on top of each other, and many birds die, leaving the survivors to live with the rotting caged corpses. Since male chicks are worthless, they are usually tossed out or thrown in highspeed grinders to become mulch for other animals.
After two years, the hen's bodies are nearly exhausted and egg production falls. They are then shipped to the slaughterhouse to be turned into food. Not a very nice life. Here are two pictures of some of these conditions.









As a result, Layla and I are now buying our eggs from a local organic supplier in an effort to lower our environmental impact, and clear our minds of any guilt for what we are eating.