Beginner’s Guide to Veganic Gardening
Just as vegans avoid animal products in the rest of our lives, we also avoid them in the garden, as many fertilizers come from industries of exploitation.
View ArticleCasein
Casein is the principal protein in milk. It’s found in the milk of all mammals, and, oddly enough, is often found in food items marked ‘non-dairy.’
View ArticleNatural Colors – Carmine & Cochineal
Many consumers may not yet be aware that the red substance coloring their food, fabric, cosmetics or pharmaceuticals could be extracted from the crushed bodies of insects... Carminic acid is a...
View ArticleVeganic Growing in Shangri-La
Around a week ago, the last of the Gentle World volunteers arrived at our Vegan Educational Center in Northland, New Zealand, officially kicking off the 11th summer in our Southern Hemisphere Center,...
View ArticleHidden Animal Fats
Animal fat: by any other name it would still be the same vile substance. Tallow, suet and lard are all well-known forms of this awful ingredient, but what about glycerin and glycerides, and what does...
View ArticleGardening with Magic
Magic Rees has been an organic grower since 1980. In 1989, he co-founded the Far North Organics Association in New Zealand, where he served as a Board Member and Organic Inspection Certifier for ten...
View ArticleWaking Up: Vegetarian to Vegan
As I look back over the last 26 years of my life, I wonder how it took me so long to live my life the way I’ve always wanted to: with love, kindness and honesty.
View ArticleThe Importance of Being Vegan
Veganism is not a fringe philosophy – it is a moral baseline that is consistent with beliefs that most of us already hold.
View ArticleShellac & Food Glaze
Many people may not be aware that the glaze that covers some of their favorite products – including vitamins, pharmaceuticals, candy and even some fruit – may actually be made from shellac; a resin...
View ArticleIs Your Alcohol Vegan?
Many people, vegan or not, are surprised to discover that there is a plethora of animal-based products that can be found in alcoholic beverages.
View ArticleCreating Magic…
Veganism is not new to me, but my week here has been good for re-evaluating myself. I believe that this violence-free lifestyle results a gentler humankind, which would actually precipitate World Peace...
View ArticleKeeping Animal Bones Out of Sugar
Sugar seems vegan at a glance; it comes from a plant after all. But when the natural sugars from the plant are refined in a factory, they are often filtered through bone char.
View ArticleVitamin D and Lanolin
A number of common foods are enriched with vitamin D without specifying which form of the vitamin they contain or how it was derived. And, as opaque as this may already seem, some companies that...
View ArticleA Newer Age
The vegan evolution will inspire a heightened spiritual awareness, purify the body, and make possible personal and planetary healing unprecedented in human history.
View ArticleNatural Food Coloring from Tomatoes!
Although the insect-derived carmine has been widely accepted as a ‘natural’ alternative to chemical dyes, it has recently received an increasing amount of public attention from squeamish consumers......
View ArticleBurying the Past
Let us bury the past in recognition that we will not and cannot own, sell or give away another animal’s body parts, which were never ours to use in the first place.
View ArticleIs Your Bread Vegan?
Any processed food, including bread, is likely to have a block paragraph of polysyllabic ingredients printed on its packaging. From duck feathers to pancreatic enzymes, commercial bread provides a...
View ArticleAre Your Cosmetics Vegan?
Is your makeup brush made with goat hair or synthetic bristles? Does your eye shadow have fish scales or mineral mica? There are many alternatives to cosmetics that use animal products, and many...
View ArticleI Know I’m Doing the Right Thing
~ Tiziana Picasso I was a vegetarian for two years when I arrived in Shangri-La. But I never really thought about veganism. I didn’t want to give up my cheese (I’m French, you understand?) The first...
View ArticleAn Open Letter to the Leaders of the Progressive Movement
Dear friends of truth and freedom, If the value of people was measured by how much they cared about other people, you would be among the top 1%. Not only because you respect the rights of others,...
View ArticleThe Spirit of Ahimsa
written by Jay Dinshah, Out Of The Jungle “As I have implied, veganism involves no animal-source foods or products. We do not use animal flesh, of course, because of the killing, but also because of...
View ArticleThe Full Journey: Excerpts from The Vegan News (November 1944)
The following is an abridged version of vegan pioneer Donald Watson‘s writing in the very first newsletter of the UK Vegan Society in 1944, long before factory farming became commonplace. Watson, who...
View ArticleA Call to Vegetarians
A great many people become vegetarian for ethical reasons, in response to a strong sense that animals shouldn’t be mistreated on factory farms, or that they simply should not be killed for food....
View ArticleNatural Flavors & Castoreum
Natural Flavors… The name sounds innocent enough, but these mild-sounding words are an umbrella term for some pretty horrible stuff, including certain ingredients that come from extreme animal abuse.
View ArticleRennet
Rennet or rennin is a natural complex of enzymes produced in any mammalian stomach to help a nursing baby digest mother’s milk. In the food industry, rennet is used as a coagulant – in cheese-making;...
View ArticleGelatin
A translucent, colorless, nearly tasteless substance, gelatin is identified on coded labels by number E441. Like 'natural flavors', gelatin can be found in marshmallows, desserts like “Jell-O,” frosted...
View ArticleMother’s Milk
Humans are far from the only animals to experience the deep connection between mother and child. In fact, this might be one of the very experiences that is universal -- crossing all boundaries between...
View ArticleWhat’s Hiding in Your Organic Fertilizer?
It’s time to learn about the byproducts in your organic fertilizers, and the truly green alternatives you’ll find in your own backyard, or on the garden store shelf.
View ArticleWhy Vegans Read Labels
Have you ever enjoyed a “naturally flavored” berry soda? Did you know that the delicious “natural” berry flavor could actually be made from a beaver’s sex gland secretions? This ingredient is...
View ArticleWhy Vegans Don’t Use Silk
From blouses to sarongs, suits to ties, and lingerie to pajamas, silk is still widely used by the textile industry, finding its way into sheets and pillowcases as well as handkerchiefs and headscarves....
View ArticleIs Your Champagne Vegan?
Is your Champagne flute ready for Valentine’s Day? If, like many others, you plan to celebrate with this bubbly celebratory drink, you should know that it may not be vegan. Also see: Is Your Alcohol...
View ArticleAre Your Condoms Vegan?
Wait, what? Yes, you may be surprised to learn that the majority of condoms available on the market are produced using the animal product casein. Casein, a highly profitable byproduct of dairy farming,...
View Article5 Absurd Things We Do To Animals
“We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the...
View ArticleMy Way Home
Anke Hagen, Hanover, North Germany I grew up in South Africa and experienced a number of transformative, life-changing events at an early receptive age, like trying to bargain with a female witch...
View ArticleNo Going Back
Lyra Alves, Belgium (Brazilian living in Belgium for 15 years) I was brought up in a very carnivorous environment in Brazil. My father strictly made sure my brother and I ate all kinds of foods. I...
View Article3 Reasons Not to Eat Honey
To make one pound of honey, a colony must visit over two million flowers, flying over 55,000 miles, at up to 15 miles per hour to do so.
View Article
