It’s not often I get on a soapbox.  It’s not often I even open a soapbox…cleaning isn’t really my thang.   But for today, I hope you’ll humor me, because while humor usually is my thang peppered with some recipes, what I want to talk about today just really isn’t funny.  You see, last night Pea Daddy and I passed up the Arrested Development and Tosh.0 episodes we had saved on the DVR and watched The Cove.

There’s no question that this Oscar-winning film is important, emotional and informative.  These facts exposed in the movie just cannot be disputed:

• Annually and estimated 23,000+ dolphins and porpoises are killed each year in Japan as a part of their whaling industry;
• These animals are killed as a direct result of the “goldmine” of capturing a handful of these animals for sale to marine parks and aquariums.  While the animals sold to the parks can earn their “hunters” between $100,000-12,0000 worldwide, the remaining animals are then slaughtered and sold for their meat which is consumed, despite it having dangerous levels of mercury making it unsafe for consumption;
• Every time you visit a marine park or aquarium you are not only supporting the industry, thereby condoning the annual slaughter, but also encouraging parks like these to continue to keep these animals in captivity;
• Despite what you may think, dolphins and sea mammals do not enjoy being in “abusement parks.”  Wild dolphins swim between 40 and 100 miles per day, make use of their echolocation, hunt for fish, play in the surf, and have a life expectancy of 45 years.  In captivity, the majority suffer from capture shock, ulcers and other stress-related illnesses and have a life expectancy of 5 years.  Those “smiles” you see are not real.

I must have turned to Pea Daddy ten times during the film and said, “I’m so glad we did not take the girls to ‘swim with the dolphins’ when we went to Hawaii.” I’m only sorry we even ate lunch at the resort that housed them.

No Mango Mojito is worth supporting that.

More than just learning about the dolphin cause, though, the film reaffirmed my beliefs of about our lifestyle.  A lot of readers have asked periodically about the path that led me to choosing not to eat animals.  There are so many different components that have fed into that decision, some related to health, some related to spirituality and some related to just basic food safety.  At some point, I may delve into those other reasons a little more deeply, but today, I really just want to talk to you about the one major factor that led me to believe that consuming animals and animal products was just something that I didn’t want to do anymore. 

I MADE THE CONNECTION.

It was a silly thing that allowed me to make the connection and it is also the reason I will forever be grateful to Sarah Palin. I simply saw this news clip of her pardoning a turkey for Thanksgiving and in the background, farmers were slaughtering other turkeys.  It was the first time I had ever watched an animal die.  Just so somebody could have a sandwich.  The connection deepened for me as I read the books Skinny Bitch and Diet for a New America, and then when I saw Food, Inc.  And I haven’t been able to disconnect since.

There is a point in The Cove when a Japanese fisherman says, and I’m paraphrasing here, “What is so different between what we are doing and what you do to cows, chickens and pigs every day?”

And my response is: NOTHING.

While I was of course horrified by the violent spearing of the dolphins in the film, the echos of their shrieks and the bloody, red water, I really feel it is only a small scale version of the abuse, the torture and the killing that goes on every single day in factory farms across our country.

I know reading this may be uncomfortable for some of you, and talking about it is somewhat out of character for me.  I sincerely hope it does not deter you from coming back and making my oatmeal cream pie cookies, from reading about how I’m desperately trying to talk Gigi out of buying the iCarly backpack for kindergarten or Lulu’s inexplicable new obsession with my bras.

Sorry, Kid.  You are already about two cup sizes too big for that one.

But think of how different this world would be if we didn’t confront and challenge ourselves with things that make us uncomfortable.  Religious persecution might still be widespread.  There might not be an African American president in the White House.  My daughters might not be able to get an education, share their viewpoints or wear tutus in public.

The tragedy.

So, I challenge each of you, just for a moment, to open yourself up to making the connection.

• You can read more about The Cove, the plight of dolphins and what you can do to help here;
• You can watch the trailer for the documentary Earthlings, a film that exposes the suffering of animals for food, fashion, pets, entertainment and medical research here, or you can even watch the entire film here;
• You can visit the Humane Society’s website and learn more about how and why we should put an end to factory farming here;
• Or, if it is all a little too emotionally and politically charged for you, you can visit my recipe page and simply choose to make a meatless meal tonight.  You might be surprised at not only how delicious it can be, but what a difference eating a meatless meal can make.

I have The Cove to thank for one more thing.  Pea Daddy turned to me stone-faced at one point during the discussion of dolphin suffering in captivity and said, “You’re going to use this as an excuse to release Pea Kitty into the wild, aren’t you?”

A ha!  That’s one connection I hadn’t made yet.  But I really can’t turn a blind eye any longer.