A thorough study by the Environmental Working Group on the most commonly eaten foods has revealed which ones are best and which ones are worst for global warming. From its beginnings on the farm to its ending on your plate, the most environmentally unfriendly food is lamb.

Join rabble.ca in taking the Vegan Challenge during Earth Week from April 16-22!

rabble.ca staff, contributors and users are encouraged to go vegan for a week to help protect the environment, show compassion for animals and enjoy some wholesome nutritious and yummy food!

Going vegan is one of the strongest ways most of us can contribute to Earth Week and make every day Earth Day! Making your "hoofprint" smaller will reduce your ecological footstep by cutting down on your carbon footprint, diminishing pollution of air, water and land, and helping stymie the destruction of ecosystems being swallowed up to produce feed for farm animals.

A fad is haunting Canada; the fad of Canada Goose jackets. Many of these jackets feature coyote fur-trimmed hoods. But a movement is haunting Canada Goose, Inc.; the anti-fur, pro-animal rights movement. Fads come and go. The animal rights movement is unrelenting and unstoppable.

Toronto Pig Save activists bear witness to and protest what they refer to as the "Un-Royal" Agricultural Winter Fair.

On Tuesday, November 8, 2011, "The Market Lamb and Market Kid Auction" included the sale of number 200 lamb, who was born less than two months ago in mid-September and weighed only 50 pounds. The bids occur in dollars per pound, underlining how these animals are viewed as mere objects and property by the "sellers" and "buyers."

On a recent trip to Toronto, Canada to celebrate World Animal Day with Jill Robinson, Founder and CEO of Animals Asia I first went to a protest organized by Toronto Pig Save, a group founded by Anita Krajnc. This wonderful grassroots organization is made up of compassionate people who are devoted to saving pigs from being tortured and slaughtered for food.

Toronto City Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker is a leading environmental and animal activist in Toronto City Council. Glenn has played a central role in saving Rouge Park, protecting migratory birds, spaying and neutering dogs and cats, proposing a ban on the sale of shark fins, fighting for a sanctuary for the elephants at the Toronto Zoo, and preserving the Oak Ridges Moraine -- to name a few of his initiatives. Glenn is inviting people to visit rabble.ca and take the Vegan Challenge together with him and others concerned about animal welfare, the environment, and their health.

The Vegan Challenge (or vegan pledge) is a good way for "veg-curious" people to try a vegan diet for a short time in a fun environment under the guidance of a vegan who already knows the ropes. One of the barriers to exploring vegan food in our society is the myth that vegan food is weird. A Vegan Challenge is also a great opportunity to dispel that myth.

PETA's first "meat tray" demonstration in Canada was greeted by a media frenzy of reporters and photographers as two of its volunteers stripped down and put themselves inside human-size versions of meat packages.

On June 21, Peta and a couple dozen of animal rights supporters held a solemn and subdued protest outside Toronto's Quality Meat Packers' pig slaughterhouse at 2 Tecumseth.

On Saturday, June 5, Toronto held its second annual Toronto Veggie Pride Parade (TVPP). Hundreds of animal rights activists waited until the rain and thunderstorm subsided before merrily marching and dancing down Yonge Street at Bloor, west on Queen, and to the Church of the Holy Trinity by the Eaton Centre, where there was a post-parade lunch and other events. 

When -- at the end of the parade -- lettuce lady, animal mascots, and parade participants danced to "Celebration," Kimberly Carroll, the MC of the 2011 Toronto Veggie Pride Parade exclaimed, "We almost had a rained out parade, but we salvaged it at the last minute. This is a reason to celebrate."

Liz Marshall is a Toronto-based, award-winning filmmaker of Water on the Table, which featured Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians. Her latest project, The Ghosts in Our Machine (TGIOM), is a multi-media documentary featuring the lives of animals through the lens of animal photographer Jo-Anne McArthur. Liz says, "Animals are central in our lives yet they are invisible members of society. With the exception of our companion animals and a few wild and stray species within our overly developed urban environments, we experience animals daily only as the food, clothing, entertainment, animal tested biomedical research and consumer goods we make of them. Animals are hidden within the shadows of our highly mechanized urban world.
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