Harmony Hall

Harmony Hall

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

First Draft of a Referendum for Ireland's Animals sent to the brilliant TDs Maureen O'Sullivan & Clare Daly

Dear Maureen,
Please find to follow the first draft of what I am calling an 'Animal Referendum for Ireland'.
In this season of referendums, I believe that the following live issues deserve to be looked at together for the first time and for the people of Ireland to be asked to consider and cast their vote on them. As many will not be aware I have sought to briefly outline and reference each. In addition, I hope it will give you further support in presenting your Ban on Hare Coursing bill tomorrow and some more ammunition as to the spending of public money on the exploitation of animals. I also send my eternal gratitude.

Yours sincerely, Frances Micklem

Animal Laboratories - Yes? No?

Ireland is the Animal Experimentation ‘capital of Europe’? Do you want this? Laboratory testing on animals has increased 800% in the last 5 years in Ireland. 80% of the tests are commercial for products rather than medical. Even medical testing is just to pass pharmaceutical products as safe.

Puppy Farms Yes? No?
Do you think dog breeding and puppy farming should be banned? 


In Finland, it is illegal to buy a dog while there are any available in shelters. 

Here, dogs are bred for laboratories and for racing and as 'pets'. Stray dogs go to government pounds run by a Latvian company called the ACS – an animal collection service founded to dispose of dead animals for body parts. (Ref. Naimh Griffin, Irish Mail On Sunday found on Companies House that the private firm - Four Seasons Promotions t/a ACS are registered in Latvia. She interviewed director John Shovlin who refused to comment but the company then pulled out of the Carlow/Kilkenny Dog Pound tender process on August 6th 2015)
Council pounds to be run by animal welfare services? Yes? No?

Do you want stray dog and horse services run by private companies, paid by public money? Currently, stray horses are collected at a cost to your council of €980 per horse. They are not afforded any welfare or rehoming service and the ACS have a 100% kill rate. Rescue services argue that they could offer a much better service for that money or less. This is a live issue as DAFM, ACS and gardai work together, all on public money, to seize horses. Even when ordered by court to return them, the ACS refused and they were all found to be dead. 
Should all the abbatoirs in Ireland be closed? Yes? No?

Abattoirs serve the purpose of facilitating food companies and people’s habitual eating of meat. Up to a million animals are taken to a factory every month in Ireland and electric prodded into a machine that cuts their throat and then hangs them up in front of the next and the next to bleed to death. Would you prefer to go vegetarian and let the farm animals live? Their muck could produce the organic matter to improve Irish soil for organic crop production. This would move Ireland towards its environmental goals. The Animal Kill Counter << ADAPTT :: Animals Deserve Absolute Protection Today and Tomorrow

Intensification of Farming Yes? No?
Do you agree with the intensification of farming in Ireland? There is a goal of ‘doubling the national herd’ by 2020 and applications to open factory farms for pigs – 99% of which are already ‘reared’ in individual crates. This goes directly against environmental necessity; to stop animal agriculture. This is because it uses 15,000 litres of fresh water to produce 1kg of beef and the animals themselves contribute to green house gases through methane via digestion and muck run off.


Ireland is already over-producing, the farmers heavily subsidized showing that it is not even viable in business sense. The only thing it does is build an export market, profiting very few. The cost of unchecked milk production since the end of the milk quota has already brought the value of milk down. Those in the meat processing industry meet every Friday to cap the amount they will offer farmers for their animals. In one meeting, a cut of 40% in the value of each animal was decided. At another meeting it was decided that animals should be killed within 14 months rather than 24. Also all these animals are fed on imported grain, some genetically modified ‘Round Up Ready’ crops and some simply sprayed repeatedly with it. Either way, it arrives in the food chain in high doses. 
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Video: Inside Kepak's feedlot finishing 3,500 cattle a y...
Kepak is planning to finish 3,500 cattle through its Meath-based feedlot this year.
View onwww.agriland.ie
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Protecting pollinators and human health. Do not import anything grown using chemicals that are banned for use here.
Do you believe that if farmers can’t spray a chemical on their crops, that Ireland should not allow any import of products on which that chemical has been used? If legislation is put in place to stop the import of sprayed products, it won’t give the unfair advantages of good weather, earlier harvests and the use of any toxic chemicals they want, to foreign markets, leaving our farmers with no advantage. Indeed with no incentive to grow anything.

Community Supported Agriculture for Ireland Yes? No?
Would you commit to two hours a week to a local farmer to support a shift from chemically-protected carcinogenic crop production to community-supported, chemical free crop production? This can all be done through the Community Garden Network. There can be Horticulture qualifications and skills taught, as they are already, through the BTEI and ETB and CGN to equip old and young alike. The implementation of more help to farmers has to be quick though, to help with weeding and pest control. This is in order to decrease their dependence on chemicals but keep a good yield from their land through the transition to chemical-free. Shift the adult education focus from health care – to care for all the prematurely sick people from a poisoned diet – and pig farm management – 500 new places offered this year…to Horticulture and Organic Crop production – so soil can be improved by the manure of farm animals but they are no longer bred to be killed.

The Chairman of the Community Garden Network has agreed in principle to bring community gardens into farms, if they will stop spraying and direct the volunteer support to healthier food production and food security.

Should Male chicks die in egg industry Yes? No?
Current practice is to throw them into a grinder alive. Second practice is bagging them up in dustbin bags while still alive. Do you think the grinding alive of male chicks should be banned in Ireland? It has just been banned in Germany.

Pigs. Do you think individual crates on slatted concrete are acceptable. Yes? No?
Do you think the chopping off of testicles, tails and teeth without anaesthetic is acceptable?
It is illegal by EU law to do tail docking on pigs although it is routinely still done here.  

Fur farms Ban them? Allow them?
There are still 3 fur farms in Ireland. Mink. Having never seen daylight, hundreds of mink are briefly gased and then skinned. Often they are still alive. The same with rabbits. Do you think this industry is acceptable of should be banned? 90,000 mink in each fur farm.
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Monday, June 20, 2016

SEAI...I thought stood for Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland!? And the response from SEAI!

I had to send them a note just in case they hadn't spotted the irony themselves! 

Dear SEAI,
I'm just writing to point out the absurdity of your electric vehicle grant scheme. 
Eligibility criteria (as just explained to me by your help line):
1.    Grant available only for new cars, not available for conversions of existing cars.
2.    Tax incentive for Corporations only; not available to Sole Traders or Partners. Only corporations with high energy use.
You have managed to identify the two eligible groups that actually have money and do not need a grant, to offer the scheme to. Furthermore, I only know of one Irish corporation off the top of my head while a great number of one-or-two-sizes-smaller Irish businesses that will not be supported. In addition, I'd hazard a guess that Corporations and people buying brand new cars are also a demography that don't have the well-being of the environment in their top priorities, otherwise they'd have reined their industrial impact in, to a modest level of damage, already and not need to offset it against a token electric vehicle purchase.

In terms of your goal to have at least 230,000 electric cars on the road in Ireland by 2020, can I just speculate that you haven't a hope in hell or any real intention. If I have misread the situation, please get back to me as I planned to convert my little old MX5 to electric…to bring to the Electric Picnic Festival Eco Village in September…to show people how its done. Now, that might well get your numbers up of takers for a move towards zero emissions vehicles! I was hoping for a little sponsorship but now I'm hoping only to expose what a quadruple standard you seem to be working to. Same with the solar panels and insulation grants I remember now, I explored those a few years ago as well. Let's hope your organization is not representative of Ireland's actual sustainability.

And this is the response I got. I think I get it, so I appreciated it.

Dear Frances
In response to your comments SEAI would like to offer you the following feedback.
The EV targets for 2020 has been revised downward to 50,000 vehicles so SEAI will be updating its webpages accordingly.  The EV Grant scheme began in 2011 with only 2 vehicles available and today we have 17 vehicles.  This has led to a growing second hand market for EVs with some vehicles available now for 10,000euro or less.  Therefore the subsidy available to the new car ensures that the second hand car is also reduced.
When offering incentives to help to establish a new market for any technology, potential new consumers will be very sensitive to product failure and needs a certain level of reassurance. It is important therefore that only well tested equipment with warranties are promoted to the market.  Otherwise even a handful of bad consumer experiences could damage the market.  In order to convince the main bulk of vehicle consumers that EVs are a credible replacement for their car, the EV Grant is offered to only high volume series production cars which have achieved the EU Whole Vehicle Type Approval.  Therefore mass market subsidies already assume that a product is fully developed and fully reliable.
The Accelerated Capital Allowance tax incentive is very similar to the normal capital allowance offered to businesses.  If a business qualifies for capital allowances then it can also avail of ACA.  ACA just allows the taxable profits to be "written down" in 1 year rather than spread over 8 years. It is therefore only of use to companies with large taxable profits.
The Government will be revising incentives for electric vehicles this year and considering what other supports may be necessary to promote the uptake of the electric vehicles in Ireland.
Hopefully this has given some insight into the reason why the grant scheme is designed the way it is and the purpose of ACA.
Kind regards,
Best regards, Frances 
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Wednesday, June 8, 2016

What message does Bloom Festival send the young, the hungry, the thirsty and every living thing that is not human?!


Cookbooks


As I sit here having delicious fried organic tofu and organic potatoes, peas with mint from the garden, I am reminded of the books at Bloom. Hey, they all said, its not all about tofu and greens to eat healthy. You can have your smoked salmon and this that and the other. Have any of these guys watched those poor salmon jumping up river, thousands of miles and looking for their breeding ponds that don't even exist any more?

Teaching Growing minus Compassion

My heart sunk at a talk as a highly influential lady boasted that she was ground breaking when she took lambs to the slaughter and the kids she teaches were totally fine about it. Do we really want another generation of compassion-free gluttonous ignoramuses who think its alright to do what ever they want, kill animals when their care becomes fractionally arduous and get a proud pat on the back for their indifference?

Don't Ask a Professional even in Alternative Health 

Another girl said she had wanted to go vegan and her kinesiologist had gone ballistic saying absolutely not to. What is not-to-like about the situation where people get fed and no one gets hurt? I just said that that diatribe from the alternative practitioner said more about her and her own resistance to examining her conscience than a considered response and she should know better!

Chemical Free Growing

I wished there'd been more taking of the opportunity to talk about keeping gardens and growing vegetables without chemicals. I personally see it as a key reason to go and learn and participate. Also what about the pollinators who the chemicals also kill? Everyone there loved at least flowers, I would like every solitary attendee to have gone home with a new understanding of the role of pollinators and how endangered! One third of American hives are already dead remember. Everyone knows or should know that, if the bees go, the human race will survive no more than 4 more years. That is how dependent we are. So no more Round Up, no more non eco cleaning products, no more sprayed vegetables (that is every solitary thing on the shelves unless it is labelled organic). 

I am a Fair Share Activist First, then A Researcher of Food Security and only then a Horticulturalist

Wow, the gardens were impressive, beautiful shapes, colours, mature trees, wonderful wild flowers, sculptures, peaceful concepts and stone work. Great designs. Each one was created or recreated at Bloom in the three weeks prior to the festival! 


I loved this one best, I think it was the pale mediteranean colours. But, dammit, I kept thinking, how much water is it taking to keep these show grounds from wilting? Thousands of litres per garden I'm sure and regularly too, in that heat. Water is such an important resource. Many people walk for miles to find water to drink, not even necessarily clean water. They have to decide whether to drink it or trust enough that there will be more, to pour it on to plants to grow food. What a decision to have to make. 

Then there's Shell's misuse of water weighing on my mind. Two leaks in the last month, one 20,000 litres of crude oil and another 90,000 litres of crude oil. Every step they make uses and contaminates millions of litres of fresh water and they do not pay for any of it. The individual however is hounded and threatened by officials to cover their water usage. That level of wastefulness just jars on me when I see it. Gardens are, in a way, a harmless and skillful art form but everything in them is so profound. I would like to see people really determined to be frugal and openly refuse the use of weedkillers and include ideas for future-proofing Ireland for an uncertain future. 

Do you believe that the future isn't too uncertain? Do the Save Animals From Extinction Quiz!  



 Pangolin


Did you know poachers make over $3 billion per year selling elephant tusks?
Yes
 No
Did you know all 5 rhino species are threatened, and 3 are critically endangered?
Yes
 No
Did you know experts say African lions could go extinct by 2050?
Yes
 No
Did you know only 3,200 tigers remain in the wild?
Yes
 No
Have you heard of pangolins, the most heavily trafficked endangered animal in Asia?
Yes
 No
Did you know over 100 million sharks are slaughtered each year?
Yes
 No

The numbers say it all. Without your help, these animals could go extinct in our lifetime.
www.saveanimalsfromextinction.org

A whole new species of man was there however, Tarzan, with his great jungle garden. My friend insisted I tuck in for a photo, much to my mortification. However, it turned out so classic, nearly everyone I know has had mileage of amusement out of it and so I'll share it here.



There were other great stalls there, such as the wildlife groups protecting badgers and deers and everything else no doubt. Then there was this one, Give Peas a Chance. And talking of Peace there was an amazing garden called Damascus that juxtaposed beauty, serenity and culture with war and broken sanctuary. 




This is a really cool T Shirt from The Irish Wildlife Trust  that is part of their campaign to stop the random badger cull. Mass bloodshed on the tenuous argument that they spread TB. Next they're after the deer. It just isn't on. We really need a Animal Referendum For Ireland. Please see my Facebook page of the the same name if you have a cause or a bit of clarity to add. If you feel that you've been there and done that, this is the link to buy the T Shirt!        Irish Wildlife Trust Shop


I save the best for last! Dee Sewell from Greenside Up spoke about the national Community Garden Network which is an inspiring and sociable way to learn how to grow your own food and get to know people and help each other. There is more than a hundred in Ireland, so there is probably one near you. Fiann the Holistic Gardener was also on the panel, who's Yin Yang garden was brilliant as was his talk, insight and perspective on life and wellbeing.

All in all? I'm glad I went but the highlight was a girl calling out to me from behind one of the stalls, that one selling magnetic sunglasses. She announced. I know you, you used to have Windy down at Dylan's. She had remembered my horse's name for the whole decade since we last saw each other but not mine! I love it! She, Stef had had Murphy for the same parallel universe of time and it warmed my heart completely to hear of them and see her again.



Have some great vegans staying since at the B&B. Three lots in a row. Times are changing!
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Thursday, June 2, 2016

How the boy was saved by the transplant of a pig's heart

Best visitors ever for Harmony Hall - A woman who had pigs to thank for her brother's life!

Hearts are hearts 

I have read and often said that pigs have the same heart as us and therefore that is another argument for why they should be treated well and recognized as seriously sentient. People think of their own hearts as capable of great love and brokenness and a full spectrum in-between. They see them as complex and obviously physically central to their life. Others have dedicated decades of mathematical study to heart math, understanding the resonance and power of the heart and recognizing it as the organ by which all life is connected, or at least how we connect to it.

The whole community paid for the travel Germany to the US, for the operation 

This is all dismissed out of hand by people as soon as they fancy a sausage. Somehow they gloss over the carnage that precedes every meat product and block out any recognition of that life force. And of course the food industry are happy about that. However, some doctors know that a human heart can even be replaced with a pig's heart. This isn't just macabre experiments, they've known for over forty years. I know this for definite because more than 40 years ago my guest's brother needed a heart transplant. Everyone in the village in East Germany, where they lived, put in as much money as they could to pay for the flight to the States.

Back with a new heart

Off he went and came back with a new heart. I won't say donated - as goodness knows animals do not donate their organs or limbs or indeed lives. We just take them. But the dear pig's heart replaced the failing heart of the dear boy and succeeded in more than doubling his life. That was when he was seven. The only reason that he needed another transplant at 15 was that the heart couldn't grow to the extent he was growing. I heard that he said he didn't want to do it again and the parents respected his decision.

Every heartbeat is important for the planet 

Please everyone consider the valuable lives (and the much needed heartbeats that they represent) In the food supply chain there is slavery, cruelty, young separated and killed and vast amounts wasted. Every person I have spoken to recently is at least vegetarian or wants to be. Several have said they can't because it'd be letting someone down. This is obscure reasoning if you can get any perspective on it at all.

Instant Peace Of Heart

More importantly, I can confirm that from your very first day of stopping using animal ingredients as if they're nothing, you will feel so much better about yourself. You will have literally tidied up your own participation and contribution to the current reality and with harmlessness comes instant increased self acceptance, self respect and sense of kindred spirit to Nature. We all need the latter.

How Powerful is a Personal Partnership with Nature?

Nature is like a mother to us, we are like hapless toddlers running amuck and she is still the one who will notice and appreciate our efforts to grow up and be responsible and will lend her mega support…in the form of synchronicities, luck, protection and the magnitude of the butterfly effect. So be proud to be on her side, show respect and honour the other living things she's fond of and brazen it out with your mere 3D companions in the meantime, until they wake up too.
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