The Herbivore Awareness Project 

offers critical information to the public that is immediately actionable and transformative at the individual and group level. 

We welcome and appreciate your interest and participation.

Humans are HERBIVORE by design. (see 'The Comparative Anatomy of Eating' chart below) Man's separation from his own nature, introduced at birth and supported through lifelong orchestrated deceptions, enabled and continues to enable a human culture of supremacism and genocide (today, world-wide).

Although we think we are one, and we act as if we are one, human beings are not natural carnivores. When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores. William C. Roberts, M.D., editor, American Journal of Cardiology

OUTWITTED  by Edwin Markham He drew a circle that shut me out Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout But Love and I had the wit to win We drew a circle that took him in

(On an old campus building at San Jose State University, this wise inscription was found... and a way to describe the Herbivore Awareness Project; "We drew a circle that took him in" Funny Video draws circle-->

There is an amazing discovery. It reopens the door to the Garden, heals our wounds and insures the continuation of life (our future).  By design, humans are herbivores.  This simple realization restores peace, health, community and spiritual communion. It is our staff and our guide. Without this understanding, we are adrift. With it, our rightful place is fulfilled; we are restored.

What do these things have in common? * Wars (like the genocides in Iraq & Africa) * Environmentally insensitive behavior (like clear-cutting and burning forests) * Animal abuse ( e.g. torturing them in 'research' facilities) * Child abuse * Obesity and nutritional deprivation including starvation * Heart disease and cancer * Social and economic exclusivity and elitism	How can we make a difference?
Answer: They are endemic to meat-eating (dominator) cultures.	Answer: Catalyze understanding.

 For thousands of years, the connection between consuming flesh and human violence has been understood.

But it is the prevention of this understanding (taught from early childhood primarily through denial) which creates the 'response insulation' (emotional and intellectual disconnection and desensitivity and consequent immaturity) that enables human violence to propagate; and determines that most individual and institutional behavior will be based on deception...

 

Read Understanding Violence

 

"As long as there are slaughter houses                                                there will be battle fields." Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy More Famous Quotes

¹( An introduction to logical historical discovery)

 

What happens when you listen to Herbivore Aware Music? ECOstacy! (songs are also available for download on itunes, amazon and rhapsody) Ecostacy is an awakened state; connections happen, intimacy reigns, compassion is natural, joy is unbounded, discovery is constant, exciting, synchronistic, empowering. On the Shore of Miracles & Many Selves performed by Larry Maietta written by Larry and Cheryl Maietta

ONCE they were a byword for mindless docility. But cows have a complex mental life in which they bear grudges, nurture friendships and become excited by intellectual challenges, researchers have found. Cows are capable of strong emotions such as pain, fear and even anxiety about the future. But... , they can also feel great happiness. The findings have emerged from studies of farm animals that have found similar traits in pigs, goats and chickens. They suggest such animals may be so emotionally similar to humans that welfare laws need to be reconsidered. (posted by Sergio on VegNews.org) Learn more about the sentience of all creatures: http://www.sentientbeings.org/

² The Natural Human Diet According to biologists and anthropologists who study our anatomy and our evolutionary history, humans are herbivores who are not well suited to eating meat. Unlike natural carnivores, we are physically and psychologically unable to rip animals limb from limb and eat and digest their raw flesh. Even cooked meat is likely to cause human beings, but not natural carnivores, to suffer from food poisoning, heart disease, and other ailments. People who pride themselves on being part of the human hunter tradition should take a second look at the story of human evolution. Prehistoric evidence indicates that humans developed hunting skills relatively recently and that most of our short, meat-eating past was spent scavenging and eating almost anything in order to survive; even then, meat was a tiny part of our caloric intake. Humans lack both the physical characteristics of carnivores and the instinct that drives them to kill animals and devour their raw carcasses. Ask yourself: When you see dead animals on the side of the road, are you tempted to stop for a snack? Does the sight of a dead bird make you salivate? Do you daydream about killing cows with your bare hands and eating them raw? If you answered "no" to all of these questions, congratulations, you're a normal human herbivore, like it or not. Humans were simply not designed to eat meat. The above discussion was copied from http://www.goveg.com/naturalhumandiet.asp

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"One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them." Martin Luther King, Jr (A source for many great quotes: http://www.animalrightsafrica.org/Quotes.php)

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² From "The Comparative Anatomy of Eating", by Milton R. Mills, MD

Facial Muscles CARNIVORE: Reduced to allow wide mouth gape HERBIVORE: Well-developed OMNIVORE: Reduced HUMAN: Well-developed Jaw Type CARNIVORE: Angle not expanded HERBIVORE: Expanded angle OMNIVORE: Angle not expanded HUMAN: Expanded angle Jaw Joint Location CARNIVORE: On same plane as molar teeth HERBIVORE: Above the plane of the molars OMNIVORE: On same plane as molar teeth HUMAN: Above the plane of the molars Jaw Motion CARNIVORE: Shearing; minimal side-to-side motion HERBIVORE: No shear; good side-to-side, front-to-back OMNIVORE: Shearing; minimal side-to-side HUMAN: No shear; good side-to-side, front-to-back Major Jaw Muscles CARNIVORE: Temporalis HERBIVORE: Masseter and pterygoids OMNIVORE: Temporalis HUMAN: Masseter and pterygoids Mouth Opening vs. Head Size CARNIVORE: Large HERBIVORE: Small OMNIVORE: Large HUMAN: Small Teeth: Incisors CARNIVORE: Short and pointed HERBIVORE: Broad, flattened and spade shaped OMNIVORE: Short and pointed HUMAN: Broad, flattened and spade shaped Teeth: Canines CARNIVORE: Long, sharp and curved HERBIVORE: Dull and short or long (for defense), or none OMNIVORE: Long, sharp and curved HUMAN: Short and blunted Teeth: Molars CARNIVORE: Sharp, jagged and blade shaped HERBIVORE: Flattened with cusps vs complex surface OMNIVORE: Sharp blades and/or flattened HUMAN: Flattened with nodular cusps Chewing CARNIVORE: None; swallows food whole HERBIVORE: Extensive chewing necessary OMNIVORE: Swallows food whole and/or simple crushing HUMAN: Extensive chewing necessary

Saliva CARNIVORE: No digestive enzymes HERBIVORE: Carbohydrate digesting enzymes OMNIVORE: No digestive enzymes HUMAN: Carbohydrate digesting enzymes Stomach Type CARNIVORE: Simple HERBIVORE: Simple or multiple chambers OMNIVORE: Simple HUMAN: Simple Stomach Acidity CARNIVORE: Less than or equal to pH 1 with food in stomach HERBIVORE: pH 4 to 5 with food in stomach OMNIVORE: Less than or equal to pH 1 with food in stomach HUMAN: pH 4 to 5 with food in stomach Stomach Capacity CARNIVORE: 60% to 70% of total volume of digestive tract HERBIVORE: Less than 30% of total volume of digestive tract OMNIVORE: 60% to 70% of total volume of digestive tract HUMAN: 21% to 27% of total volume of digestive tract Length of Small Intestine CARNIVORE: 3 to 6 times body length HERBIVORE: 10 to more than 12 times body length OMNIVORE: 4 to 6 times body length HUMAN: 10 to 11 times body length Colon CARNIVORE: Simple, short and smooth HERBIVORE: Long, complex; may be sacculated OMNIVORE: Simple, short and smooth HUMAN: Long, sacculated Liver CARNIVORE: Can detoxify vitamin A HERBIVORE: Cannot detoxify vitamin A OMNIVORE: Can detoxify vitamin A HUMAN: Cannot detoxify vitamin A Kidney CARNIVORE: Extremely concentrated urine HERBIVORE: Moderately concentrated urine OMNIVORE: Extremely concentrated urine HUMAN: Moderately concentrated urine Nails CARNIVORE: Sharp claws HERBIVORE: Flattened nails or blunt hooves OMNIVORE: Sharp claws HUMAN: Flattened nails

They are our companions by natural design, not our meal. But in our raving lunacy, look at the earthly experience we mete out to them:

Modern Meat: A Brutal Harvest

	'They Die Piece by Piece' PASCO, Wash.--It takes 25 minutes to turn a live steer into steak at the modern slaughterhouse where Ramon Moreno works. For 20 years, his post was "second-legger," a job that entails cutting hocks off carcasses as they whirl past at a rate of 309 an hour. The cattle were supposed to be dead before they got to Moreno. But too often they weren't.
"They blink. They make noises," he said softly. "The head moves, the eyes are wide and looking around...

excerpted from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A60798-2001Apr9

(click on URL to read complete article in which the live skinning of innocent creatures is discussed as a too common occurence.) 

"Our complex global economy is built upon millions of small, private acts of psychological surrender, the willingness of people to acquiesce in playing their assigned parts as cogs in the great social machine that encompasses all other machines. They must shape themselves to the prefabricated identities that make efficient coordination possible... that capacity for self-enslavement must be broken." (Theodore Roszak - The Voice Of The Earth)

Those who wish to pet and baby wild animals "love" them. But those who respect their natures and wish to let them live normal lives, love them more.