(no subject)

[rootofnewt]

so... i'd debated this before and opted out of it, but today i bought menstrual sponges.

see, sponges are animals. being vegetarian, i usually do not use products which require killing an animal to use (okay, i do wear leather, but that's a different story and partly hypocrytical).

one, sponges don't have a nervous system. this partly makes this a bit bearable for me to use. no eyes, no stomach, no muscles, no movement once multicellular.

two, they release reproductive cells when harvested, so this is a renewable resource. granted, the fertilized eggs aren't as protected as when the sponge parent is alive. three, animals are killed in cotton production, too. by using fewer tampons, i'm helping reduce some agricultural pollution and death (though i do only use organic tampons when i use them).

i still want to make sure the sea sponge isn't collected in an ecologically damaging way. this is just something to try. we'll see. i should probably cut/file my nails, though.


8

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Something else, too. As we were discussing WRT fur vs leather, there's no waste involved with using sponges--you use the whole thing.

For most of us, I don't think that it's practical to never kill any animals at all. How many bugs die on the windshield when you drive in VA?

--Magi

[krasota.livejournal.com]

enough large ones that i frequently duck when driving down my road. ;)

it's not practical to never kill any animals. i do like to kill less, though that's really a sideshoot of my feelings about sustainable farming... i'd rather see factory-farmed grain than cows.

ideally, i like to see organically grown grain and free-range, pasture-fed cattle. and that's where we direct most of our food money. well, not on a lot of cattle. boy doesn't eat much beef.

that said, i'm a vegetarian for personal health reasons, not ethical reasons. ;)

[lupa.livejournal.com]

sponges aren't animals the same way mushrooms aren't really plants and rabbits aren't rodents - there's another classification for them, and for the life of me i can't remember what it is.

however, since you only need a few sponges a year and you can wash them instead of discarding them, they're far more renewable. i wish i could use sponges - it'd be hella more convenient!

[krasota.livejournal.com]

sponges are actually part of animalia. rabbits are a family within the lagomorph order, which is in the class of mammalia, phylum chordata, in animalia. and mushrooms are in the fungi kingdom.

http://www.perspective.com/nature/
http://www.sidwell.edu/us/science/vlb/class/animalia/sponge.html





j

[michellew.livejournal.com]

So are you trimming your nails to keep from hurting the already-dead sponges or to keep from injuring a non-renewable resource?

Sheesh, that was just too damned easy. ;)

[krasota.livejournal.com]

yes.

;)

i should take a picture of my nails before i shorten them. i could add it to the pile of pics i need to send to a certain drag king we both know.

p