Have you heard? Ricky Ponting is retiring as captain of the Aussie cricket team.

To mark the occasion the 7PM Project are running a poll asking "What will Ponting's captaincy be most remembered for?". I thought it was amusing that "a new world record for commercial endorsements" was out in front in the poll. Tbh, there's not a lot Ponting hasn't endorsed: milk, deoderant, oil, vitamins, banks, beer, sunglasses, breakfast cereal... In fact, I heard that he tried to drop the 'y' from his name to make himself more marketable!

But what really bugs me is the fact that the Australian Cricket team's official sponsor is KFC!

Even setting aside the fact they are promoting a company that confines millions of birds in factory farms, how can a team of elite atheletes sell food that is only going to add to the problems of childhood obesity, heart disease, etc? If you ask me that's just not cricket!

A few weeks ago it was reported that another cricketing great, Stuart McGill refused to promote KFC when he was on the Aussie cricket team. He said: "I don't think you can have any of us [cricketers] advertising junk food to be honest. ... It's just wrong in so many ways." What a top bloke!

Wouldn't it be nice if a few more cricketers took a leaf out of Stuart McGill's book and refused to promote unhealthy food; or better yet, followed Greg Chappell's lead and cut out cruelty by going vegan!

What do you think of athletes promoting junk food?

Whip out the candles and get ready to turn out the lights, 'cause this Saturday is Earth Hour. At 8:30pm, people across Australia (and around the world) will flick off their switches to shed light on climate change.

There's really no denying our planet is sick: climate change, species extinction, water shortages, pollution... the list just goes on and on

The theme for this year's Earth Hour is 'Beyond the Hour'. So, 'beyond the hour' what can you do to help heal our planet? Well personally, I'd prescribe that people take action for the planet 3 times a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner! I'll let New York Times food writer Mark Bittman explain:

"We have to take matters into our own hands. Not only by advocating for a better diet for everyone, but by improving our own. And that happens to be quite easy: less meat, less junk, more plants. It's a simple formula."

Einstein also put it well: "Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." Which also reminds me of this video...

So this Saturday, I'll be having a delicious candle-lit vegan dinner to celebrate Earth Hour. What about you? What will you be doing for Earth Hour?

By now you've probably heard the news: On the opening day of Victoria's despicable duck shooting season rescue team member, Julia Symons was shot in the face by a duck shooter. Instead of being able to take care of injured birds callously shot down and left for dead by hunters, Julia had her own injuries to see to.

Poor Julia was rushed to hospital to have 10 pellets removed from her face and hand. She was lucky not to be blinded, or worse! Thankfully Julia will recover; sadly most ducks aren't so fortunate. One in every four birds shot by hunters escape wounded, left to suffer and die slowly from their untended injuries. There's no ambulance for them.

When a hunter pulls the trigger on a shot gun, pellets are literally sprayed out. There is no guarantee what even the most skilled marksman will hit: a native duck, a protected waterbird, endangered species like flying foxes (or even a rescuer!) can become victims of these ducking brutes.

On another note, the boy who reportedly shot Julia was just 14 years old. At 14 you're not even allowed to drive a car, drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or vote - so why on earth should you be allowed to fire a deadly weapon? Actually, why should anyone be allowed to shoot animals for fun? Most of Australia has already banned duck hunting because it's cruelty to animals after all.

Hardly makes sense does it? Why are the Premiers of Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia getting away with blood on their hands? For Julia and the ducks, take a moment to ask the governments of these three states to ban duck shooting now!

Shout outs to all the rescue teams out on the water, including CADS, UPROAR, and the Duck Army. Good luck and stay safe guys, and we wish Julia a speedy recovery!

How would you feel if you were injured while protecting animals from cruelty?

PS Want that awesome banner? Here's the code!

Today is World Water Day!

World Water Day is brought to you by the United Nations to remind us that over 1 billion people don't have access to clean water. It's staggering to think that nearly 4,000 kids die every day as a result. [1]

And this got me thinking… A lot of us have water restrictions affecting out gardening or our shower time, but these savings aren't even a drop in the ocean compared with what is used in the meat and dairy industries every day.

When I was at uni, we went to a cattle feedlot in Tungali in rural SA. I nearly fell over when the guide told me that in summer, a cow can drink up to 80 litres of water in a day. There were 3,000 thirsty cows jammed into this feedlot! That's almost a quarter of a million litres of water used a day just so people can eat unhealthy hamburgers made from the bodies of unfortunate cows in just one of the many feedlots across Oz.

Now while I wait for you to find your feet again, I'll let you in on some other scary stats:

• To produce just one kilo of chicken meat takes 3,500 litres of water. [2]
• To produce a kilo of beef takes 100,000 litres! [2]
• And wait for it … over 12% of all the water used in the world is used to produce … milk! [3] Yep, dairy is undoubtedly the biggest guzzler of water in the world (not to mention one of the cruellest industries to boot)

So, if you're serious about saving water, you could refuse to shower for an entire year, let your garden dry up into a dust patch, and never ever wash the car. OR, you could join me to go vegan and reward yourself with some amazingly delicious cruelty-free food!

How will you be saving water on World Water Day (and every other day)?

Refs
[1] who.int/water_sanitation_health/2005advocacyguide.pdf
[2] unleashed.org.au/change_the_world/go_veg/environment.php
[3] water.gov.au/WaterUse/Agriculturalwateruse/index.aspx?Menu=Level1_4_4

What's better than a radio interview with acclaimed author Jonathan Safran Foer? A radio interview with Jonathan and ME! :) We were both recently guests on the program Uncovering the Real Costs of Factory Farming on Voice America's Social Myth Busting show. Yep, I certainly keep some good company! You can listen to our show here:

With an hour up our sleeves we almost covered it all -- from factory farming and environmental impacts of meat-eating, to crazy nasty diet-related diseases. But it's not all doom and gloom because I was quite vocal about how we can all change this!

If you don't know who JSF is, he's the author of an amazing book, Eating Animals, which is a super eye-opening look at the way we eat. The book gained lots of attention worldwide because it could change your life, like it did for Natalie Portman! Want more proof? Check out how fans of our favourite vegan talkshow queen Ellen DeGeneres reacted after reading Jonathan's book:

I know you're just wishing that we'd put copies of Eating Animals under YOUR seat... Sorry! But we have done the next best thing. You can grab a copy of Eating Animals right now in the Unleashed shop or ... you can win a copy if you head over here to our big sister site Animals Australia and tell us what you'll do this year to help end factory farming.

Oh and you should tell me here too, so I can pass it on to my new BFF, JSF!

Roll up! Roll up! The circus is in town! Come along to stare at the bearded lady, marvel at the amazing acrobats on the highwire, laugh at the clowns and cry when you see the miserable performing monkeys, lions, tigers and bears ... oh my! Stop! The show mustn't go on!

How great is this clever ad by Italian animal rights group, the LAV? Just like a puppet on a string, an animal in a circus is forced to perform whether he wants to or not. And I bet he'd rather not. I mean, who would want to sit in a tiny barren enclosure, only to be let out to perform ridiculously humiliating 'tricks' that he would never do in the wild?

Travelling between towns is no fun for him either - cooped up for days on end in the back of trains or trucks. It's no surprise that many animals kept this way develop worrying habits like pacing, swaying, or biting the cage bars.

We want to see cruel animal circuses go the way of the dinosaurs, and we're starting with New South Wales! Animals Australia, together with Animals Asia and RSPCA NSW want the whole state to get rid of this outdated practice (I refuse to use the word 'entertainment').

If you're in NSW, you can help! Print out this petition and get it chock full of signatures and send it back by May 1st. It's going straight to the top to be tabled in the NSW parliament by the Lord Mayor of Sydney!

Councils like Ku-Ring-Gai and Lismore in NSW and Ipswich and Gold Coast in QLD have already banned circuses with exotic animals so we know it can be done! Once you've done your part, click here to let us know!

Not in NSW? You can still help by taking the pledge to end circus cruelty. Ask your local council to ban animal circuses or write a letter to the editor of your local paper.

Animal cruelty is just not entertaining. What would you rather see in a circus?

...why the happy dance? I'll tell you why! Thanks to a flood of messages from Animals Australia and Unleashed supporters who know animal cruelty when they see it, Nova FM Sydney has agreed to abandon a week-long stunt involving animals who would be brought into the studio to bite or sting show host Merrick Watts!

A video posted on the radio program's website yesterday showed an agitated rainforest scorpion provided by Sydney Wildlife World being poked, prodded, screamed at and dropped onto the studio floor -- all in the name of 'entertainment'!

We are pleased that on this occasion Nova FM has listened to public concern and has since reconsidered the this ill-conceived stunt. Nova today informed Animals Australia not only that plans to torment animals on air for the remainder of the week have been shelved, but also that pictures and video of the cruel stunt will be removed from their website. What a relief!!

All animals deserve to be treated with kindness, whether they're fluffy, scaly, or even scary.

Please send a brief message to Nova FM either on their Facebook page, or via Twitter to thank them for their decisive action!

There's a daring ice cream maker in London whose latest offering is made from human breast milk. Yep, you can now buy Baby Gaga icecream for 15 pound a scoop...

Eternal attention seeker, Lady Gaga (yes, she of the disgusting meat bikini) calls it "nausea-inducing". I can't quite see how she wasn't nauseous getting ready to attend the Grammys in a dress made of muscles from dead animals, but there you go!

I wonder if Lady Blah Blah has ever thought about how nausea-inducing drinking cows' milk really is. I know she's done some pretty crazy things but surely it's not natural to suckle from the udder of a cow who has recently given birth and is producing milk for her baby.

I'm sure dairy cows would agree -- because cows don't automatically produce milk. In fact in order to milk cows for the massive dairy market, the industry sends bewildered newborn baby calves to their deaths by the hundreds of thousands. Watch their story.

So call me crazy, but ice cream using breast milk from perfectly willing mothers who get to keep and nurture their children, who don't get killed, sounds a whole lot better to me!

Although for now, I might just stick to the So Good Soy Ice Cream. It's soooo gooood after all :)

What kind of ice cream would you rather be eating?

Have you ever wondered what your dog or your cat would say if they could talk back to you? I'm certain my dog, Kia would tell me she doesn't care if she has her own chair, she'd rather sit in mine! I also have no doubt that as I type this, she is trying to say "Hurry up, let's go outside for a tug of war!"

And what would animals say to each other? I really hope this video is close to the truth ;)

A biologist from the Bahamas might be on her way to discovering what animals really have to say. Denise Herzing has been working with dolphins for years and has devised an amazing way for humans and dolphins to communicate. Using symbols, and a keyboard synthesizer that creates sounds similar to those naturally produced by dolphins, they can actually ask each other for particular objects, like a ball or a scarf. How incredible! And she thinks it's only a matter of time before more complex interactions get started.

So just what will dolphins tell us?

And what about less fortunate animals? What would foxes and rabbits raised for their fur say? Or chimps and rats in labs? Or pigs and chickens in factory farms?

(Alright Kia, I'm nearly finished!) But I'd love to know, what do you think animals would say to us?

Have you heard? They're predicting that the current generation of Aussie teenagers will be the first to have a shorter life expectancy. Isn't that disturbing!

The recent study by the Cancer Council and Heart Foundation estimates that 1 in 4 highschool students are overweight or obese - putting them at greater risk of heart disease, cancer and other chronic illnesses. (btw, this cartoon does a great job of illustrating the problem)

I don't get it! We know the facts and people still eat junk! I mean, we know that unhealthy meat-centric diets have been linked to heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer - our country's top killers. We know that on average vegetarians and vegans are less likely to be overweight or obese, and have a longer life expectancy than meat eaters. We know that most fast food is junk, and is bad for us and the environment. Yet Australia is one of the largest countries in the world (and I'm not talking about the size of our land mass) and it seems we may only be getting larger

Speaking of fast food and junk, this recent ad takes an interesting approach to trying to combat the problem of childhood obesity:

What do you think of the ad? How do you feel about the prediction that the next gen might be the first to live a shorter life? Is this the scariest news you've heard all day? Leave a comment below!