Tuesday, May 9, 2017

OMNI VEGETARIAN ACTION NEWSLETTER #37


OMNI
VEGETARIAN ACTION NEWSLETTER  #37
MAY 10, 2017.
      Edited by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology

     OMNI’s MAY VEGETARIAN POTLUCK is Wednesday, MAY 10, at OMNI, Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology (2ND Wednesdays) at the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology.  We usually begin at 6:00, but tonight we’re showing a film, so I will be coming early.
      All are welcome. 
      You may want to enjoy some old or new vegetarian recipes,and discuss them, to talk about healthier food, or you are concerned about cruelty to animals or warming and climate change.  Whatever your interest it’s connected to plant or meat eating; whatever your motive, come share vegetarian and vegan food and your views with us in a friendly setting.
       As an extra treat, thanks to Bob Walker we will be showing the new film What the Health! created by the makers of Cowspiracy. We would have more films and programs if we had the money, so please give a donation. If you are new, get acquainted with OMNI’s director, Gladys.  At OMNI, 3274 Lee Avenue, off N. College east of the Village Inn and south of Liquor World.  More information: 935-4422; 442-4600.  
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Contents: Vegetarian Action Newsletter #37, May 10, 2017
Vegan Poetry

Dr Ravi P Bhatia.   Seeking Peace in Vegetarianism


Health, Nutrition
VegNews each number packed with articles, recipes, ads for products about veg/vegan food.
What the Health! New film about meat eating/carnivorism vs. health.
Marta Zaraska.  “Vegetable Regimen Can Aid Weight Loss, Researchers Show.”  NADG (March 27, 2017).
Masterson, “Science, Not Emotion.” NADG (April 29, 2017).  Vs. CAFOs.

Protection of Animals, Compassion
Wayne Pacelle. The Humane Economy: How Innovators and Enlightened Consumers Are Transforming the Lives of Animals.  From the Humane Society of the United States. Dolores Proubasta, “Lawmakers Target Free Speech to Protect Industry.”NADG (3-17-17).  Arkansas’”Ag-gag” Bill.

Brian Bolton.  Evangelicals Inconsistent on Animal Care.  Freethought Today · March 2017.

Chicago Tribune Editorial.  “Attacking Animal Cruelty.”  NADG (May 8, 2017).
OMNI Vegetarian Newsletter (October 2017)
Hawthorne, A Vegan Ethic
PETA Global (Spring 2017)

Climate, Carnivorism
Bourdain, Documentary Wasted! The Story of Food Waste
Climate and Eating Meat
Climate and Eating Meat Google Search, May 2, 2017.


TEXTS START HERE
www.soystache.com/berniejones.htm
These poem pages are a forum for artists to share their work with others. Unless otherwise noted, the poems are copyrighted by the individual authors.
www.animalliberationfront.com/.../Poetry/Vegan%20poetry%20by%20Bernie%20Jon...
Unique poetry to promote the many benefits of a plant-based (vegan) diet. ... These poem pages are a forum for artists to share their work with others.


Seeking Peace in Vegetarianism

Dr Ravi P Bhatia – TRANSCEND Media Service
https://www.transcend.org/tms/2017/03/seeking-peace-in-vegetarianism/
20 Mar 2017 – The concept of peace has several dimensions – political, religious, economic, social and even personal traits. Peace is not just the absence of conflict or violence. Even in the absence of violence, we may not always have peace. Peace is a positive aspect that is a reflection of friendship, amity, religious harmony, well being. We also have a sense of peace and joy when we have a clean environment around us.
Another aspect of peace is vegetarianism or in other words, not eating meat or chicken or even fish. We will discuss this aspect a little later.
A clean healthy environment is not only conducive in keeping pollution or global warming at bay but also provides peace and happiness. A healthy environment gives us joy, tranquility; it allows religious leaders and ordinary persons to meditate, to be kind, to have compassion, to seek spiritual union with the Almighty.
Such an environment signifies wellbeing of all forms of life — humans, animals, forests, plants and marine life. This environment is clean, healthy and beautiful — here birds fly around, plants flower, trees grow and produce flowers and fruit; bees produce honey; rivers flow and lakes and wells have clean water for drinking and agriculture. Such an environment gives us peace, solace and happiness and is essential for the survival of humanity as well for avoiding global warming and climate change..
In forests we find birds chirping, animals loitering around, healthy trees that bloom and give us fruit.  All this gives joy and happiness. Man has looked at forests with awe, wonder and hope for centuries. Trees have symbolized life, shelter and rest for man. According to the Indian religious and philosophical texts Vedas, the tree kalpvriksha has wonderful properties. A person sitting beneath this tree in a contemplative stance gains knowledge and spiritual strength. For Buddha, it conferred enlightenment
Issue of vegetarianism vs. non vegetarianism
What to eat and what not to eat is a debate that generates controversy and occasionally ill will and has been going on for a very long time in many parts of the world. In particular the debate is between eating vegetarian food or non vegetarian food that includes meat, lamb, chicken, beef and fish etc. The debate depends on several factors – religious, geographical, ideological and of course economic.
Many religions especially Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism etc generally forbid a person belonging to any of these faiths to eat non vegetarian food. There are of course exceptions to this dictate. Some Hindus living in coastal regions eat fish or in mountainous regions where vegetables do not grow easily, do eat meat also. Similarly some Buddhists also eat meat or chicken although in India and some other regions, Buddhists are generally vegetarian.
But Jains are more particular to eat only vegetarian food. In fact some Jains go beyond this   order. They not only do not eat meat or eggs, some Jains do not eat anything that grows inside the soil – e.g.  potato, carrot, onion etc for this reason. They can eat beans or cauliflower because these food items ripen above the ground and not below the soil. Why this restriction for Jains? The answer is complex but essentially it is because they are particular that they should not harm any animal or bird or insect knowingly.
Muslims are by their faith forbidden from eating pork and the meat that they may eat should be halal. I am not aware if Christians have any particular taboos on what type of meat to eat or not. But generally Christians will not like to eat the meat of a dog unlike in China and a few other countries where there is no such restriction on eating this animal’s meat. Perhaps Chinese are most liberal in eating the meat of any animal or bird or fish.
There are some people called vegans who do not drink milk or eat any milk product. The reason is perhaps ideological and reflects their concept of peace. They feel that the cows are kept in such miserable conditions in order that they may produce more milk that they do not want to take part in torturing these animals and so avoid milk products or beef.
I have met some people who are nature lovers – who enjoy forests and greenery and the birds and some animals which flock to these green areas. Being in a forest, enjoying the quietness, the fresh air and birds hopping from branch to branch of trees is a joy that gives peace and harmony as indicated earlier. They love the wide diversity of nature. So when such people look at the birds – sparrows or pigeons or wood peckers and innumerable other type of birds, they wonder “how can we kill them and eat them?  They give us so much joy and peace – killing them would be a crime against God and the environment.”
This argument although made on personal opinion and feelings is a sound one; but there are counter arguments also. One such is the fact that there is shortage of food in the world and many poor people would be further deprived of nutrition if eating meat is forbidden. Similarly many tribal people who depend on forest produce and hunting and fishing would not have been able to survive since prehistoric times if they had become vegetarian.
So the question remains whether to be vegetarian or not? Ultimately it depends on a person’s personal traits and one’s commitment to God and to the environment. We can only applaud their honesty and hope that more people learn to become vegetarian.
Dr Ravi P Bhatia is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment, an educationist and peace researcher. Retired professor, Delhi University.  ravipbhatia@gmail.com

Health, Nutrition

VegNews (Sept./Oct. 2017). 
Examples of ADS:  Lightlife, Plant Protein, “Eat Meat Not Animals.”  Follow Your Heart.  ”VeganEgg: 100% Plant-Based Egg Replacer”
Shushana Castle.  Rethink Food & The Meaty Truth.  Many more.

Articles:
Marla Rose.  “Milk Money.”  “Lunch at your average American school could be on the menu of a fast-food restaurant” because “lobbyists are dictating what our children eat when we send them off to school”  “Our kids are being fed dangerously unhealthy food while big corporations are cashing in.”
Interview of “world-renowned cardiologist and former president of the American College of Cardiologists Kim Williams,”who recommends vegan diet.

Books:
Jackie Day.  The Vegan Way: 21 Days to a Happier, Healthier, Plant-based Lifestyle…
Chrystle Fiedler.  The Compassionate Chick’s Guide to DIY Beauty.
Elanor Clarke.  The Little Book of Veganism.

Angela Liddon.  Oh She Glows Every Day:…Plant-based Recipes.
Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby.  V Street: 100 Globe-Hopping Plates on the Cutting Edge of Vegetable Cooking.
Kathy Preston and Rachel Cohn.  The Book of Veganish: The Ultimate Guide to Easing into a Plant-Based, Cruelty-Free…with 70 Recipes…
Forks Over Knives Family.  The documentary turned into a book series on cooking and parenting, with 125 recipes.


 “’WHAT THE HEALTH’ – HOW CORPORATE COLLUSION IS MAKING US SICK & COSTING US TRILLIONS.”   RichRoll Podcast with Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn. March 12, 2017.
There are two kinds of cardiologists: vegans and those who haven’t read the data.”
DR. KIM WILLIAMS, MD PRESIDENT, AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY

Imagine four commercial airliners crashing every single hour of every single day of every single year.
It’s unfathomable. And yet that is how many Americans die from heart disease annually. In fact, an unbelievable 1 out of every 3 people in the U.S. will perish from this one disease.
Meanwhile, 70% of Americans are obese or overweight. In the coming decade, 50% of Americans will be diagnosed diabetic or pre-diabetic. An economic disaster, 75% of all health care costs in America are attributable to these and a few other chronic lifestyle illnesses.
It’s devastating. And yet the most heartbreaking aspect of this crisis is that 80-90% of these illnesses are very easily preventable  and often entirely reversible via some rather simple diet and lifestyle alternations.
It’s the food, stupid.
This week I’m joined by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn, the filmmaking dynamic duo behind the groundbreaking documentary Cowspiracy, to talk about their brand new follow up. Equally groundbreaking, What The Health explores the relationship between our food systems and big business, exposing the collusion and corruption that is making us sick, keeping us sick and costing us trillions in healthcare dollars.
Whereas Cowspiracy explores the impact of animal agriculture on environmental health, What The Health focuses on human health. Perhaps the most important documentary you will ever see, it’s a film about the power of special interest groups to drive unhealthy consumer spending habits. It’s about environmental racism and the impact of animal agriculture on community health. And it’s about why you need to rethink for yourself everything you’ve ever been told about the relationship between business and food, the impact of food choice on personal health, and your body’s incredible, innate power to prevent, fight and even reverse the chronic lifestyle illnesses that are unnecessarily killing people by the millions.
Starting March 16, the film will be available to watch worldwide at whatthehealthfilm.com – where you can also pre-order the DVD and cookbook as well as set up a screening in your town (I’m hosting one on March 29). In addition, for the first four days of the film’s release (between March 16 – 20), Keegan and Kip will be donating half of all proceeds to Food Not Bombs – an amazing, for-purpose organization that feeds thousands of people free vegan meals across North America and the world.
Kip and Keegan are truly breaking paradigms. Making the world a better place. And changing lives with what I think is the most important film of the year. A film that just might save your life or that of a loved one. I aspire to their level of courage and advocacy. And I sincerely hope you enjoy this exchange.
RR-SIGNATURE-FOR-WEB 110RichRoll Podcast.

WHAT THE HEALTH




THE HEALTH FILM THAT HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE!


Marta Zaraska.  “Vegetable Regiment Can Aid Weight Loss, Researchers Show.”  NADG (March 27, 2017).  “For those hoping to shed some winter weight gain, research suggests that switching to a plant-based diet can help.”


Masterson, “Science, Not Emotion.” NADG (April 29, 2017).  Vs. CAFOs, the harmful consequences of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations to public health, the environment, and the welfare of the animals.  “Regulations remain lax because the corporations that control CAFOs have the economic and political power to prevent effective regulations”(quoting John Ikerd).



Protection of Animals, Empathy, Compassion
The Humane Economy: How Innovators and Enlightened Consumers Are Transforming the Lives of Animals by Wayne Pacelle.  humaneeconomy.org    From the Humane Society of the United States.
Arkansas’”Ag-gag” Bill, House Bill 1665,”would prohibit freedom of speech concerning conditions in factory farms.”  Dolores Proubasta, “Lawmakers Target Free Speech to Protect Industry.”NADG (3-17-17).


 Brian Bolton.  Evangelicals inconsistent on animal care

Freethought Today · March 2017

Their official statement doesn't mesh with bible
We share our lives with 150 million dogs and cats, and 10 million birds, fish, reptiles, and small mammals. More than 1 billion farm animals are raised and slaughtered for food in the United States each year. We coexist with untold billions of wild animals. However, we still tolerate the horrific killing of hundreds of millions of sentient creatures for sport, the fashion industry, traditional medicine, and by motor vehicles.
Possibly after considering similar information and sobering facts about animals in America, Barrett Duke of the Southern Baptist Convention, working with several other religious leaders, has drafted an "Evangelical Statement on Responsible Animal Care." Christine Gutleben of the Humane Society praised the statement, saying that it is the result of wise and thoughtful reflection and has the potential to create enormous good. I think that her effusive endorsement is unjustified. . . .
Life Member Brian Bolton is a retired psychologist, humanist minister and sponsor of FFRF's graduate essay contest. The executive wing of Freethought Hall bears his name.  - See more at: https://ffrf.org/publications/freethought-today/item/28877-evangelicals-inconsistent-on-animal-care-by-brian-bolton#sthash.6bvnlWIo.dpuf

Chicago Tribune Editorial.  “Attacking Animal Cruelty.”  NADG (May 8, 2017).  No mention of industrial food system which kills millions of animals each year, but of course killing is not cruel inside industrial carnivorism.  Orwell called that doublethink.

VegNews (October 2017)
Ads:
AAVA/American Anti-Vivisection Society, “For Pete’s Sake, Stop Animal Testing.”
Bungalow 360, “Cruelty Free Accessories.”

Article on ethical clothes, “Cool Couture” animal-, planet-, and people-friendly threads for every occasion.”
And see pp. 56-7 for 8 vegan products chosen by VegNews staff.

Mark Hawthorne.  A Vegan Ethic: Embracing a Life of Compassion Toward All.  Changemakers Books, 2017.
A very definitive body of work on animal activism and being vegan. I have been vegan for many years and always respected the work of Mark Hawthorne. In this book he extends our beliefs of being vegan to compassion for humans as well . I appreciate his content on animal torture and the meat industry. He examines why people out of ignorance and culture choose to remain meat eaters and gives them solid life affirming reasons for being vegan. As a strict vegan and animal advocate I found this book very informative and to be useful for anyone that wants to explore being vegan, acting with compassion and understanding the depravity and torture of the meat industry. This should be required reading for any animal activist. Thank you with gratitude for the ARC of this fine book. I will be purchasing several for gifts and one to remain as part of my activism library. The knowledge here is critical . ~ Lori Read, NetGalley

PETA GLOBAL (Spring 2017)
An 11”by 13” glossy magazine dedicated to “Raising the Animal Rights Flag Worldwide.”
For example, “PETA UK Launches First-Ever Vegan Tube Takeover.”  Clapahm Common underground station was plastered with more than 60 ads farm animals telling travelers, “I’m ME, not MEAT.  See the individual—go vegan.”
“Virtual Reality Lets Human Experience Life as a Chicken.” PETA is distributing “I, Chicken”to enable people to socialize with other birds—until a truck pulls up to take them to the slaughter house and eventually to a grocery store truck.
An interview of Sue Coe, artist and author of The Animals’ Vegan Manifesto.  Coe: “The minimum we owe animals is to go vegan.  Refuse to participate in the violence of breeding others just to murder them.”
Two articles on wool:  “Why Joaquin Phoenix Won’t Wear Wool” and “Nabbed! Historic Guilty Pleas in Sheep Shearing Cases.”
Article on cheese:  “It’s Not Your Imagination; You Really Are addicted to Cheese,” including cheese-free dishes, “Cashew-Cream,” “Tofu ‘Feta,’””Fettucine Alfredo.”
Several articles on PETA’s campaign to ban circus animals.


Climate, Carnivorism, Industrial Agriculture in Capitalism, Climate Catastrophe
Reduce,Recycle   DON’T WASTE FOOD
Anthony Bourdain, exec. producer of  the documentary Wasted! The Story of Food Waste, directed by Anna Chai and Nari Kye.
Climate and Eating Meat Google Search, May 2, 2017.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/.../people-still-don-t-get-the-link-between-meat-c...
Apr 11, 2016 - People who already eat less meat may be more open to hear and retain information on the climate impacts of meat, while people who eat lots ...
https://ourworld.unu.edu/.../eating-less-meat-essential-to-curb-climate-change-says-re...
Curbing the world’s huge and increasing appetite for meat is essential to avoid devastating climatechange, according to a new report. ... The global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all cars, planes, trains and ships combined, but a worldwide survey by ...
www.climatecentral.org/news/studies-link-red-meat-and-climate-change-20264
Apr 20, 2016 - Shifting diets away from meat could slash in half per capita greenhouse gas emissions related to eating habits worldwide and ward off ...
www.peta.org › Issues
Climate change has been called humankind's greatest challenge and the ... the most important thing that you can do is stop eating meat, eggs, and dairy foods.
www.independent.co.uk/.../would-eating-less-meat-really-combat-climate-change-a67...
Jun 13, 2016 - World Meat Free Day 2016: Would eating less meat really combat climate change? If every Briton went vegetarian, we could cut our ...
https://www.theguardian.com › Environment › Food
Mar 21, 2016 - Eat less meat to avoid dangerous global warming, scientists say .... Linking health andclimate change in challenging our eating habits could ...
www.davidsuzuki.org › What you can do › Food and our planet
The food we eat also has an impact - on our health, and on the environment. ... As meat consumption has grown around the world, so has its climate impact.
People also ask
How vegetarianism is good for the environment?
How does meat contribute to global warming?
How does global warming affect our food supply?
How does it help the environment if you eat less meat?
www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34899066
Nov 24, 2015 - Laura Wellesley from Chatham House explains how reducing meat consumption can affect climate change.
mashable.com/2017/03/22/americans-beef-consumption-climate-change/
Mar 22, 2017 - A new report says U.S. beef consumption fell 19 percent from 2005 to ... Americans have accidentally been fighting climate change by eating ...
https://www.skepticalscience.com/how-much-meat-contribute-to-gw.html
Nov 30, 2015 - How much does animal agriculture and eating meat contribute to global warming? ...Eating vegetables produces lower greenhouse gas emissions yet. ... in on beef and dairy is not so much that we can solve the climate crisis ...





Contents: Vegetarian Action Newsletter #36, March 8, 2017
VegNews (Feb. 2017)
Empathy, Compassion, Protection of Animals
Steven Best, The Politics of Total Liberation
Jim Mason, An Unnatural Order
Carnivorism, Industrial Food System, Climate Catastrophe
The Great Climate Robbery
Germany “Bans Meat at Official Functions”
“Denmark Ethics Council Calls for Tax on Red Meat”

Recent Peace, Justice, and Ecology Newsletters (all entirely or mainly about the USA)
Children May 6, Democracy May 5, Cuba April 25, Lawlessness April 24, Earth Day April 22, WWI April 20


END OMNI VEGETARIAN ACTION NEWSLETTER #37

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