Saturday, September 10, 2016

VEGETARIAN ACTION NEWSLETTER #30

OMNI 
VEGETARIAN ACTION NEWSLETTER #30, Wednesday, September 14, 2016.
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology.
 (#4 Feb. 12, 2014; #5 March 12, 2014; #6 April 9, 2014; #7 May 14, 2014; #8, June 11, 2014; #9 July 9, 2014; #10, August 11, 2014; #11 September 10, 2014; #12 October 8, 2014; #13, November 12, 2014; #14, December 10, 2014; #15, January 14, 2015; #16, Feb. 11, 2015; #17, March 11, 2015; #18, April 8, 2015; #19, June 10, 2015; #20, August 12, 2015; #21, September 9, 2015; #22, Oct. 14, 2015; #23, Nov.    ; # 24, Dec. 9, 2015; #25, Jan. 13, 2016; #26, Feb. 10, 2016; #27, April 13, 2016; #28, May 11, 2016; #29 June 8, 2016).   1576 total OMNI Newsletter posts as of Apr 12, 2016.    Thank you Marc.


If you need to be removed from this list or want it to go to another address, just tell me.

SEPTEMBER VEGETARIAN POTLUCK IS CANCELED, BUT WE’LL RETURN IN OCTOBER FOR SURE.   ANY VOLUNTEERS OUT THERE WHO WISH TO HELP?



Why Vegetarian?  See our pamphlet on the materials table to the left as you enter OMNI.

Contents: OMNI Vegetarian Action Newsletter, September 14, 2016.

VEGETARIAN AND VEGAN ORGANIZATIONS

Looking Ahead to October 1, Vegetarian Day, October Vegetarian Month
      World Vegetarian Day - NAVS: North American Vegetarian Sociiety
Vegetarian Resource Group, Vegetarian Journal
Vegnews Magazine
Top Vegan Blogs

Health, Nutrition
3 Vegan Cookbooks
Mark Hawthorne’s Book vs. Industrial Food System
Oatman, Too Much Protein

Animal Rights and Protection, Compassion for Sentient Creatures,
Dick: Truck Hauling Chickens Turns Over
Tyson Fires 10 Lowest Level Workers for Chicken Abuse
Green Party Has Animal Rights Committee
Two Books by Mark Hawthorne: A Vegan Ethic and Animal Suffering
Book from Humane Society
Center for Biological Diversity:  Meat Industry and USDA v. Wild Animals

Global Warming, Industrial Agriculture, Population, Consumption, Growth
Lolly Tindol and Jeanne Neath on Industrial Agriculture
Jeanne Neath on Small Scale Farming Cooling the Earth
Gary Gardner in There Is Still Time!
Scott McNall, Rapid Climate Change
Dauvergne, The Shadows of Consumption
Center for Biological Diversity: Wildlife, Population, Climate

Growth
OMNI Growth Newsletters #3 was published July 10, 2016.








VEGETARIAN ORGANIZATIONS

World Vegetarian Day - NAVS, Google Search, September 7, 2016
www.worldvegetarianday.org/
World Vegetarian Day
World Vegetarian Day endorsement and schedule on nearby date instead ... World Vegetarian Day, October 1, is the annual kick-off of Vegetarian Awareness ...
Founded in 1974, the North American Vegetarian Society ...
Non-vegetarians Welcome. Non-vegetarians can also join in the ...
Vegetarian diets help people, ... Use our Vegetarian Pledge ...
world vegen logo, link to WVD home page · link to What you ...
Free Vegetarian Poster Order. poster. Please send me free ...
Non-vegetarians pledging to go meat-free during Vegetarian ...


www.vrg.org/journal/index.php
Vegetarian Journal is the practical magazine for those interested in Vegetarian Health, Ecology, and Ethics. The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) is a ...
Subscribe to the Vegetarian Journal ... The 36-page Journal ...
Guide to grains, including a table comparing the nutritional ...
VJ 2016 issue 2 cover, Click the cover image to view or ...
To join VRG and receive Vegetarian ... Vegetarian ...
[Despite its claim to be a Vegetarian Health, Ecology, and Ethics Journal and Resource Group, apparently (I haven’t subscribed to it) it is mainly a nutrition/health vegan organization and magazine.  Of course, a vegan life style is inherently ecological and ethical.  So I mean that the contents of the magazine, according to the tables of content, do not directly engage in the ethical (protection of animals, rejection of cruelty) or ecological (the climate consequences of eating meat).  --Dick]


vegnews.com/
VegNews is an award-winning vegan magazine and website packed with recipes, travel, news, food, reviews, and so much more.
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
The July+August Summer Fun Issue of VegNews is here and ...
History. The premier vegan lifestyle magazine, VegNews ...
Get VegNews Magazine delivered straight to your door, hot off the ...
National Pizza Chain Now Offers Vegan Cheese. By Veronica ...
Food. Vegan Three Bean Dal. This bean medley mixed with all the ...
Vegan Weddings 2016 (Jac ... Jac Reasor & Jae Russell

Top 21 VEGAN BLOGS, VEGNEWS (July-Aug.2016) p. 38


Health, Nutrition

Vegan Cooking
Kelly Peloza, The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur.
The Little Vegan Cookbook.   500 global recipes.
Steen and Newman, Vegans Go Nuts (and seeds). 

MARK HAWTHORNE, “THE WAY WE EAT.”  VEGNEWS  (July Aug. 2016).  An intense, comprehensive attack on the US industrial food system, and “how we’ve become the sickest country on the planet.”

FOR HEALTH EAT PLANTS NOT MEAT
When will your producers include in the climate and environmental discourse the incalculable emissions of methane , CO2, and other GHG's from farmed animal production, said to be 51% of all global emissions. Given the scientific and medical FACT that we'd be far healthier on the ideal diet for human beings, from plant based foods, isn't it literally insane to continue promoting, marketing and subsidizing animal agribusiness and livestock feed? See Dr. Richard Oppenlander discuss "Your Role in Global Depletion."
As long as we live the lie, that we need animals as vectors for nutrients far better absorbed through plant foods, we remain the only species that poisons its own environment and has little remorse about doing it to every other species we share it with.  From The Diane Rehm Show, July 1, 2015, discussant. 

Oatman, Maddie.   “The Case for Lo Pro.”  Mother JonesSeptember 1, 2016.   You might notice, the next time you go grocery shopping, that supermarket aisles are turning into one big advertisement for protein. The health claims are everywhere. Wheyhey ice cream-"20 g of protein per pot"-promises to help with "losing weight" and "skin anti-aging." P28 high-protein sliced bread wants to be "part of your journey to a healthy lifestyle." Kellogg's Special K Protein cereal "satisfies hunger longer." Everyone at work seems to be on a high-protein Paleo diet.   And American consumers, according to one business analytics firm, spend about $250 million a year on protein powder alone.
Given all the hype, it might come as no surprise that American adults are eating roughly double the average daily protein recommendation of 60 grams for women and 70 grams for men. …
Dick’s summary:  A balanced plant diet provides plenty of protein and significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions.]


Animal Rights and Protection, Compassion for Sentient Creatures

DICK:   NO SERIOUS INJURIES WERE REPORTED
On August 25, 2016 (NADG), a truck loaded with full cages of chickens overturned on a curve in Gentry.  “No serious injuries were reported, but cleanup was expected to take some time.”  The accompanying photo showed a pile of dead chickens. 
Progress for Humans, Long Way to Go for Chickens:
In Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn, news came of a riverboat explosion. 
Aunt Sally asked: “Anybody hurt?”
Huckleberry answered: “No’m.  Killed a nigger.”
Although the struggle continues for blacks (Black Lives Matter movement), constitutionally and legally they now receive full rights and respect.  No chickens seriously injured in 2016.

U.S. | Thu Aug 11, 2016 6:15pm EDT
Tyson fires 10 U.S. workers after video captures chicken abuse
By Tom Polansek CHICAGO, Reuters.   [Also appeared in NADG, Stephen Steed, “Tyson Fires 10 in Chicken-abuse Video (8-13-16)].  Tyson Foods Inc said it has fired 10 workers who were captured abusing breeder chickens in Virginia in a secretly recorded video released by an animal rights group on Thursday.The company also said it will retrain workers who handle live poultry on animal welfare policies after the latest instances of abuse came to light.The video by the activist group Compassion Over Killing showed Tyson workers at several facilities punching, kicking and flinging live birds. One employee was shown crushing the head of a live chicken under his boot.The footage, recorded in May and June, was posted on the website of the activist group, which fights for animal rights and encourages vegetarianism. (cok.net/)Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson, one of the world's largest meat processors, said it was "disgusted by the actions of the individuals in the video."Tyson said it believed it had not gone far enough to stop the mistreatment of animals at its facilities and was evaluating other steps to ensure its policies were being followed.The video marks at least the fifth time since 2015 that animal activists have secretly filmed abuse at Tyson farms.
Tyson sells meat in grocery stores and supplies chicken to major restaurant chains, including McDonald's Corp and Yum Brands Inc's KFC. It also makes Ball Park hot dogs, Jimmy Dean sausages and Sara Lee cold cuts.
"Animal cruelty is not the product of a few bad actors. It's a systemic issue that the company needs to address," the executive director of Compassion Over Killing, Erica Meier, said in an interview.
Tyson and Compassion Over Killing said separately they had contacted law enforcement who will determine whether to pursue criminal charges against the workers.
"Tyson should be held accountable for the horrors inflicted upon these animals," Meier said in a statement.
Tyson also said it has stopped a practice shown in the video that involves pushing a piece of plastic through the beaks of live male chickens.
The practice, known as boning or beak modification, was "a historical way the industry has used to keep males from eating food intended for females," according to Tyson. The company said it immediately stopped boning at the final two locations where it was performed, after previously eliminating it at other facilities.
On Monday, Tyson reported record operating margins in its chicken segment in the quarter ended on July 2. The unit had sales of $11.4 billion in 2015.   (Editing by Matthew Lewis)
[One thing stands out: Only the lowest level worker is punished.  No foreman, no middle level, no VP is fired or even referred to.  Apparently nobody above the line worker is responsible for Tyson’s corporate system.  –Dick]


GREEN PARTY TAKES THE LEAD FOR ANIMALS
The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) has “created an animal-rights committee to bring animal issues to the national political stage. . . .The move marks the first time in American history that a major political party has placed animal welfare as a priority.”  In VEGNEWS (July Aug 2016) p. 23.  --Dick

TWO BOOKS BY MARK HAWTHORNE
Mark Hawthorne, A Vegan Ethic: Embracing a Life of Compassion Toward AllHighly praised in a brief rev. VEGNEWS (July Aug., 2016) p. 73.  “the interconnectedness of all compassionate movements” and “veganism as the path to ensure a kinder world.” --Dick
Also:
https://www.amazon.com/Bleating.../1780998511
Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, .... fundamentally change the way you look not just at animals, but the world we share with ... Mark Hawthorne is the author of two books on animal rights: Bleating Hearts: 

NEW BOOK FROM THE HUMANE SOCIETY
The Humane Economy : Animal Protection 2.0., How Innovators and Enlightened  Consumers Are Transforming the Lives of Animals., by Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Human Society of the US.  Visit humaneeconomy.org.   In VEGNEWS (July August 2016). 


VEGNEWS (July August 2016)
Inside front cover 2 pp. ad for “Shop the Best of Cruelty-Free Beauty and Lifestyle.”  That’s about all on animals in this no. of Vegnews.


CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, POPX: POPULATION, SUSTAINABILILITY, AND A WILDER FUTURE FOR ALL
RELATED PROBLEM: MEAT INDUSTRY AND USDA VS. WILD ANIMALS


No. 67, June 24, 2016
Before You Fire Up the Grill...A Look at the Numbers
Earlier this week two seemingly unrelated things happened: Summer officially began, and the Center released a summary of the latest kill reports from Wildlife Services, the highly secretive and deadly arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2015 Wildlife Services slaughtered more than 3.2 million animals -- a half-million more than the year before -- including 385 gray wolves, 480 black bears, 731 bobcats, 3,437 foxes and at least 68,905 coyotes.

What does this killing program have to do with summertime? Americans eat an average of 818 hotdogs per second during the summer months, and Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day are the top three meat-eating days of the year. Not only does this meat-grilling frenzy take its toll on land, water and the climate, but the animals shot, poisoned and strangled by Wildlife Services are often killed at the behest of the meat industry.

The Center is among those calling for reform of Wildlife Services, but you can help, too, at least three times a day by choosing to eat less meat and not support the livestock industry driving this devastation. Summer is a great time to reconsider what you put on your plate -- and your grill. Check out our Extinction-free BBQ recipes for ideas on how to get started.

For the wild,
Stephanie Feldstein
Stephanie Feldstein
Population and Sustainability Director
P.S. Today's world population is: 7,436,878,650. We can still save room for wildlife -- spread the word and forward this email.




A Bright Energy Future
In our latest Crowded Planet vlog, the Center's Leigh Moyer tackles the topic of our ever-growing energy system and its effects on wildlife. While renewable energy is obviously better for the planet than fossil fuels, some projects look -- and act -- like alien death rays, while other (better) ones don't require additional land for generation or transmission, require negligible water use and rack up zero greenhouse gas emissions. Check out our latest video to learn which source is the best bet for wildlife, then share with your friends and subscribe to our YouTube channel.




Population Growth, Affluent Consumption, Global Warming, Environmental Extremes, Climate Catastrophe
Population Growth, Consumption, and Waste:
JUNE 24, 2016 world population is: 7,436,878,650.

AGAINST INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE:  LOLLY TINDAL AND  JEANNE NEATH
And then a different topic:
Agriculture is one of the biggest users of fossil fuels in the world and Monsanto (Dow, Syngenta, and other chemical companies posing as seed companies, along with all the major agribusiness suppliers such as Cargill, ADM, etc) is the evil twin to Exxon-Mobil in the world of dirt. Last year was the UN's Year of the Soil. And if we just took stock of how many ways agribusiness uses fossil fuels, it would be right up there with transportation and energy production for electricity. Monsanto et.al. is forcing (in one sense that this is the current accepted practice in agribusiness) farmers worldwide to buy into GMOs which require Round-up. So not only is agribusiness a big fossil fuel user but it also is forcing the use of the most widely used agricultural toxin, glyphosate. Fossil fuel is used in the synthetic fertilizers that agribusiness applies to the soil; natural gas is turned into ammonium nitrate, the chemical nitorgen component. Unfortunately for people who eat, this synthetic nitrogen is a soil killer and plowing from fence row to fence row only makes it worse (we've lost 60% of our topsoil down the Mississippi to the Gulf, plus the excess synthetic nitrogen has created a dead zone from algal blooms in the Gulf---carry that picture to every major river in every world country that uses current agricultural practices). Current methodology kills soil structure, kills good soil bacteria, kills the microrrihizae that are the soil communicators. This is all for money and the supposed advantage of extra production. But the so-called extra production is mostly because there are more fields in production and because of the momentary (in the eyeblink of agriculture's 10,000 year history) aid of fossil fuels in general, not because GMOs actually produce more food. Weeds are becoming resistant to Round-up, they're smart and we thought it was just us humans!  Think of all the monocultures this type of agriculture produces! Think of all the species on the brink because we've cleared all that land! Think of all the corporate handouts because of federal subsidies!

Then there's the question of globalization: soy grown in Brazil after cutting down the rainforest is shipped thousands of miles to fatten cattle for McDonald's. Third world countries, China is a great example, as their middle class grows, are eating more meat. China has just instituted an eat less meat national plan; they can do that from the top down unlike our "democratic method" with a dysfunctional Congress. Think of the air miles and truck miles used to move a mango from India to the US! 

There's more, this is just a start, I don't have the staistics at hand just lots of reading on the topic of agribusiness since I'm an organic grower. We have emphasized CO2 emissions because they are quantifiable, but we've only  applied that to transportation and electric energy production, not to food/soil/agribusiness. Everybody has to eat! FDR said "the country that kills its soil, kills the country."

Thanks, Dick and everybody. I would welcome feedback and support.
Lolly Tindol

I know you are very familiar with La Via Campesina, Lolly, but others may not be, so I recommend their article Small Scale Sustainable Farmers are Cooling Down the Earth to everyone interested in reducing carbon. Ending industrial agriculture is essential to climate change efforts. (Link to the La Via Campesina article is at the end of my email.) 
According to La Via Campesina, the organization representing the global peasant movement:
"Industrial agriculture and the industrial food system are major causes of the climate crisis:
Agricultural activities are responsible for 11 to 15%
Land clearing and deforestation cause an additional 15 to 18%
Food processing,packing and transportation cause 15 to 20%
Decomposition of organic waste: 3 to 4%
Total emissions of the food system: 44 to 57% of total global greenhouse emissions"
La Via Campesina say in their paper that by eliminating industrial agriculture and having small scale sustainable farmers producing food globally:
"Emissions would be reduced or offset as follows:
By recuperating soil organic matter: 20 to 35%
By reversing the concentration of meat production and reintegrating animal and crop production: 5 to 9%
By putting local markets and fresh food back in the center of the food system: 10 to 12%
By halting and clearing and deforestation: 15 to 18%
In total, these changes would provoke a reduction of ½ to ¾ of current global emissions. If this is complemented by serious saving and reduction strategies in other economic sectors, the goal of zero emissions and even reducing current concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would become feasible.
The solutions are not just technical or biological. The necessary forms of organizing and carrying out these forms of agriculture require decentralized tasks and millions of people, communities and organizations involved and making decisions on how to make the change possible.
They also require a sharp knowledge of local ecosystems and conditions, of seeds and biodiversity.
Only small farmers and indigenous peoples around the world can fulfill such needs."
Jeanne Neath


See chapters on Population and Consumption in Gary Gardner’s “Our Planet Today,” in Seidel, There Is Still Time.  “Consumption is driven in part by population growth (more people means more consumption), but also by greater prosperity, which typically drives up consumption per person.”  (126).

“Population growth can cancel out everything we do to limit the build-up of GHGs (Attenborough, “The Crowded Planet,” 2009), and population continues to increase at a rapid rate.”  McNall, Rapid Climate Change (58)But McNall recognizes also the importance of excessive consumption in the developed countries (59).  Reduction of both is essential.

Dauvergne, Peter.   The Shadows of Consumption: Consequences for the Global Environment.  MIT P, 2009.   The harms of over-consumption and waste in affluent countries from the consumption of beef to the use of cars and fridges. 

China preparing to decrease meat consumption

CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
Wildlife, Population, Renewable Energy, Climate Catastrophe, ICLEIUSA, China
Welcome New Wild Energy Staff
We're excited to welcome a new staff member to the Population and Sustainability team: Chad Tudenggongbu, our new senior renewable energy campaigner. He'll be leading the Center's "Wild Energy" campaign to promote a wildlife-friendly renewable energy future. Chad brings extensive experience working on renewable energy and climate change issues with ICLEIUSA and the British Consulate-General in Chongqing, China. He received his bachelor's degree in cultural anthropology from Duke University and a master's degree in environmental policy from Bard College.


GROWTH
See OMNI’s GROWTH WATCH NEWSLETTERS.  #3 was published July 10, 2016.






Contents Vegetarian Action Newsletter #29
I.  Nutrition, Health
Veganism for All, Brown Vegan
Vegan Recipes
Pollan’s 7 Words Plus 1
II.  Animal Rights
Protecting Feral Cats
Tyson Video
Mercy for Animals
Animal Legal Defense Fund
Dick, Arkansas Makin’ Progress
Dick, Looking on the Bright Side
III.  Climate Change, Overpopulation, Carnivorism
Kunstler, Magic and the Fate of the Nation
Farm Bureau v. Cowspiracy
IV. Limits to Growth
McKibben, Eaarth

END VEGETARIAN ACTION NEWSLETTER #30


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Dick's Wars and Warming KPSQ Radio Editorials (#1-48)

Dick's Wars and Warming KPSQ Radio Editorials (#1-48)