OMNI
VEGETARIAN/VEGAN
ACTION NEWSLETTER,
FEBRUARY 12,
2020.
Edited by Dick Bennett
for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and
Ecology
To
be removed from this mailing, drop me a note unsubscribe, but please continue your urgent advocacy of
vegetarianism and veganism.
POTLUCK WEDNESDAY
Feb. 12 (2ND WEDNESDAYS).
We start eating at 6:00.
This Newsletter is about food and its
consequences in 3 categories: human health or harm, kindness or cruelty to
animals, and stability or catastrophe to the climate. Tell people about OMNI,
our Veg Potluck, its comprehensive message, and Newsletter.
All
are welcome to the experience of eating together and becoming better informed
for a healthier and safer life for all sentient beings and for the atmosphere
and soils. Each of you is invited to
tell about your favorite Vegan recipe and your potluck recipe for the evening.
SPECIAL
FOR THIS EVENING IS THE FILM GAME
CHANGERS.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
In Coetzee’s
Novel Most People Are Vegetarians
NUTRITION, HEALTH
Alternatives to Meats Booming
News from The Vegan Way by Jackie Day
Dr. Greger’s Book, How Not to Die
Organic Consumers Association Health News and
Actions
Wake-up Call, What’s
for Lunch, etc.
PROTECTION OF ANIMALS
PETA Global (Winter 2020)
“We’re Not the Only Species on Earth”
DEFENSE OF CLIMATE
Capitalism’s
Destructive Dynamos
Jonathan Foer, We Are the Weather
Kate Aronoff, A Planet
to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal
The Nordic Diet v. Meat
(January Newsletter: https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2020/01/vegetarian-action-newsletter-january-8.html)
TEXTS
J. M.
Coetzee’s The Childhood of Jesus (2013)
creates and examines a kind and benevolent world in which
most people are vegetarians.
NUTRITION, HEALTH
“Taking the Beef Out of Burgers.” The
Week (January 17, 2020). Sales are booming for alternative
meats. Some liabilities exist in the faux
meats, but they are healthier, don’t torture or kill other animals, and protect
the climate.
THE VEGAN WAY
Happy New Year Sweet Peas!
I
thought to kick off the new year by sharing things to be HAPPY about, as well
as a few healthy tips!
▪ The Golden Globes will ONLY offer
100% vegan meals this year! Every celebrity and their guests will be enjoying a
scrumptious vegan dinner & dessert.
▪ TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year,
Greta Thunberg, is… vegan!
▪ Vegan Beyond Meat launched its IPO in
May – and it’s one of the most successful launches of an IPO ever!
▪ Nestlé, Sysco, Perdue Farms, ConAgra,
Hormel, JBS, Cargill, and Tyson are all investing in plant-based meat – and the
list continues to grow!
▪ Vegan fast-food is mainstream!
Everything from Beyond Meat tacos at Taco Bell & vegan chick’n at KFC to
vegan burgers at Carl’s Jr. & vegan breakfast sandwiches at Dunkin’ Donuts
(served by Snoop Dogg lol!) made their debut!
▪ We have a presidential candidate who
is vegan – and proud of it. (no matter what side of the political aisle you're
on, you've gotta admit, that's COOL!)
▪ ▪ Dean
Foods, the 94-year-old U.S. dairy milk company that was once worth over 10
billion dollars, just filed for bankruptcy, while plant-based milk sales
continue to soar!
ADD
GREENS TO YOUR DIET
A
Few Healthy Tips!
▪ If you want an easy way to get more
greens into your diet, toss a handful into whatever meal you’re making; they
don’t need to be a side dish. I often toss in a handful of kale or spinach into
my pasta as its boiling just before I strain it. You can also easily serve rice
on a bed of greens, too. Just put the greens on your plate and pile the rest of
your yummy meal on top!
▪ If you’re in a rush, and don’t have
time to cook, check out Trader Joe’s Cruciferous Slaw. It’s one of my favorite
new products – and it comes complete with vegan dressing. It has that perfect
mix of savory & sweet. So good!
The
Vegan Way in Whole Foods Market
Recommended
Reading:
"How
Not To Die" by Dr. Greger
LOVE
this book! It's no surprise it's a NY Times Best Seller! Dr. Greger is about to
go on a speaking tour, too!
The Vegan Way
(my book!)
- which was just listed as "Recommended Reading" by UC Berkeley's
History Department. Go CAL! It's packed with interesting facts, recipes, tips
& inspiration and is in bookstores & public libraries nationwide.
And
listening...
Here's
a recent NPR/KTEP interview where I explain why I went vegan 32+ years ago. I
really enjoyed chatting with these folks!
Wishing
you good health and happiness in the new year!
Jackie Day
xoxo
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BLOG POST OF THE WEEK
Wake-Up Call
Amazon and Walmart will no
longer sell paint remover products containing methylene chloride, a
chemical linked to cancer, cognitive impairment and other health issues
methylene chloride. That’s because last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) finally banned retail sales
of the controversial chemical.
But both Amazon and Walmart will sell you
decaffeinated coffee that tests positive methylene chloride.
Walmart and Amazon aren't alone.
According to a recent investigation by
the Clean Label Project™, a
national nonprofit focused on health and transparency in labeling, a surprising
number of popular decaffeinated coffee brands contain methylene chloride.
That’s troubling news, given that many of the people who
choose decaf over caffeinated coffee do so for health reasons. For instance,
doctors often suggest pregnant women and people suffering from heart disease
stick with decaf.
The study contained some good news,
though, for consumers who buy organic—none of
the certified organic brands tested by Clean Label Project contained detectable
levels of methylene chloride.
ACTION ALERT
What's for Lunch?
Federal regulations for school lunches—never strong to
begin with—are about to get worse.
If Trump’s U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) pushes through its proposed new rules, schools will
be allowed to serve up more processed junk food, and fewer fruits and
vegetables.
The new rules would also let schools replace leafy green
vegetables with french fries—nevermind that in addition to being fried in unhealthy oils, because
schools aren’t required to source organic potatoes, those fries will come from
potatoes drenched in a toxic soup of
pesticides.
In other words, the USDA proposes to
undermine kids’ health by feeding them junk foods linked to childhood
obesity and chronic disease.
SUPPORT OCA & CRL
Keep Going
“It's like the great stories, Mr.
Frodo . . . Folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only
they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding onto something. That
there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo . . . and it’s worth fighting for.”—
Samewise Gamgee, in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Two Towers”
Some days, the power of corporate money and corporate
lobbyists overwhelms.
Some days, the corruption and greed feels too pervasive and
too entrenched to overcome.
On those days, it’s more crucial than ever that we acknowledge
and honor all the good that is bubbling up from the ground, thanks to the
tireless work of everyday people who refuse to give up.
This week we heard from a farmer,
co-activist and co-champion of regenerative agriculture who has been leading
the fight against Costco’s plan to build the world’s largest factory farm
poultry operation in the world, in his backyard in Nebraska.
He, along with many good citizens and organizations, are
standing up against Costco’s plan—a plan that would be ruinous for Nebraska’s
waterways and organic and regenerative farmers.
They may not be able to totally shut
down Costco’s project. But they are slowing it down. And in the process,
building a movement.
They’ve educated and organized an army of citizen activists
They’ve succeeded in convincing at least a few counties to reject the plan.
They’ve organized a citizen-led scientific research project to highlight the
damage industrial factory farms are having on the state’s water quality.
And this week, they released policy
guidelines for state and local elected officials on how to protect Nebraska
communities from factory farms—and how to help the next generation of farmers
transition to organic and regenerative farming practices.
This is what change from the ground up looks like. This is
the work we lend our support to.
This is the good in the world. And
it’s worth fighting for.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Dig In!
If you’re like most gardening enthusiasts, you’re probably
flipping through seed catalogs right about now.
If so, you may want to watch this week’s video about
a company called High Mowing Organic Seeds. It’s one of the only companies
producing organic seeds from organically grown plants.
That’s right. As it turns out, most seed companies don’t
grow their own seeds—and most companies that produce organic seeds don’t get
those seeds from organically grown plants.
Tom Stearns, founder of High Mowing,
started saving seeds when he was 18 years old. Stearns believes growing seeds
organically and focusing on the health of soil and water are keys to rebuilding
an entire food system:
“This new food system that we need to
create needs to think deeply about how we take care of the soil, the water, the
air, what tools we use, what types of seeds we use, what the nutrition is that
goes into the soil, and then into the food and then into people.”
If you live in a part of the country
where all you can do right now is dream of spring planting season, you'll want
to check this out.
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READING ROOM
Almost Here!
“Regenerative agriculture is going
to be a key phrase in the decades ahead—and this book will get you in on the
ground floor, so to speak. Not much could be more important!”— Bill McKibben,
author of “Falter”
Want to be part of the
Regeneration Revolution? “Grassroots Rising” is your handbook.
Ronnie’s new book, your “good
news” instruction manual for fixing our broken food and farming system and
our broken climate, will be out next week. You can order it then, or reserve your copy
now.
The timing couldn’t be better. The
climate emergency is bearing down on us, our family farmers are going bankrupt and our
food is increasingly contaminated and less nutritious.
But there’s hope on the horizon.
Politicians are finally waking up
to regenerative agriculture as
a climate, health, food security and rural economy revitalization solution.
And more than 100 members of Congress have officially endorsed the Green New Deal as
the framework for transforming our food and farming (and climate) policy.
It’s a great start. But it will
take a lot more pressure from millions of grassroots activists to make the
Regenerative Green New Deal a reality.
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LITTLE BYTES
Essential Reading
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PROTECTION OF ANIMALS
Fran Alexander.
“Extinction Is Forever: Why Do
Humans Need to Kill for the Thrill?” NADG (8-18-15).
California just banned
the sale of fur. Hey, you know fur is dead when even
the Queen of England has committed to only wearing faux fur for all future
engagements!
We’re Not the Only Species On Earth: Let’s Stop Acting Like It by PETA, January 3, 2020.
Please enjoy this article from
the latest issue of our magazine, PETA Global. To begin your subscription,
become a PETA member today!I wonder what it would be like to have a watch that, instead of telling the time, told you how little time you have left. Like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, I believe there’s no time to waste if we want to get things done. So, let’s push the envelope before it’s time to push up daisies.
Slaves to Habit
I’m enlisting your support to help end human supremacism. If, as Thomas Henry Huxley said, we “[s]it down before fact as a little child,” we must recognize that speciesism is as offensive as any other discrimination and as unjustified as any other exploitation. It’s simply privilege manifested as domination and a bias rooted in denying others their self-worth.
PETA’s mission statement reads, “Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way” – acknowledging that those who happen not to have been born human are individuals, too, with their own desires, needs, and complex lives. They have the right to live in freedom and don’t exist simply to serve humankind. They aren’t ours to do with as we please, even taking away their very lives just for a sandwich or a pair of shoes.
Most humans wouldn’t dream of treating their dogs the way factory farmers treat pigs, even though both species experience the same pain, joy, and fear. Many humans wear coats stuffed with feathers yanked out of the skin of a screaming goose, yet they’d never consider ripping out fistfuls of a parrot’s feathers.
And it’s speciesist to suggest that animals in laboratories don’t have the same capacity for suffering that we do, both psychologically and physically, or that they don’t tremble when the laboratory door opens – for they do. Why, then, are animal experimenters not charged with cruelty for violating their victims’ rights? Why do they still tear infant monkeys away from their loving mothers, implant electrodes in cats’ brains, and force poisons down the throats of mice?
There is no justification for raising chickens in crowded sheds reeking of ammonia, for punching and stomping
on sheep while stealing their wool, or for treating dolphins like surfboards by balancing on their faces as is done at SeaWorld.
Justice Begins With Just Us
To end speciesism, we must take a hard look at our personal choices and change all those that harm others. We can go vegan to combat climate change or to clean out our clogged arteries, or we can do so because it is simply wrong to exploit, hurt, and kill other sentient beings for food.
There is animal-free clothing everywhere, from high end to bargain basement. We can choose personal care and household products that aren’t tested on animals and donate only to health charities that don’t conduct animal experiments. And we can avoid circuses that treat animals as living props. Making kind choices isn’t hard at all, although even if it were, the extra effort would still be worth it.
Animals aren’t like us – they are us. They deserve equal consideration, regardless of anyone’s opinion of them.
If we just shrug off speciesism, we show ourselves to be not superior but small-minded, self-centered, and mean-spirited.
At 51, I’ve worked at PETA longer than I haven’t. I’ve seen a lot of progress, but we still have far to go. I’m challenging everyone to examine their own prejudice toward animals, of whom we are but one kind.
Please join the call to #EndSpeciesism, end animal slavery, and make future generations proud.
Written by Tracy Reiman, PETA Executive Vice President.
CLIMATE
Jonathan Foer.
We Are the Weather: Saving the
Planet Begins at Breakfast. Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 2019. Rev. by Kate Aronoff,
“Things Are Bleak!” The Nation (Nov. 11/18, 2019). Foer:
“…global warming is perhaps not the product of a universally shared moral
failing but of a political economy that has allowed a very small group of
people to hoard incredible amounts of wealth and power, enabling them to wreck
the world.”
Aronoff is also a co-author of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New
Deal.
Main
principles of capitalism are the twins growth and profit.
Nathan Owens. “Beef, Pork Fuel Growth for Tyson: Sales,
Profits post quarterly rise.” NADG (2-7-20). These principles also spell the destruction
of our climate.
Getting
Ready,
Alas We Are Leaving the Starting Gate Late
The
cookbook The Nordic Diet was published ten
years ago. Already the cooks there were preparing for
the catastrophe, while our leaders, particularly the Republicans, were denying
reality and cutting taxes for the rich needed for a sturdy infrastructure. Here’s a passage from the 2010 The Nordic Diet:
“…the
world’s livestock production is responsible for a large part of all greenhouse
gases. The calculation is clear: It
takes ten times more energy to produce a steak from a corn-fed cow than to
produce the oats needed for a portion of oatmeal.”
END VEGETARIAN\VEGAN ACTION NEWSLETTER, FEBRUARY 2020
