[Vegan Examiner]

Ingrid Newkirk

As president and co-founder of The People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA), you've publicized the appeal for going vegetarian and
avoiding fur.  The campaigns of PETA have drawn attention around the
world for their sexual portrayals of scantily clad women and colorful
mockeries of food establishments such as PETA's KFC Cruelty campaign.
...
The purpose of this letter is to humbly request your participation in
debating Gary L. Francione, Distinguished Professor of Law and
Philosophy at Rutgers University School of Law under my moderation.
The invitation has already been accepted by Professor Francione, so
the ball is now in your court.
...
I am hereby offering you this chance to publicly debate Professor Gary
Francione to offer your side of this disagreement.  As individuals who
care deeply for sentient animals, it is of vital importance we
approach the problem of animal use and cruelty with sound ideology and
practice.  If the perceived sexism and violence of PETA campaigns is
misunderstood, I and my readers would like to give you the opportunity
to speak on behalf of PETA on the issue of campaigning and animal
rights ideology.  This interview may be done over the phone or by
other means over the Internet.  I will be patiently awaiting your
reply.

--
full story:
http://www.examiner.com/x-4198-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m8d1-An-open-invitation-to-In\
grid-Newkirk

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

the August issue of IVU Online News is now at:

  http://www.ivu.org/news/online/2009-08/index.html

Contents:

Interview with Cristina Rodriques of Centro Vegetariano - Portugal
Most Popular Veg-Related Websites
Sweden: Draft Guidelines Urge Citizens To Eat Less Meat
And, A Petition for Taiwan
New Book: 'Why Animal Suffering Matters'
American Dietetic Association's New Paper on Veg Diets
Energy Flow, Environment and Ethical Implications for Meat Production
Survey on the Status of Vegan and Vegetarians in UK Care Homes
Vegetarian Travellers' Tales
Advice for a Not Yet 100% Veg Reader
Upcoming Events
Welcome to Organisations That Have Recently Registered with IVU
Other Online Sources of Veg News
Please Send News to IVU Online News


  john
  -------
  john davis
  manager@...
  http://www.ivu.org

[video at full story link]

EUGENE, Ore. -- A pair of protesters showered nude in downtown Eugene
Wednesday afternoon, not to cool off but to soak passersby with a
message about adopting a meat-free diet.

The slogan on the shower stall -- set up so the two women were
shielded from view below the shoulders and above the knees -- read
"Clean Your Conscience: Go Vegetarian! 1 lb. of Meat = 6 Months of
Showers."

"It takes over 2,400 gallons of water to produce just one pound of
meat," said Amanda Fortino, the campaign coordinator for the People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "So that means that you can
actually save more water by not eating one pound of beef than you
would by not showering for an entire six months."

--
full story:
http://www.katu.com/news/52266617.html

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[Sacramento Nutrition Examiner]

Watch the  CBC National News  News, the National video  at the
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease blog. Also see the transcript in text of
that entire  CBC National News  News National video at the blog
titled, "U.S.A. Hiding Mad Cow Disease Victims as Sporadic CJD?" For
additional information see the article, "Mad Cow Cover Up USA Masked
as Sporadic CJD."

For years scientists have known that BSE causes variant
Creutzfeldt-Jakob (CJD) disease, the "human form" of Mad Cow disease.
Now scientists are researching whether sporadic CJD doesn't really
occur spontaneously, as previously thought, but rather also is caused
by eating meat infected with BSE prions, since spontaneous CJD
frequently occurs in clusters. Some of the leading scientists in the
world are having another look at spontaneous CJD.

--
full story:
http://www.examiner.com/x-7160-Sacramento-Nutrition-Examiner~y2009m8d1-Scientist\
s-research-whether-sporadic-CreutzfeldtJakob-CJD-disease-also-is-caused-by-eatin\
g-meat

SEE ALSO:
USDA fires, reprimands Iowa laboratory workers
Six months of showers or a pound of beef?

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[comments (currently at 30) at full story link]

Heather Mills’ vegan cafe is proving a hit with meat-eating residents.

Thousands of customers have been visiting the meat and diary-free
VBites every week since it opened at Hove Lagoon on July 4.

And it seems the former model’s new venture is changing many people’s
attitudes towards vegan food, as between 700 and 1,000 vegan products
are sold at the venue every day.

--
full story:
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4524680.Heather_s_Hove_cafe_has_proved_a_hit/

SEE ALSO:
Greener Vail: Eat, drink and be sustainable
Are You Unknowingly Eating Horse Meat?

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[Ha'aretz]

The latest culinary trend will delight the part of population that
until now made do with side salads and side dishes - vegetarians.
Israel is joining the "meatless Monday" initiative, a not-so-new
innovation wherein diners both at home and in restaurants refrain from
carnivorous activity for one day a week.

The body responsible for the Israeli initiative and organization is
the food magazine Al Hashulchan, which has enlisted more than 30
restaurants around the country where the chefs have committed to
cooking a number of vegetarian options alongside the regular menu
every Monday.

Among the restaurants participating in the project are Sushi Samba,
Katit, Dallal, Bayit Bagalil in the Biria Forest, Muscat at the
Mitzpeh Hayamim Hotel, Assif, Tsafra, Hadar Okhel, the Black and
Burger chain, Adora, Giraffe, Sakura and many others.

The reasons for the push are varied: Mostly, meatless Monday is aimed
at saving the planet and raising consciousness of a healthier and more
balanced menu.

--
full story:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1104808.html

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[NBC Washington]

So you're driving your Prius from yoga practice to the Clarendon Whole
Foods about to pick up some delicious soy burgers for your sustainable
barbecue when you spot a lovely young woman in your rear-view mirror.
She's cruising along on a Vespa, her organic cotton dress blowing in
the warm summer breeze. You think: If only there was a more overt way
to let her know that you're a kindred spirit.

Soon, your wish may come true.

Several groups are pushing to establish a new "vegetarian" license
plate in Virginia. To accomplish this, organizers need to find 350
people willing to prepay the $10 specialty tag fee. So far, they’ve
found 15, according to Leslie Sanford of veggieplates.org.

--
full story:
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/Vegetarian-License-Plate-Push-in-Vi\
rginia-52386602.html

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

BRANDON — Brooke English gave up eating meat for ethical reasons: She
loves animals.

Sometimes, though rarely, she eats fish. But she hasn't had a bite of
chicken or beef or pork in two years.

Brooke is 6. She recently munched a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
and a salad in her Brandon home, where there's an ideological divide.
Brooke lives with her mother, who eats meat.

These days, Brooke is not alone. Young children are deciding to cut
meat out of their diets and many of their meat-eating parents are
backing them.

"I think she's 100 percent right," said Brooke's mother, Heidi
English. "I'm so proud of her. She tells kids in her class not to eat
meat. She really stands behind it."

Debby Magill, public relations director for Tampa Bay Vegetarians,
which has more then 120 members, occasionally hears from parents of
such precocious children. She was approached recently by a mother of a
10-year-old girl who wants to be vegetarian.

--
full story:
http://www.tampabay.com/features/food/general/article1024417.ece

SEE ALSO:
Vegetarian celebrities and vegetarian celebrity quotes
Vegetarians Live 6 To 10 Years Longer, 50% Lower Heart Disease Rate

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[MyFox Washington DC]

WASHINGTON - A controversial ad campaign you might see on Metro is
drawing a comparison between school lunches and what President Obama's
children eat at their school.

It shows an eight year old girl who points out Sasha and Malia get
healthy lunches and asks, "Why don't I?"

A non profit group, Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine
sponsored the ads.

--
full story:
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/080409_obama_daughters_in_controversial_ad

SEE ALSO:
Ads targeting Obama girls may anger White House    [Politico]

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[U.S. News & World Report]

Kirstie Alley learned the hard way that cutting meat from your diet is
not a magic route to svelteness. As she told People magazine earlier
this year, "For seven months I was a vegetarian, and I can't tell you
how much weight I gained being a vegetarian!" (She actually does tell
us: 83 pounds.) Indeed, while a plant-based diet has been associated
with many health benefits—including a smaller risk of death from heart
disease, lower LDL cholesterol levels, and a reduced incidence of
diabetes, obesity, and cancer—the diet has to be "appropriately
planned," as the American Dietetic Association said in its recent
position statement on the subject.

What does that mean? Here are six tips to keep in mind if you’re
thinking of going all—or partially—veggie.

Define what you mean by vegetarian. There are lots of variations on a
vegetarian diet. Most strict are vegans, who eschew any kind of animal
products, including butter and eggs. (Vegans disagree over whether to
eat honey; some feel it’s cruel and exploitative of bees.) Less
stringent are vegetarians who eat eggs or dairy. Some, oxymoronically,
eat fish, though the accurate term for them is pescatarian. And then
there are the newest additions, flexitarians, who recognize the
benefits of a plant-based diet and choose to reduce but not eliminate
their meat consumption. What route you go is a personal decision,
depending on your tastes, preferences, and views on the environment
and the proper role of animals. Think it over and figure out what fits
into your life, practically and philosophically. (Here's the skinny on
red meat and health.)

--
full story:
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/diet-fitness/2009/08/04/vegetarian-6-ti\
ps-for-a-healthy-vegetarian-diet.html

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

A short paper Ryne Poelker wrote for a class assignment during his
freshman year at Petersburg PORTA High School changed the way he
approached mealtime.

Ultimately, the paper set him on a path of vegetarianism that resulted
in Poelker receiving a $5,000 college scholarship this summer from the
Vegetarian Resource Group, a nonprofit that educates the public about
vegetarianism. The scholarship is one of two nationwide awarded by the
Baltimore-based group to graduating seniors who have promoted
vegetarianism in their communities.

Poelker, who graduated from PORTA in May and will attend the
University of Illinois-Chicago, said he wrote the paper for a class
assignment on animal rights. The paper changed his life and his diet.
Poelker has not eaten meat since writing the paper.

--
full story:
http://www.sj-r.com/features/x154264337/Teens-vegetarianism-wins-him-a-scholarsh\
ip

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

Consumers should be informed if any of their home electricity is being
generated using the 'macabre' recycling of waste meat from
supermarkets, campaigners said today.

Tesco now sends 5,000 tonnes of meat that has passed its sell-by date
to be turned into enough National Grid electricity to power 600 homes
for a year.

The retail giant has hailed the scheme as part of a 'green' drive
which had enabled it to stop sending any of the waste it produces to
environmentally damaging landfill sites.

But animal rights campaign group Viva said many non-meat eaters would
be 'horrified' that their houses were being part-powered by
out-of-date meat.

And they said any environmental benefits of recycling the meat were
far outweighed by the greenhouse gases produced by rearing so much
more meat than was needed in the first place.

Justin Kerswell, campaigns manager for Viva (Vegetarians International
Voice for Animals), said: 'It's a sad indictment of modern life that
not only hundreds of millions of animals are killed each year in the
UK, but so much meat is left over from greed and indifference.

'To turn this wasted meat into power might seem like a good idea at
first, but you have to ask yourself why is so much left over and why
are so many animals dying to provide this excess?

--
full story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1204525/Vegetarians-outrage-Tesco-admits\
-macabre-practice-turning-date-meat-electricity.html

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

A national animal rights group is lobbying Dunkin’ Donuts to stop
using eggs and dairy in its doughnuts and offer vegan menu items.

The nonprofit Compassion Over Killing has launched a campaign and Web
site to convince the Canton-based chain to offer vegan doughnuts and
soy milk as options in all of its locations.

The Washington, D.C., group - which objects to Dunkin’s use of eggs
from so-called factory farms where hens are confined to small wire
cages - hasn’t heard back from the company, according to executive
director Erica Meier.

“Every doughnut that they currently have has egg and dairy,” Meier
said. “We’ve encouraged them to open up their market to the vegan
community, as well as those who are concerned about their health or
who have allergies to egg and dairy products.”

--
full story:
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1188936

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

United Poultry Concerns
5 August 2009

"Free-Range" Poultry and Eggs: Not All They're Cracked Up to Be
UPC's New Brochure is Now Available in Print and Online!
[http://www.upc-online.org/freerange.html]

United Poultry Concerns is pleased to announce that our brochure
"Free-Range" Poultry and Eggs: Not All They're Cracked Up To Be has
been revised and expanded - with powerful hatchery photographs and
information - to address the most frequently asked questions about
"free-range," "cage-free," and "certified humane."

What are the differences?

What happens to "egg-type" male chicks?

Are "free-range" poultry and eggs different from factory farming?

What happens at the hatchery?

Is it easy to replace eggs? And more!

8 full-color 5.5 x 8.5 pages focus particular attention on chick
hatcheries and debeaking, because this is where commercial poultry and
egg production starts, regardless of the label.

To order by credit card, go to [http://www.upc-online.org/merchandise/].
Or send check or money order to UPC, PO Box 150, Machipongo, VA 23405.

20 for $3.00      50 for $6.00      100 for $10.00      200 for $15.00

Thank You! Also, check this out:
[http://www.upc-online.org/diet/humane_meat.html].

--
United Poultry Concerns is a nonprofit organization that promotes the
compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl.
Don't just switch from beef to chicken. Go Vegan.
[http://www.UPC-online.org]

Order Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs Today!
[http://www.upc-online.org/merchandise/book.html]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/health/dementia05.html?_r=1&emc=eta1



The New York Times

August 6, 2009
Vital Signs
Mildly High Cholesterol at Midlife Linked to Alzheimer's

By RONI CARYN RABIN

Adults who had just slightly elevated blood cholesterol when they
were in their early 40s were at greater risk of developing dementia
decades later, compared with those whose cholesterol was at optimal
levels, a new study has found.

The findings, which analyzed data from almost 10,000 health care plan
members followed for four decades, surprised the investigators.

While earlier studies have shown an association between high
cholesterol in midlife and an elevated risk of Alzheimer's disease,
"we were surprised to see the association with borderline levels,"
said Rachel A. Whitmer, an epidemiologist with the Kaiser Permanente
Division of Research and the paper's senior author.

The study followed 9,844 members of the Kaiser Permanente Northern
California Medical Group who had blood work done between 1964 and
1973, when they were 40 to 45 years old. All had remained members of
the plan until at least 1994, when computerized outpatient diagnoses
of dementia were made available.

Some 598 of the original participants were diagnosed with Alzheimer's
disease or vascular dementia, a less common form of dementia, between
1994 and 2007, when they were between 61 and 88 years old.

Those whose total blood cholesterol had been high - over 240
milligrams per deciliter - were 57 percent more likely to have
developed Alzheimer's disease than those with optimal levels. Those
who had borderline cholesterol values - between 200 and 239
milligrams per deciliter - were at 50 percent greater risk of
developing vascular dementia.

"What's good for the heart is good for the brain," Dr. Whitmer said,
adding, "Midlife is not too soon to be thinking about risk factors
for dementia. This is a modifiable risk factor. This is something you
can change."

The study is being published online this week in the journal Dementia
& Geriatric Cognitive Disorders.

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

[Arlington Vegan Examiner]

Paul McCartney said "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone
would be vegetarian." Yet they do not have glass walls, and most of us
can ignore the reality of the lives of animals used in industrial food
production most of the time. However, our ignoring it does not change
the brutality of what life means for sentient beings treated like
commodities, with no thought to feelings, fear, terror, suffering or
abuse. Most people do not have consciences that bother them when they
dive into the meat on their platter, despite knowing on some level
that there was a life sacrificed in an ugly and painful way to create
the product there. The #1 reason for going vegan is for the animals.
K.D. Lang said, "If you knew how meat was made, you'd probably lose
your lunch."  Cheese and eggs also leave a trail of blood. Chickens
have their beaks cut off without anesthetic; baby chicks (males) are
separated and tossed down a chute to die or, in some cases, to be
ground up while fully conscious. Cows going into slaughter often panic
and try to escape. Some are fully aware as they are quickly removed of
their hide and hung on hooks; slaughterhouse workers have admitted to
having them come by on the assembly line with eyes that looked right
at them, still alive.

--
full story:
http://www.examiner.com/x-18166-Arlington-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m8d5-20-things-you\
-can-do-to-help-animals-1--go-vegan

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
13 e-mails sent out today - 45+ news links added to the site! - what
did you miss?
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[Honolulu Weekly]

vegan macrobiotic community dinners / As if vegetarians don’t get
enough flak from meat eaters fiercely loyal to the carnivorous
lifestyle, imagine what macrobiotic vegans must go through. The
mockery is one thing, but the challenge of shopping and cooking is
much more of a burden. A vegan macrobiotic diet, aside from being a
potential tongue twister, basically consists of a low-fat, high fiber
diet of whole cereal grains and foods such as legumes and vegetables,
with no exceedingly refined or processed foods. As much an approach to
life as a set of dietary rules, macrobiotic eating strives to strike a
balance between yin and yang.

Sound confusing? Enter chefs Leslie Ashburn and Kathy Maddox,
purveyors of Honolulu’s vegan macrobiotic community dinners, who
trained in macrobiotics at the Kushi Institute. Those curious about
the world of vegan macrobiotics, as well as those who follow the
lifestyle but don’t want to cook for a night, can gather harmoniously
at dusk for a complete, hot, healthy meal. ...
...
... No walk-ins. Ashburn requires eaters to register in advance in
order to reduce waste and to keep costs down. Most of the dishes and
utensils are reusable, with paper cups, biodegradable forks, plastic
knives and wooden chopsticks being the exception. A recent Friday
evening’s Greek menu featured a salad of MAO Organic Farms greens with
tofu feta, spanakopita, lentil paté with pita bread and carrot and
celery sticks, baklava and kukicha tea. The whiteboard with the
night’s menu noted that the meal was “100% vegan and unrefined. (No
refined sugar) Made with love.” A happy face punctuated the endnote.
...
For information on the vegan macrobiotic community dinners, classes
and other events, visit [macrobiotichawaii.com] or call 398-2695

--
full story:
http://honoluluweekly.com/restaurants/2009/08/macrocosm/

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
13 e-mails sent out today - 45+ news links added to the site! - what
did you miss?
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

12th International Vegan Festival - Veganism: a Revolutionary Lifestyle

  Zalan Glen 27 July 09

  These 4 days of fun and sharing in the exotic Brazilian city of Rio de
  Janeiro, were a fantastic fountain of vegan energy and commitment on behalf
  of veganism. This was an extremely well organized and conducted event;
  facilitated by Marley Winkler and the Vegan Society of Brazil (SVB), with
  assistance from a host of volunteers.

  With over 400 participants and representatives from 13 countries, the
  international flavor complemented the wonderful hospitality and willingness
  of the Brazilian vegans.

  See complete report at http://tinyurl.com/ly7q5h

  -------

  (Marly Winckler is the IVU Regional Co-ordinator for Latin America & the
  Caribbean)

[Seattle Vegetarian Examiner]

What would you eat for faith?  Rather, what would you not eat?
Vegetarianism although sometimes taken lightly almost as if it were a
form of food allergy, can often be closely tied into a religious
belief.

There are many religions that stem from an Indian origin that request
vegetarianism as a form of purity.

Hinduism, the world's third largest religion, has a strong tie to
vegetarianism, although certain sub practices have changed over time.
Among other principles that define the religion, the predominate
ideology is that of nonviolence, with an intention to avoid negative
karmic energy and influences.  One of the Hindu scriptures describes
their belief in the relationship between our environment and our
spiritual life.

--
full story:
http://www.examiner.com/x-16122-Seattle-Vegetarian-Examiner~y2009m8d6-Vegetarian\
-religions-part-one-Hinduism

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[please forward this appeal as widely as possible]

This is an appeal for support for the 2nd West African Veg Congress, to be
held in Accra, Ghana in October.

The first West African Veg Congress was held in Nigeria in December 2007, an
appeal raised about 1300 pounds. The coming event should be much bigger and
we would like to be able to offer more support.

Details so far can be found at http://www.ivu.org/africa/ghana-2009.html -
along with some notes from the IVU Regional Coordinator for Africa.

We are adding a list of 'sponsors' to that page, not the amount donated,
just the names of the groups offering support.

Donations from individuals are of course also much needed and appreciated.
Individual donors will only be listed on request, let me know if you would
like your name added the congress page, otherwise individuals will remain
anonymous.

To make a donation by credit card go:
http://www.ivu.org/africa/donations.html

If the name on the credit card does not make it clear which group it is from
please send me a direct email to clarify.

thanks in advance for your support

john
-------
john davis
manager@...
http://www.ivu.org

[San Jose Vegan Examiner]

The film "An Inconvenient Truth" brought the issue of climate change
to the forefront of American and, to some extent, international
thought. It showed trends of our modern, industrial society and their
correlation to global warming. But one major factor was left out of
the film as a major contributor to climate change: diet.

The way we choose to eat has a direct result on climate change on a
global and local scale. There is much talk about eating local,
organic, and sustainable but what about the vegan lifestyle?

Leaving meat and other animal products off the plate may be a solution
to reduce one's impact on lands, waterways, and atmosphere. Gidon
Eshel and Pamela Martin of the University of Chicago conclude in their
report "Diet, Energy, and Global Warming" that choosing a plant-based
diet can lessen an individual's contribution to climate change more
than ditching a "clunker" for a hybrid vehicle. In addition to other
wise choices to lessen waste, veganism is a great way to be more
healthy and avoid the worst animal abuses in factory farms.

--
full story:
http://www.examiner.com/x-19017-San-Jose-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m8d6-Becoming-vegan\
--a-step-to-reduce-impact-on-climate-change

SEE ALSO:
Farm investigated over allegations of selling dog lard

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

(CNN) -- Meat is murder? Well, perhaps not for much longer.

A pioneering group of scientists are working to grow real animal
protein in the laboratory, which they not only claim is better for
animal welfare, but actually healthier, both for people and the
planet. It may sound like science fiction, but this technology to
create in-vitro meat could be changing global diets within ten years.

"Cultured meat would have a lot of advantages," said Jason Matheny of
research group New Harvest. "We could precisely control the amount of
fat in meat. We could make ground beef with an ideal fatty acid ratio
-- a hamburger that prevents heart attacks instead of causing them."

But it isn't just the possibility of creating designer ground beef
with the fat profile of salmon that drives Matheny's work. Meat and
livestock farming is also the source of many human diseases, which he
claims would be far less common when the product is raised in
laboratory conditions.

"We could reduce the risks of diseases like swine flu, avian flu, 'mad
cow disease', or contamination from Salmonella," he told CNN. "We
could produce meat in sterile conditions that are impossible in
conventional animal farms and slaughterhouses. And when we grow only
the meat we can eat, it's more efficient. There's no need to grow the
whole animal and lose 75 to 95 percent of what we feed it."

--
full story:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/08/07/eco.invitro.meat/

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[comments at full story link]

Parents in Albany, New York are upset with the prominent animal rights
group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals) for
distributing “Unhappy Meals” to children exiting McDonald’s across the
country.

The “Unhappy Meal” is a part of PETA’s McCruelty campaign, which is
meant to warn children about the cruelty that PETA says is behind
every Happy Meal. From animal cruelty to manipulating advertising that
targets children, the charges that PETA is accusing McDonald’s of are
expressed through this mock meal. According to Slashfood.com, PETA
discontinued campaigns like the McCruelty one for the past nine years
because it was working with McDonald’s behind the scene.

--
full story:
http://www.citizensreport.org/2009/08/07/peta-passes-out-mccruelty-meals-to-kids\
/

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[Arlington Vegan Examiner]

Camp Exploration is a 100% vegan camp which offers both overnight and
day camps. Dynamic harmlessness is a key value; unlike camps which
might take kids on an outing to a zoo, this camp has kids volunteering
at animal shelters and learning about the exploitation of animals.
Camp Exploration is a values-intensive camp that may have kids
visiting a retirement home, then hiking in the forest. This camp has
had sixteen successful seasons so far, with many more sure to follow.

--
full story:
http://www.examiner.com/x-18166-Arlington-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m8d8-Vegan-summer-\
camps-compassion-and-commitment

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

Pamela Johnson was looking for a way to keep up with her newfound love
of raw foods.

The Downers Grove resident has spent the last year, as she says,
"embarking on a raw food journey" in an effort to get healthy.

She was among nearly 10,000 participants taking in the food vendors,
discussion panels and cooking demonstrations at Saturday's Veggie Fest
in Naperville.

"It's been a very interesting process," she said. "I really feel like
the switch to more raw foods has increased my energy. I'm hoping to
find more information and make some contacts to help me get better at
making this change."

The fourth annual event - and the only Chicago-area vegetarian
festival - is a two-day celebration of vegetarianism that aims to
share information about the meat-free lifestyle. Festivities
throughout the weekend include live music, children's activities, an
extensive vegetarian food court and cooking demonstrations.

While promoting a meat-free diet, the festival's goal is not to
convert anyone but rather to celebrate the lifestyle and show
participants some of the benefits of vegetarianism, said Jonathan
Krueger, a volunteer coordinator for the festival.
...
The festival continues Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the grounds of
the Science of Spirituality Center, 4S175 Naperville Road. Admission
is free, but organizers encourage attendees to donate nonperishable
vegetarian foods to the People's Resource Center and to give blood.

--
full story:
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=312608

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

Shoulder-deep in a Coral Springs commercial trash bin, Brian Sprinkle
was feeling hot and sweaty -- and lucky.

Dented boxes of spaghetti and containers of croissants, plus potatoes,
onions, bananas, plastic-wrapped hunks of watermelon and baby
portobello mushrooms were stacked outside the Dumpster, in cardboard
boxes he had also found inside.

``This is what happens when you have a consumer society,'' Sprinkle
said, pausing for a moment between gloveless dives to the bottom of
the metal bin.

``Corn in the husk,'' said Sprinkle, 25, of Fort Lauderdale. ``That's
my favorite.''
...
  ``Freeganism is kind of a protest, a boycott against a society that
is pretty much run on slavery and genocide,'' said Brian Mulligan, 22,
of Coral Springs. He frequents Dumpsters on his own and with Sprinkle.
To avoid contributing to a system he dislikes, he doesn't work.

Indeed, the freegan movement is a reaction to the modern global
economy, said Janet Kalish of New York-based freegan.info. Many
freegans believe that nearly everything produced harms the earth or
its creatures in some way.

``We're trying to resist buying and contributing to this system,'' she
said. ``We're built on overproduction. We have an economy based on
destructiveness. For the big machine of our economy to keep on rolling
means we have to be exploitive of our planet.''

Freegan practices can vary from Dumpster diving to backyard gardening,
Kalish said. And though freegans get their name from a contraction of
the words free and vegan, not all are vegetarian, she said.

``We're just trying to provoke creativity. People can pursue their own
way of being apart from the system,'' she said. ``There are people who
squat. Or build their own wigwams. There's people who manage to live
on very little money. I don't think it matters whether they call
themselves freegan or not.''
...
``A better vision is that we won't have supermarkets the way we are
now. We won't be Dumpster diving. We will have changed the system so
we're not exploiting people and habitats and animals. We'll be growing
more locally,'' she said.

--
full story:
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1178386.html

SEE ALSO:
Crowds flock to annual Veggie Fest in Naperville

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[Maui News]

SPRECKELSVILLE - An associate physician in internal medicine at
Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston will discuss aging and bone
loss at a gathering Friday at Kaunoa Senior Center.

Dr. Paulette Chandler will speak on "Strong Bones for Life" at the
free event sponsored by the Vegetarian Society of Hawaii.

She is also a clinical instructor in the Department of Medicine at
Harvard Medical School and is the director of Natural Healing
Pathways, a holistic lifestyle-coaching organization.

She educates individuals about the benefits of plant-based diet,
exercise, stress management and other habits that unite mind, body and
spirit to prevent disease and enhance wellness.
...
For more information, contact Laurelee Blanchard at 298-8544 or e-mail
Laurelee@....

The Vegetarian Society of Hawaii is a nonprofit, volunteer
organization founded in 1990 to promote human health, animal rights
and protection of the environment by means of vegetarian education.

--
full story:
http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/522073.html

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -On farms across West Virginia, 204,000 beef
cattle now await slaughter. But at the International Society for Cow
Protection's 168-acre hillside farm in Marshall County, cattle are
treated far differently from those that are headed to slaughterhouses
and onto plates.

William Dove and his family keep 22 cows and oxen comfortable for
their entire lives and plan to chant the holy names of God to each
animal as it dies a natural death at their farm outside of
Moundsville.

Dove, a Hare Krishna, founded the cow protection society with his
wife, Irene, in 1990.

Visitors to farm and to the society's Web site (www.iscowp.org) are
encouraged to adopt an animal for $420 a year.
...
Dove said the violence done to animals is reflected in society at
large - in highway fatalities, in wars, in murders.

Visitors to the farm learn how to train oxen and how to do farm work with them.

"A lot of them already are vegetarians and some of them are vegans who
want to have dairy products in their diet but don't want to support
the factory farming," he said.

But Dove said some people still don't see the connection b etween a
piece of meat and where it came from. When kids come to the farm, they
can hug and pet the cows and "understand where their hamburger is
coming from."

"McDonalds wants to the kids to think it's a happy meal," he said.
"But if you took the kids to a slaughterhouse, those kids would become
vegetarians. 'This is where my Happy Meal comes from?' "

Dove, 63, became a vegetarian as a young man growing up in Hawaii and
reading the Bible. He did a lot of open ocean fishing for tunas and
marlins. Then he got to thinking.

"I am causing him so much suffering. He is fighting for his life so I
can have my tuna fish sandwich," Dove thought. "So I just thought, 'If
this is the suffering I am causing, I don't want to do it.'"

Since he began working with cows in 1974, several years after becoming
a Hare Krishna, Dove has found the animals have a definite
personality.

--
full story:
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/Content.asp?ContentID=337192

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[Opposing Views]

Welcome to the Abolitionist Approach Commentary.

The Commentary will consist of a series of podcasts that discuss and
explore various aspects of the idea that we ought to abolish, and not
merely regulate, animal exploitation. The Commentary will reflect
ideas contained in this website and in my books.

Animals are nonhuman persons and we cannot morally justify treating
them as human resources. In addition, because animals are chattel
property or economic commodities, regulation of animal treatment costs
money and animal welfare regulations will almost never provide
significant protection for animal interests. As a general matter,
welfare regulations actually make animal use more profitable because
the regulations implemented are those that result in an economic
benefit for producers and consumers. The Abolitionist Approach
Commentary will discuss why animal welfare reform does not and cannot
work to provide protection for nonhuman animals.

The Abolitionist Approach Commentary will promote ethical veganism and
creative, non-violent vegan education as the primary forms of activism
to move toward the abolition of animal use. Ethical veganism goes
beyond not just eating animal products; it rejects the use of animals
for clothing or the use of products that contain animal ingredients or
that have been tested on animals. There is no moral distinction
between flesh and other animal products. All animal products involve
animal suffering and death.

--
full story:
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinions-vegetarians-still-complicit-in-an\
imal-suffering-r-1249854157

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss

[OpEdNews]

Some thughts on going meatless one day a week - starting hopefully
with our President, our elected officials, and of course, ourselves.

::::::::

I hope that President Obama, the members of Congress, and the rest of us will
all consider going meatless one day of the week. Pie-in-the-sky thinking?
Maybe, but I hope not. We only have one earth and we should try to do whatever
it takes to save it.

Heather Moore has written yet another very worthwhile article on Care2
called "Are Meatless Mondays Going Global? I think the best way I can condense
her article is by asking some thought-provoking questions for which- in my
opinion, she has very good answers.
...
The 7 meatless Fridays during Lent we now observe are hardly comparable to the
impact of the the 52 meatles Fridays of the past. If we had been
observing meatless
Fridays -can you imagine how many animal lives would have been spared? Can
you imagine how much less methane green gas would have been expelled into the
air since then?

Since I'm a vegan, I don't have to pick a day - but if I did - I would
choose Friday
again as remembering the day Jesus died on the cross.

--
full story:
http://www.opednews.com/populum/diarypage.php?did=14023

----- http://www.animalconcerns.org/ -----
More News Headlines! New Links -- 100 most recent links!
Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, Organizations, and Message Boards (Forums)
SEARCH for the item on Animalconcerns.org!
Animal Concerns News Service (RSS Feed):
http://www.envirolink.org/animalnews.rss