IVU Online News
Table of Contents
|
2012-08 News
New Events for Los Angeles Leg of 2012 IVU Congress/Vegfest
Only a bit more than two months remain until the 2012 IVU Congress/Vegfest, 5-14 October (please note the slightly revised dates), back-to-back in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, USA. With every passing month, new features are added to make this joint event even more unmissable.
Recently, major additions were made to the Los Angeles leg of the event, which already features the annual Healthy Lifestyle Expo, Sat-Sun, 13-14 October. The Expo boasts world renowned speakers and a convivial atmosphere. Now, two more days of activities have been added immediately before the Expo: Thu-Fri, 11-12 Oct. Here’s a quick summary of what’s up on the two new days.
Thursday 11 - Guided bus tour to include Lockwood Animal Rescue Center and Wolf Sanctuary (see photo), Venice Beach, and Hollywood -- with stops at vegan restaurants, Native Foods Cafe and Veggie Grill, for lunch and dinner.
Friday 12 - International programme: Hear speakers from every continent other than Antarctica on a wide range of topics including animals, health, the environment -- even vegan sexuality. The day starts with a global panel and ends with Q&A for all speakers.
Want to stay abreast of developments with the two-city, multi-ring circus of vegetarian virtuosity? It’s easy. One, you can visit the event website at
www.vegetarianvegan.org/....40th-ivu-international-vegetarian-congress-vegfest. Two, you can sign up for the event’s free Yahoo Group by scrolling to the bottom of the event website and entering your email address in the box. Three, you can find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/215452428473359. And, of course, you can watch for updates in your monthly issue of IVU Online News.
Vegetarianism in the Middle East? Yes!
Some people will be surprised to learn that veg activism in the Middle East is alive and well. IVU Manager, John Davis, fills us in on both the history and recent developments. Much of the latest news features the doings of Sandhya Prakash, the IVU International Council’s representative in SW Asia (Middle East). Learn more by reading John’s blog on this website:
www.vegetarianvegan.org/.../john-davis/48-veg-ism-in-the-middle-east
How FAO Will Measure Livestock’s Env Impacts?
In 2006, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) issued a groundbreaking report on the negative environmental impact of livestock production. Titled ‘Livestock’s Long Shadow’, the report was perhaps best known for stating that greenhouse gas emissions from livestock at 18% of human produced emissions were greater than those of the transportation sector, at 13%: www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM
Now, in a move likely to raise suspicions among those campaigning for reduced consumption of animal based foods, FAO is involving the meat industry in a recalculation of meat’s effect on the environment:
www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/150555/icode Here’s a brief excerpt from an FAO story about the move.
FAO and governmental, private-sector, and nongovernmental partners will work together on a number of fronts to strengthen the science of environmental benchmarking of livestock supply chains. … Among the founding members of the partnership are: the governments of France, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand, The European Feed Manufacturers' Federation (FEFAC), the European Vegetable Oil and Proteinmeal Industry (FEDIOL), the International Dairy Federation, (IDF) the International Meat Secretariat (IMS), the International Egg Commission (IEC) the International Poultry Council (IPC), the International Federation for Animal Health (IFAH), and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Why Some Men Are Reluctant Vegetarians
In some cultures, women seem more likely than men to make the switch towards veg. A recently published study investigated this phenomenon. Here’s an excerpt from a summary at www.sciencedaily.com/...6152532.htm
In a number of experiments that looked at metaphors and certain foods, like meat and milk, the authors found that people rated meat as more masculine than vegetables. They also found that meat generated more masculine words when people discussed it, and that people viewed male meat eaters as being more masculine than non-meat eaters.
Online Journal Launched in Australia
Reflecting an overall trend in society, more and more academics are doing research and teaching courses on the interactions of humans and other animals. For instance, the Australian Animal Studies Group has launched a new online journal, the Animal Studies Journal. The journal is interdisciplinary and international, publishing animal studies scholarship from Australia, New Zealand, Asia-Pacific areas and beyond. It will appear twice yearly in an open-access format. The editor is , with associate editors and .
Plant Powered Wimbledon Tennis Champions
More athletes are moving away from meat, as they hear from others and see for themselves the benefits of plant powered fitness. Two recent examples are the sister tennis tandem of Serena and Venus Williams. In July, the Williams sisters teamed to win the women’s doubles championship, and Serena captured the women’s singles crown. Who knows what they and other plant powered athletes will do at the 2012 Olympics.
sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ycn-10784467
care4curls.com/2012/07/08/serena-williams-wimbledon-win-on-a-vegan-diet/
Book News
#1 Vegetarian Asia Travel Guide
Vegans and other vegetarians planning a trip in Asia will likely find Teresa Bergen’s travel ebook a helpful resource. Vegetarian Asia Travel Guide covers more than 20 countries, and is a fully updated edition of the guidebook Bergen first published in 1994. Each chapter starts with a snapshot of the current state of vegetarianism and animal welfare in that country, including information about relevant religious or philosophical traditions and organized vegetarian groups.
The bulk of the book focuses on which common dishes are usually suitable for vegans and other vegetarians, or can easily be made so. Also covered is how to say “I’m a vegetarian” in local languages, as well as food customs and resources for further information. The book offers a few restaurant recommendations for most countries, but not too many. The focus is on finding vegetarian and vegan food in ordinary restaurants.
www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Asia-Travel-Guide-ebook/dp/B00870B70C
#2 Vegetarianism: A Guide for the Perplexed
by Kerry Walters (Continuum, 2012). Vegetarianism: A Guide for the Perplexed articulates the main tenets of current arguments for vegetarianism. The author offers an expansive range of arguments for and against choosing a vegetarian lifestyle, provoking thought both on an ideological level through his “argument” chapters, and also on a literary level that makes us consider how a phrase like 19th-century poet Alphonse de Lamartine’s “cooked flesh” might cause an effect in a shockingly different way than the mundane “barbequed meat.”
#3: The Ultimate Vegan Guide
The Ultimate Vegan Guide, 2nd edition, 2011, by Erik Marcus
Erik Marcus is a long time vegan advocate via his books, his website (www.vegan.com), etc. The Ultimate Vegan Guide is mostly about how to be a vegan (24 chapters), with two chapters on why to be vegan and one chapter and an appendix on vegan activism. The book’s advice on how to be vegan is eminently practical, although a bit US centric (not surprising since that’s where Erik lives). While the advice is aimed mostly at people trying to become vegan, people who are already vegan will also find lots of useful ideas.
Erik has made the book easy to read electronically for only US$0.99, and the first edition is free online. See www.vegan.com for details. Recent issues of IVU Online News have contained summaries of various chapters from the book. Here is the last set of chapter summaries.
Ch 27 - Basic Activism & Outreach
A great way to remind ourselves about the why and how of being vegan is to get involved in educating others about it. This chapter, the final one in the book and one of the longest, is supplemented by Appendix A on ‘Advanced Activism’. Erik has been an activist for years, as well as being a keen observer of how others promote veganism. This chapter offers many useful suggestions, among which are:
a. look for organisations to work with (one of Erik’s favourites is Vegan Outreach)
b. share rather than create, as many great vegan books, leaflets, posters, blogs, etc. already exist - “Happily, there’s no shortage of great vegan-oriented materials and projects. But there is a terrible scarcity of vegans who are willing to participate in basic outreach efforts”
c. display stickers on cars, doors, electronic devices, etc.
d. craft a signature to put at the end of all your email; this could consist of a short blurb or slogan, along with maybe a url for a favourite website, book or video
e. look for opportunities to locally reuse billboards and tv advertisements created elsewhere by groups such as Mercy for Animals - www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHdLRrUocOA. Another example are the subway posters in Toronto - www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfR7VNvCWzQ
f. utilise social media (see an article by Erik at vegan.com/articles/twitter-for-food-activists), including responding to or sharing what other people post, rather than creating completely new content of your own.
Near the end of the chapter, Erik urges us to action by declaring, “Perhaps the animals’ greatest hope is that anyone who cares enough to act, and contributes either time or money towards simple outreach efforts, can spare millions upon millions of animals from a lifetime of suffering”.
As to the appendix on Advanced Activism, Erik’s two main pieces of advice are inter-related. First, we need to become expert in one of more areas. Part of being expert is learning how to identify accurate information: “many of the books in the vegetarian literature are loaded with misinformation”. Second, once we have brought together quality information on one or more topics, we need to find influential people who can help us share this information with the public. Such opinion leaders can be found in the media, government, business and other areas. We need to cultivate relationships with these people.
In conclusion, Erik Marcus has performed a useful service by making easily available his good advice on the Why and How of becoming vegan. Please share Erik’s advice and your own with others. As Erik notes, too many of us are far too quiet. Only by raising our voices and joining voices with others can we maximise our aid to the billions upon billions of our fellow sentient beings who live sad, short lives due to the production of animal based foods.
Dyreetikkonferansen 2012: The Animal Behind the Food and the Human Behind the Consumer - 21-22 September, 2012 - University of Oslo, Norway - www.mindinganimals.com
2012 IVU World Vegetarian Congress - 5-16 October, 2012, San Francisco and Los Angeles, USA - www.vegetarianvegan.org/...40th-ivu-international-vegetarian-congress-vegfest
2012 West Africa Vegetarian Festival - dates to be announced - Lome, Togo
4th China Xiamen Vegetarian Food Fair - 19-22 October, 2012 - Xiamen, China - www.whatsonxiamen.com
5th Southeast Asian Congress - 23-25 November, Chiang Mai, Thailand - www.thai-tva.org
Vegfest Dubai - 21-22 DEC in Dubai
6th Asian Vegetarian Congress and 41st IVU World Vegfest - 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - vegetariansocietymalaysia.org
Welcome to Organisations That Have Recently Registered with IVU
AUSTRALIA
Tan Zan Tai Chi - taichiwellington.webs.com
ITALY
Il Mio Rifugio - www.ilmiorifugio.it - Lifestyle Center offering vegan meals, health lectures, cooking classes and a variety of natural treatments.
POLAND
Wegemaluch.pl - wegemaluch.pl - This is website for parents of vegetarian children. We create this website to promote vegetarian life style.
USA
Total Wellness Institute - www.mytotalwellness.weebly.com
Other Online Sources of Veg News
In addition to IVU Online News, there are many other places to go online for general veg-related news, rather than news mostly about one country or one organisation. Here are some.
1. European Vegetarian Union - www.evana.org
2. Meatout Mondays - www.meatoutmondays.org
3. Vegan Outreach - www.veganoutreach.org/enewsletter
4. VegE-News - www.vege-news.com
5. VegNews - www.vegnews.com
6. VegSource - www.vegsource.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi
7. AnimalConcerns.org doesn't have a newsletter, but they post stories daily at www.animalconcerns.org/categories.html?do=shownews
8. Vegan.com - www.vegan.com
9. IVU-Veg-News E-Mail List - www.ivu.org/news/veg-news
10. Vegetarianism in the News - www.vegsoc.org/page.aspx?pid=928