Enewsletter
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Enewsletter • February 9, 2005 | ||
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Notes from Vegan OutreachImportant: Please Plan Today!After printing, shipping is Vegan Outreach's greatest expense. It is least expensive to send boxes of 300 copies of Why Vegan?, Even If..., or Try Vegetarian! right from the printer, via UPS. For smaller orders, it is least expensive to send book rate. However, this takes time. So plan ahead for events, leafleting, tables, etc. Meatout and Earth Day and other events will be here sooner than you expect. Please take time today to look over your calendar and order what you will need. Thanks!
Catalog & Payment Options Updated
Vegan Outreach has also added PayPal to our donation options (although GiveDirect, with no fees for Visa or MasterCard donations, remains our preferred method).
Notes from All OverVia Slate: Birds Are Smarter Than We Think"We thought they were stupid because they don't have our brain structure. It turns out they're just different. Implication: We aren't as smart as we thought. Factoids: 1) Crows reshape natural objects to make tools. 2) Crows put nuts in front of traffic to get us to crack them. 3) Nutcrackers can recover thousands of seeds they hid six months earlier. 4) Magpies learn "object permanence" (i.e., just because you conceal something doesn't mean it's gone) faster than any other animal. 5) Pigeons try to fake out other birds about the location of food. 6) Parrots create language and pass along learned knowledge. Related: Al Sharpton is boycotting KFC."
Work for PETA's Vegan Campaign!PETA’s vegan department is currently seeking smart, dedicated vegans to be part of a fun, motivated and effective team. Jobs include Writer, Food Tabling Coordinators (both National and Local), Faith-Based Campaign Coordinator, and Assistant Campaigner. Please check out the job descriptions at this site for more information. All positions require relocation to the Norfolk, VA, area. Send your cover letter and resume to jobopenings@peta.org and copy BruceF@peta.org.
Notes from Our MembersRecently,
I received an Even
if you like meat pamphlet at
Northern Illinois University. While
not criticizing other pamphlets,
this one was particularly effective,
as it emphasizes that a person need
not become an instant vegetarian
or vegan in order to help. When
considering the jump to vegetarianism,
many people are thrown off by the
prospect of NEVER eating meat again
-- the idea scares them, so they
dismiss the idea behind vegetarianism
without a second thought. I believe
that this pamphlet can be particularly
effective in these groups of people. This weekend, Jacksonville appeared to be the center of the world. Yesterday and today, I used this opportunity to leaflet at several different locations around downtown, including right in front of the stadium. A lot of the people were from out of town, and I was really surprised by the fact that most of them knew what the word "vegan" meant, and that they could immediately tell exactly what the pamphlet was about just by looking at the cover from a distance -- though some people did approach me thinking that I was selling tickets. One offered me two thousand dollars; of course, I had to explain to them that this was something much better than Super Bowl tickets. This is the first sporting event I have leafleted, so I didn't know what to expect. Many people were extremely happy to see someone distributing Why Vegans, and I ended up giving out several vegan starter packs. Ironically, one of these happy individuals is a cattle farmer who's daughter is now a vegetarian. I also had rather interesting exchanges with some football enthusiasts. One fan looked at the cover and said, "Hey, if we don't eat the animals, then who will? The chickens will end up taking over the government." I replied, "That's the whole idea. I want the chickens to take over. I think they would do a much better job of running the country than we do." He laughed, stayed to chat, and then told me that he enjoyed talking with me. I saw people passing out pamphlets on a variety of topics, mostly s religious. There was one person with a megaphone who sticks in my mind. But this guy managed to take it a step further than the usual "You are all going to hell," which I had heard many times throughout the day. He was shouting stuff like, "The Super Bowl is an abomination to God!" VO's guide to advocacy says that few people want to engage a religious zealot bent on converting them. Apparently I am one of the exceptions. I just had to walk up to him and find out his reasoning. He explained how we are wasting our lives if we focus on pursuing pleasure. Essentially, his philosophy is the exact antithesis to Matt's Meaningful Life essay. We exchanged pamphlets, and he
promised he would read mine if I
would read his. He seemed to be
genuinely interested in what I had
to say, and he even asked me for
the web site of the Christian
Vegetarian Association. I think
there is a very good probability
that this guy is now going to go
veg.
Just a few recent highlights: At Princeton, one guy said, "What you're doing works. My friend went vegetarian after getting one of these from you." One young woman came up to let me know that she wishes there was an AR group on campus. I told her to start one, or just leaflet herself, since one person can make a huge difference. Another young woman let me know that she runs the campus environmental organization, and would like to have me either table or get her some booklets for their next event. At Douglass College of Rutgers, one young woman saw the cover and kind of jumped back (I've seen this a few times so far with the new booklet), and her boyfriend put his arm around her as if nursing her through a traumatic experience. I always have a few people tell me that the information would upset them, so they don't want to take it. I politely state that it is much easier to see pictures of suffering than it is to endure it. I also tell them that the more people who learn the truth and act upon it, the less suffering there will be. More people ask me for copies of
Even If... to give to others
than they did for any other booklet
-- e.g., the young woman to whom
I gave 25 copies of EI
at Rutgers emailed to let me know
that she distributed them that day,
and wants a box or two to distribute
at colleges and concerts.
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We
have a new shipment of the 
At
right, Davide Berretta leaflets
at Temple U. on Feb. 8. He, Eric
Porter, and Jon Camp distributed
1,623 copies of Even If and
Why Vegan to students that
day.
