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Notes from Vegan Outreach
Millions
and Millions
 Already
this fall term, booklets have been
handed directly to nearly a
quarter-million students
across North America.
Bri Gibson leaflets
at Montclair State U; photo by Jon
Camp.
Based on our estimates
(details
here), this distribution has
led to tens of thousands of new
vegetarians (and many near-vegetarians),
sparing over 68 million animals
the horrors of factory farming over
the next 50 years.
Thanks to everyone
who has made this possible. With
your support, this program will
continue to expand and create real,
fundamental change in our society.
Product of the Week
Clark: Mareblu
Naturals makes 8 flavors
of peanut free, gluten-free, vegan
nut crunch. I found the Cashew Crunch
at Costco. All of the flavors are
lightly sweetened with brown rice
syrup.
Send your nominees for Product
of the Week to product
(at) veganoutreach (dot) org;
previous products can be found here.
Notes from All
Over
Keep Chickens in Mind
While giving a generally positive
plug to vegetarianism, this Los
Angeles Times editorial
shows a potential downside of how
the public perceives global warming
and food: people focus only on cattle.
As polls have shows, many people
who self-identify as "vegetarian"
eat chicken and/or fish, and this
editorial reinforces the idea that
giving up "meat" means
just mammals. This is why Vegan
Outreach emphasizes the comparative
advantage of a true vegetarian diet
over all other diets, including
those that contain poultry, at A
Truly Inconvenient Truth.
When we choose what information
to present, we must keep in mind
how the message will be acted upon
by the public. It may seem that
any mention of "vegetarianism"
is good, but few (if any) people
are going to give up chicken after
reading a solely anti-beef article.
Many others will give up mammals
and eat more birds. We must keep
chickens foremost in our advocacy;
it can take up to 200
intensively raised birds
(pdf from The Way We Eat;
photo by East
Bay Animal Advocates) to supply
as many meals as one steer.
Super Bowl Champion and Hall-of-Famer
Joe Montana likes
his new diet: "I would
never have ordered a veggie burger
before, but I just love a good veggie
burger now," he says. "It's
strange how your tastes change when
you put your mind to it."
From the Washington Post:
"Mondie-Sapp recently won the
grand prize and her third consecutive
'People's Choice' award in the annual
chili cook-off held at the Anacostia
Farmers Market.... 'People came
through and said, "That doesn't
even look right," and "I
do not do beans like that,"'
she says. But her chili's smoky
taste and perfectly cooked beans
with corn and a touch of maple syrup
won them over. The firefighters
admitted it was better than any
beefy chili they make." Read
more, with recipes!
Notes from Our
Members
Accompanying an order
for booklets:
Thank you for your work. Even
If led to my veganism; now
I'm just trying to pay it forward.
-CV, 10/10/07
Though it was cloudy
at Contra Costa Community College,
the day felt bright and sunny due
to the wonderfully receptive students.
Some of the highlights:
- A discussion group formed nearby,
and I could hear the students
going through the Even If
booklets together.
- Two students came back and asked
for a few more booklets to give
to their friends and/or coworkers.
- A group of 5 or 6 students took
EIs and then all stood
around me and asked questions
about the booklet. One guy said
he wanted to go veg; I gave him
a GCFE.
- Two students came up to me after
I'd been on campus awhile. I had
given an EI to one of
them.
 The
other had picked up a
discarded EI and asked
from where she could order a GCFE.
I was all out by that point, but
directed her to the Vegan Outreach
website. She was very excited
and she said to her friend, "You
need to go vegan now too!"
- A small group of students approached
me after all receiving booklets
earlier that morning. They all
told me that they were going to
go veg after reading the Even
Ifs!
-Miranda Robbins, 10/15/07
At right, Gary Auerbach leaflets
at Rutgers U; photo by Jon Camp.
At West Virginia U,
a professor went out
of her way to walk up to me to say,
"I just wanted to let you to
know that my students spent the
first 10 minutes of class talking
solely about this issue; the conversation
was sparked by many of them receiving
a booklet from you. Thank you for
taking the time to do this -- I'm
really impressed by your approach
of just politely giving information
to others about this. You're not
chanting or wearing some funny costume
and you've gotten a lot of people
to think about this issue."
-Jon Camp, 10/15/07
At Duke today, I
was joined by a new leafleter --
Casey. Her roommate got an Even
If from one of us a month ago,
and said "NOW I see why you
don't eat meat!" This prompted
Casey to order brochures and get
active. I asked her what she thought
of leafleting, as this was her first
time ever, and she said, "It's
WAY easier than I thought."
-Eleni Vlachos, 10/11/07
Leafleting at De Anza
College, I talked
with a guy interested in being vegan
but thought the sacrifice would
be enormous; I told him how all
you need to do is put fifteen minutes
a day into reading about nutrition
and discovering new foods. Another
guy said that he became vegetarian
because of Vegan Outreach material
-- he was receptive when I told
him that battery egg production
is even more cruel than most meat.
Later a couple took a pamphlet and
the woman excitedly told her boyfriend
that he had to read it so he could
understand why she's vegetarian.
That makes at least three productive
interactions in barely a half hour's
leafleting.
-Erik Marcus, 10/15/07
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Vegan Outreach
P.O. Box 30865
Tucson, AZ 85751-0865
VO is a 501(c)(3) non-profit
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are tax-deductible. |
