Enewsletter

Enewsletter • May 12, 2010

This issue sponsored by

Notes from Vegan Outreach

Jack on Humanity’s Insecurity

Vegan Outreach’s President, Jack Norris, has a great blog post about the endless quest to find something that “separates us from the animals,” concluding:

Back in 1988, I read an article in Psychology Today that ran down the list of the different traits people have traditionally thought separate humans from other animals, and one by one showed that some animals also possess each of those traits. They concluded, tongue in cheek, that what separates us from other animals is that we are the only species that tries to find things that separate us from the other animals.

Dr. Carl Sagan and Dr. Ann Druyan summarized the bottom line in their book Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors:

Humans – who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals – have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction between humans and “animals” is essential if we are to bend them to our will, make them work for us, wear them, eat them – without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret.

It is unseemly of us, who often behave so unfeelingly toward other animals, to contend that only humans can suffer. The behavior of other animals renders such pretensions specious. They are just too much like us.

Jon Camp on His Latest Tour

After 68 nights of sleeping on someone else’s bed, couch, futon, air mattress or floor, I’m back in Takoma Park. Stats for the tour: 40,579 VO booklets handed to students at 75 schools; 9 talks given; 6,516 miles driven. Profuse thanks to those who housed me, joined me for outreach, and to everyone who donates to Vegan Outreach!

Team Vegan for the Animals!

Both Jack and Jon are members of Team Vegan 2010. More than a hundred people total have joined up to work together to provide the animals a voice! From Himalaya to Highland, from Fairfield to Finland, these folks are dedicated to creating a better world for all!

Please help continue and expand Vegan Outreach’s work by making a tax-deductible donation to any member of the team, or to the general Team Vegan fund.

Any contribution you make will be doubled, dollar for dollar, allowing VO’s dedicated activists to reach more people, tearing down the walls that hide the truth and prevent people from living up to their morals.

Thanks so much for your support – we’ll continue to do our very best to make sure whatever you can afford goes as far as possible for the animals!

From “Your Daily Dose of Vegan Outreach!” Blog

Fish caught in net (photo courtesy of David Falconer).

Excerpt from More Bad News for Our Aquatic Friends:

As you know, Vegan Outreach doesn’t promote the “health argument,” (also see Post of the Month, below) in part because it generally focuses on mammals / the majority of people are convinced chicken and fish are “healthy.” This has led most people to consume many more intensively raised smaller animals (like arsenic-fed chickens).

Unfortunately, many people have a hard time having any empathy for fish. For people who don’t eat land animals but consume fish, pointing out that humans treat water like an unregulated dump (and other arguments) can sometimes help people get to the next stage.

Product of the Week

Office: “Some folks have noted how many pictures VO uses from Amy’s. That’s in part because they’ve been very generous in providing high-quality pictures. But also, they make such good, quick, and widely available vegan grub! For example: the Black Bean Enchilada Whole Meal. Yum!”

Send your product of the week to product (at) veganoutreach (dot) org; previous entries here.

Notes from All Over

Post of the Month: Reliable Nutrition Information for Vegans

Ginny Messina, MPH, RD, explains: “[T]here are very few issues in nutrition where all of the studies are in agreement. Even where most of the research shows more or less the same thing, there will always be a few outliers – a few studies that, for whatever reason, come up with different results. So it’s easy to make any case you would like in nutrition by ‘selectively citing’ the research. That is, choose the studies that support your theory and ignore the rest.”
Please read the full article.

Lightning Round

Notes from Our Members

Peggy Koteen lets another Cal Poly student learn about how he can make a real difference.

Aleta, Cassandra, and I reached 900 students at SUNY Purchase – a new record. Great take rate and overwhelmingly positive responses in general! Some of the comments:
     “Oh man, this is the packet that made me vegetarian!”
     “Aw, this is the booklet that made me go vegetarian last year!”
     “I went vegetarian from this!”
     “I like meat but this is just so horrible!” (one student to her friend)
     A group of students Cassandra encountered said that they read the leaflets and were going to go vegetarian. She asked, “Really?” and they responded affirmatively!
—Eileen Botti, 4/12/10

Awesome day at Louisiana Tech. Highlight: two women who had lots of questions. When I saw them again later, they said they were going veg!
—Vic Sjodin, 4/15/10

Receptive group at Glen Dale Community College. One lady expressed sincere appreciation and is working towards going veg now. Another lady went veg that moment! They both got Guides.
—Nikki Benoit, 4/8/10

Friendly / supportive comments at Widener University today. One woman came back to tell me she used to be vegan but had fallen off the wagon; after reading the pamphlet she was going back to being vegan. Another guy came back to tell me that the pamphlet was really effective, and that he was definitely going to be making changes to his diet.
—Nick Cooney, 4/14/10

Four Whittier College students (beauty school dropouts?) intently study the booklets they received from Nikki Benoit.

I love you guys! I feel so good helping animals, and have helped some of my friends go vegan. Thanks for inspiring me!
—FR, 4/29/10

Reached lots of people at Indiana-Purdue University’s Earth Day. We had many good conversations with people who are really interested in changing their diet. Gretchen educated three kids about how animals are treated and killed for food. They were all ears as their mom also listened without intervening at all. I met someone who went vegan after reading the VO literature displayed at Loving Cafe. I met another girl who cut chicken out of her diet after receiving an Even If You Like Meat from me in the past.
—Heather Leughmyer, 4/14/10

At Castleton State College, I had individuals coming up to ask me for a booklet. The woman who housed me this weekend went vegan six years ago after visiting Vegan Outreach’s website. As a result, her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson are also now vegan.
—Jon Camp, 4/12/10

After receiving a booklet from Karen James, a student at the University of Hartford studies the truth about modern agribusiness.

I met a ton of vegetarians / vegans at Humboldt State, but also gave a lot of Guides to non-veg folks interested in learning more about how to change their diet. Many people stopped to chat for a minute or two today which always makes me happy because the discussions are always so positive and productive.
Last Friday, I was joined by Rachel and Dan for a really awesome day of outreach at Seattle Pacific University. Turns out Dan went veg from a VO booklet in 2000, and now works for Sea Shepherd.
—Brian Grupe, 4/19/10

My mother-in-law works for the Kansas City Royals baseball stadium selling hot dogs and she told me today that they now serve veggie dogs and veggie burgers! Cool!
—Leah Wagner, 4/19/10

Sara and Sen joined me last week at the University of Minnesota – Minneapolis. We met a number of vegetarians / vegans. Both Sen and I had people tell us getting an Even If You Like Meat booklet in the past led them to go vegetarian.
After she got a booklet from me in the morning, Allie came back and joined me in leafleting the University of Iowa today. Great feedback, including one woman who said she had gotten a flier in October when I was there and went vegetarian. Then about three months ago, she went vegan!
—Fred Tyler, 4/14/10

Vegan Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the suffering of farmed animals by promoting informed, ethical eating.

All donations are tax-deductible.

Vegan Outreach
POB 30865, Tucson, AZ 85751-0865