Enewsletter
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Enewsletter • January 18, 2012 | ||||||||||||||||
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Notes from Vegan Outreach
1.1 Billion, and Counting…In 2008, the number of land animals raised and slaughtered for food in the U.S. rose to 9.5 billion. Since then, the number of animals slaughtered has declined. Compared to a continuation of the 2008 rate, a cumulative 1.1 billion fewer animals were killed during 2009–2011, even with a growing population. Further decline is predicted in 2012! This is incredible in terms of reducing suffering, but also for showing that the world can change. For example, Stewart relates this exchange in one of his classes:
Stewart continues:
See also Mark Bittman’s non-vegetarian take.
Notes from Our Members
Tonight,
I went out with a few HSUS employees
and interns. I told one intern what I did (college
leafleting) and she let me know that she was
handed a VO booklet back in 2006 at the Auraria
campus in Denver. She not only went vegan as
a result of it, but is now heavily involved
in activism and is looking to do it full-time.
Viva VO! Better
acceptance than I expected at
the University of Illinois, Chicago, where I
reached over 800 students. Heard from 15 vegetarians
and six vegans. I was pleased to see a wide
range of students were receptive to my request
to help stop violence, including many very large
athletic guys. Also heard from a student who
let me know that getting the booklet from me
two years ago inspired her to drop meat. While
reaching 400 students at the University
of British Columbia, I met one student who said
it was a VO booklet that got her to go vegan! Awesome
at Bellevue College. I chatted
with a young African-American woman who I’d
met on my last visit. She immediately ran up
to me, talked about the Christian
Vegetarian Association booklet I had given
her, and how she was working on going veg. Then
today, after leafleting Seattle U, I was in
the Starbucks across the street and heard two
students discussing their booklet. I chimed
in and encouraged them to look up even more
information online.
Spectacular
day with Theo at Sacramento State!
We were joined by Emma, a new vegan we had met
Tuesday at Sacramento City College. She took
to leafleting like a pro, and had many positive
conversations with interested folks. Two members
of Sacramento Animal Rights also joined us.
I had one of the most positive, intense conversations
of the semester with a young lady I saw reading
the booklet three different times. I finally
stopped her to ask her what she thought, and
we spent the next 15 minutes talking about everything.
Thanks
to Jeff for getting us permission
to leaflet Phoenix College, where Kirby and
I met with 80–90% acceptance and reached almost
1,500 students. I spoke with a woman who expressed
her love for animals. She was given a Guide
and was quite moved. I also reiterated that
utopian farms don’t exist and going veg isn’t
as extreme as it seems – it’s simply applying
values she already has to her eating habits.
811
students at the University of
Nebraska, Omaha got Even If You Like Meat
booklets; also handed out 12 Guides,
including some to vegetarians interested in
veganism. One guy came back and asked, “Do
the pigs have it the worst? Cause I can stop
eating pork.” When I told him that chickens
and pigs had to endure the worst cruelties,
he said, “OK, that’s something I can work
with.” We talked about how he could start
transitioning to a more plant-based diet. I
gave him a Guide – he was excited
to try some new meal ideas. Mike
and I had some good reactions yesterday
at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. One
of our friends from the Green Club said she
heard a girl in the cafeteria discussing the
booklet with her friend, proclaiming, “Well,
I’m going vegetarian now.” Talked to two
older men who initially made jokes about chicken
fingers when they received a Compassionate
Choices, but then opened up more as I kept
a friendly tone while talking to them. One of
these guys then said, “Well, keep up the
good work and I’ll remain sympathetic to your
cause.” A step forward for them! Another
guy held up the booklet and smiled at us as
he walked away, “I totally agree with this!”
We also met a student who wants to help us hand
out booklets. Spoke
to a bunch of vegans, vegetarians,
and loads of interested people. Great conversations
with cat / dog people. One of the vegetarians
I met told me she went vegetarian because of
getting a Compassionate Choices leaflet!
Good
talks at the University of Delaware,
where we reached 3,400 students. One student
that we leafleted came back to us later in the
day and said she is going to try vegetarian.
Another student said he went vegan after reading
a Compassionate Choices last semester!
After
we reached 1,625 students at the
University of Texas, Arlington, we took an amazing
field trip to the unbelievable vegan cafeteria
at the University of North Texas in Denton. The
food was absolutely amazing, and there are beautiful
and inspiring pro-veg messages decorating the
walls. I seriously could not believe it. (Huge
variety of delicious cooked foods meant I didn’t
even look at the salad bar; two types of vegan
pizza, one with pesto and one with Daiya; vegan
rice krispie treats and soft-serve ice cream…incredible.) The UTA students
hooked up a dinner tour and meeting with their dining services
folks, who are incredibly helpful and kind and
willing to work with students and other school
cafeterias to help them get more vegan options.
I asked him how it happened that UNT now has
an all-vegan cafeteria, and he said it was really
because students were requesting it. When you
meet supportive students in your outreach, I
encourage you to mention to them the importance
of filling out comment cards, meeting with the
dining services and organizing with other students
to get more vegan options. If they can do this
in Texas, they can do it wherever you’re leafleting.
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