Enewsletter
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Enewsletter • February 22, 2012 | ||||||||||||||
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Notes from Vegan Outreach
The Pessimist’s Case for Vegan OutreachAfter seeing Peter tweet this calculation about Bill Gates – $28 billion saving 5.8 million lives – we decided to take a quick look at Vegan Outreach’s efforts. If you think Vegan Outreach’s booklets have only a net 1% efficiency (only one recipient in a hundred stops eating animals, or two in a hundred cut their consumption in half; and no one who received a booklet influences anyone else at all for the rest of their lives), Vegan Outreach’s leafleters and donors have saved more than 225,000,000 land animals from the torture and butchery of modern agribusiness…on approximately 0.1% of Bill Gates’ budget. Thanks so much to every donor and activist who has been a part of this effective, efficient, and necessary work!
From “Your Daily Dose of Vegan Outreach!” & Jack Norris RD Blogs
Product of the WeekJim: “So glad you mentioned Erik’s article. We were just in Trader Joe’s today picking up some food, and decided to try out the new Chicken-less Mandarin Orange Morsels. The cashier told us that the whole staff at the store sampled these, and even those who did not normally eat vegetarian / vegan loved them and went back for seconds and thirds!” Please submit your favorite products; you can view previous entries here.
Notes from Our Members
Universidad
Autónoma del Estado de México
is a small campus, but the outreach was amazing.
We each grabbed an entrance, and everybody in
or out got a booklet. Israel also left a few
booklets fanned out at the front desk in the
library and on an info booth; we saw one student
grab one, show it to her friend, and read it
cover to cover. We saw many other people reading
the booklets cover to cover in the main square.
Never seen such a reception!
Freezing
cold turning to sleet, but we
had a fabulous day at CUNY Lehman College. New
leafleter Meghan joined me before her classes
at Bronx Science High School, and then Lisa
showed up. We met so many vegans and
vegetarians, handing out a bunch of Guides!
Lisa made a new leafleting contact for us and
also spoke with one girl who had veered away
from vegetarianism but is now going back. Fantastic
day of outreach with Johanna,
Matt, and Jenny at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo!
A number of students requested more information
to get on the vegan path. Other great interactions
included a 1-week vegetarian who seemed a little
lost about what to eat, how to get enough protein,
etc.; a nutrition major who has been thinking
about going veg and who wants to get involved
with our outreach; a professor who is interested
in having Matt come to speak to his class. I
had a worthwhile conversation with a guy who
initially thought human overpopulation was the
main problem. I told him about the 9+ billion
land animals in the U.S. who are unnecessarily
brought onto the planet each year and how resources
could be saved if we didn’t raise them to eat
them. When I gave him a Guide, he took
it enthusiastically, started paging through
it and said, “This is just what I needed!”
I also gave him tips on tasty veggie meats to
try. He made his veg pledge so earnestly and
was so grateful for the info, it just made me
smile. Such
a positive day of outreach at
Gateway Community College! Small school, but
I reached over 500 students. Several leafletees
expressed outrage at the atrocities of factory
farming, and one woman even began crying and
pledged to go veg on the spot. At
the University of New Hampshire, one
student exclaimed, “You just changed my
life!” I also overheard a woman tell her
friend, “This [booklet] will be perfect
for the paper I am writing.” Later, a different
student also mentioned writing a persuasive
paper against factory farming, and she thanked
me for the information. An ag student came over
and asked me for a leaflet. He said it is interesting
and good information. He called the system “messed
up.”
At
St. Louis Community College, one
vegetarian student said they were blessed by
my presence and thanked me for being out there
in the cold. A vegan instructor invited me to
give a presentation to her class. One student
asked me what he could eat if he didn’t
eat meat. Another student said that she found
the booklet disturbing and was going to reduce
her meat consumption. I heard from a student
who is giving a presentation on factory farming
to her class tomorrow. I gave her 25 Even
If You Like Meat booklets for her class. Amazing
take rate at Estrella Mountain
Community College – I was there an hour before
I got my first “no.” Phoenix was amazing,
too; together, we reached over 700 students.
One man took a Compassionate Choices early
in the day, and came back hours later to talk
with us. He told us that it only seemed reasonable
to stop consuming animals. I gave him a Guide
and he seemed really excited! After
Westmont College, I reached nearly
1,300 students at UC Santa Barbara. Within my
first 15 minutes, Connor biked up to me saying
his booklet tipped the scales for him this morning,
and as of that second, he’s a vegetarian. Too
cool! Gave him a Guide. A German teacher
stopped back to say how sad the information
was. We chatted about sustainable changes and
how we’re all a part of the system – good or
bad.
At
East Tennessee State, an athletic
dude took a booklet, sighed, and said, “This
is so discouraging.” I asked him what was
discouraging about it and he said that it’s
so sad reading about animal suffering, because
animals are so innocent and helpless. I told
him that I agreed that it was very sad, but
the purpose of the booklet was to be encouraging,
that we could see something bad, do something
good, and play a role in rectifying the situation.
He agreed and thanked me for the information.
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