EVEREST WOMEN'S SEVEN SUMMITS ECO-ACTION

PRESS RELEASE:
EVEREST WOMEN'S SEVEN SUMMITS ECO-ACTION

In July 2010 a team of nine Nepali women will begin the first international leg of a tour that will see them climb seven of the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. On successfully climbing all seven summits they will be setting a world record for being the largest team to do so.

The team will be using their expedition to highlight the urgent issue of
climate change, and as part of this focus the ***whole team has now adopted a vegan diet for the entire tour***. This decision was made in response to the wealth of information regarding the overwhelming impact human food choices have on climate change, including the recent UN study which indicates that a global shift towards plant based eating is one of the best ways to alleviate most significant environmental damage, including climate
change.

Further to this personal commitment, the project will be made carbon neutral
via carbon offsetting. The team have partnered with a local Nepali NGO,
Clean Energy Nepal, for that. They are focusing on solar lanterns, bio-gas,
and tree plantations in the Himalayan villages to offset the carbon emission
resulting from the project.

In May 2008 this team of inspiring young women became the most successful
women's expedition ever to Summit Mt Everest. Against all kinds of
socio-economic odds the team succeeded in doing what none thought possible.
All of them reached the summit and spread the message of 'Unity in Diversity'
from the top of the world.

During that expedition the issue of climate change struck the members
deeply, and subsequent travels across the country motivating students
allowed them to witness further instances of the serious effects of climate
change. So with the first, and arguably the most challenging summit behind
them the climbers have now taken up a mission that is both meaningful and
helpful not just in Nepal but globally.

The members of the team are Asha Kumari Singh, Chunu Shrestha, Maya Gurung,
Ngabhang Phuti Sherpa, Nimdoma Sherpa, Pema Diki Sherpa, Pujan Acharya,
Shailee Basnet and Usha Bist. Each of these young women has her own
compelling story of struggle, challenges, hope and determination. Born of
poor parents, one started supporting her family when she was in the sixth
grade. Another ran away from home to unknown destination to escape forced
marriage at the age of fourteen. Their backgrounds combined with the
previous success and a new vision makes this global expedition, led by such
intrepid young women quite unique.

The Seven Summits Eco-Action kick-starts in Australia on the 29th of June.
The team fly into Sydney and travel down to the south coast of NSW and then
up to the alpine region, to climb Mt Kosciuszko/ Targangil in early July.
They will be meeting with schools, environment groups, famous climbers,
environmentalists, scientists and politicians during their tour, as well as
speaking at several public events in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

2010 marks the tenth anniversary of diplomatic relations being established
between Australia and Nepal and a ceremony to celebrate this will be held in
Canberra where the team will present token of commemoration to the
Australian Government

The next peak in the challenge, Mt Elbrus in Europe, will be followed by
Kilimanjaro (Africa), Vinson Massif (Antarctica), Aconcagua (South America),
Carstensz Pyramid (Oceania) and Denali (North America). The team will be
raising funds during their Australian trip to support future climbs.

The Australian part of the project is supported by Government of Nepal,
Nepal Mountaineering Association, Nepal Tourism Year 2011, The North Face,
The Crossing Land Education Trust, Outdoor Education Group, and the 'Be
Vegan, Go Green-Save the Planet' campaign, Non-Residential Nepalis and Nari
Nikunja.

The team has made the following vision and mission statements:

Vision: Providing hope to people and empowering them by sharing knowledge
about tools for mitigation and adaptation through education and cross
cultural learning in order to promote sustainable co-existence of nature and
human beings.

Mission: Climb the seven summits, conduct educational exchange programmes on
climate change in each continent and finally compile the global knowledge in
educational materials including a book, animations and posters which will
be distributed in schools and libraries in various languages worldwide.

Everest Women's Seven Summits
Eco-Action Web site:
www.sevensummitswomen.org

Australian contact:
Jenny McCracken,
Darebin Climate Action Network,
Phone: 0431 587830
Email; jam2arts@...

Summary of Group Itinerary

29th June-4th July: arrive Sydney, travel to The Crossing Land Education
Trust, Bermagui.
5th July-8th July: In Jindabyne and Thredbo, climbing Mt Kosciuszko with
Outdoor Education Group
9th-10th July: In Sydney with Nepali community
11th-12th July: In Canberra with Nepali Embassy
13th July onwards: In Victoria.
Mt Arapiles, then Melbourne with local climate action networks and Nepali
community
18th July depart Australia, Melbourne.

The Freegan Establishment

The Freegan Establishment
By JAKE HALPERN
May 31, 2010

I cruised through the West Side of Buffalo last summer with a young man named Kit who was looking to acquire a house. Kit was a 20-year-old Las Vegas native who had just arrived in Buffalo. He had the look of a mountain man fresh off the trail: his face was tanned, his brow was covered in sweat and his hair was pulled back haphazardly in a ponytail. He wore a bandanna around his neck, and his shorts and T-shirt looked as if they were his only set of clothes. He was also barefoot. Kit looked poor — destitute, even — but he was very excited about a grand, old house that he had his eye on.

“It has a beautiful backyard with a lot of blackberry bushes!” Kit told me. It was a three-story house, he explained, and the first floor alone had 1,224 square feet. Kit had researched the house online, and he knew that the place had four bedrooms, two full bathrooms and two kitchens. “It’s totally stunning,” he gushed.

The house had one other outstanding feature: It was just across the street from a convenience store, and behind the store was a Dumpster, which Kit said he hoped would provide an endless source of meals.

READ THE ARTICLE: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06Squatters-t.html?pagewanted=1&hpw

Quotes about Vegetarianism

A vegetarian is a person who won't eat anything that can have children. ~David Brenner


You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I'll buy you a new car. ~Harvey Diamond


Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them. ~Samuel Butler, Note-Books, 1912


Dear Lord, I've been asked, nay commanded, to thank Thee for the Christmas turkey before us... a turkey which was no doubt a lively, intelligent bird... a social being... capable of actual affection... nuzzling its young with almost human-like compassion. Anyway, it's dead and we're gonna eat it. Please give our respects to its family. ~Berke Breathed, Bloom County Babylon


If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. ~Paul McCartney


Think of the fierce energy concentrated in an acorn! You bury it in the ground, and it explodes into an oak! Bury a sheep, and nothing happens but decay. ~George Bernard Shaw


One farmer says to me, "You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make the bones with;" and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying himself with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle. ~Henry David Thoreau


How can you eat anything with eyes? ~Will Kellogg


The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of "real food for real people" you'd better live real close to a real good hospital. ~Neal Barnard


Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant? I'm halfway through my fishburger and I realize, Oh my God. I could be eating a slow learner. ~Lynda Montgomery


Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends. ~George Bernard Shaw


We don't need to eat anyone who would run, swim, or fly away if he could. ~James Cromwell


If you knew how meat was made, you'd probably lose your lunch. ~k.d. lang


Nothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, yet we make the same impression on Buddhists and vegetarians, for we feed on babies, though not our own. ~Robert Louis Stevenson


My situation is a solemn one. Life is offered to me on condition of eating beefsteaks. But death is better than cannibalism. My will contains directions for my funeral, which will be followed not by mourning coaches, but by oxen, sheep, flocks of poultry, and a small traveling aquarium of live fish, all wearing white scarfs in honor of the man who perished rather than eat his fellow creatures. ~George Bernard Shaw


I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens. ~Isaac Bashevis Singer, quoted in You Said a Mouthful edited by Ronald D. Fuchs


Vegetarianism is harmless enough though it is apt to fill a man with wind and self-righteousness. ~Robert Hutchison, address to the British Medical Association, 1930


Heart attacks... God's revenge for eating his little animal friends. ~Author Unknown


Fork: An instrument used chiefly for the purpose of putting dead animals into the mouth. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary


For the most part, we carnivores do not eat other carnivores. We prefer to eat our vegetarian friends. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com


My perspective of veganism was most affected by learning that the veal calf is a by-product of dairying, and that in essence there is a slice of veal in every glass of what I had thought was an innocuous white liquid - milk. ~Rynn Berry, quoted in Joanne Stepaniak, The Vegan Sourcebook, 1998


Nothing spoils lunch any quicker than a rogue meatball rampaging through your spaghetti. ~Jim Davis, "Garfield" (Please note: In its original context, this is NOT about vegetarianism)


Vegetarians taste better. ~Author Unknown


Vegetarian - that's an old Indian word meaning "lousy hunter." ~Andy Rooney

Do vegetarians eat animal crackers? ~Author Unknown


If we aren't supposed to eat animals, then why are they made of meat? ~Author Unknown


I was a vegetarian until I started leaning toward the sunlight. ~Rita Rudner


Most vegetarians I ever see looked enough like their food to be classified as cannibals. ~Finley Peter Dunne


Vegetarian: A person who eats only side dishes. ~Gerald Lieberman


In the strict scientific sense we all feed on death - even vegetarians. ~Mr. Spock, Star Trek, "Wolf in the Fold"


The human body has no more need for cows' milk than it does for dogs' milk, horses' milk, or giraffes' milk. ~Michael Klaper


Tongue - a variety of meat, rarely served because it clearly crosses the line between a cut of beef and a piece of a dead cow. ~Bob Ekstrom


Recognize meat for what it really is: the antibiotic- and pesticide-laden corpse of a tortured animal. ~Ingrid Newkirk


I will not eat anything that walks, runs, skips, hops or crawls. God knows that I've crawled on occasion, and I'm glad that no one ate me. ~Alex Poulos


We all love animals. Why do we call some "pets" and others "dinner?" ~k.d. lang


Coexistence... what the farmer does with the turkey - until Thanksgiving. ~Mike Connolly


I won't eat anything that has intelligent life, but I'd gladly eat a network executive or a politician. ~Marty Feldman


I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants. ~A. Whitney Brown


A mind of the calibre of mine cannot derive its nutriment from cows. ~George Bernard Shaw


A man of my spiritual intensity does not eat corpses. ~George Bernard Shaw


If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat? ~Author Unknown


I never go without my dinner. No one ever does, except vegetarians and people like that. ~Oscar Wilde


There is no substitute for mother's milk. ~Martin H. Fischer


I've found without question that the best way to lead others to a more plant-based diet is by example - to lead with your fork, not your mouth. ~Bernie Wilke, quoted in Joanne Stepaniak, The Vegan Sourcebook, 1998


All normal people love meat. If I went to a barbeque and there was no meat, I would say, "Yo Goober! Where's the meat?" I'm trying to impress people here, Lisa. You don't win friends with salad. ~Matt Groening, The Simpsons, spoken by the character Homer Simpson


Truely man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others: we are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men. ~Leonardo da Vinci


I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other.... ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854


I venture to maintain that there are multitudes to whom the necessity of discharging the duties of a butcher would be so inexpressibly painful and revolting, that if they could obtain a flesh diet on no other condition, they would relinquish it forever. ~W.E.H. Lecky


You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth? ~George Bernard Shaw


I just could not stand the idea of eating meat - I really do think that it has made me calmer.... People's general awareness is getting much better, even down to buying a pint of milk: the fact that the calves are actually killed so that the milk doesn't go to them but to us cannot really be right, and if you have seen a cow in a state of extreme distress because it cannot understand why its calf isn't by, it can make you think a lot. ~Kate Bush


I think if you want to eat more meat you should kill it yourself and eat it raw so that you are not blinded by the hypocrisy of having it processed for you. ~Margi Clark


"Thou shalt not kill" does not apply to murder of one's own kind only, but to all living beings; and this Commandment was inscribed in the human breast long before it was proclaimed from Sinai. ~Leo Tolstoy


As soon as I realized that I didn't need meat to survive or to be in good health, I began to see how forlorn it all is. If only we had a different mentality about the drama of the cowboy and the range and all the rest of it. It's a very romantic notion, an entrenched part of American culture, but I've seen, for example, pigs waiting to be slaughtered, and their hysteria and panic was something I shall never forget. ~Cloris Leachman


We manage to swallow flesh only because we do not think of the cruel and sinful thing that we do. Cruelty... is a fundamental sin, and admits of no arguments or nice distinctions. If only we do not allow our heart to grow callous, it protests against cruelty, is always clearly heard; and yet we go on perpetrating cruelties easily, merrily, all of us - in fact, anyone who does not join in is dubbed a crank. ~Rabindranath Tagore


Can you really ask what reason Pythagoras had for abstaining from flesh? For my part I rather wonder both by what accident and in what state of soul or mind the first man did so, touched his mouth to gore and brought his lips to the flesh of a dead creature, he who set forth tables of dead, stale bodies and ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had a little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived. How could his eyes endure the slaughter when throats were slit and hides flayed and limbs torn from limb? How could his nose endure the stench? How was it that the pollution did not turn away his taste, which made contact with the sores of others and sucked juices and serums from mortal wounds? ~Plutarch


It is only by softening and disguising dead flesh by culinary preparation that it is rendered susceptible of mastication or digestion, and that the sight of its bloody juices and raw horror does not excite intolerable loathing and disgust. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab Notes


Vegetarianism can easily reach religious proportions. Refraining from meat on moral grounds serves to dignify feelings of guilt toward sad-eyed, furry creatures and substitutes righteousness for squeamishness. ~Bill Griffith, Griffith Observatory comic strip, 1977


To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body. ~Mahatma Gandhi


A veteran USDA meat inspector from Texas describes what he has seen: "Cattle dragged and choked... knocking 'em four, five, ten times. Every now and then when they're stunned they come back to life, and they're up there agonizing. They're supposed to be re-stunned but sometimes they aren't and they'll go through the skinning process alive. I've worked in four large [slaughterhouses] and a bunch of small ones. They're all the same. If people were to see this, they'd probably feel really bad about it. But in a packing house everybody gets so used to it that it doesn't mean anything." ~Slaughterhouse 1997


I eat everything that nature voluntarily gives: fruits, vegetables, and the products of plants. But I ask you to spare me what animals are forced to surrender: meat, milk, and cheese. ~Author Unknown (Thanks, Eric)


Think of me tonite
For that which you savor
Did it give you something real,
or could you taste the pain of my death in its flavor?
~Wayne K. Tolson, from "Food Forethought"


Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. ~Albert Einstein


I do not like eating meat because I have seen lambs and pigs killed. I saw and felt their pain. They felt the approaching death. I could not bear it. I cried like a child. I ran up a hill and could not breathe. I felt that I was choking. I felt the death of the lamb. ~Vaslav Nijinsky


Would you kill your pet dog or cat to eat it? How about an animal you're not emotionally attached to? Is the thought of slaughtering a cow or chicken or pig with your own hands too much to handle? Instead, would hiring a hit-man to do the job give you enough distance from the emotional discomfort? What animal did you put a contract out on for your supper last night? Did you at least make sure that none went to waste and to take a moment to be grateful for its sacrifice? ~Anonymous

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Quotes from doctors about diet

The superior doctor prevents sickness;
The mediocre doctor attends to impending sickness;
The inferior doctor treats actual sickness.

—Chinese Proverb

"An important fact to remember is that all natural diets—including purely vegetarian diets without a hint of dairy—contain amounts of calcium that are above the threshold for meeting your nutritional needs."
—John McDougall, M.D.

"I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open."
—Dean Ornish, M.D.

"I will no longer drink milk from cows or consume products made from that milk. Cow's milk is a superbly engineered fluid that will turn a 65-pound calf into a 500-pound cow in a year. That is what cow's milk is for"
—Michael Klaper, M.D.

"When you step back and look at the data, the optimum amount of red meat you eat should be zero."
—Walter Willet, M.D.

"Vegetarians have the best diet. They have the lowest rates of coronary disease of any group in the country….Some people scoff at vegetarians, but they have a fraction of our heart attack rate and they only have 40 percent of our cancer rate. They outlive other men by about six years now."
—William Castelli, M.D.

"The standard four food groups are based on American agricultural lobbies. Why do we have a milk group? Because we have a National Dairy Council. Why do we have a meat group? Because we have an extremely powerful meat lobby."
—Marion Nestle

"An African woman can have ten babies, nurse each of them for ten months, and still be expected to have good solid bones when she reaches the age of 70, bones which are comparable to those of a 20-year-old woman in America. Eskimos, who daily consume 250 to 400 grams of proteins in fish, walrus, or whale meats and 2,200 milligrams of calcium from fish bones, have the highest incidence of osteoporosis of any population in the world."
—John McDougall, M.D.

"In essence, the fat taste is just a habit, created by conditioning. All too often, high-fat foods, or ‘sweets,' are held out as rewards to children for ‘good' behavior. Dr. Leann Birch at the University of Illinois Child Development Laboratory has found that in Western countries, young children are conditioned or taught to like animal-based foods. For example, how many times have you heard parents say, ‘You can have your ice cream, if you eat your spinach?' They quickly assume that if ice cream is the reward, then spinach must be the punishment. By contrast, most children in rural China and Japan, who haven't been offered such a deal, are repulsed by the thought of eating animals or foods made from them."
—The late Charles Attwood, M.D., author of Dr. Attwood's Low-Fat Prescription for Kids

"When you see the golden arches, you are probably on your way to the pearly gates."
—William Castelli, M.D.

"There is strong medical evidence that complete freedom from eating animal flesh or cow's milk products is a gateway to optimal nutritional health."
—Michael Klaper, M.D.

"Whether industrialized societies…can cure themselves of their meat addictions may ultimately be a greater factor in world health than all the doctors, health insurance policies, and drugs put together."
—The China-Oxford-Cornell Project on Nutrition

"Less than 70 years ago, more than 40 percent of the protein in the American diet came from grains, bread, and cereal. Currently, only 17 percent comes from these sources, along with another 15 percent from legumes, fruits, and vegetables, while two-thirds is from animal products. This trend, also noted in other industrialized Western countries, has been accompanied by a steady increase in heart-disease and cancer deaths."
—Charles Attwood, M.D.

"I found out that doctors typically aren't given much training in nutrition and that some so-called nutrition experts are not well qualified in that field. A large sample of physicians were asked how much training they got in nutrition in medical school. The average was less than three hours, with many having only one hour or less. That's out of nearly 3,500 hours of medical training. The truth is that doctors may get their nutrition information from the same newspapers and TV programs we do, and unless they have taken extra training in nutrition, they may not know much more about nutrition than the rest of us."
—Neal Pinckney, M.D.

"I will be 63 in February. I make no attempt to hide my age because I believe that as a vegan, a female, a 'senior citizen,' and a competitive athlete, I serve as a role model for a large constituency who need to identify with someone who is 'like them.'"
—Ruth Heidrich, Ph.D., vegan triathlete

"A fat rampage has existed since the late 1980s. This has been encouraged by fast-food restaurants and the snack food industry. Serving sizes are increasing. Example: McDonald's created larger burgers with more beef, and the relatively lower-fat McLean burger was discontinued in 1996."
—Charles Attwood, M.D.

"Documented benefits of a pure vegetarian (vegan) lifestyle include permanent reduction in weight, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, and blood sugar, as well as risk reduction for cardiovascular disease and half a dozen common forms of cancer. Allergies, arthritis, and asthma also respond to vegan nutrition, which means no meat, fish, chicken, dairy, eggs, or even honey."
—William Harris, M.D.

"Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud, and that the major cancer research organizations are derelict in their duties to the people who support them."
—Linus Pauling, Ph.D., two-time Nobel Prize winner

"Economics and politics simply intertwine in shaping conventional medicine's approach to cancer. Very simply put, treating disease is enormously profitable, preventing disease is not."
—The British Cancer Control Society

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Host a Vegan Baking Party

Give A Crash Course In Veganism - Host A Vegan Baking Party

Educate friends the fun way by making decadent vegan desserts together.

By Jaymi Heimbuch
San Francisco, CA, USA | Tue Feb 23, 2010 07:35 AM ET

vegan sugar cookies
Jaymi Heimbuch

READ MORE ABOUT:
Dairy | Eco-Friendly Foods | Vegan

One of the biggest factors that often stops people from going vegan is the notion that you have to sacrifice some of our most favorite foods that revolve around dairy. While it's true that finding a good cheese alternative is tough - though there are decent alternatives out there - going vegan doesn't mean giving up decadent, rich, wonderful foods. Baked goods is one area where the potential of veganism shines through. With so many alternatives for eggs, butter and milk, finding wonderful recipes for dessert is, well, a piece of cake.

A fast way to get all your friends to learn about what veganism entails and that one doesn't sacrifice amazing food in the effort to cut out animal products from the diet is to host a baking party.

To read the full article: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/vegetarianism-vegan-bake-party.html

Excellent Essay - Please Read - A Revolution of the Heart

By Gary L. Francione

Dear Colleagues:

Many animal advocates assume that we need an organization–some organization–in order to advocate for nonhuman animals; that we need a leader–some leader–to show us the way.

I suggest that this is the wrong way to look at things.

Unfortunately, in a world in which everything is commodified, social justice has, not unsurprisingly, itself become a commodity and it is sold, in various flavors, by corporations that compete for shares in the market for compassion. These companies have done a marvelous job in convincing us that participation in all moral struggles, including and particularly the struggle for animals, means writing a check–to them.

In a world in which we accept a thousand different hierarchies without even noticing that we do so, and without even questioning the very concept of hierarchy, we assume that we need leaders to show us the way...

We are not going to get anywhere by tinkering at the edges...

That revolution is not going to occur as the result of any leader. It can only occur within each and every one of us.

PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE ESSAY:
http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/a-revolution-of-the-heart/

Vegan Fact

Anyone who eats flesh & eats/wears animal products and/or who profits from animal exploitation is not vegan.

Meat off the menu as Windsor Castle goes vegan

Meat off the menu as Windsor Castle goes vegan
Royal banquets, surely, are all about meat. From those four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie to a portly King Henry tearing at whole chickens via roast swan and apple-stuffed suckling pigs, our Hollywood-fuelled vision of princely dining is of a flesh fest.
By Xanthe Clay
LINK TO FULL ARTICLE BELOW02 Nov 2009


Sharpen your pencils, Royal historians, because that may be about to change. Tomorrow, Windsor Castle goes vegan for the day, with a banquet for 200 bigwigs, including UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, the Grand Mufti of Egypt and Archbishop Valentine Mokiwa, President of the All Africa Conference of Churches.

The most surprising part? Heading up the table will be the Duke of Edinburgh, founder of the secular Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) which, with the UN Development Programme, has organised the lunch as part of “the Celebration of Faiths and the Environment”.

It’s hard to imagine the Duke tucking in to a nut roast, which is why, when I was asked to advise on a menu that could be eaten by leaders from nine different faiths with all manner of dietary requirements, I knew that the meatless, dairy-free feast I came up with must be anything but dry and worthy.

Catering for nine different faith groups puts the usual dinner-party dilemma of what to give the vegetarian into perspective. The Muslims need Halal meat while the Jewish contingent have to keep kosher. The Daoists avoid red meat, while Buddhists and Sikhs are generally vegetarian. Hindus don’t eat beef or onions. Sadly the Jains couldn’t come, but at least root vegetables can stay on the menu.

To read the full article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/6488123/Meat-off-the-menu-as-Windsor-Castle-goes-vegan.html

Vegan

"Veganism denotes a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practical, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose; and by extension promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals, and the environment." ~ Donald Watson

Students speak out for vegan ideals

Students speak out for vegan ideals
Vegans motivated by animal rights, health, environmental benefits
By Jessica Neville, staff writer
Sunday, November 8, 2009

http://www.technicianonline.com/features/students-speak-out-for-vegan-ideals-1.2057382

Americans across the country are celebrating National Vegan Month throughout November. A vegan is commonly defined as a person who chooses to avoid using any type of animal product, although the degree to which a person practices veganism and their reasons for doing so may vary.

Vegans are estimated to comprise about 1% of the American population and also represent a small minority of the student population. Vegans on campus practice their ideals for animal rights, environment, and health reasons.

To read the full article: http://www.technicianonline.com/features/students-speak-out-for-vegan-ideals-1.2057382

Quiz: Are You Freegan Material?

Quiz: Are You Freegan Material?

http://frugalliving.about.com/library/Quizzes/Freegan_Quiz/bl_are_you_a_freegan.htm?nl=1

Very interesting analogy: What Vegans Can Learn from the Gay Rights Movement's Successes

What Vegans Can Learn from the Gay Rights Movement's Successes
By SHERRY F. COLB
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Link to full article below

These are heady times for gay and lesbian rights. Four states now provide for same-sex marriage, and the number is likely to increase in the near future. A Republican conservative who acted as President George W. Bush's Solicitor General is currently bringing a court challenge to the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in that state. Though sexual orientation discrimination continues, much has changed in a country in which, just 23 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Georgia criminal sodomy law and specifically approved its selective application to homosexual couples.

Such success inspires emulation by other groups seeking to end other sorts of persecution. One profound and ubiquitous form of subordination is that in which we humans engage with respect to nonhuman animals. At the present time, the law permits and condones the massive injury and slaughter that is inflicted on billions of animals for purposes of their consumption as food and clothing.

An increasing number of people have come to recognize the injustice of the injury and slaughter, but an overwhelming majority of the population resists this recognition. What lessons might the struggle for gay rights have to teach those who seek to end the systematic torture and slaughter of animals?

A Risky Analogy – But Not One that Should Give Offense

The first thing to note is that there is a risk in analogizing the struggle for gay rights with the struggle for animal rights. The danger that concerns me is not, as some might think, that of offending people. People were (and some continue to be) offended by comparisons between struggles against racial oppression and struggles against homophobia, but it is precisely the resistance to an unfamiliar claim (especially a claim that implicates one's own behavior) that makes it seem "offensive."

If inflicting terrible suffering and death on nonhuman animals who can feel pleasure, pain, and a wide range of emotions represents a real harm – and most people acknowledge, at some level, that it does – then no one should be offended by the suggestion that this harm must stop, just as other harms, once taken for granted as permissible, are now almost universally condemned.

The risk, though, is that of missing the real connection. The proper analogue to a gay person seeking gay rights is not a nonhuman animal, for the latter is not able to seek justice for herself (except by appearing, occasionally, in the public consciousness and awakening rare pangs of conscience and empathy). The proper analogue to the gay person struggling for gay rights is, instead, the vegan struggling for animal rights.

When I use the word "animal rights" here, I mean something very basic – an entitlement to have one's interests seriously considered in people's decision-making process. No one, to my knowledge, is advocating that nonhuman animals be permitted to vote, hold public office, or receive scholarships to state colleges, any more than one would advocate similar entitlements for a three-year-old human. But if a being's interests are taken seriously, then surely one may not inflict torture, misery, and slaughter on that being simply to satisfy one's culinary and fashion preferences.

What Makes Gay Men and Lesbians Similar to Vegans?

Once we recognize that it is the vegan – rather than the nonhuman animal – who occupies the space parallel to that of the gay rights advocate, we immediately see some important commonalities. One is that, unlike race and sex, gay identity and vegan identity are, in part, chosen.

In saying this, I do not mean to suggest that people "decide" whether to be gay or straight, in the way that they decide what books to read. What I mean is that in the absence of surgery or other kinds of mutilation, a person who is white cannot decide to be African-American, and a man cannot decide to be a woman: sex and race are, in that sense, immutable. By contrast, part of what makes the gay rights movement distinctive is that it is possible for a gay man or a lesbian to live (unhappily) as though he or she is straight.

This possibility is, in fact, both noted and encouraged by many who are religiously committed to heterosexuality. It also helps explain why anti-gay advocates say that they supposedly do not discriminate against gay people, because gay people are free – like straight people – to marry someone of the opposite sex.

Because it is possible for a gay person to live as though he or she is straight, however unfulfilling such a life might be, the decision to acknowledge (to others but also to oneself) that one is gay or lesbian is a momentous decision that takes courage and often results in family tensions.

Similarly, ethical vegans make a decision that they will start consuming a vegan diet and wearing vegan clothing. Unlike the non-vegan majority, very few ethical vegans were born into veganism, and thus most necessarily had to question a status quo that treats the farming of animals for their dead bodies as an inevitable and fine state of affairs. Though vegans are routinely asked why they are vegan, non-vegans are almost never asked why they are not. It would, in fact, be considered rude to ask a non-vegan "why do you choose to consume animal products?"

Becoming a vegan often generates family conflicts, in some of the same ways as coming out as gay does. Family members can have a hard time accepting the change and may enjoy bringing up old stories of animal consumption by the now-vegan.

The ethical vegan – and not the nonhuman animal – is the face of animal rights that most people will see (if they see any face of animal rights at all). In the United States, most of the people who contribute to the suffering of animals – those who consume parts of dead animals and the products taken away from live animals, soon to be killed – have rarely had occasion to interact with a live version of what they eat. They do, however, occasionally run into a person who declines the routine American food choices and thereby opts out of a system of persecution and harm.

The notion that this choice is possible can be unsettling to someone who never seriously questioned the legitimacy of consuming animals and their products. Resulting hostility, whether subtle or overt, resembles that of a person who is in fact gay, but fails to acknowledge it to himself, who becomes threatened and angry when interacting with an openly gay person. A conversation with an ethical vegan may awaken the other party to a truth that is, at some level, known but not openly acknowledged: the truth that one is participating daily in the suffering and death of animals – and that there is another way.

Strategy for Vegans

Like a gay man or a lesbian, a vegan can choose from a variety of ways of being a vegan. Some stay in the closet. One woman I know, for example, purchases only vegan foods for her home, but when she is out and about, she either eats what others are eating or claims that she is not hungry, so that people will not know her true identity. She explains that once she knows someone well, she will confide in him or her that she is a vegan.

To read the full article: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/colb/20090902.html

This vegan's wedding pointers

This vegan's wedding pointers
by Catherine Capozzi
July 22, 2009 Link to full article below

Weddings are all about love, compassion, and commitment. Such sentiment should extend not only to the people, but to the entire event. In my planning process, I find the wedding process to be marked with extravagence, consumerism, and consumption as well as the aforementioned values. Reconciling the extravagent materialism with being eco-friendly and sticking with the core values is already proving difficult. For example, do I truly need little droplets of crystal hanging from my flowers? What does this extra drop of “bling” (a word, by the way, that I never want to hear again after it being mentioned 35 times in a “We” channel wedding special) indicate about me, anyway?
Vegans are in a unique situation for weddings because no one really knows what to expect from them.

To read the full article: http://www.examiner.com/x-4348-Phoenix-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m7d22-This-vegans-wedding-pointers

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Twenty-one day vegan kickstart

Twenty-one day vegan kickstart
by Kyle Wardstrom
August 13, 2009

Are you ready for a challenge? This challenge just may make you feel better, have greater health, lessen your impact on standard animal abuses and climate-change. If you're ready for a change, take the 21-day vegan kickstart starting on September 8th.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is an organization that promotes healthy living and sustainability. PCRM is starting a program on Sept. 8th to get you on the right track with your health. If you "opt-in" you will receive daily emails of tips "that will put you on the path to weight loss, better health, and greater well-being", daily recipes that will help you break your craving for unhealthy foods, weekly nutritional webcasts and social support from other participants and nutritional professionals. What better way to start your post-Labor Day year!

To read the full article: http://www.examiner.com/x-19017-San-Jose-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m8d13-Twentyone-day-vegan-kickstart

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A Vegan (No Milk) Diet Is Healthy for Bones

A Vegan (No Milk) Diet Is Healthy for Bones
by Dr. John McDougall
Link to full article below

Veganism, bone mineral density, and body composition: a study in Buddhist nuns by L.T. Ho-Pham published in the April 2009 issue of the journal Osteoporosis International found, “…although vegans have much lower intakes of dietary calcium and protein than omnivores, veganism does not have (an) adverse effect on bone mineral density and does not alter body composition.” This study examined 105 postmenopausal Mahayana Buddhist nuns, and compared them to 105 omnivorous women (average age of women in both groups was 62 years-old). The nuns were randomly sampled from monasteries in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; they had been on a vegan diet, on average, for 33 years. The density of the nuns’ lumbar spine and femoral neck (hip) bones were found to be similar to those of the animal-food-eating women (omnivores)...

Comment: The greater calorie intake of the animal-food-eating women indicates they were much more physically active and that extra activity alone should have caused significantly greater bone mineral density than the less active nuns. But that was not the case. The observation that the bone density was equal in both groups is testimony for the bone-building (bone-preserving) effects of a vegan diet. The greater physical activity in the animal-food-eating women partially compensated for the bone losing effects of the animal protein in their diet. Osteoporosis is primarily due to the rich Western diet. Highly acidic proteins found in animal foods tear down the skeleton over decades.

To read the full article: http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2009nl/jun/fav5.htm

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Runner: Vegan lifestyle helps go the distance

Runner: Vegan lifestyle helps go the distance
BY MELANIE HIRSHBERG
STAFF WRITER
June 30, 2009
from dailyrecord.com (see link below)

After a dog attacked her in 1994 while she was walking down her street, marathon runner Barbara Ellicott saw her world fall apart around her.
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The attack was so severe that a man had to use a broom to dislodge the jaws of the dog from her calf. The bite went to the bone and resulted in nerve damage. A runner since the '70s, Ellicott's doctors said she would never be able to again.

"I was a basket case. I was so depressed thinking about all the things I couldn't do anymore," said Ellicott, 67, a doctor in speech pathology and a psychologist.

For six years she was depressed, gained weight, and her cholesterol went through the roof, she said. Her inspiration to challenge what the doctors said and turn her life around came from her children.

Five years after the attack, her daughter suggested she attend the Vegetarian Summerfest in Johnstown, Pa. At first, she was hesitant.

"I was resisting as all heck," she said of her initial reaction to becoming a vegetarian. "Typical for people from my generation, we're stuck in tradition. We were used to meat and potatoes."

But after hearing speakers from the World's Vegetarian Congress at the festival, she decided to try the vegan lifestyle. She has not eaten any animal product, including dairy and eggs, since then.

To read the full article: http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20090630/COMMUNITIES/906300313/1005/NEWS01/Runner++Vegan+lifestyle+helps+go+the+distance

Vegan diets for infants

Vegan diets for infants
by Virginia Messina, MPH, RD
June 1, 2009

http://www.examiner.com/x-5670-Seattle-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m6d1-Vegan-diets-for-infants?cid=exrss-Seattle-Vegan-Examiner

Vegan diets are healthful at all stages of the lifecycle—and that includes infancy. In fact, all babies start out as vegetarians. Vegan infants who are breastfed need vitamin B12 supplements, but other than that, their diet won't look different from omnivore babies until they are around seven months old.

Breast milk is the ideal food for any baby and should be offered until at least the first birthday. If breastfeeding isn’t possible or needs to be supplemented, commercial infant formula, including soy-based formula, can replace all or part of it in an infant’s diet.

For the first four to six months of life, babies don’t need—and shouldn’t have—anything other than breast milk or infant formula. It may look like a boring and unsatisfying diet, but it suits an infant’s needs perfectly. Some vegetables can actually be dangerous to very young babies—those younger than four months.

Babies are ready for solid foods between the ages of four and six months. One sign of readiness is the ability to sit up and maintain balance. Another is the ability to use the tongue to move food to the back of the mouth for swallowing. That takes a little practice for any baby, but very young ones can’t do it at all.

To read the full article: http://www.examiner.com/x-5670-Seattle-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m6d1-Vegan-diets-for-infants?cid=exrss-Seattle-Vegan-Examiner

What Is A Vegan Diet? What Are The Benefits Of Being Vegan?

What Is A Vegan Diet? What Are The Benefits Of Being Vegan?
12 May 2009

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/149636.php
[Click on above to see an interview with Carl Lewis - really good!]

Being a vegan is definitely more of a lifestyle choice and a philosophy than a diet. A vegan does not eat anything that is of animal origin. Vegans will not use animal based products for clothing, or any other purpose. A person can become a vegan because of ethical reasons involving animal rights, for environmental factors, or for better health. According to Wikipedia, approximately 0.2% to 1.3% of the US, and between 0.25% and 0.4% of the UK populations are vegans.

This article is part of a series called What Are The Eight Most Popular Diets Today?.

Veganism is seen as a subset of various possible vegetarian diets/lifestyles.
What is the difference between Veganism and Vegetarianism?
Some people may disagree with the meaning of vegetarianism. The general interpretation is that a vegan will not consume any foods of animal origin, not even honey, while a vegetarian might consume eggs (ovo-vegetarian), or dairy (lacto-vegetarian). Another general interpretation is that Veganism is a subdivision of Vegetarianism. However, some vegans say that the only true vegetarian is a vegan. According to the Medilexicon medical dictionary, a vegan is "A strict vegetarian; one who consumes no animal or dairy products of any type". Virtually all vegan societies also add that a vegan does not use products that come from animals, such as leather, wool, down, cosmetics, or products which have been tested on animals.
The three main reasons people adopt veganism are health, environmental, and animal rights

To read the full article: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/149636.php

Very Cute: You might be a vegan if...

You might be a vegan if...
April 28, 2009

http://www.examiner.com/x-4198-Omaha-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m4d28-You-might-be-a-vegan-if?cid=exrss-Omaha-Vegan-Examiner

Becoming a vegan can be an exciting transition for most but how do you know if you've fully made the switch? I've put together a series of tests to tell whether or not you've embraced the essence of veganism.

Because everyone else has jumped on the "Redneck" joke bandwagon, I thought I'd put together this list of funny...sometimes embarassing observations about vegans. More original work to follow.

You might be a vegan

If your friends envy your PS3 but you covet your buddy's juicer...you might be a vegan.

If it takes you a year to read through a book but you can read through a paragraph of ingredients in a fraction of a second...you might be a vegan.

If you find broccoli showing in a girl/boy's teeth sexy...you might be a vegan.

If you take more pictures of your food than people...you might be a vegan.

If you know what cyanocobalamin is...you might be a vegan.

To read the full article: http://www.examiner.com/x-4198-Omaha-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m4d28-You-might-be-a-vegan-if?cid=exrss-Omaha-Vegan-Examiner

Find Vegan/Veggie Restaurants Worldwide, or in your own town

Very Cool Link~!

Vegetarian restaurants Worldwide are listed and linked here:

http://www.vegguide.org/