IVU Online News
2013-08 IVU News
Posted in IVU Online News
Table of Contents
- Latest from Malaysia
- How To Start a Veg Club at Your School
- World’s First Vegan Avenue
- What’s Your Favourite App?
- Get you Free DVD on Recent Nutrition Research
- Visual of the Month
- The Intelligence of Our Fellow Animals
- “Going vegan is, by far, the most important thing anyone can do”
- This Month’s HCYKTASEM
- Book News 1 - More from Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition
- Book News 2 - Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength
- Book News 3 - Simply Vegan
- Book News 4 - Voices of the Food Revolution
- Book News 5 - Vegan for Her
- Upcoming Events
- Other Online Sources of Veg News
- Please Send News to IVU Online News
Latest from Malaysia
For the latest updates on the venues, accommodation, tours, exhibition spaces, see: http://mvs.my/2013/
How To Start a Veg Club at Your School
Here is the conclusion of an article from Vegetarian Resource Group about starting a school veg club.
Establishing a club is generally a simple process and once you have a club started you can achieve so much in terms of creating community and spreading awareness about issues related to vegan and vegetarianism. Being a part of a club is a very valuable experience in school and you can even put it on your resume. I would highly recommend looking into starting your own club in the near future.
The rest of the article can be found here. The article is U.S.-centric, but you can develop local applications.
World’s First Vegan Avenue
Our friends at Happy Cow recently shared news of an avenue in Berlin, Schivelbeiner Straße, that boasts vegan eateries, a vegan clothing store, a vegan shoe shop, a vegan grocery store and a vegan.
To watch a video about this amazing avenue and about the burgeoning veg scene in Berlin generally, please go here
What’s Your Favourite App?
Nowadays, more people are using apps, and more and more apps are being developed to fit vegetarian lifestyles and interests. Here is a list of favourite apps from Care2.com
www.care2.com/causes/6-awesome-apps-for-animal-lovers.html
What about you? Do you have any veg apps to recommend to others? Maybe your organisation has developed its own app. Is it a free app, or do you sell it?
Get Your Free DVD on Recent Nutrition Research
Dr Michael Greger has brought out another volume of his Latest in Clinical Nutrition DVD series. Dr Greger is happy to send a copy to any IVU member organisation. Contact him at . If you know people who would like to purchase this compendium of current information on nutrition, they can order the new DVD at www.drgreger.org/DVDs or through Amazon at http://amzn.to/133dayq
Here's the list of chapters from the new volume 14 DVD -- a preview of what's to come on www.NutritionFacts.org:
1. Fighting the Blues With Greens? MAO Inhibitors in Plants
2. Kiwifruit for Insomnia
3. Tart Cherries for Insomnia
4. Hot Sauce in the Nose for Cluster Headaches?
5. Cayenne Pepper for Irritable Bowel and Chronic Indigestion
6. Dietary Treatment for Painful Menstrual Periods
7. Is Carrageenan Safe?
8. Safety of Noni and Mangosteen Juice
9. Infant Seizures Linked to Mother's Spirulina Use
10. Keeping Your Hands Warm With Citrus
11. Reducing Muscle Fatigue With Citrus
12. Reducing Muscle Soreness With Berries
13. Preventing Exercise-Induced Oxidative Stress With Watercress
14. Which Seaweed is Most Protective Against Breast Cancer?
15. Survival of the Firmest: Erectile Dysfunction and Death
16. 50 Shades of Greens
17. Pistachio Nuts for Erectile Dysfunction
18. Butter-Flavored Microwave Popcorn or Breathing
19. Treating ADHD Without Stimulants
20. Artificial Food Colors and ADHD
21. Tricks to Get Kids to Eat Healthier at School
22. Tricks to Get Kids to Eat Healthier at Home
23. Tricks to Get Adults to Eat Healthier
24. Changing Our Taste Buds
25. Eating Better to Look Better
26. Poultry Exposure Tied to Liver and Pancreatic Cancer
27. Eating Outside Our Kingdom
28. Starving Cancer With Methionine Restriction
29. Methionine Restriction as a Life Extension Strategy
30. Heart Disease Starts in Childhood
Visual of the Month
Courtesy of http://evolvecampaigns.org.uk. Maybe this poster is a bit self righteous, but it might appeal to some people.
The Intelligence of Our Fellow Animals
The drumbeat grows louder, as evidence mounts that other animals are indeed intelligent beings. An article in a recent issue of Psychology Today reviews recent finding, with the author stating, “I believe that when we appreciate animals we appreciate the better side of human beings”.
Here’s a joke, adapted from the internet, which highlights the intelligence of other animals.
Once upon a time there was a man who went from village to village selling caps. One especially warm day, as he was walking from one village to another, he saw a big, shady mango tree and decided to take a nap under the tree. After his nap, the man felt refreshed, but when he looked around, all his caps were gone, except the one on his head. He looked everywhere but couldn’t see the caps, until he looked up into the mango tree and saw many monkeys, each wearing one of his caps.
The cap seller was angry, so he shook his fists and yelled at the monkeys to return his caps. In response, the monkeys imitated the man; they shook their fists and yelled, but they did not return the caps. Even angrier now, the man took a mango from the ground and threw it at the monkeys, but again, the monkeys just imitated him, picking mangoes from the tree and throwing them at the frustrated cap seller. In despair, the man took his last cap, the one he was wearing on his head, and threw it on the ground. Upon seeing that, the monkeys took off their caps and threw them on the ground.
The delighted cap seller quickly collected the caps, plus the mangoes that the monkeys had thrown down. That evening, the man told the story to his family who laughed as they enjoyed the delicious mangoes.
Ten years later, the cap seller had retired, and his daughter had taken over the cap business. One day, she was walking between villages when she saw a mango tree. “Ah,” she thought, “that must be the mango tree where my father collected all the mangoes from the silly monkeys.” So, just like her father, the woman took a nap under the mango tree, and just as happened to her father, when she woke up, all her caps were on the heads of the monkeys up in the mango tree.
The cap seller remembered what happened to her father, and sure enough, when she shook her fists at the monkeys and shouted at them, they shook their fists and shouted at her. And when she threw a mango at the monkeys, they threw mangoes at her. “So far, so good,” she thought.
Then, the woman took off her cap and threw it on the ground, but the monkeys didn’t imitate her this time. “Hey monkeys,” she shouted, “you’re supposed to throw down the caps, just like I did. What’s wrong with you stupid monkeys?” Upon hearing this tirade, one of the monkeys jumped down from the tree, walked near the human and said, “Do you think you’re the only one with a father?”
“Going vegan is, by far, the most important thing anyone can do”
Earlier this year, James Cameron received National Geographic’s “Explorer of the Year” award for his successful solo dive last year to the deepest point of the Pacific Ocean. Cameron used National Geographic’s 125th-anniversary gala to share his new-found solution to saving the Earth. “I’ve had an epiphany recently,” Cameron told the audience. “I want to challenge all of you as people of deep conscience, people who are environment stewards of the earth and oceans.... By changing what you eat, you will change the entire contract between the human species and the natural world”.
Cameron said he went vegan a year ago and urged everyone in the room to do the same. “I felt like I was waking up from a long sleepwalk,” he said. “I believe we are all sleepwalking off a cliff if we don’t do this”. The Oscar-winning director with a fortune of $700 million or so has been a vocal supporter and has put his money where his mouth is for various green causes. People, he said, are always asking him what they can do to make a difference for the planet. He says he used to give the standard answers: - electric cars, solar panels - but now believes going vegan is, by far, the most important thing anyone can do.
The above was reported in the Washington Post dated 17th June 2013
This Month’s HCYKTASEM
This month’s How Can You Know This And Still Eat Meat (HCYKTASEM) piece is a bout chickens. Chickens are probably the animals who suffer the most from humans’ unnecessary use of our fellow animals for food, with more than 40 billion eaten each year, not to mention the horrors of egg production. How can our consciences allow us to commit this cruelty on a daily basis? One way to rationalise our abuse of chickens is by convincing ourselves that chickens are objects, to be treated like so many pieces of rock.
Yet, research continues to remind us that the animals whom we use for food have both intelligence and emotions. This excerpt from a recent newspaper article describes findings from some of that research.
Chickens may not be about to make a significant mathematical, scientific or literary contribution to the world, but chickens have the capacity to master skills and develop abilities that a human child can take months and years to accomplish.
It takes a chick just a few hours to develop its representational and numerical abilities in comparison to the months and years it takes a human child to do anything comparable.
Read the entire article here.
And, speaking of chickens, this graphic shows the huge share of meat eating that chickens suffer.
Book News 1 - More from Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition
Our July issue summarised two of the main ideas of Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutritionby T Colin Campbell, author of The China Study. What stood out about Whole was that unlike most other books that make the health case for going to plant based foods, Whole also discusses, albeit briefly, some of the other arguments for going veg. Here are some excerpts:
Environment (p. 167)
One of the intelligent criticisms of Al Gore’s powerful and important documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, was that its prescriptions were woefully inadequate in light of the problem’s magnitude. Tips like replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents, … may make you feel virtuous, but have little to no impact on the real problem.
Eating animal based foods creates 18 percent of global warming, more than the contributions of either industry or transportation…. This means that reducing meat consumption, the main driver of the livestock industry, may be the most rapid way to affect global warming.
Kindness (pp. 170-171)
The main difference between factory farming and the old-time farming of my youth [Campbell grew up on a dairy farm in the US] is philosophical. My family and I thought of animals as sensory beings, capable both of comfort and suffering, while factory farmers, by virtue of their business model, see them as virtually lifeless units of production, much like the raw materials of any factory.
Cows are mostly docile animals. They certainly feel and express emotions. In times gone by, they mostly spent much of their fifteen to twenty years in pasture…. In CAFOs [Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations], dairy cows live only three or four years, coinciding with their years of peak milk production. They are penned up in tight living (dying) quarters, never again to be pastured on green grass after they begin producing milk.
Humans (pp. 172-173)
It’s not just the animals that have suffered greatly in this transformation of American agriculture. Family farms, the kind I was raised on, are rapidly going out of business…. Animals and farmers are not the only victims of our animal-based diet. When small-scale agriculture is converted to industrial-scale animal production in the developing world, small land holders are forced off their subsistence plots, and have no way to afford the food being produced on their former land.
The simple math of industrial animal-protein production speaks volumes. In a world where millions of people die of starvation and starvation-related diseases every year, we still inexplicably insist on the gross inefficiency of cycling our plant production through animals before considering it “food”. Feeding meat-producing animals rather than feeding humans directly means we lose upward of 90 percent of the calories otherwise available for our consumption.
Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition by T Colin Campbell and Howard Jacobson, 2013, published by BenBella Books, ISBN 13:9781937856243
Book News 2 - Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength
Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney, 2011, published by Penguin, ISBN 978-1-59420-307-7
Baumeister is one of the world’s most frequently cited psychologists, and Tierney writes about science for the New York Times. What they say about willpower can apply to people moving toward any type of vegetarianism or to vegetarians trying to eat in a healthier way.
Their advice can be summarized in the phrase, “The best defense is a good offense”. Here are nine ways to apply this advice to diet.
- We need glucose to have strong willpower. Eat lots of healthy food throughout the day to maintain your glucose level.
- Pick your battles - willpower can be depleted; so, don’t try to change your diet at a particularly stressful time in your life; save your willpower for the diet change.
- Set achievable short and long term goals. Expect to mess up a bit. Don’t worry about it. Reward yourself for reaching goals.
- Plan ahead. Where will you be? What are you going to eat there, or buy there to eat later
- Establish habits. Habits are automatic; thus, less willpower is needed.
- Go public. Announce your goal on Facebook. Monitor your progress and let others know about it.
- Avoid temptation. As much as possible, keep away from what you don’t want to eat.
- Get buddies. Hang out with others who want to eat like you.
- Connect to your values, such as kindness to others. “Self-control is not selfish” (p. 163).
One last quote from the book (p. 269):
“People with stronger willpower are more altruistic…. Inner discipline leads to outer kindness”.
Book News 3 - Simply Vegan
Simply Vegan: Quick Vegetarian Meals, Vegan Nutrition, and Cruelty-Free Shopping by Debra Wasserman and Reed Mangels, Ph.D., R.D. ISBN 13: 978-0-931411-34-2 224 pages, recycled paper, 5th edition, US$15.95.
More than 100,000 copies of this book are in print. Highlights include:
- Over 160 vegan recipes that can be prepared quickly.
- An extensive vegan nutrition section.
- Sample menus and meal plans for vegans.
- Food definitions and origins.
- Data on cruelty-free shopping by mail, including where to buy vegan food, clothing, cosmetics, household products, and books.
Learn more here.
Book News 4 - Voices of the Food Revolution
Voices of the Food Revolution: You Can Heal Your Body and Your World with Food!, by John Robbins and Ocean Robbins, 2013, Conari Press.
In this book, John and Ocean Robbins interviewed important scientists, doctors and nutritionists. This collection includes conversations with leading voices on food politics: Dean Ornish, Rory Freedman (Skinny Bitch), Frances Moore Lappe, Kathy Freston, Neal Barnard, T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn and Gene Baur.
Watch a short talk on the book by Ocean Robbins here.
Book News 5 - Vegan for Her
Vegan for Her: The Woman’s Guide to Being Healthy on a Plant-Based Diet, by Ginny Messina and JL Fields, 2013, Da Capo Lifelong Books.
[From the book’s blurb] Vegan for Heris a guide to meeting the unique needs of vegan women, with recipes and practical information for optimal health at every stage of a woman’s life. In Vegan for Her, dietician Virginia Messina tackles the issues most pertinent to women who follow or who are considering a vegan diet, and JL Fields provides health-supportive recipes and tips for taking your veganism beyond the plate. With specific guidance on meeting women’s unique nutritional needs throughout the lifecycle and information about food choices that relate to many health concerns, Vegan for Her is a practical and realistic guide to making sure your plant-based diet is as healthy as it can be.
Ginny Messina, MPH, RD is a registered dietician with a master’s degree in public health from the University of Michigan. Vegan for Her is her second book on vegan nutrition. She co-authored Vegan for Life: Everything You Need to Know to be Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet in 2011. Her blog is TheVeganRD.com.
JL Fields, M.S.is a vegan cook, lifestyle coach and educator - certified by the Main Street Vegan Academy – at Go Vegan with JL! A devoted culinary student, JL has studied at the Natural Gourmet Institute and completed the Intensive Study Program at The Christina Pirello School of Natural Cooking and Integrative Health Studies.
World Weeks for the Abolition of Meat - 21-29 September, 2013 - various locations - http://www.meat-abolition.org/en/wwam
11th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics - ‘The ethics of consumption’ - 11-14 September, 2013, Uppsala, Sweden - http://www.slu.se/eursafe2013
India Vegan Festival - 27-29 September, 2013. Details of the venue and programs will be soon available at www.indianvegansociety.com
6th Asian Vegetarian Congress and 41st IVU World Vegfest – 3-7 & 8-9 October 2013, Kuala Lumpur and Penang, Malaysia - http://vegetariansocietymalaysia.org
5th China Xiamen International Vegetarian Food Fair, 10-13 October, 2013 - www.whatsonxiamen.com/event3235.html
British Animal Studies Network meeting - Theme: Winged Creatures - 11-12 October, 2013 - Glasgow, Scotland - http://www.britishanimalstudiesnetwork.org.uk
Eating America: Crisis, Sustenance, Sustainability - 23-25 October, 2013, University of Wroclaw, Poland - http://paas.org.pl/2013-paas-conference%EF%BB%BF%EF%BB%BF
Peace as a Global Language conference [includes a talk+ on veg] - 16-17 November, 2013 - Tokyo, Japan - http://pgljapan.org
College Art Association conference - Theme: Unbecoming Animals - 12-15 February, 2014, Chicago, USA - http://www.collegeart.org/conference
Other Online Sources of Veg News
In addition to IVU Online News, there are many other places to go online for general veg-related news, rather than news mostly about one country or one organisation. Here are some.
1. European Vegetarian Union www.evana.org
2. Meatout Mondays www.meatoutmondays.org
3. Vegan Outreach www.veganoutreach.org/enewsletter
4. VegE-News www.vege-news.com
5. VegNews www.vegnews.com
6. VegSource www.vegsource.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi
7. AnimalConcerns.org doesn't have a newsletter, but they post stories daily at www.animalconcerns.org/categories.html?do=shownews
8. Vegan.com www.vegan.com
9. IVU-Veg-News E-Mail List www.ivu.org/news/veg-news
10. Vegetarianism in the News www.vegsoc.org/page.aspx?pid=928
Please Send News to IVU Online News
Dear Veg Activist
Please use this newsletter as a way to share your knowledge, ideas and experiences with fellow veg activists.
Thx. -–george jacobs,
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