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Enews Lynx Issue 38: UN Urges Global Vegan Diet, PGH Walk for Farm Animals, No Feeding Signs, Bullfighting Ban
Enews Lynx Issue 38: UN Urges Global Vegan Diet, PGH Walk for Farm Animals, No Feeding Signs, Bullfighting Ban
| Lynx Issue 38: UN Urges Global Vegan Diet, PGH Walk for Farm Animals, No Feeding Signs, Bullfighting Ban |
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| Monday, 09 August 2010 00:00 |
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After a long recess, Lynx is back! In this week's edition:
Big News: UN Urges Worldwide Shift Towards Vegan Diet On June 2, 2010, the United Nations Environment Programme released a new report titled Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production that contained this startling and urgent message: A global shift towards a vegan diet is necessary in order to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty, and the worst affects of climate change. The report states: "Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth increasing consumption of animal products. Unlike fossil fuels, it is difficult to look for alternatives: people have to eat. A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products." The report goes on to say, “Agriculture, particularly meat and dairy products, accounts for 70% of global freshwater consumption, 38% of the total land use and 19% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.” It also urges that developing countries must not follow the western world’s poor model. One cannot underscore the enormity of this message: The UN is not just suggesting or advising a shift away from animal products, it is stressing that a worldwide shift towards a vegan diet is necessary in order to prevent ecological catastrophe. You can’t make a much better case for a vegan diet than that. To read more: UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet United Nations Urges Worldwide Shift Away From Animal Products Full UN Report “Veganism: What It’s All About” Great Success On July 11, VFA held a great vegan outreach event at the First Unitarian Church in Shadyside. Forty people watched the movie "Peaceable Kingdom" and participated in a discussion about animal sentience, veganism, and the relationships between speciesism and other forms of oppression. The movie’s depiction of the cruelty of animal agriculture and how a sanctuary provides a place for animals and humans to heal from that cruelty is very moving. We enjoyed great vegan food made by VFA members, and distributed many vegan recipe booklets and other literature. Survey response forms about the event were very positive. At future events we will try to have more time for discussion, and more people attending! VFA wants to do more vegan outreach events like this one, especially events that reach people who have not yet learned about the horrors of factory farming and animal agriculture. We would especially like to help people who support dog and cat shelters to draw a connection between caring about companion animals and caring about farmed animals and wildlife. If you know of any events at dog/cat shelters where we can leaflet or have a table, please let us know! Vegan Food Sampling Claire Holzner's vegan food sampling at East End Food Coop on July 31 went well. Many people tried meatless sausage and non-dairy cheese and took brochures about veganism and VFA. This is easy and fun. If you'd like to do a food sampling in the co-op or a grocery store, give it a try! See "Ask a Vegan" on this website: http://vegfund.org/index.html Goose Poop is All Over Our Media, Not Our Shoes! Local news reports have recently picked up on a recurrent story Voices for Animals is sadly all too familiar with – complaints regarding Canada geese. In the past, news stories similar to this recent article have resulted in the uneducated and impulsive responses of county, township, and park executives to hunt or even en masse round up and slaughter Canada geese. You may recall VFA's past dealings with Canada goose roundups in areas such as North Park and Riverfront Park on the Southside, or protesting goose hunts in North Huntingdon. Upon our arrival to these various locations where Canada geese were being killed due to their alleged overpopulation, not a single spot was ever making a complete effort to follow the humane and 100% effective model of Geese Peace (www.GeesePeace.org). While areas like North Park have adopted some strategies from this model, the despairing fact remains that none of these locations have made a serious effort to inform visitors as to why geese in the area should not be fed. We don't think you need to love the law to love animals, but it is our sincere hope that no feeding regulations would be most respected and obeyed if doing so was in the best interest of the animals' lives. That's why VFA would like to sponsor a proposed project throughout any cooperative parks! We're currently researching educational no-feeding signs along the lines of those pictured here: http://www.geesepeace.org/integratedsolutions.html
Walk for Farm Animals Coming to Pittsburgh in October For the first time in nearly 10 years, Pittsburgh will be participating in the Walk for Farm Animals. The Walk is taking place on Saturday, October 2nd, World Farmed Animals Day. Here is the information from the event’s organizer: PLEASE JOIN US FOR THE PITTSBURGH WALK FOR FARM ANIMALS! Benefitting Farm Sanctuary – the largest national organization providing protection & advocacy for farm animals SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 10AM REGISTRATION Family picnic to follow! Why It Matters: Factory farms impact your health, the health of the planet & the lives & wellbeing of animals REGISTER OR DONATE ONLINE FOR MORE INFORMATION: Catalonia Bans Bullfighting! Historic change for animals came from Spain this week as activists in the region of Catalonia, which includes Barcelona, effectively banned bullfighting! The Catalonian Parliament voted in favor of the ban 68 to 55, and more than 180,000 Catalonian citizens signed a petition demanding an end to bullfighting. The ban will go into effect January 1, 2012. The Catalonian activist group PROU which initiated the campaign made the statement: “Today has been the day we were hoping for: the suffering of animals in the Catalan bullrings has been abolished once and for all and by an absolute majority.” This is truly a landmark change for animals as bulls will soon no longer suffer the horrendous torture of bullfighting in Catalonia, and sets a prominent example to ban bullfighting throughout the rest of the world. For more information: Amazing Animals: Pigs Can Express Optimism and Pessimism In our second edition of our new series Amazing Animals, where we highlight the complex intellectual and emotional capabilities of non-human animals, we take a look at a new study involving pigs and their sense of happiness. Researchers in England found that pigs can express whether or not they feel optimistic or pessimistic about life as the result of their surroundings. The researchers taught pigs to associate a note played on a glockenspiel with something pleasant- an apple treat – and a clicker with something unpleasant – rustling of a plastic bag. Half of the pigs were then placed in an enriched environment with plenty of space to move and roam in straw and play with toys, while the other half of the pigs were put in a smaller, non-stimulating environment with no straw (note: mention of animal studies does not imply VFA supports or condones animal research). The team then played a squeaky ambiguous noise and monitored the pigs’ reactions. The researchers found that nearly without exception, the pigs in the enriched environment were optimistic about what the noise could be and approached expecting to get a treat. The pigs in the non-stimulating environment however, were pessimistic about the new noise and didn’t approach because they didn’t expect a treat, but rather something unpleasant as the rustling of the plastic bag. So humans aren’t the only ones who can see the glass as half-empty or half-full. http://www.livescience.com/animals/pig-emotions-happiness-deciphered-100727.html Upcoming Events: Thursday, August 12th: Tabling at 7th Annual Pennsylvania Bar Institute Animal Law Conference, Marriott City Center, Downtown, 9 AM-5 PM Saturday, October 2nd: Pittsburgh Walk for Farm Animals, Southside Trail, 10 AM |
