September 2008

GREETINGS

I just thought of something feasible for us to do for World Vegetarian Day.

The North American Vegetarian Society (of which MARV is a member), sent us a booklet about it, and one of the activities it listed was writing a letter to the editor of one’s local newspaper. What do people think about a whole group of us each doing that? It only takes a short time for a person to write a letter, you can do it at your own convenience, and in my (actually fairly extensive) letter-to-editor-writing experience, it is probable that if enough of us write letters, it will get their attention enough to actually publish one or two of them. And that would be enough to bring the subject to the attention of all the paper’s readers.

What would be needed would be for me to supply you all with the addresses to write or email to, as well as some ideas for what to write (if you aren’t sure for yourself). A good focus this year would be the environmental impacts of meat-eating, but you might choose to write, as well or instead, about the impacts on human health and/or farm animals and/or world hunger, or a testimonial about how vegetarianism has improved your own life. See the “Connections” section below for more.

On another note, we do already have a few people signed up to help with the Pre-Thanks-giving Feast, but there are still plenty of ways to get involved, and we can’t pull it off unless you do. Come to a potluck or phone 414-764-7262 or email chuckgyver@aceweb.com for volunteer opportunities.

M.A.R.V. ACTIVITIES

Sunday, Sept. 7, 5 PM, regular potluck at the Friends’ Meeting House, 3224 N. Gordon Pl. in Riverwest (from Humboldt Blvd., go east on Auer a few short blocks to the parking lot).

Topic is “Let’s talk tofu.”

Subsequent regular potlucks will be on Oct. 5, Nov. 2, and Dec. 7.

The date for the PreThanksgiving Feast is Saturday, Nov. 22

Other veg-friendly meetings

I t looks like there will not be a macrobiotic potluck for September.

The Urban Ecology Center’s vegetarian potluck will be on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 6:30 PM at 1500 E. Park Pl. – bring plate and fork as well as your meatless dish. Phone is 414-964-8505.

To find out about Vegan Meetup’s possible September events, check the Vegan Meetup website.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“The reasons more… people are choosing a Vegan lifestyle include bettering human health, ending… worker exploitation… saving family farms, protecting the environment, ending climate change, ending world hunger, using energy and resources more wisely, conserving land, protecting wildlife, preserving our oceans and waterways, and being kind to animals.” -- A Life Connected pamphlet

NEWS

There was quite a lot of bad animal food news this month.

The Nebraska Beef recall that we reported last month was ended, but then renewed again after it was realized that more than ground beef should have been called in. Also, Canada’s Maple Leaf Foods expanded its recall of cold cuts after the Canadian government increased the number of deaths attributed to those products. Perhaps in response to such developments, the USDA announced that it will begin listing on its web site retail stores receiving meat products involved in recalls.

Canada has detected yet another new case of mad cow disease. Ominously, this is the ninth case in an animal born after new feed bans were set in place, suggesting that those measures are not effective in preventing the disease’s transmission, and prompting a U.S. cattlemen’s group (!) to allege that this proves Canadian beef to be unsafe.

Then there was the report of a Texas processing plant dumping chicken byproducts in a landfill, causing a stench and angering the landfill’s neighbors.

Salmonella on produce is still a problem, which prompted a report in the NY Times on the food industry preparing to back greater regulation in processing it, as well as an announcement that the FDA will allow irradiation of spinach and lettuce. Still no discussion of keeping animal feces away from vegetable fields and waterways.

Speaking of water and what lives in it, and despite the peril to the entire ocean ecosystem due to overfishing, a recent report found that more fish – 14 million tons per year – are fed to livestock than to humans! Is it related to this story that a couple of New York City high school students, doing a science project that used simplified DNA testing, found that almost a quarter of the fish samples they bought were labeled as species different from (and more desirable than) what they really were? Meanwhile, French oyster farmers protested lack of government aid for their industry, hit hard by an outbreak of a herpes-viral oyster disease.

Looking specifically at water issues, the U.S. Senate has approved the Great Lakes Compact, which would protect the water of the Great Lakes; now the House has to follow suit before it can become law. And Vermont has water protection issues of its own: most Vermonters depend on wells for their water, so a proposal to bottle 250,000 gallons a day from a local spring in East Montpellier has residents balking, and pushing state and local governments to ban such practices altogether. Stay tuned.

The ongoing food-supply situation is now prompting developing nations in Asia to seek protection of their domestic rice producers from surges in foreign imports. On a different note, a study by the giant food corporation Unilever found that Americans are willing to cut out frozen dinners, cookies, beer, wine, and soda before meat. Another aspect of the food supply situation is that locally sourced produce continues to gain shoppers’ enthusiasm, with WalMart (!) announcing recently that it will spend $400 million this year on locally-grown.

Good news is that Monsanto has apparently had so much trouble with its milk-production-boosting drug rBGH that it sold that division this month. Bad news is, Eli Lilly bought it…

The unqualified good news, though, is all the ways in which plant foods are still good for you.

A study released by Brigham and Women’s Hospital reported that certain foods may help protect against ovarian cancer: specifically, flavonoids found in non-herbal tea, broccoli and cabbage, and carrots and peppers, may protective.

A report issued by Alternative Medicine E-newsletter on preserving one’s vision as one grows older also focused on the benefits of eating certain plant foods. Vitamin A, essential for the retina, comes from beta-carotene found in orange and dark green leafy vegetables (as well as eggs and milk and fortified milk-substitutes). The sulfur in onions and garlic helps protect against cataracts. Antioxidents in broccoli, dark green leafies, tomatoes, and fruits like mangoes and papayas help slow common age-related eye diseases. And vitamin E, found in nuts and seeds, as well as the minerals in whole grains, all help keep eyes healthy.

An article on keeping one’s skin young-looking recommended eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables of various colors, whole grains, omega-3 fatty acids (eat walnuts, flax seeds and oil, and hemp seed oil), and anti-oxidant-rich spices like turmeric, ginger, cumin, and cinnamon, plus staying hydrated.

An item in Prevention advised people who regularly take ibuprofen or other NSAIDs to also eat plenty of vegetables rich in nitrates, such as beets, spinach, lettuce, and radishes, as a way to protect the stomach’s lining and thus prevent bleeding ulcers. A different item mentioned that celery and green bell peppers contain a substance that can prevent inflammation in the brain linked with aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. Blueberries, and also blackberries, cranberries, and cherries, were separately mentioned as rich in the flavonoids that help the brain function well; an article in the Whole Foods publication also discussed the superlatively high levels of anti-oxidents in blueberries, pointing out that their anthocyanins have been shown to help prevent heart disease and may inhibit cancer cells’ growth as well as help the brain.

I noticed an article on hair health, which included dietary tips for healthy hair. After pointing out that healthy hair reflects good general health, it recommended eating a diet that includes nuts, seeds, beans, dark leafy greens, whole grains, and monounsaturated fats (golly, that sounds vegan).

Prevention ran an article on what and how to eat organically when high prices make it hard to buy everything organic. For produce, it was suggested that if you have to make choices, go organic with the items likeliest to contain pesticides and the items you eat the most of; also, buy local and in season, and the stuff with the least packaging (i.e., a bunch of carrots instead of a plastic bag of cleaned carrots prepackaged into single servings). It was suggested that if you eat dairy, it should be organic because organic has much more beta-carotene, vitamin E and other antioxidents, and omega-3 fatty acids (as well as avoiding rBGH by-products). Regarding meats, suggestions included eating beans instead, at least part of the time. And it you’re watching your cash flow, skipping organic junk foods such as soda is also a good idea.

Finally, eating local and seasonal (think farmers’ markets as well as produce with local point-of-origin labels), suggests being aware of what is in season in the Midwest at present: beets, bell peppers, some berries, broccoli, cabbage, melons, carrots, snap beans, new potatoes, various green leafies, cucumbers, summer squashes, eggplant, fennel, garlic, horseradish, mushrooms, peaches, nectarines, pears, plums, onions, sweet corn, and TOMATOES.

CONNECTIONS

Not only is October 1 World Vegetarian Day, but right around that time is also World Farm Animals Day. FARM (Farm Animal Reform Movement) sponsors activities for that; contact them at www.WFAD.org or phone 888-FARM-USA if you’re interested.

As mentioned above, writing letters to newspaper editors could be a way to bring public attention to vegetarianism, using World Vegetarian Day as a peg for bringing the topic up, and for it being newsworthy at that time.

For those who have never written a letter to the editor before, the guidelines are to keep it short (under 200 words), clear, and to the point; don’t try to cover too much at once. (If several of us write letters, it is possible that an editor would choose to print two or three, each of which covers different points.) Try to make sense, but don’t stress out too much about grammar and punctuation, since editors always clean that up anyway (and sometimes make small cuts to fit their available space).

Start with something like:

“To the Editor:

“I write because October 1, which is coming up, is World Vegetarian Day, and this is therefore a good time to reflect on the many benefits of vegetarianism for [choose from] people, animals, the environment.”

Then choose from such points as:

-- People are healthiest when they eat the most fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds and the least amount of saturated fat (which comes only from animal foods);

-- A full one-sixth of dangerous greenhouse gasses are produced by cattle; manure from “factory farms” and intense use of agricultural chemicals for growing the crops that are fed to animals are major factors in water pollution and ocean dead zones; [etc.];

-- The inefficiency of feeding grain and beans to animals greatly decreases the amount of food available for people;

-- The cruelty of much modern animal-raising is unjustifiable in a moral society;

-- Vegetarians who take advantage of ethnic cuisines are happy consumers of tasty and satisfying meals – and get to feel virtuous too.

You should express these ideas in your own phrasing.

The last couple of weeks of September would be best for sending a letter, but earlier is better than not at all if that’s when you have time and motivation. Or if people want to write letters at the potluck and leave them with me, I will mail them at the right time.

All letters should include your full name, address, and phone number; email address is appropriate too. Do NOT send the same letter to more than one paper; use different slants for different papers if you do more than one.

Send a letter to: Letters to the Editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, PO Box 371, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0371, fax 414-223-5444, email jsedit@journalsentinel.com

Or: Letters, USA Today, 7950 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, VA 22108, fax 703-854-2053, email letters@usatoday.com; The Editor, Wall Street Journal, 200 Liberty St., New York, NY 10281, emailwsj.ltrs@wsj.com; New York Times fax 212-556-3622 or email letters@nytimes.com

Or any other newspaper you read.