Shalom everyone,
This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:
1. Chag Samayach: Best Wishes For a Very Joyous Sukkot
2. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report: Poor Countries To Suffer Most From Global Climate Change
3. Many Temperature, Rainfall and Drought Records Broken in August, 2007
4. A Suggestion Re Future National and International Vegetarian and Animal Rights Conferences/Suggestions Welcome
5. Printing Firm Going Green/Seeking Environmentally Concerned Customers
6. Getting Vegetarianism Into Considerations Re Recent Health Proposals
7. NY State Passes Law to Ban Electrocution of Animals For Fur
8. Compilation of information re eating meat and its effects from the EVU
9. Very Comprehensive Article With Pro-Vegetarian Arguments
10. Jewish National Fund (JNF) Taking Steps To Reduce Global Warming in Israel
11. Is It Too Late To Stop The Worst Effects of Global Warming?
12. IsraeI Court Rules Kapparot Violates Country’s Animal Slaughter Laws
13. October is World Vegetarian Day!
14. Some Excerpts From European Vegetarian Union Newsletter
15. More Re Challenging Al Gore Re Dietary Connections to Global Warming
16. New Documentary Exposes Meat-Production Abuses
17. The Changing Statistics Behind Current Global Warming and Other Environmental Threats
18. Does Global Warming Threaten U.S. Coastal Cities?
19. Excellent Vegan Poem
Some material has been deferred to a later update/newsletter to keep this one from being even longer.
[Materials in brackets like this [ ] within an article or forwarded message are my editorial notes/comments.]
Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the JVNA, unless otherwise indicated, but may be presented to increase awareness and/or to encourage respectful dialogue. Also, material re conferences, retreats, forums, trips, and other events does not necessarily imply endorsement by JVNA or endorsement of the kashrut, Shabbat observances, or any other Jewish observances, but may be presented for informational purposes. Please use e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and web sites to get further information about any event that you are interested in. Also, JVNA does not necessarily agree with all positions of groups whose views are included or whose events are announced in this newsletter.
As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome.
Thanks,
Richard
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1. Chag Samayach: Best Wishes For a Very Joyous Sukkot
Best wishes for a very joyous Sukkot. It begins at sundown on Wednesday, September 26.
Please consider my article below for background for your letters and talking points. Also, please be on the lookout in your local papers for my articles and letters, and let me know if any appear in your local Jewish weeklies. Thanks.
Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Vegetarianism
Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.
president@JewishVeg.com
jewishveg.com/schwartz
There are many connections that can be made between vegetarianism and the joyous Jewish festivals of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret (the Eighth Day of Solemn Assembly), and Simchat Torah:
1. Sukkot commemorates the 40 years when the ancient Israelites lived in the wilderness in frail huts and were sustained by manna.
According to Isaac Arama (1420-1494), author of Akedat Yitzchak,and others, the manna was God's attempt to reestablish for the Israelites the vegetarian diet that prevailed before the flood in the time of Noah.
2. On Simchat Torah, Jews complete the annual cycle of Torah readings, and begin again, starting with the first chapter of Genesis, which contains God's first dietary law: "Behold I have given you every herb yielding seed which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in which there is the fruit of a tree-yielding seed - to you it shall be for food." (Genesis 1:29). Also, the Torah, along with prophetic and Talmudic interpretations, is the source of the Jewish mandates - to take care of our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people, and seek and pursue peace - that point to vegetarianism as the ideal diet today.
3. Sukkot is the Jewish harvest festival called the "Feast of Ingathering". Hence, it can remind us that many more people can be sustained on vegetarian diets than on animal-centered diets that presently involve over 70 percent of the grain produced in the United States being fed to animals raised for slaughter, while 15 to 20 million people die due to malnutrition and its effects annually.
4. The Sukkot holiday, including Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, is known as the "Season of Rejoicing", because people's worries about the success of the harvest are over. Since one must be in good health in order to fully rejoice, the many health benefits of vegetarian diets and the knowledge that such diets are not harmful to hungry people or animals are factors that can enhance rejoicing.
5. Sukkahs, the temporary structures that Jews dwell in during
Sukkot, are decorated with pictures and replicas of apples, oranges, bananas, peppers, carrots, and other fruits and vegetables, never with meats or other animal products.
6. After the sukkah, the main ritual symbols for Sukkot are related to the plant kingdom. The Torah states: "On the first day, you shall take the first fruit of hadar (goodly) trees (an etrog or citron), branches of palm trees (lulav), boughs of leafy trees (hadassim) and myrtle, and willows of the field (aravot), and you shall rejoice before the Lord thy God seven days (Leviticus 23:40). These four species represent the beauty and bounty of the land of Israel's harvest.
7. On Shemini Atzeret, Jews pray for rain, and plead to God that it should be for a blessing, not a curse. This is a reminder of the preciousness of rain water to nourish the crops so that there will be a successful harvest. Also, according to the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 1.2), the world is judged on Sukkot with regard to how much rainfall it will receive. In the days when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, there was a joyous "Water Drawing Ceremony" (Simchat Bet Shueva), designed to remind God to pour forth water when it was needed. Modern intensive livestock agriculture requires huge amounts of water, much of it to irrigate feed crops. According to Newsweek magazine, the amount of water needed to raise one steer would float a Naval destroyer. A person on an animal-based diet requires up to 14 times as much water as a person on a strict vegetarian diet.
8. Sukkot is a universal holiday. There are at least three indications related to the festival that Jews consider not only their own welfare, but also the fate of all of the world's people:
a. In Temple days, there were 70 sacrifices for the then 70 nations of the world;
b. The lulav is waved in all directions, to indicate God's rule over and concern for the entire world;
c. The roof of the sukkah is made only of natural materials such as wood and bamboo, and must be open sufficiently so that people inside can see the stars, to remind them that their concerns should extend beyond their immediate needs and should encompass the world.
Vegetarianism also considers not only a person's health, but also encompasses broader concerns, including the global environment, the world's hungry people, and the efficient use of the world's resources.
9. Moving out of comfortable homes to dwell in relatively frail sukkahs indicates that it is not our power and wealth that we should rely on, but rather that our fate is in God's hands. And it is God Who originally provided vegetarian diets for people, and created us with hands, teeth, and digestive systems most conducive to eating plant foods.
10. Dwelling in sukkahs also teaches that no matter how magnificent our homes, no matter how extensive our wealth and material possessions, we should be humble and not be overly concerned about our status. Vegetarianism is also an attempt to not be taken in by status symbols, such as those that the eating of meat often represent.
11. Sukkot's prophetic readings point to the universal messianic transformation of the world. According to Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook, first Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, based on the prophecy of Isaiah (. . . the wolf will dwell with the lamb, . . . the lion will eat straw like the ox . . . (Isaiah 11: 6-9)), the messianic period will be vegetarian.
In summary, a shift to vegetarianism is a way to be consistent with many values and teachings related to the joyous festivals of Sukkot,
Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah.
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2. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report: Poor Countries To Suffer Most From Global Climate Change
Grim outlook for poor countries in climate report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/sep/18/climatechange.internationalnews?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
* David Adam, Peter Walker and Alison Benjamin
* Guardian Unlimited
* Tuesday September 18 2007
The Arctic is again highlighted as being among areas most at risk.
The effects of climate change will be felt sooner than scientists realized and the world must learn to live with the effects, experts said today.
Professor Martin Parry, a climate scientist with the Met Office, said destructive changes in temperature, rainfall and agriculture were now forecast to occur several decades earlier than thought.
He said vulnerable people such as the old and poor would be the worst affected, and that world leaders had not yet accepted their countries would have to adapt to the likely consequences.
The professor was speaking in London at a meeting to launch the full report on the impacts of global warming by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The report – which had its executive summary released earlier this year – says hundreds of millions of people in developing nations will face natural disasters, water shortages and hunger due to the effects of climate change.
Today Professor Parry, co-chair of the IPCC working group that wrote the report, said: "We are all used to talking about these impacts coming in the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren. Now we know that it's us."
He said the international response to the problem had failed to grasp that serious consequences such as reduced crop yields and coastal flooding were now inevitable. "Mitigation has got all the attention but we cannot mitigate out of this problem. We now have a choice between a future with a damaged world or a severely damaged world."
Countries such as Britain need to focus on helping nations in the developing world cope with the predicted impacts, by helping them to introduce irrigation and water management technology, drought resistant crops and new building techniques.
Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the IPCC, said: "Wheat production in India is already in decline, for no other reason than climate change."
The report says that "extreme weather events" are likely to become more intense and more frequent, while higher global temperatures could affect crops and water supplies and spread disease.
The effect on ecosystems could be equally severe, with up to 30% of plant and animal species at risk of extinction if the average rise in global temperatures exceeds 1.5-2.5C.
The 1,000-page document is part of the IPCC's fourth overall assessment of climate change, to be published in full later this year. It was put together by the so-called Working Group II, which examines global warming's impact on the environment and people.
The experts involved warn that the consequences of rising temperatures are already being felt on every continent, and sooner than expected. It is "probably too late" to avoid some impacts in developing countries because about 1C of warming is already in the climate system, they warn. If it is not kept below 2C – which "currently looks very unlikely to be achieved" – up to 3.2 billion people will face water shortages and up to 600 million will face hunger, they have predicted.
The trade and development minister, Gareth Thomas, told the launch of the report at the Royal Geographical Society: "Failing to tackle it [climate change] will lead to floods, droughts and natural disasters which can destroy poor people's lives as well as their livelihoods."
Professor Parry said today that he was pessimistic about the chances of keeping the increase in global average temperatures below 2C. "And it's evident from the work of the IPCC that even with a maximum of 2C we're not going to avoid some major impacts at the regional level."
In February the report of the IPCC's first working group, which looks at the scientific background of climate change, concluded that global warming was "very likely" – a probability of 90% or greater – to have been caused by human activity.
A report in May by the IPCC's Working Group III, which examines how climate change can be addressed, argued that devastating global warming can be avoided without excessive economic cost but only if the world begins acting immediately.
Today's report concludes that while the impact of a warmer globe will have mixed effects – for example, it notes that crop yields could increase in northern Europe – the overall impact will be deeply negative, particularly in Africa, in the so-called "mega-deltas" of south and east Asia, and on small islands and in polar regions.
By 2020, the report warns, up to 250 million Africans may be left short of water, while access to sufficient food is "projected to be severely compromised by climate variability and change".
"New studies confirm that Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate variability and change because of multiple stresses and low adaptive capacity," says the document.
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3. Many Temperature, Rainfall and Drought Records Broken in August, 2007
Forwarded message:
NOAA: Second warmest U.S. August ever
http://climateprogress.org/2007/09/17/noaa-second-warmest-us-august-ever/#comment-5720
Let’s look at some of the records for the month, according to the National Climatic Data Center, a division of NOAA:
* For the contiguous U.S., the average temperature for August was 75.4°F (24.1°C), which was 2.7°F (1.5°C) above the 20th century mean and the 2nd warmest August on record.
* More than 30 all-time high temperature records were tied or broken and more than 2000 new daily high temperature records were established.
* Raleigh-Durham, NC equaled its all-time high of 105°F on the August 21, and Columbia, SC had 14 days in August with temperatures over 100°F, which broke the record of 12 set in 1900. Cincinnati, OH reached 100°F five days during August, a new record for the city.
* The warmest August in the 113-year record occurred in eight eastern states (West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida) along with Utah.
* Texas had its wettest summer on record.
* This was the driest summer since records began in 1895 for North Carolina and the second driest for Tennessee.
* At the end of August, drought affected approximately 83% of the Southeast and 46% of the contiguous U.S.
Coincidence? I think not!
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4. A Suggestion Re Future National and International Vegetarian and Animal Rights Conferences/Suggestions Welcome
I, Richard would like to make a suggestion re future conferences. Please let me know what you think.
I have not been to an IVU conference for at least 20 years. However, I have been to several of FARM's annual AR conferences and Summerfests.
I have found excellent speakers, great topics, many new valuable contacts, wonderful chances for informal discussions, and much inspiration. But, I feel these conferences are not as valuable as they might be because they are not focused -- they are like smorgasbords of topics and thus do not lead to as much positive change as they might.
Imagine if a focus at a conference was on health issues. Imagine if a
resolution was passed by IVU and many of the affiliated groups that challenged the medical establishment to make people aware that plant-based diets would reduce and, in some cases, reverse many chronic, degenerative diseases. Imagine if there were plans to start a major letter writing campaign to increase awareness of the health benefits of vegetarianism. Imagine if a campaign was started to make people aware that medical practice is often malpractice, if it failed to point out the negative health effects of animal-based diets. Imagine a discussion of position papers, fliers, possible ads, sample letters and op-ed articles
all devoted to getting this issue onto the mainstream.
And then, please imagine a similar thing re global warming.
And how about a major campaign to challenge religious groups to take their teachings re compassion, preserving health, sharing resources, protecting God's creation, helping hungry people, etc. seriously.
Imagine if all, or at least many, of the attendees returned home with ideas
re furthering the objectives discussed at the conference.
Perhaps one day could be devoted to each of these issues and/or others, such as the mistreatment of animals on factory farms.
If this approach were tried, there could still be all the previously mentioned benefits re excellent speakers, interesting topics, great informal discussions, etc., but they could be focused on the overall objectives and how to make the projects ongoing and effective.
Future conferences could assess progress and discuss moving forward,
as well as other issues and approaches.
Please let me know what you think. Many thanks.
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5. Printing Firm Going Green/Seeking Environmentally Concerned Customers
Forwarded message from my friend Bert Schonbach, of Nova Graphics:
I recently joined Nova Graphics, a print shop in the Wall Street area of lower Manhattan. One of the shop’s primary concerns is the environment. Nova recycles paper and metal diligently and use vegetable-based ink, almost exclusively. The firm recently took this attitude a step further by securing certification by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) , an organization monitoring and certifying firms adhering to responsible forestry practices.
Manufacturers who establish systems by which wood, paper or other forest products can be traced to certified forests are certified, as well. A customer can demand of these "Green" vendors that their particular order only use certified materials and be imprinted with the FSC logo. The trademark of the FSC indicates that the wood (or paper) used to make the product comes from a forest which is well managed according to strict environmental, social and economic standards. The forest of origin has been independently inspected and evaluated according to the principles and criteria for forest management agreed to and approved by the FSC. FSC is an international, non-profit association whose membership comprises of environmental and social groups and progressive forestry and wood retail companies working in partnership to improve forest management, worldwide. This promotes public awareness of the efforts to preserve our environment.
We, at Nova, are anxious to print "certified" jobs.
We seek exposure to other environment-concerned people and businesses who will want their jobs to be certified.
I suggest you go to www.fsc.org and www.fscus.org, to obtain more detailed information about the FSC and how Nova fits into their efforts.
Nova Graphics / 47 Ann Street. NYC, NY 10038
(212) 349 – 4545
bert@novagraphics.com
Please feel free to forward this message.
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6. Getting Vegetarianism Into Considerations Re Recent Health Proposals
Evidently, health care is going to be a big issue in the 2008 elections. This provides a valuable opportunity to get vegetarianism into the discussions.
My message below, which I sent to a blog, might provide some background for your own letters and talking points.
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This interesting analysis and other analyses of this issue are ignoring the 800 pound gorilla in the room -- the apparently "inconvenient truth" that animal-based diets are contributing to an epidemic of heart disease, various types of cancer, diabetes and many more chronic, degenerative diseases. There is an abundance of evidence supporting this statement, including epidemiological, migration, wartime and other studies. Rather than educating people on how to prevent, and in some cases, reverse diseases, our healthcare system is based on seeking new pills based on very cruel animal experiments. These often produce misleading results because animal are so different from humans and because the diseases are artificially induced in the animals.
Making the situation far worse is that the production of animal products is having a devastating effect on the environment. In addition to trying to feed 6.6. billion people, the world is also raising over 50 billion animals for slaughter annually and that number is projected to double in 50 years. The UN FAO reported in 2006 that animal-based agriculture emits more greenhouse gases (in CO2 equivalents) than all the cars and other forms of transportation worldwide (18% vs 13.5%). Hence a switch toward plant-based diets is an essential part of attempts to move our imperiled planet to a sustainable path.
I hope that progressive people will lead efforts to increase awareness of these realities.
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7. NY State Passes Law to Ban Electrocution of Animals For Fur
Thanks to authors and JVNA advisors Rabbi Dovid Sears and Charles Patterson for separately forwarding the following item:
September 17, 2007
st.jpg
The state of New York has become the first US state to ban electrocution as a method of slaughtering animals raised for fur. State lawmakers were commended by various animal rights and animal welfare organisations for enacting the first law in the country to ban electrocution, including all types of electrocution of animals raised to become fur coats and fur-trimmed garments.
Governor Spitzer signed the bill into law, making it the first public policy in the U.S. to prohibit this practice.
(Source: Arkangle)
http://www.arkangelweb.org/international/us/
20070906nybanselectrocution.php
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8. Compilation of information re eating meat and its effects from the EVU
Lots of valuable information re the negative effects of producing and consuming animal products:
Meat, the bloody stuff - why do people still eat it?
EVANA has compiled just the latest information about the dire consequences of meat consumption under http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=25649&lang=en
Inputs and comments are very welcome!
best regards
the international EVANA Team
www.evana.org
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9. Very Comprehensive Article With Pro-Vegetarian Arguments
Nuggets and Hummers and fish sticks, oh my!
PETA VP Bruce Friedrich argues vegetarianism is the best way to help the planet
Posted by Grist at 11:35 AM on 18 Sep 2007
This is a guest essay from Bruce Friedrich, vice president for campaigns at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). It was written in response to Alex Roth's essay "PETA's dogma is all bark and no bite." Friedrich has been an environmental activist for more than 20 years.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/9/17/16200/7809
In 1987, I read Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé and -- primarily for human rights and environmental reasons -- went vegan. Two decades later, I still believe that -- even leaving aside all the animal welfare issues -- a vegan diet is the only reasonable diet for people in the developed world who care about the environment or global poverty.
Over the past 20 years, the environmental argument against growing crops to be fed to animals -- so that humans can eat the animals -- has grown substantially. Just this past November, the environmental problems associated with eating chickens, pigs, and other animals were the subject of a 408-page United Nations scientific report titled Livestock's Long Shadow.
The U.N. report found that the meat industry contributes to "problems of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity." The report concludes that the meat industry is "one of the ... most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global."
Eating Meat Is the No. 1 Consumer Cause of Global Warming
Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio, and others have brought the possibility of global cataclysm into sharp relief. What they have not been talking about, however, is the fact that all cars, trucks, planes, and other types of transportation combined account for about 13 percent of global warming emissions, whereas raising chickens, pigs, cattle, and other animals contributes to 18 percent, according to U.N. scientists. Yes, eating animal products contributes to global warming 40 percent more than all SUVs, 18-wheelers, jumbo jets, and other types of travel combined.
Al and Leo might not be talking about the connection between meat and global warming, but the Live Earth concert that Al inspired is: The recently published Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook recommends, "Don't be a chicken. Stop being a pig. And don't have a cow. Be the first on your block to cut back on meat." The Handbook further explains that "refusing meat" is "the single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint" [emphasis in original].
And Environmental Defense, on its website, notes, "If every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetables and grains ... the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads." Imagine if we stopped eating animal products altogether.
Eating Meat Wastes Resources
If I lie in bed and never get up, I will burn almost 2,500 calories each day; that is what's required to keep my body alive. The same physiological reality applies to all animals: The vast majority of the calories consumed by a chicken, a pig, a cow, or another animal goes into keeping that animal alive, and once you add to that the calories required to create the parts of the animal that we don't eat (e.g., bones, feathers, and blood), you find that it takes more than 10 times as many calories of feed given to an animal to get one calorie back in the form of edible fat or muscle. In other words, it's exponentially more efficient to eat grains, soy, or oats directly rather than feed them to farmed animals so that humans can eat those animals. It's like tossing more than 10 plates of spaghetti into the trash for every one plate you eat.
And that's just the pure "calories in, calories out" equation. When you factor in everything else, the situation gets much worse. Think about the extra stages of production that are required to get dead chickens, pigs, or other animals from the farm to the table:
1. Grow more than 10 times as much corn, grain, and soy (with all the required tilling, irrigation, crop dusters, and so on), as would be required if we ate the plants directly.
2. Transport -- in gas-guzzling, pollution-spewing 18-wheelers -- all that grain and soy to feed manufacturers.
3. Operate the feed mill (again, using massive amounts of resources).
4. Truck the feed to the factory farms.
5. Operate the factory farms.
6. Truck the animals many miles to slaughterhouses.
7. Operate the slaughterhouses.
8. Truck the meat to processing plants.
9. Operate the meat processing plants.
10. Truck the meat to grocery stores (in refrigerated trucks).
11. Keep the meat in refrigerators or freezers at the stores.
With every stage comes massive amounts of extra energy usage -- and with that comes heavy pollution and massive amounts of greenhouse gases, of course. Obviously, vegan foods require some of these stages, too, but vegan foods cut out the factory farms, the slaughterhouses, and multiple stages of heavily polluting tractor-trailer trucks, as well as all the resources (and pollution) involved in each of those stages. And as was already noted, vegan foods require less than one-tenth as many calories from crops, since they are turned directly into food rather than funneled through animals first.
Eating Meat Wastes and Pollutes Water
All food requires water, but animal foods are exponentially more wasteful of water than vegan foods are. Enormous quantities of water are used to irrigate the corn, soy, and oat fields that are dedicated to feeding farmed animals -- and massive amounts of water are used in factory farms and slaughterhouses. According to the National Audubon Society, raising animals for food requires about as much water as all other water uses combined. Environmental author John Robbins estimates that it takes about 300 gallons of water to feed a vegan for a day, four times as much water to feed an ovo-lacto vegetarian, and about 14 times as much water to feed a meat-eater.
Raising animals for food is also a water-polluting process. According to a report prepared by U.S. Senate researchers, animals raised for food in the U.S. produce 86,000 pounds of excrement per second -- that's 130 times more than the amount of excrement that the entire human population of the U.S. produces! Farmed animals' excrement is more concentrated than human excrement, and is often contaminated with herbicides, pesticides, toxic chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, and other harmful substances. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the runoff from factory farms pollutes our rivers and lakes more than all other industrial sources combined.
Eating Meat Destroys the Rain Forest
The World Bank recently reported that 90 percent of all Amazon rainforest land cleared since 1970 is used for meat production. It's not just that we're destroying the rainforest to make grazing land for cows -- we're also destroying it to grow feed for them and other animals. Last year, Greenpeace targeted KFC for the destruction of rainforests because the Amazon is being razed to grow feed for chickens that end up in KFC's buckets. Of course, the rainforest is being used to grow feed for other chickens, pigs, and cows, too (i.e., KFC isn't the only culprit).
What About Eating Fish?
Anyone who reads the news knows that commercial fishing fleets are plundering the oceans and destroying sensitive aquatic ecosystems at an incomprehensible rate. One super-trawler is the length of a football field, and can take in 800,000 pounds of fish in a single netting. These trawlers scrape along the ocean floor, clear-cutting coral reefs and everything else in their path. Hydraulic dredges scoop up huge chunks of the ocean floor to sift out scallops, clams, and oysters. Most of what the fishing fleets pull in isn't even eaten by human beings; half is fed to animals raised for food, and about 30 million tons each year are just tossed back into the ocean, dead, with disastrous and irreversible consequences for the natural biological balance.
Then there is aquaculture (fish farming), which is increasing at a rate of more than 10 percent annually. Aquaculture is even worse than commercial fishing because, for starters, it takes about four pounds of wild-caught fish to reap just one pound of farmed fish, which eat fish caught by commercial trawlers. Farmed fish are often raised in the same water that wild fish swim in, but fish farmers dump antibiotics into the water and use genetic breeding to create "Frankenstein fish." The antibiotics contaminate the oceans and seas, and the genetically engineered fish sometimes escape and breed with wild fish, throwing delicate aquatic balances off-kilter. Researchers at the University of Stockholm demonstrated that the horrible environmental impact of fish farms can extend to an area 50,000 times larger than the farm itself.
Eating Meat Supports Cruelty
Caring for the environment means protecting all of our planet's inhabitants, not just the human ones. Chickens, pigs, turkeys, fish, and cows are intelligent, social animals who feel pain, just as humans, dogs, and cats do. Chickens and pigs do better on animal behavior cognition tests than dogs or cats, and are interesting individuals in the same way. Fish form strong social bonds, and some even use tools. Yet these animals suffer extreme pain and deprivation in today's factory farms. Chickens have their sensitive beaks cut off with a hot blade, pigs have their tails chopped off and their teeth removed with pliers, and cattle and pigs are castrated -- all without any pain relief. The animals are crowded together and given steady doses of hormones and antibiotics in order to make them grow so quickly that their hearts and limbs often cannot keep up, causing crippling and heart attacks. At the slaughterhouse, they are hung upside-down and bled to death, often while they are still conscious.
What About Eating Meat That Isn't From Factory-Farmed Animals?
Is meat better if it doesn't come from factory-farmed animals? Of course, but its production still wastes resources and pollutes the environment. Shouldn't we environmentalists challenge ourselves to do the best we can, not just to make choices that are a bit less bad?
The U.N. report looks at meat at a global level and indicts the inefficiency and waste that are inherent in meat production. No matter where meat comes from, raising animals for food will require that exponentially more calories be fed to animals than they can produce in their flesh, and it will require all those extra stages of CO2-intensive production as well. Only grass-fed cows eat food from land that could not otherwise be used to grow food for human beings, and even grass-fed cows require much more water and create much more pollution than vegan foods do.
Conclusion
The case against eating animal products is ironclad; it's not a new argument, and it goes way beyond just global warming. Animals will not grow or produce flesh, milk, or eggs without food and water; they won't do it without producing excrement; and the stages of meat, dairy, and egg production will always cause pollution and be resource-intensive.
If the past is any guide, this essay will generate much hand-wringing from my meat-eating environmentalist colleagues and, sadly, some anger. They will prefer half-measures (e.g., meat that is "not as bad" as other meat). They may accuse PETA of being judgmental -- simply for presenting the evidence. They will make various arguments that are beside the point. They will ignore the overwhelming argument against eating animal products and try to find a loophole. Some will just call the argument absurd, presenting no evidence at all.
But as Leonardo DiCaprio has noted, this is the 11th hour for the environment. Where something as basic as eating animals is concerned, the choice could not be any clearer: Every time we sit down to eat, we can choose to eat a product that is, according to U.N. scientists, "one of the ... most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global," or we can choose vegan -- and preferably organic -- foods. It's bad for the environment to eat animals. It's time to stop looking for loopholes.
Considering the proven health benefits of a vegetarian diet -- the American Dietetic Association states that vegetarians have a reduced risk of obesity, heart disease, and various types of cancer --- there's no need or excuse to eat chickens, pigs, eggs, and other animal products. And vegan foods are available everywhere and taste great; as with all foods -- vegan or not -- you just need to find the ones you like.
You can find out more at GoVeg.com and get great-tasting recipes, meal plans, cookbook recommendations, and more at VegCooking.com.
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10. Jewish National Fund (JNF) Taking Steps To Reduce Global Warming in Israel
[Sponsored by KKL-JNF]
Jerusalem Post
Sep 19, 2007 12:30 | Updated Sep 19, 2007 12:52
KKL-JNF combats desertification and global warming
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1189411437799&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The planting of Yatir Forest, now the largest forest in Israel, started in 1966. It was created at the insistence of Yosef Weitz, a principal visionary of KKL-JNF to use trees to roll back the desert. His single-mindedness gained Weitz the affectionate title "the father of forests". His vision has proved itself: the magnificent Yatir Forest has completely changed the arid landscape of the northern Negev despite opinions of many experts who declared then that the project would totally fail. It transpires that the very existence of Yatir Forest, on the edge of desert regions, is a prime ecological instrument, having already halted desertification on the heights north-east of Beersheba. Now, it is an undisputed fact: the forest has significantly affected the quality of its environment.
Consequently, Yatir Forest has become the focus of recent research by Professor Dan Yakir of the Weizmann Institute of Science. This research is part of worldwide studies on mechanisms that absorb damaging hothouse gases, an international project carried out in parallel in a hundred sites around the globe, with financing from the European Union. Since 2000, Yatir Forest has actually been serving as a living laboratory: it has a sophisticated monitoring station that checks natural data - precipitation, moisture, growth, the trees' natural development mechanisms, their emission of gases, the air's composition, and other factors. The forest's "unnatural" desert location makes this research even more important.
One of the main parameters examined in this research is the amount of carbon dioxide the forest absorbs from the air, taking into account the fact that average annual rainfall has gradually decreased from 350 mm to only 300 mm whilst the quantity of compounds in the air is increasing. Professor Yakir's survey is the only one in recent years that checks the forest's overall functioning from the viewpoint of both the ecology and its independent functioning.
Partial results of the research by Professor Yakir and his team show that the forest's trees have adapted themselves to arid environmental conditions by naturally smart use of the high level of carbon dioxide in the air. Professor Yakir explains that because of the rise in the level of carbon dioxide in the air, the trees absorb all the carbon dioxide they require without needing to fully open all the stomas (apertures) in their leaves' membranes. Partial opening of the stomas reduces the evaporation of the water on the leaves and so a tree uses less water without any damage to its development.
Professor Yakir says that this is the solution to the mystery of the "disappearance" from the atmosphere of some seven billion tons of carbon dioxide from industrial emissions worldwide. In the course of the complex measurements carried out in Yakir Forest it was discovered that, contrary to the accepted assumptions, the desert forest of Yatir absorbs carbon dioxide just as efficiently as forests in wet areas- and in fact it does it better. Yakir's premise is that the rising percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere helps forests expand to semi-arid and desert areas, because when the air has a relatively high level of carbon dioxide, a plant is able to evaporate less water while still absorbing the carbon dioxide that it needs for the photosynthesis process.
The Yatir Forest has its own "biological clock" dictated by its environmental conditions. While similar pine forests in Turkey are in a state of full metabolic activity in the summer months, during that same hot, dry period the Yatir Forest is in suspended animation, with its trees at a very low level of physical activity. Only in winter-time does the forest return to full metabolic functioning, and that is when most of its growth, and most of its absorption of carbon gases, takes place.
This research and others at the Desert Research Institute of Ben-Gurion University spearhead the Green focus that has become the target of KKL-JNF activity in recent years, arousing much interest and curiosity among international bodies, including the US Forest Service which is closely monitoring their progress, plus various government ministries in countries where KKL-JNF representatives have direct work and research relationships.
One of the major driving forces behind this trend in KKL-JNF is Dr. Alon Tal, a member of KKL-JNF's directorate and head of its Sustainable Development committee. Tal, whose career includes fervent activism in environmental preservation organizations, is an eager proponent of KKL-JNF's cooperation with academic research institutions. He says, "Cooperation is essential to achieve the goals that KKL-JNF has set for itself regarding the preservation of environmental quality. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this cooperation in relation to sustainable development of the country's outlying regions, in particular the Negev and Beersheba. The moment KKL-JNF adopted this policy, the organization positioned itself at the top of the list of "green" Zionist organizations.
"Yatir Forest would never have been planted where it is, if a scientist had been the one to make the decision to do so," Professor Dan Yakir often says about the green expanse that is the topic of his important research. The results of that research, though still only partial, already show that Yosef Weitz's vision is reaching fruition, even bringing unanticipated strength in the war on global warning. In scientific terms, Israel's contribution to this international battle cannot be overrated: KKL-JNF's work both enhances Israel and helps the international community.
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11. Is It Too Late To Stop The Worst Effects of Global Warming?
"Too Late to Avoid Global Warming," Say Scientists
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/091907EA.shtml
Reporting for The Independent, Cahal Milmo writes, "A rise of two degrees centigrade in global temperatures - the point considered to be the threshold for catastrophic climate change which will expose millions to drought, hunger and flooding - is now "very unlikely" to be avoided, the world's leading climate scientists said yesterday."
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"Too Late to Avoid Global Warming," Say Scientists
By Cahal Milmo
The Independent UK
Wednesday 19 September 2007
A rise of two degrees centigrade in global temperatures - the point considered to be the threshold for catastrophic climate change which will expose millions to drought, hunger and flooding - is now "very unlikely" to be avoided, the world's leading climate scientists said yesterday.
The latest study from the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) put the inevitability of drastic global warming in the starkest terms yet, stating that major impacts on parts of the world - in particular Africa, Asian river deltas, low-lying islands and the Arctic - are unavoidable and the focus must be on adapting life to survive the most devastating changes.
For more than a decade, EU countries led by Britain have set a rise of two degrees centigrade or less in global temperatures above pre-industrial levels as the benchmark after which the effects of climate become devastating, with crop failures, water shortages, sea-level rises, species extinctions and increased disease.
Two years ago, an authoritative study predicted there could be as little as 10 years before this "tipping point" for global warming was reached, adding a rise of 0.8 degrees had already been reached with further rises already locked in because of the time lag in the way carbon dioxide - the principal greenhouse gas - is absorbed into the atmosphere.
The IPCC said yesterday that the effects of this rise are being felt sooner than anticipated with the poorest countries and the poorest people set to suffer the worst of shifts in rainfall patterns, temperature rises and the viability of agriculture across much of the developing world.
In its latest assessment of the progress of climate change, the body said: "If warming is not kept below two degrees centigrade, which will require the strongest mitigation efforts, and currently looks very unlikely to be achieved, the substantial global impacts will occur, such as species extinctions, and millions of people at risk from drought, hunger, flooding."
Under the scale of risk used by IPCC, the words "very unlikely" mean there is just a one to 10 per cent chance of limiting the global temperature rise to two degrees centigrade or less.
Professor Martin Parry, a senior Met Office scientist and co-chairman of the IPCC committee which produced the report, said he believed it would now be "very difficult" to achieve the target and that governments need to combine efforts to "mitigate" climate change by reducing CO2 emissions with "adaptation" to tackle active consequences such as crop failure and flooding.
Speaking at the Royal Geographical Society, he said: "Ten years ago we were talking about these impacts affecting our children and our grandchildren. Now it is happening to us."
"Even if we achieve a cap at two degrees, there is a stock of major impacts out there already and that means adaptation. You cannot mitigate your way out of this problem... The choice is between a damaged world or a future with a severely damaged world."
The IPCC assessment states that up to two billion people worldwide will face water shortages and up to 30 per cent of plant and animal species would be put at risk of extinction if the average rise in temperature stabilises at 1.5C to 2.5C.
SNIP
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12. IsraeI Court Rules Kapparot Violates Country’s Animal Slaughter Laws
COURT RULES 'KAPPAROT' RITUAL VIOLATES ANIMAL SLAUGHTER LAWS
Haaretz, Amiram Cohen and Yair Ettinger, September 19, 2007
A Petach Tikvah court on Tuesday ruled that the ritual slaughter of chickens for the Yom Kippur "kapparot" ritual is a violation of state regulations on animal slaughter.
**
American rabbis also have expressed reservations about the proper slaughter of these animals, prompted by a complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. A report by PETA about cruelty toward chickens before Yom Kippur led a group of Hasidic rabbis to discuss reducing the animals' suffering. The U.S. edition of the Orthodox publication Hamodia ran an editorial calling for greater supervision of the slaughter.
more at:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/904943.html
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Court rules 'kapparot' ritual violates animal slaughter laws By Amiram Cohen and Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondents
A Petach Tikvah court on Tuesday ruled that the ritual slaughter of chickens for the Yom Kippur "kapparot" ritual is a violation of state [Israeli]regulations on animal slaughter.
The court adopted the matter after a resident of Ramat Modiin was caught by agriculture ministry officials with dozens of slaughtered chickens in his possession without the required permits for animal slaughter.
The man refused to pay the fine police gave him, and demanded a trial to clear his name.
During his trial, the court ruled against the defendant, and issued a penalty of NIS 2,700 or 17 days imprisonment.
Shas movement spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef recently stated he is worried about unsupervised slaughter of chickens as part of the kapparot ritual ahead of Yom Kippur.
The ancient ceremony involves swinging a live chicken overhead in a ritual transference of the person's sins in preparation for the day of atonement. It may be performed anytime between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Speaking last Saturday at his Jerusalem synagogue, Hayazdim, Yosef warned that overworked ritual slaughterers wind up using flawed blades that are not deemed "perfectly sharp."
"If it is not perfectly sharp, it is not only non-kosher but nevela," he said, using the term for the carcass of a kosher animal not killed in accordance with Jewish law and therefore forbidden for consumption.
Despite the modern custom of using money in place of chicken and then giving it to charity, many ultra-Orthodox Jews continue to use chickens and slaughter them before giving the kosher meat to charity.
American rabbis also have expressed reservations about the proper slaughter of these animals, prompted by a complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. A report by PETA about cruelty toward chickens before Yom Kippur led a group of Hasidic rabbis to discuss reducing the animals' suffering. The U.S. edition of the Orthodox publication Hamodia ran an editorial calling for greater supervision of the slaughter.
Yosef said that Rabbi Joseph Caro "is against this thing," citing the author of the Shulhan Arukh, or Code of Jewish Law, who considered kapparot a pagan ritual. However, Yosef refrained from banning the custom. He made do with calling on those who wish to perform the ceremony to do so early to prevent overloading the ritual slaughterers, and "also to go to God-fearing slaughterers who are kosher."
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13. October is World Vegetarian Day!
And many regard October as “World Vegetarian Month, because of the following dates:
Dates in October:
1 - World Vegetarian Day
2 - Anniversary of Gandhi's birth
4 - The Feast of St.Francis of Assisi (the nearest Sunday to this is World
Day of Prayer for Animals)
16 - World Food Day
24 - United Nations Day
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14. Some Excerpts From European Vegetarian Union Newsletter
a. Less meat means less heat
It's a slogan that leading scientists hope will catch on worldwide, part of a call for people to reduce consumption of meat and dairy products to slow the pace of climate change.
http://www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/news/news.php?id=25595
See also: Slash global meat consumption to tackle climate change: Lancet
paper http://www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/news/news.php?id=25594
b. FAO: Dramatic changes in global meat production could increase risk of diseases/Livestock producers should invest more in biosecurity and disease monitoring
http://www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/news/news.php?id=25579
c. FAO: Living with climate change
Adaptation strategies needed to build resilience
http://www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/news/news.php?id=25297
d. Activists take Al Gore to task on his diet
Al Gore has come under fire for failing to highlight the impact of animal
agriculture
http://www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/news/news.php?id=25340
e. Tuvalu, about to disappear, pleas on global warming
The tiny Pacific island state of Tuvalu on Thursday urged the rest of the
world to do more to combat global warming before it sinks beneath the ocean.
http://www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/news/news.php?id=25480
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Health
a. Investigators at fault: Study Fails to Show Benefits of Fruits&Veggies for Breast Cancer Patients'
McDougall news online: The meat and dairy industry must have been laughing all the way to the bank on Tuesday July 17, 2007 when headlines worldwide announced the results of a seven-year diet experiment, known as The Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Randomized Trial, of more than 3,000 women with breast cancer.
http://www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/news/news.php?id=25500
SNIP
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15. More Re Challenging Al Gore Re Dietary Connections to Global Warming
Forwarded message from Lu:
Al Gore is in the process of writing another environmental book entitled The Path to Survival, due to be released on Earth Day, April 22, 2008.
Since he chose to ignore the inconvenient truth of animal agriculture on global warming in his first book [really his second book “An Inconvenient Truth”], I think it's not enough simply to hope that he will mention the detrimental effects of animal-based diets in his second book.
Please write and urge him to present accurate data showing that meat-based diets are more detrimental to the environment than Hummers. He must hear from the public that truth is what's expected in his book, not subservience to special interests (the meat and dairy industries). Plant-based diets would be more effective in curbing
global warming than all the fluorescent bulbs in the world.
For background info, see MARC's excellent webpage on animal consumption and the environment:
http://www.massanimalrights.org/enviroflier.html
Contact Gore here: algore@algore.com
Lu
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16. New Documentary Exposes Meat-Production Abuses
Forwarded message from Author Pamela Rice:
There's a new documentary feature out called KING CORN and it's coming to NYC October 12.
Following is a description of the film, author unknown:
King Corn is about two friends, one acre of corn, and the single subsidized crop that drives our meat-fed nation. It's a thoughtful, funny, and at
times, deeply saddening story--and it's coming to New York's Cinema Village at E12th Street on OCTOBER 12th. Anyone who cares about how meat is produced in this country should see this. (And it might make a vegetarian or two (or ten) out of its viewers by the time its run is over!)
In KING CORN, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat—and how we farm.
Considering their crop's future as feed, Curt and Ian visit rancher Sue Jarrett in Colorado, who says her cattle should be eating grass, not
grain. But with a surplus of corn, it costs less to raise cattle in confinement than to let them roam free: As she puts it, "The mass production of corn drives the mass production of protein in confinement." Animal nutritionists confirm that corn makes cows sick and beef fatty, but it also\ lets consumers eat a $1 hamburger. Feedlot owner Bob Bledsoe defends America's cheap food, but as Ian and Curt see in Colorado, the world behind it can be stomach turning. At one feedlot, 100,000 cows stand shoulder-to-shoulder, doing their part
to transform Iowa corn into millions of pounds of fat-streaked beef.
Following the trail of high fructose corn syrup. Ian and Curt attempt to make a home-cooked batch of the sweetener in their kitchen. But their
investigation of America's most ubiquitous ingredient turns serious when they follow soda to its consumption in Brooklyn. Here, Type II diabetes is ravaging the community, and America's addiction to corny sweets is to blame.
The breadth of the problem is now clear: the American food system is built on the abundance of corn, an abundance perpetuated by a subsidy
system that pays farmers to maximize production.
View the trailer here: http://www.movieweb.com/video/V07I67afjxzEIN
And the website here: www.kingcorn.net
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17. The Changing Statistics Behind Current Global Warming and Other Environmental Threats
Thanks to my friend and neighbor Joel Goldberg, Ph.D., for forwarding the link below which provides a chart showing second to second, minute to minute, etc. changes in such variables as CO2 emissions, population growth, gas consumption, military expenditures and many more.
http://www.peterrussell.dreamhosters.com/Odds/WorldClock.php
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18. Does Global Warming Threaten U.S. Coastal Cities?
Sea Level Rise Could Flood Many Cities
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/sea-level-rise-could-flood-many-cities/20070922130009990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
AP
Posted: 2007-09-22 16:08:13
Filed Under: Nation News, Science News
(Sept. 22) - Ultimately, rising seas will likely swamp the first American settlement in Jamestown, Va., as well as the Florida launch pad that sent the first American into orbit, many climate scientists are predicting. In about a century, some of the places that make America what it is may be slowly erased.
University of Arizona
Northeast: A map created by University of Arizona scientists, based on data from the U.S. Geological Survey, show areas in the Northeast that would become flooded if the sea rose one meter.
Global warming - through a combination of melting glaciers, disappearing ice sheets and warmer waters expanding - is expected to cause oceans to rise by one meter, or about 39 inches. It will happen regardless of any future actions to curb greenhouse gases, several leading scientists say. And it will reshape the nation.
Rising waters will lap at the foundations of old money Wall Street and the new money towers of Silicon Valley. They will swamp the locations of big city airports and major interstate highways.
Storm surges worsened by sea level rise will flood the waterfront getaways of rich politicians - the Bushes' Kennebunkport and John Edwards' place on the Outer Banks. And gone will be many of the beaches in Texas and Florida favored by budget-conscious students on Spring Break.
That's the troubling outlook projected by coastal maps reviewed by The Associated Press. The maps, created by scientists at the University of Arizona, are based on data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Few of the more than two dozen climate experts interviewed disagree with the one-meter projection. Some believe it could happen in 50 years, others say 100, and still others say 150.
Sea level rise is "the thing that I'm most concerned about as a scientist," says Benjamin Santer, a climate physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
"We're going to get a meter and there's nothing we can do about it," said University of Victoria climatologist Andrew Weaver, a lead author of the February report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Paris. "It's going to happen no matter what - the question is when."
Sea level rise "has consequences about where people live and what they care about," said Donald Boesch, a University of Maryland scientist who has studied the issue. "We're going to be into this big national debate about what we protect and at what cost."
This week, beginning with a meeting at the United Nations on Monday, world leaders will convene to talk about fighting global warming. At week's end, leaders will gather in Washington with President Bush.
Experts say that protecting America's coastlines would run well into the billions and not all spots could be saved.
And it's not just a rising ocean that is the problem. With it comes an even greater danger of storm surge, from hurricanes, winter storms and regular coastal storms, Boesch said. Sea level rise means higher and more frequent flooding from these extreme events, he said.
Scientists laid out a timeline of the planet's future in April. 2007: The world population surpasses 6.6 billion as more people now live in cities than in rural areas, changing patterns of land use.
All told, one meter of sea level rise in just the lower 48 states would put about 25,000 square miles under water, according to Jonathan Overpeck, director of the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth at the University of Arizona. That's an area the size of West Virginia.
The amount of lost land is even greater when Hawaii and Alaska are included, Overpeck said.
The Environmental Protection Agency's calculation projects a land loss of about 22,000 square miles. The EPA, which studied only the Eastern and Gulf coasts, found that Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, Texas and South Carolina would lose the most land. But even inland areas like Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia also have slivers of at-risk land, according to the EPA.
This past summer's flooding of subways in New York could become far more regular, even an everyday occurrence, with the projected sea rise, other scientists said. And New Orleans' Katrina experience and the daily loss of Louisiana wetlands - which serve as a barrier that weakens hurricanes - are previews of what's to come there.
Florida faces a serious public health risk from rising salt water tainting drinking water wells, said Joel Scheraga, the EPA's director of global change research. And the farm-rich San Joaquin Delta in California faces serious salt water flooding problems, other experts said.
"Sea level rise is going to have more general impact to the population and the infrastructure than almost anything else that I can think of," said S. Jeffress Williams, a U.S. Geological Survey coastal geologist in Woods Hole, Mass.
Even John Christy at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a scientist often quoted by global warming skeptics, said he figures the seas will rise at least 16 inches by the end of the century. But he tells people to prepare for a rise of about three feet just in case.
Williams says it's "not unreasonable at all" to expect that much in 100 years. "We've had a third of a meter in the last century."
The change will be a gradual process, one that is so slow it will be easy to ignore for a while.
"It's like sticking your finger in a pot of water on a burner and you turn the heat on, Williams said. "You kind of get used to it."l
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
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19. Excellent Vegan Poem
WE WILL
We will always be mindful of spreading the word,
that the vegan ideal is the best we have heard.
Our love for the animals will guide what we say-
We will express what we know in a gentle way.
We will be the example of the truth that we teach,
so that people can witness the heights they can reach.
By maintaining our bodies in excellent health,
we exemplify a vegan's bountiful wealth.
We will share all the plant foods that vegans can eat;
all the vibrant colors; both savory and sweet.
With our food and our stamina being so good,
people will see that they haven't understood
how important it is for our diet to evolve,
and the planetary problems we could resolve.
For the vegan concept will magically bring
a multitude of benefits to everything.
We will strive to expand our heartfelt compassion
until loving animals is world-wide fashion.
We won't pay for by-products like "blood and bone",
but will make our gardens "veganically" grown.
We will read the ingredients before we buy
Our dollars won't ask for an animal to die.
We will oppose cruelty with each passing year
until all the animals can live free of fear.
We won't give up until that longed-for day arrives
when it's inconceivable to exploit other lives.
There will come a time, when people will wonder how,
man could earn his "living" by slaughtering a cow.
We will bring about a gentle and new age
where the innocent are free from all human rage.
We will be vegan and usher in a world of peace,
heading for that time when speciesism will cease.
by M. 'Butterflies' Katz
http://www.veganpoet.com
co-author of Incredibly Delicious; Recipes for a New Paradigm by Gentle World
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September 25, 2007
September 18, 2007
9/18/07 JVNA Online Newsletter
Shalom everyone,
This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:
1. 1. Asking for Forgiveness Before Yom Kippur
2. Best Wishes For a Meaningful Yom Kippur and an Easy Fast
3. Relating Sukkot to Vegetarianism
4. Reduced Insurance Rates for Vegetarians
5. Follow Up Re Challenging Al Gore
6. JVNA President Honored at an AR Meeting in England
7. JVNA President Honored at an AR Meeting in England
8. New Vegetarian Book by JVNA Advisor Released
9. JVNA advisor to Present Challenging Analysis re Animal Treatment on Factory Farms
10. FAO Promotes Organic Agriculture
11. Canfei Nesharim Program Announcement Re Sukkot
12. Time To Avoid Global Warming Catastrophe Getting Short
13. Four Recent Items Re Kapparot/My Letters in Response to Two of the Items
14. Are Our Oceans Becoming Depleted of Fish?
15. Conference on Religious Perspectives on Climate Change Scheduled
16. Is the US Government Doing Enough to Combat Global Warming?
17. 2007 International Compassionate Living Festival "Becoming the Change" Scheduled
18. Your Vote Can Help Get Vegetarianism Discussed on CNN
19. Gorillas Among Many Animals Facing Extinction
Some material has been deferred to a later update/newsletter to keep this one from being even longer.
[Materials in brackets like this [ ] within an article or forwarded message are my editorial notes/comments.]
Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the JVNA, unless otherwise indicated, but may be presented to increase awareness and/or to encourage respectful dialogue. Also, material re conferences, retreats, forums, trips, and other events does not necessarily imply endorsement by JVNA or endorsement of the kashrut, Shabbat observances, or any other Jewish observances, but may be presented for informational purposes. Please use e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and web sites to get further information about any event that you are interested in. Also, JVNA does not necessarily agree with all positions of groups whose views are included or whose events are announced in this newsletter.
As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome.
Thanks,
Richard
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1. Asking for Forgiveness Before Yom Kippur
A message from a High Holiday package of material:
“On Yom Kippur, God will pardon everyone who has sinned against Him. But He will not forgive a person who has sinned against another human being, unless that person has appeased the person who was wronged.”
Mishnah Yoma 8:9
“I hereby forgive whoever has hurt me,
whoever has done me any wrong,
whether deliberately or by accident,
whether by word or by deed.
May no one be punished on my account.”
“As I forgive and pardon fully
those who have done me wrong,
may those whom I have harmed
forgive and pardon me
whether I acted deliberately or by accident
whether by word or by deed,”
[Forgiveness of people who have done wrong does not imply acceptance of evil acts – we must continue to work diligently to eradicate evil and to strive for a better world.]
---------------------------------------------
If I have offended anyone by anything I have written or done during the past year, it was unintentional, and I ask your forgiveness. I plan to try to continue to be sensitive to the wide variety of people receiving these newsletters, while promoting vegetarianism as a necessary part of a healthier, more just, humane, peaceful and environmentally sustainable world.
Richard
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2. Best Wishes For a Meaningful Yom Kippur and an Easy Fast
and may we be written and sealed in the Book of Life for a good year.
If you have the time and inclination, please see my article “Vegetarianism and Yom Kippur at the holiday section of JewishVeg.com/schwartz.
Suggestions always welcome.
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3. Relating Sukkot to Vegetarianism
Since Sukkot, starting the evening of Wednesday, September 26, follows quickly after Yom Kippur, I am including (below) a letter that I have sent to the Jewish media re Sukkot. Please consider using that letter and the material in my article on “Sukkot, Simchat Torah and Vegetarianism,” in the holiday section at JewishVeg.com/Schwartz, to compose your own letters and for talking points. Thanks.
-------------------------------------
Dear Editor:
On Sukkot, the Jewish festival devoted to our offering thanksgiving for the abundance of life, we are reminded that humans are only privileged caretakers of this precious, but imperiled, planet. Like the wilderness sukkot of our Israelite ancestors, this Earth is no more than our temporary dwelling, and it is our important responsibility to cherish and care for our planet and all its creatures, as co-workers with God. The fragile shelter of the sukkah should remind us that we can’t rely on technological advances to save us and we must find a way to live in harmony with nature.
As we decorate our sukkahs with pictures and replicas of fruits and vegetables on our harvest festival, we should consider how future harvests are endangered by global warming, widening water shortages and soil erosion and depletion. As our Israelite ancestors were sustained with manna, a vegetarian food “like coriander seed,” while they dwelt in sukkahs for 40 years in the wilderness, we should sustain ourselves with tofu, the modern-day manna, and a wide variety of other plant foods, to improve our health and to help move our endangered planet to a sustainable path.
Very truly yours,
Steven Schuster
Richard H. Schwartz
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4. Reduced Insurance Rates for Vegetarians
(UK) Carrot for all veggies
Posted by: "AnimalConcerns.org" animalconcerns@gmail.com
BRITAIN'S soaring army of vegetarians are being offered lower
insurance premiums because they are less likely to suffer from major
illnesses.
Animal Friends Insurance, a not-for-profit insurance business, is
offering a six per cent discount for the UK's three million or so
veggies.
Medical evidence suggests non meat-eaters are up to 40 per cent less
likely to likely to suffer some forms of cancer.
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full story:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2005300000-2007420157,00.html
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5. Follow Up Re Challenging Al Gore
The last JVNA newsletter had the following report:
“Al Gore is working on a new environmental book entitled The Path to Survival, a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth that offers a blueprint on what can be done to fight global warming. The book will be released on Earth Day, April 22, 2008.”
“Let us hope that he will finally relate animal-based diets to global warming.”
Author and JVNA advisor Dan Brook sent the following response (which I agree with):
Shalom. We shouldn't just hope; we need to act!
Please encourage readers to write Al Gore at algore@algore.com,
to write Sierra Club Exec Director Carl Pope at carl.pope@sierra.org,
to write other environmentalists, politicians, and scientists,
to write their local newspapers, to write the environmental and other orgs they belong to,
to call talk radio shows, to speak with their rabbis and other teachers.
While we may be approaching a tipping point for global warming to spin out of control, we might also be reaching a tipping point in collective consciousness and public opinion. We need to get there first!
Please read, share, forward, post, print, blog, link, and cite the following web site with a great collection of links on "meat eating and global warming":
http://www.ivu.org/members/globalwarming.html
Peace,
Dan
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6. JVNA President Honored at an AR Meeting in England
Forwarded message:
Warmest thanks to you, Richard.
At our interfaith animal service on Sunday [September 16] I shall be lighting candles for three very special people, two American and one British: you and Gary Kowalski (Unitarian Universalist minister, animal welfare champion and author in Burlington, Vermont) and our very dear Professsor Andrew Linzey in Oxford, England. It's so good to recognise and honour human champions of our animal friends and pray for them as well as the animals!
As well as honouring three living animal welfare advocates I'll also be paying tribute to departed animal friends and among these will be your fellow American, Alex, the 31-year-old African grey parrot, the extremely intelligent and talkative star pupil of Dr Irene Pepperberg and a longtime resident of Brandeis University, which I believe is near Boston, Massachusetts? Dr Pepperberg and other friends of Alex are really feeling is loss. We feel for them as well as the recently departed Alex himself.
Shalom and warmest wishes as always,
Feargus
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Also, as the following message indicates, they will read a selection from my writings at the event:
Warmest thanks for sending this reading [at my request]. It's ideal and I am very grateful to you for sending it so promptly. It certainly captures the essence of Jewish religious wisdom and says such a lot in so few words. I am particularly pleased that I am able to feature your words in our interfaith service on 16 September and it's a good example not only of interfaith but also trans-Atlantic co-operation and understanding, isn't it?
I am so glad that we have made contact again and hope that we shall keep in touch. I very much admire your work and writings and shall do all I can to help publicise them among sympathetic contacts.
Shalom!
Warmest wishes and blessings,
Feargus
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7. Eating Less Meat Can Help Slow Climate Change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070913/ap_on_sc/eating_less_meat
Eating less meat may slow climate change
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer
Wed Sep 12, 2007
Eating less meat could help slow global warming by reducing the number of livestock and thereby decreasing the amount of methane flatulence from the animals, scientists said on Thursday. In a special energy and health series of the medical journal The Lancet, experts said people should eat fewer steaks and hamburgers. Reducing global red meat consumption by 10 percent, they said, would cut the gases emitted by cows, sheep and goats that contribute to global warming. "
We are at a significant tipping point," said Geri Brewster, a nutritionist at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York, who was not connected to the study. " If people knew that they were threatening the environment by eating more meat, they might think twice before ordering a burger," Brewster said.
Other ways of reducing greenhouse gases from farming practices, like feeding animals higher-quality grains, would only have a limited impact on cutting emissions. Gases from animals destined for dinner plates account for nearly a quarter of all emissions worldwide. "That leaves reducing demand for meat as the only real option," said Dr. John Powles, a public health expert at Cambridge University, one of the study's authors. The amount of meat eaten varies considerably worldwide. In developed countries, people typically eat about 224 grams per day. But in Africa, most people only get about 31 grams a day. With demand for meat increasing worldwide, experts worry that this increased livestock production will mean more gases like methane and nitrous oxide heating up the atmosphere. In China, for instance, people are eating double the amount of meat they used to a decade ago. Powles said that if the global average were 90 grams per day, that would prevent the levels of gases from speeding up climate change.
Eating less red meat would also improve health in general. Powles and his co-authors estimate that reducing meat consumption would reduce the numbers of people with heart disease and cancer. One study has estimated that the risk of colorectal cancer drops by about a third for every 100 grams of red meat that is cut out of your diet. "As a society, we are overconsuming protein," Brewster said. "If we ate less red meat, it would also help stop the obesity epidemic."
Experts said that it would probably take decades to wane the public off of its meat-eating tendency. "We need to better understand the implications of our diet," said Dr. Maria Neira, director of director of the World Health Organization's department of public health and the environment. "It is an interesting theory that needs to be further examined," she said. "But eating less meat could definitely be one way to reduce gas emissions and climate change."
Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.
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8. New Vegetarian Book by JVNA Advisor Released
Forwarded message:
"The most compelling evidence in favor of a vegetarian diet I have ever read." Tim Riesenberger, MD West Sound Emergency Physicians
1. Get the most up to date information on how a vegetarian diet can improve your health and the world you live in.
2. Prevent or improve high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis and arthritis.
3. Plant based diet yields more food and requires fewer natural resources.
4. Discover the nutritional benefits for toddlers through teens. athletes and seniors.
5. Reduce global warming and global hunger
6. "I highly recommend The Vegetarian Solution to all those wanting to maintain or regain their health." Neal Barnard M.D. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Author Stewart Rose [JVNA advisor] is vice president of the Vegetarians of Washington, the largest regional vegetarian organization in the country.
$12.95 /978-1-57067-205-7 /198 pages/ 6x9 paper
Available at your regular book distributor Or contact Thomas Hupp Book Publishing Company 888 260 8458 www.bookpubco.com thomas@bookpubco.com
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9. JVNA advisor to Present Challenging Analysis re Animal Treatment on Factory Farms
Forwarded message from JVNA advisor David Cantor, Director of Responsible Policies for Animals:
[Cross-Post Freely]
Mark your calendar!
Responsible Policies for Animals presentation November 8th!
Friends!
Inhumane treatment of animals is a root cause of racism, sexism, and other harmful discrimination; pollution, climate change, and other ecological destruction; influenza pandemics, the AIDS scourge, and other biomedical disasters; pervasive chronic disease and soaring medical & insurance costs; widespread poverty and hunger; and wars linked to rapidly diminishing fresh water, oil and other resources. I’ll explain the connections at a free presentation on November 8th in Glenside, Pennsylvania. Read on for details …
Nonhuman animals must have fundamental legal rights on which meaningful secondary rights and enforcement can be based, because they’re sentient – they experience their lives – they feel pain, fear, hunger, pleasure and have much else in common with the animals who already have basic rights: the humans who decide the fate of Earth’s other beings.
Animals’ sentience is reason enough in terms of right & wrong, but powerful interests keep animal rights off of the public agenda. That's why it is crucial to show people that their interests lie with an end to animal use and destruction.
I believe a key reason the American Revolution has stalled, so many people today see themselves as consumers rather than citizens, and so many are depressed, anxious, bored, apathetic, or frantic is that they are constantly urged to be a small part of small change when they know big change is needed. They know war without end is not necessary, we needn't keep driving species extinct, our bodies needn't be used mainly as dumping grounds for inhumane and non-natural foods or for pharmaceuticals-industry profits.
People are naturally altruistic, just, compassionate, and generous, but they’re asked to do and give little. Except to sacrifice their souls, hearts, and minds to do what “everyone” is doing.
I believe people can be inspired by humane treatment of animals / animal rights as the big change that is needed, even though reaching the goal requires long and difficult struggle and is not a sure thing like typical “improvements” for animals with no rights.
Especially if you live or work within a reasonable distance, join me at 7:00 P.M. on November 8th when I’ll give a presentation titled Food and Peace at the Won Institute of Graduate Studies, 137 S. Easton Road, Glenside, PA 19038. (Read on for details about Won….) I’ll emphasize how shutting down the flesh, milk & egg industries will bring peace to humans, relate that to other human interests, and explain the basic-rights connection and why anything less will not get the job done for humans or others.
Mark your calendar! I’ll send reminders and directions between now and November 8th. If you are among our many friends far from southeastern Pennsylvania and will not be traveling to the area in early November, tell friends in the area about this unique event - they won't regret attending!
Friendly and welcoming toward everyone, the Won Institute of Graduate Studies is a unique center for the study and experience of culture, health care, spirituality, and the arts. Its reputation has grown rapidly in the few years since it was established in 2005. The Institute offers a variety of programs and services to the public – such as an acupuncture clinic, meditation instruction, and free movies - in addition to its advanced degrees in applied meditation, Buddhism and acupuncture. Learn about the Institute’s wide selection of activities and services – and directions – at www.woninstitute.org.
Thank you for your support of Responsible Policies for Animals and your other contributions toward a humane future!
Best wishes,
David Cantor
Executive Director
Responsible Policies for Animals, Inc.
P.O. Box 891
Glenside, PA 19038
215-886-RPA1
RPA4all@aol.com
www.RPAforAll.org
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10. FAO Promotes Organic Agriculture
ISIS Press Release 10/09/07
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/FAOPromotesOrganicAgriculture.php
A fully referenced version of this article is posted on ISIS members’ website. Details here
An electronic version of this report, or any other ISIS report, with full references, can be sent to you via e-mail for a donation of £3.50. Please e-mail the title of the report to: report@i-sis.org.uk
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11. Canfei Nesharim Program Announcement Re Sukkot
Dear friend,
I hope that you had a meaningful and fulfilling chag. As we move toward Sukkos, I am writing to remind you of Canfei Nesharim's great new resources for Sukkos and Shemini Atzeres.
"He who has not seen the rejoicing at the place of the water-drawing has never seen rejoicing in his life." (B.T. Sukkah 51a)
This Sukkos, help your family and community appreciate the gift of water with:
Ø New, bigger Sukkah decorations!
Ø New eco-reminder children's stickers
Ø Shiurim and source sheets for Torah learning
Ø Program ideas for children, adults and families
Ø Tips for saving water
Ø Coupons for Sukkos paper goods
Ø Mail-order lulavim and etrogim
Families: Make sure that your Sukkah has a decoration that shares your Torah commitment to protect the environment with your family and guests!
Deadline for all orders is Wednesday, September 19th. For all our great Sukkos resources, visit Canfei Nesharim's website.
We look forward to sharing more Torah and mitzvos with you in the coming year, with Hashem's help.
With best wishes,
~Evonne Marzouk
P.S. Don't forget to subscribe to Eitz Chayim Hee: A Weekly Torah Commentary for Environmental Learning and Action, a series of teachings about the environment based on each weekly portion of the Jewish Torah, which will be distributed via email beginning on Tuesday, October 2. Subscribe today!
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12. Time To Avoid Global Warming Catastrophe Getting Short
Forwarded message:
Window to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change Closing; EU Should Press for Immediate U.S. Action
The warming climate is undermining biodiversity by accelerating habitat loss, according to Vital Signs 2007–2008.
Consumption of energy and many other critical resources is consistently breaking records, disrupting the climate and undermining life on the planet, according to the latest Worldwatch Institute report, Vital Signs 2007–2008.
The 44 trends tracked in Vital Signs illustrate the urgent need to check consumption of energy and other resources that are contributing to the climate crisis, starting with the largest polluter, the United States, which accounted for over 21 percent of global carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning in 2005. Europe, already feeling the effects of climate change, should pressure the U.S. to join international climate negotiations, according to Erik Assadourian, Vital Signs Project Director.
"The world is running out of time to head off catastrophic climate change, and it is essential that Europe and the rest of the international community bring pressure to bear on U.S. policymakers to address the climate crisis," said Assadourian, who spoke at the Barcelona launch of Vital Signs. "The United States must be held accountable for its emissions, double the per capita level in Europe, and should follow the EU lead by committing to reducing its total greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050."
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13. Four Recent Items Re Kapparot/My Letters in Response to Two of the Items
a. Shas spiritual leader calls for caution with kapparot ceremony
By Yair Ettinger
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/904102.html
Haaretz September 17, 2007
Shas movement spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is worried about unsupervised slaughter of chickens as part of the kapparot ritual ahead of Yom Kippur.
The ancient ceremony involves swinging a live chicken overhead in a ritual transferance of the person's sins in preparation for the day of atonement. It may be performed anytime between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Speaking Saturday at his Jerusalem synagogue, Hayazdim, Yosef warned that overworked ritual slaughterers wind up using flawed blades that are not deemed "perfectly sharp."
"If it is not perfectly sharp, it is not only non-kosher but nevela," he said, using the term for the carcass of a kosher animal not killed in accordance with Jewish law and therefore forbidden for consumption.
Despite the modern custom of using money in place of chicken and then giving it to charity, many ultra-Orthodox Jews continue to use chickens and slaughter them before giving the kosher meat to charity.
American rabbis also have expressed reservations about the proper slaughter of these animals, prompted by a complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. A report by PETA about cruelty toward chickens before Yom Kippur led a group of Hasidic rabbis to discuss reducing the animals' suffering. The U.S. edition of the Orthodox publication Hamodia ran an editorial calling for greater supervision of the slaughter.
Yosef said that Rabbi Joseph Caro "is against this thing," citing the author of the Shulhan Arukh, or Code of Jewish Law, who considered kapparot a pagan ritual. However, Yosef refrained from banning the custom. He made do with calling on those who wish to perform the ceremony to do so early to prevent overloading the ritual slaughterers, and "also to go to God-fearing slaughterers who are kosher."
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My letter in response to the above article:
As president of Jewish vegetarians of North America, I was glad to read about Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef’s statement urging Jews to be careful in carrying out the kapparot ritual with chickens to make sure that everything done was consistent with Jewish law (“Shas spiritual leader calls for caution with kapparot ceremony;” September 17 issue). Since Jews are to be rachmanim b’nei rachmanim (compassionate children of compassionate ancestors) and the Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur period is one in which we ask for mercy from God, I believe that Jews should use the halachically acceptable substitution of money, rather than chickens for the ceremony. Also, since there are far more abuses of chickens and other animals on modern factory farms than during the kapparot ritual, I hope that Rabbi Yosef and other Jewish leaders will address this issue and the many other moral issues related to animal-based diets, including the negative effects on human health and the environment.
Very truly yours,
Richard H. Schwartz
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b. Article in New York magazine
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/37670/
Coq au Sin
• By Dan Levin
(Photo: Ziv Koren/Polaris)
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has a new target: Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn who swing live chickens in the air to symbolically transfer their sins to the birds. The practice, called Kapparot, takes place during the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Thousands of chickens are deployed in Brooklyn alone, then slaughtered and fed to the poor. This summer, PETA sent video of the practice, shot in 2005 and 2006, to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The footage showed teenagers ripping off birds’ heads and suffocating others in garbage bags as well as children handling blood-and-feces-covered chickens without gloves. Not very kosher, in any sense of the word. The agency, which claimed no jurisdiction over cruelty, referred the matter to the state’s Kosher Law Enforcement Division.
The negative publicity spurred the Orthodox world to action. A group of rabbis met in August about cruelty claims, and last week, it issued guidelines for authorized Kapparot facilities and tightened supervision over the handling and slaughtering of the chickens. The state says it will monitor whether these rules are followed.
“PETA has a record of trying to trample on Jewish rituals and customs,” says Rabbi Moshe Weiner, who was part of the group that issued the guidelines. “Things may have gotten relaxed, and we’re trying to bring it up to standard because [Jewish law] demands that animals be treated decently.”
“Donating money to charity is also a religiously acceptable symbolic sacrifice,” says Bruce Friedrich, a PETA spokesperson. “We hope compassionate Jews choose this act, rather than abusing terrified, squawking birds to commemorate Yom Kippur.” The PETA folks will be out with their camcorders again this year.
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c. Jewish Week Article/followed by my letter
Swinging No More Kaporos and the new eco-kosher movement.
Steve Lipman - Staff Writer
Growing up out of town, in a non-Orthodox household, I never knew from kaporos.
It’s a post-Talmudic, pre-Yom Kippur custom in some traditional circles that involves swinging a live chicken three times over your head, reciting some verses that symbolically transfer your sins to the fowl — a rooster for a man, a hen for a woman — then leaving it behind to be slaughtered, in a kosher manner of course, and given to a needy family.
Kaporos is Hebrew for “atonements.” The custom is supposed to teach sensitivity for God’s creatures and awareness of one’s own transgressions.
Orthodox, but a rationalist, I wasn’t interested.
Then Tami called.
“Do you want to do kaporos with me?” she asked.
A native of my hometown, the product of a chasidic home, she was living in my haredi Brooklyn neighborhood several years ago, wanted to see what kaporos was like and wanted some company a few days before Yom Kippur.
I don’t remember the details, where the shluging (the Yiddish word for the process means to beat) took place (in some warehouse in an industrial part of Brooklyn, I think) or how much the chicken cost me (probably about $20.) I remember hearing a roomful of chickens; following the lead of a man who showed me how to grip the bird’s legs with both hands and wave it without hurting it; repeating some words; and thinking I didn’t want to do it again.
I didn’t.
Apparently, I’m not alone.
In the Days of Repentance each year a movement grows to discourage kaporos, urging the pious to substitute money in the symbolic expiation ceremony, such tzedakah being a valid, halachic practice. A frightened chicken doesn’t fulfill the Tishrei imperative of introspection, the opponents of kaporos argue.
The chicken breasts or broth served pre- or post-fast may be kosher, these people argue, but the practice isn’t.
Opposition to kaporos, including a recent haredi panel in Brooklyn that examined the halachic efficacy of the procedure and issued a call to make it less offensive, is part of a wider trend in the Jewish world.
In recent years, the definition of kashrut — which literally means fit or proper, not just OK to eat — is widely expanding in some circles, here and in Israel. Other concerns, like the conditions in which the animals live and die, the treatment and payment of workers, and the wider environmental impact of the production chain are entering the discussion of what the Web site liberaljudaism.org calls “Ethical Eating.
“This level of care is demanded of us by halacha [Jewish law],” states kosherconscience.com.
Some people call this “eco-kosher.” Nigel Savage, executive director of Hazon (hazon.org), a New York-based Jewish environmental organization, prefers “Jewish food movement.”
The movement is transdenominational, from Reform Jews to the Jewish Renewal Movement to Conservative Jewry, which is establishing a “hechsher tzedek” that will certify food on ethical grounds. “A growing number of Orthodox Jews,” who are primarily concerned about ritual standards of kashrut, “are starting to care about the issue,” Savage says. He can cite traditional texts and Orthodox scholars who share his views.
Hazon’s jcarrot.org has become an on-line clearinghouse for movement members who, while not returning to the farm, are taking food-buying decisions into their own activist hands. The Torah and Talmud reflect people who lived on and cared for the land. As modernists, “we’ve been cut off from that,” says Savage.
We think meat’s natural state is plastic-wrapped in a grocer’s freezer. We don’t think about the animals who give their lives for our meals.
That’s why Savage likes to talk about the azazel, the biblical scapegoat that is the theme of the Yom Kippur Torah reading. The reference should make us aware, he says.
And that’s why Savage will have a goat slaughtered at Hazon’s second food conference at the upstate Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in December. The shechting will force the conference participants to confront an animal’s reality, he says. His announcement of the planned slaughter has generated a storm of discussion on the Internet.
Savage, of course, is against using chickens for kaporos.
The ASPCA in New York City confiscated hundreds of abandoned and starving kaporos chickens during the last two years. PETA this year called on the city’s Health Department to examine the conditions in which the animals are held.
Having done kaporos once, I don’t do it with a chicken anymore. I can’t believe that the waving doesn’t scare or hurt the bird, no matter how gently I hold it.
On Erev Yom Kippur, I do kaporos with money instead.
Now the only pain is in my wallet.
--------------------------
Dear Editor,
As president of Jewish vegetarians of North America, I was glad to read about Nigel Savage’s plan to “force [Hazon] conference participants [who eat meat] to confront an animal’s reality (“Swinging No More: Kaporos and the new eco-kosher movement;” September 14, 2007 issue). However, rather than shecting an innocent, defenseless animal, as they plan to do, I think it would be better to show the horrors of slaughtering by videos, and we would be happy to provide some. I think it would also be valuable if the Hazon conference addressed other realities re producing and consuming animals, including the devastating effects on human health and the environment.
Very truly yours,
Richard H. Schwartz
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d. JTA article
Activists cry fowl over kapparot
Published: 09/17/2007
An Israeli animal rights group appealed for an end to the use of chickens in the kapparot ritual.
Each year before Yom Kippur, many Orthodox Jews pay to have a chicken swung over their heads in a rite symbolizing penitence. The bird is then slaughtered for food.
Let the Animals Live, Israel's biggest animal welfare society, sent a letter to former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef this week asking him to urge his followers to opt for a more humane and doctrinally approved version of kapparot in which money is used instead of a chicken and given to charity.
Let the Animals Live argued that the more traditional ritual is unnecessarily cruel and thus contradicts biblical morality.
Yosef, who is considered the spiritual mentor for the powerful Sephardi religious political movement Shas, had no immediate response to the appeal.
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14. Are Our Oceans Becoming Depleted of Fish?
http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,2162131,00.html
Waves of despair
Once they were a national treasure chest, teeming with fish and wildlife. Now the waters of the North Sea are quiet, almost dead. But it's not too late, says Callum Roberts, to stop the fishing industry destroying itself
Wednesday September 5, 2007
The Guardian
SNIP
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15. Conference on Religious Perspectives on Climate Change Scheduled
"Religious Perspectives on Climate Change: Turning Faith into Action"
Ford School of Public Policy
University of Michigan
October 19, 2007
Join us for a multi-faith exploration of the intersection of religious beliefs and concern for the global environment. Does Aldo Leopold's lament still hold true today? How do some of the world's religions address the issue of the environment? How do they treat the split between human beings and nature? Is there scriptural support for attending to the issue of climate change as a religious and moral
issue? How can concern for climate change be integrated into religious rituals as a way to modify behavior and consciousness? What is being done to reach across traditions and to foster interfaith dialogue and collaboration? What more needs to be done? Come join in a conversation over the answers to these and many other questions.
Mary Evelyn Tucker, noted Yale University expert on the intersection of religion and the environment, will set the stage for a climate change panel discussion among representatives from the Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Protestant (Evangelical and Mainline) faiths. Engage in the discussion by asking questions about how these
faiths compare regarding the necessity and means of addressing climate change.
Reverend Sally Bingham, President of the Regeneration Project, will present the afternoon keynote, offering constructive suggestions for getting active and staying active on this important social issue that affects us all, regardless of whether you share one of the faiths discussed or not. Following her address, a second panel discussion among noted experts on ways to turn your religious beliefs into action through lifestyle changes, engagement with city government, developments in federal policy and using your pocketbook through socially responsible investing. Leave this meeting with a better understanding of what you believe about the morality of climate
change and what you can do about it.
Register now:
http://www.erb.umich.edu/forms/fall-2007oct19/default.htm
Conference Information:
http://www.erb.umich.edu/News-and-Events/ReligiousPerspectivesHome.htm
* Carbon emissions from speaker travel to and from this conference will be offset through Native Energy.
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16. Is the US Government Doing Enough to Combat Global Warming?
Federal Inaction on Climate Change Science
Two recent reports have exposed the Bush administration's
inaction on the science of climate change and its impacts. The
Government Accountability Office (GAO), an arm of Congress,
"harshly faulted the Bush administration for doing little to
deal with the far-reaching effects of climate change rapidly
taking place in national parks, forests, marine sanctuaries and
other federal lands and waters," according to a recent article
by the Associated Press (below).
** Read the GAO report here:
http://ucsaction.org/ct/u1_i4u71kzVS/
The National Academy of Science (NAS) reported this week that
the Climate Change Science Program has completed just 2 of the
21 planned reports on various aspects of climate science,
including agricultural yields, weather patterns, and the best
ways to adapt to rising temperatures. This was the first
independent analysis of the program's progress by a NAS panel
(article below)
** Read the NAS report here:
http://ucsaction.org/ct/ud_i4u71kzVL/
*********************************
GAO Faults Agencies Over Global Warming
By JOHN HEILPRIN
September 7, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) - Wildfires are flaring bigger and hotter in
Alaska, the northern Rockies and the Sierra Nevada. Bighorn
sheep, mountain goats and grizzly bears in Glacier National
Park, along with deer and marsh rabbits in the Florida Keys,
face a housing crisis.
Glacier's alpine meadows are disappearing, sea levels are rising
in the Keys and other federal lands are feeling the heat from
global warming - and the government is not doing much about it,
congressional investigators said in a report Thursday.
Climate change, however, does have things looking up for
heat-loving pests like beetles, grasshoppers and fungi. Spruce
bark beetles are chewing their way through 1,560 square miles of
Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, including 620 square miles of spruce
trees in Chugach National Forest. Southern pine beetles are on
the march in red spruce forests of the Southeast.
Non-native grasses are fast replacing native shrubs in the
Mojave Desert, where the grasses also are fueling hotter and
longer-lasting wildfires. Even pinyon pines hundreds of years
old that have survived droughts before in the Southwest are
dying off.
After more than three years of study, the Government
Accountability Office, an arm of Congress, harshly faulted the
Bush administration for doing little to deal with the
far-reaching effects of climate change rapidly taking place in
national parks, forests, marine sanctuaries and other federal
lands and waters - almost 30 percent of the United States.
The GAO said the Interior, Agriculture and Commerce departments
have failed to give their resource managers the guidance and
tools they need - computer models, temperature and precipitation
data, climate projects and detailed inventories of plant and
animal species - to cope with all the biological and physical
effects from the warming.
"Without such guidance, their ability to address climate change
and effectively manage resources is constrained," the report
says.
The White House disagreed.
"President Bush is committed to addressing climate and providing
the agencies with the tools they need to address this important
issue," said Kristen Hellmer, a spokeswoman for the White House
Council on Environmental Quality. "The president has provided
unparalleled financial investments for dozens of federal climate
change programs, many of which are directed at adaptation and
developing and deploying cleaner, more efficient energy
technologies."
The GAO investigators looked at four representative areas:
_The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
_Alaska's Chugach National Forest.
_Montana's Glacier National Park.
_Grasslands and shrubs managed by Interior's Bureau of Land
Management in northwestern Arizona.
From those studies, investigators concluded: "Climate change has
already begun to adversely affect federal resources in a variety
of ways. Most experts with whom we spoke believe that these
effects will continue and likely intensify over the coming
decades."
What turned out to be a 184-page report was requested in March
2004 by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz, when
Kerry was running for the presidential nomination. He now wants
legislation requiring more climate change science.
"We waited a long time for this report to confirm the daunting
prospect that climate change is impacting our public lands from
coast to coast, and this administration is ill-equipped to
respond," Kerry said.
Jamie Rappaport Clark, who was director of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service in the Clinton administration and is now
executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife, called the
report an urgently needed wake-up call for the nation.
"Global warming is and will continue to contribute to species
extinctions, flooding of coastal refuges and massive movements
of wildlife populations in search of more hospitable habitat,"
she said. "Polar bears and other imperiled species, wildlife
refuges, parks and myriad natural resources are at risk and
Congress clearly needs to provide more legislative direction
because the agencies have failed to do so."
The effects are widespread.
In Glacier National Park, the number of glaciers in the park has
dropped from 150 to 26 since 1850. Some project that none will
be left within 25 to 30 years. In south-central Alaska, many of
the ponds shown in 1950 maps and aerial photographs are now
grassy basins with spruce and hardwood trees.
On the Keys' receding coastlines, the climate threat extends
"not only to wildlife, but also to humans who live on the
islands," the report says.
Bleaching of coral reefs in the Florida Keys, too, is being
caused by the stress of warmer water - which causes the coral to
eject microscopic algae that live within its tissues. That could
harm the fishing and tourism industries, because they are needed
by fish and other marine species and are popular with snorkelers
and scuba divers.
The GAO said the Interior Department has ignored an order signed
by former secretary Bruce Babbitt on the last full day of the
Clinton administration that requires it to "consider and analyze
potential climate change impacts" in all its major decisions,
long-range planning, management of resources and setting of
scientific priorities.
In response, James Cason, an assistant interior secretary, told
the GAO that an agency task force with nearly 100 people began
meeting in April to study climate change, and the U.S.
Geological Survey will spend $27 million for climate research
in 2008. He said Interior "routinely takes actions to mitigate
impacts of climate change."
Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell said that studying one
forest, the Chugach, is not enough to draw conclusions about
more than 300,000 square miles of national forests. Though
Chugach's management plan does not address climate change, she
said, 12 of the 155 national forests do.
David Sampson, deputy commerce secretary, said the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is "at the forefront of
global efforts" to improve the ability to observe and forecast
climate change through computer modeling.
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17. 2007 International Compassionate Living Festival "Becoming the Change" Scheduled
Dear Richard,
With October just around the corner, the Culture and Animals Foundation and the Animals and Society Institute want to remind you that this is the last week to register for the 2007 International Compassionate Living Festival. "Becoming the Change" will take place in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, on October 5-7, and we very much want you to be with us. Registration ends this Friday, September 21, so please don't delay another day!
CAF and the ASI have brought together internationally recognized speakers to offer their expertise in a wide variety of animal protection issues. These scholars, authors, activists and artists will give you much to think about and a lot of inspired motivation that will help you in your own efforts to bring about important change for animals worldwide.
If you've already registered, we thank you, and encourage you to bring friends or colleagues to join you, especially if they have never experienced one of these unique Festivals. If you've been "thinking about it" but haven't yet registered yourself, we hope you'll make a commitment to attend and find out just how meaningful this conference is.
See below for more details, and we'll see you there!
Learn from Leaders Already Changing the World
Our keynote speaker on Saturday night:
Captain Paul Watson served in the Canadian Coast Guard in the late 1960s before co-founding the Greenpeace Foundation. A lifelong environmentalist and animal advocate, he has spent more than 30 years fighting for marine mammals by confronting their killers on the high seas and ice floes of the world’s waters. In 1977 he founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which in 2007 made international headlines for thwarting the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctica and campaigning against the Canadian harp seal slaughter.
Featured presentations:
Rory Freedman, co-author of the wildly popular book "Skinny Bitch," will join Herbivore magazine editor Josh Hooten on Friday night to kick off the conference with a "vegan chic showcase" highlighting how vegan food and fashion have become all the rage lately.
Bob Pyle, humorist and guitarist, will be our musical guest both Friday and Saturday evening.
During the plenary sessions on Saturday and Sunday, we will hear from:
Dr. Michael Greger, physician and author, on "Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching"
Tammy Grimes, Dogs Deserve Better, and Becky Robinson, Alley Cat Allies, on new, stronger efforts to change society's attitudes toward and treatment of chained dogs and feral cats
Lisa Kemmerer, Ph.D., of Montana State University on "The Buddha, the Bible and the Beasts"
Journalist Will Potter and attorney Lauren Regan on how the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act suppresses free speech and threatens effective animal activism
Bernard Unti, Ph.D., of The Humane Society of the United States on lessons from 18th-century (yes, that's right!) animal rights pioneers
Rita Anderson of the Committee for Research Accountability and Justin Goodman of the University of Connecticut and PETA, on successful campaigns against primate research at major universities
Former dophin trainer Ric O'Barry of the Earth Island Institute and Detroit Zoo director Ron Kagan on the growing movement to get dolphins, whales and elephants out of aquariums and zoos and into sanctuaries or back into the wild
Kim W. Stallwood, now the ASI's European director, on important developments in animal rights legislation in Europe and how those measures influence American activism
CAF co-founder Tom Regan, PH.D., will conclude the conference with his thoughtful presentation, "The Seed Never Sees the Flower."
Register Online Today!
You can register online easily using the link below. The cost is $139 for ASI members and $169 for nonmembers (including five vegan meals). But if you're not yet a member, you can join online at the same time and register at the discounted rate AND immediately get the additional benefits of ASI membership!
Rooms are still available at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center, on a first-come, first-served basis at regular rates; call the hotel toll-free at (800) 325-3535 or directly at (919) 941-5050. There is a free shuttle to the hotel from Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU).
Don't miss this important event; be part of "Becoming the Change" by signing up today!
Click here for easy online registration
Be There and Be the Change
Richard, this year's program continues the honored tradition begun by Tom and Nancy Regan in 1985 when they founded the International Compassionate Living Festival. Timed to coincide with Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, this conference and its theme of "Becoming the Change" furthers his teaching that "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."
We encourage you to join us in being part of this event and part of this change, and we look forward to seeing you in North Carolina.
Sincerely,
Ken Shapiro, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Animals and Society Institute
2512 Carpenter Road
Suite #201 A2
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108-1188
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18. Your Vote Can Help Get Vegetarianism Discussed on CNN
You can vote at:
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/
Which topic would you like to see Dr. Sanjay Gupta tackle on "House
Call" next weekend?
One option is vegetarianism.
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19. Gorillas Among Many Animals Facing Extinction
Gorillas head race to extinction
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Thanks to Movie Producer and JVNA advisor Lionel Friedberg for forwarding the following:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6990095.stm
Gorillas, orangutans, and corals are among the plants and animals which are sliding closer to extinction.
The Red List of Threatened Species for 2007 names habitat loss, hunting and climate change among the causes.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has identified more than 16,000 species threatened with extinction, while prospects have brightened for only one.
The IUCN says there is a lack of political will to tackle the global erosion of nature.
Governments have pledged to stem the loss of species by 2010; but it does not appear to be happening.
The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing
Julia Marton-Lefevre
"This year's Red List shows that the invaluable efforts made so far to protect species are not enough," said the organisation's director-general, Julia Marton-Lefevre.
"The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing, and we need to act now to significantly reduce it and stave off this global extinction crisis."
One in three amphibians, one in four mammals, one in eight birds and 70% of plants so far assessed are believed to be at risk of extinction, with human alteration of their habitat the single biggest cause.
Critical list
The tone of this year's Red List is depressingly familiar. Of 41,415 species assessed, 16,306 are threatened with extinction to a greater or lesser degree.
RED LIST DEFINITIONS
Extinct - Surveys suggest last known individual has died
Critically Endangered - Extreme high risk of extinction - this some Critically Endangered species are also tagged Possibly Extinct
Endangered - Species at very high risk of extinction
Vulnerable - Species at high risk of extinction
Near Threatened - May soon move into above categories
Least Concern - Species is widespread and abundant
Data Deficient - not enough data to assess
The main changes from previous assessments include some of the natural world's iconic animals, such as the western lowland gorilla, which moves from the Endangered to the Critically Endangered category.
Numbers have declined by more than 60% over the last 20-25 years.
Forest clearance has allowed hunters access to previously inaccessible areas; and the Ebola virus has followed, wiping out one-third of the total gorilla population in protected areas, and up to 95% in some regions.
SNIP
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The material on this site is provided for educational and informational purposes. It may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. It is being made available in an effort to advance the understanding of vegetarian, environmental, nutritional, health, economic, social justice and human rights issues etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have an interest in using the included information for educational or research purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. The information on this site does not constitute legal, technical or medical advice.
This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:
1. 1. Asking for Forgiveness Before Yom Kippur
2. Best Wishes For a Meaningful Yom Kippur and an Easy Fast
3. Relating Sukkot to Vegetarianism
4. Reduced Insurance Rates for Vegetarians
5. Follow Up Re Challenging Al Gore
6. JVNA President Honored at an AR Meeting in England
7. JVNA President Honored at an AR Meeting in England
8. New Vegetarian Book by JVNA Advisor Released
9. JVNA advisor to Present Challenging Analysis re Animal Treatment on Factory Farms
10. FAO Promotes Organic Agriculture
11. Canfei Nesharim Program Announcement Re Sukkot
12. Time To Avoid Global Warming Catastrophe Getting Short
13. Four Recent Items Re Kapparot/My Letters in Response to Two of the Items
14. Are Our Oceans Becoming Depleted of Fish?
15. Conference on Religious Perspectives on Climate Change Scheduled
16. Is the US Government Doing Enough to Combat Global Warming?
17. 2007 International Compassionate Living Festival "Becoming the Change" Scheduled
18. Your Vote Can Help Get Vegetarianism Discussed on CNN
19. Gorillas Among Many Animals Facing Extinction
Some material has been deferred to a later update/newsletter to keep this one from being even longer.
[Materials in brackets like this [ ] within an article or forwarded message are my editorial notes/comments.]
Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the JVNA, unless otherwise indicated, but may be presented to increase awareness and/or to encourage respectful dialogue. Also, material re conferences, retreats, forums, trips, and other events does not necessarily imply endorsement by JVNA or endorsement of the kashrut, Shabbat observances, or any other Jewish observances, but may be presented for informational purposes. Please use e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and web sites to get further information about any event that you are interested in. Also, JVNA does not necessarily agree with all positions of groups whose views are included or whose events are announced in this newsletter.
As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome.
Thanks,
Richard
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1. Asking for Forgiveness Before Yom Kippur
A message from a High Holiday package of material:
“On Yom Kippur, God will pardon everyone who has sinned against Him. But He will not forgive a person who has sinned against another human being, unless that person has appeased the person who was wronged.”
Mishnah Yoma 8:9
“I hereby forgive whoever has hurt me,
whoever has done me any wrong,
whether deliberately or by accident,
whether by word or by deed.
May no one be punished on my account.”
“As I forgive and pardon fully
those who have done me wrong,
may those whom I have harmed
forgive and pardon me
whether I acted deliberately or by accident
whether by word or by deed,”
[Forgiveness of people who have done wrong does not imply acceptance of evil acts – we must continue to work diligently to eradicate evil and to strive for a better world.]
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If I have offended anyone by anything I have written or done during the past year, it was unintentional, and I ask your forgiveness. I plan to try to continue to be sensitive to the wide variety of people receiving these newsletters, while promoting vegetarianism as a necessary part of a healthier, more just, humane, peaceful and environmentally sustainable world.
Richard
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2. Best Wishes For a Meaningful Yom Kippur and an Easy Fast
and may we be written and sealed in the Book of Life for a good year.
If you have the time and inclination, please see my article “Vegetarianism and Yom Kippur at the holiday section of JewishVeg.com/schwartz.
Suggestions always welcome.
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3. Relating Sukkot to Vegetarianism
Since Sukkot, starting the evening of Wednesday, September 26, follows quickly after Yom Kippur, I am including (below) a letter that I have sent to the Jewish media re Sukkot. Please consider using that letter and the material in my article on “Sukkot, Simchat Torah and Vegetarianism,” in the holiday section at JewishVeg.com/Schwartz, to compose your own letters and for talking points. Thanks.
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Dear Editor:
On Sukkot, the Jewish festival devoted to our offering thanksgiving for the abundance of life, we are reminded that humans are only privileged caretakers of this precious, but imperiled, planet. Like the wilderness sukkot of our Israelite ancestors, this Earth is no more than our temporary dwelling, and it is our important responsibility to cherish and care for our planet and all its creatures, as co-workers with God. The fragile shelter of the sukkah should remind us that we can’t rely on technological advances to save us and we must find a way to live in harmony with nature.
As we decorate our sukkahs with pictures and replicas of fruits and vegetables on our harvest festival, we should consider how future harvests are endangered by global warming, widening water shortages and soil erosion and depletion. As our Israelite ancestors were sustained with manna, a vegetarian food “like coriander seed,” while they dwelt in sukkahs for 40 years in the wilderness, we should sustain ourselves with tofu, the modern-day manna, and a wide variety of other plant foods, to improve our health and to help move our endangered planet to a sustainable path.
Very truly yours,
Steven Schuster
Richard H. Schwartz
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4. Reduced Insurance Rates for Vegetarians
(UK) Carrot for all veggies
Posted by: "AnimalConcerns.org" animalconcerns@gmail.com
BRITAIN'S soaring army of vegetarians are being offered lower
insurance premiums because they are less likely to suffer from major
illnesses.
Animal Friends Insurance, a not-for-profit insurance business, is
offering a six per cent discount for the UK's three million or so
veggies.
Medical evidence suggests non meat-eaters are up to 40 per cent less
likely to likely to suffer some forms of cancer.
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full story:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2005300000-2007420157,00.html
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5. Follow Up Re Challenging Al Gore
The last JVNA newsletter had the following report:
“Al Gore is working on a new environmental book entitled The Path to Survival, a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth that offers a blueprint on what can be done to fight global warming. The book will be released on Earth Day, April 22, 2008.”
“Let us hope that he will finally relate animal-based diets to global warming.”
Author and JVNA advisor Dan Brook sent the following response (which I agree with):
Shalom. We shouldn't just hope; we need to act!
Please encourage readers to write Al Gore at algore@algore.com,
to write Sierra Club Exec Director Carl Pope at carl.pope@sierra.org,
to write other environmentalists, politicians, and scientists,
to write their local newspapers, to write the environmental and other orgs they belong to,
to call talk radio shows, to speak with their rabbis and other teachers.
While we may be approaching a tipping point for global warming to spin out of control, we might also be reaching a tipping point in collective consciousness and public opinion. We need to get there first!
Please read, share, forward, post, print, blog, link, and cite the following web site with a great collection of links on "meat eating and global warming":
http://www.ivu.org/members/globalwarming.html
Peace,
Dan
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6. JVNA President Honored at an AR Meeting in England
Forwarded message:
Warmest thanks to you, Richard.
At our interfaith animal service on Sunday [September 16] I shall be lighting candles for three very special people, two American and one British: you and Gary Kowalski (Unitarian Universalist minister, animal welfare champion and author in Burlington, Vermont) and our very dear Professsor Andrew Linzey in Oxford, England. It's so good to recognise and honour human champions of our animal friends and pray for them as well as the animals!
As well as honouring three living animal welfare advocates I'll also be paying tribute to departed animal friends and among these will be your fellow American, Alex, the 31-year-old African grey parrot, the extremely intelligent and talkative star pupil of Dr Irene Pepperberg and a longtime resident of Brandeis University, which I believe is near Boston, Massachusetts? Dr Pepperberg and other friends of Alex are really feeling is loss. We feel for them as well as the recently departed Alex himself.
Shalom and warmest wishes as always,
Feargus
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Also, as the following message indicates, they will read a selection from my writings at the event:
Warmest thanks for sending this reading [at my request]. It's ideal and I am very grateful to you for sending it so promptly. It certainly captures the essence of Jewish religious wisdom and says such a lot in so few words. I am particularly pleased that I am able to feature your words in our interfaith service on 16 September and it's a good example not only of interfaith but also trans-Atlantic co-operation and understanding, isn't it?
I am so glad that we have made contact again and hope that we shall keep in touch. I very much admire your work and writings and shall do all I can to help publicise them among sympathetic contacts.
Shalom!
Warmest wishes and blessings,
Feargus
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7. Eating Less Meat Can Help Slow Climate Change
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070913/ap_on_sc/eating_less_meat
Eating less meat may slow climate change
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer
Wed Sep 12, 2007
Eating less meat could help slow global warming by reducing the number of livestock and thereby decreasing the amount of methane flatulence from the animals, scientists said on Thursday. In a special energy and health series of the medical journal The Lancet, experts said people should eat fewer steaks and hamburgers. Reducing global red meat consumption by 10 percent, they said, would cut the gases emitted by cows, sheep and goats that contribute to global warming. "
We are at a significant tipping point," said Geri Brewster, a nutritionist at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York, who was not connected to the study. " If people knew that they were threatening the environment by eating more meat, they might think twice before ordering a burger," Brewster said.
Other ways of reducing greenhouse gases from farming practices, like feeding animals higher-quality grains, would only have a limited impact on cutting emissions. Gases from animals destined for dinner plates account for nearly a quarter of all emissions worldwide. "That leaves reducing demand for meat as the only real option," said Dr. John Powles, a public health expert at Cambridge University, one of the study's authors. The amount of meat eaten varies considerably worldwide. In developed countries, people typically eat about 224 grams per day. But in Africa, most people only get about 31 grams a day. With demand for meat increasing worldwide, experts worry that this increased livestock production will mean more gases like methane and nitrous oxide heating up the atmosphere. In China, for instance, people are eating double the amount of meat they used to a decade ago. Powles said that if the global average were 90 grams per day, that would prevent the levels of gases from speeding up climate change.
Eating less red meat would also improve health in general. Powles and his co-authors estimate that reducing meat consumption would reduce the numbers of people with heart disease and cancer. One study has estimated that the risk of colorectal cancer drops by about a third for every 100 grams of red meat that is cut out of your diet. "As a society, we are overconsuming protein," Brewster said. "If we ate less red meat, it would also help stop the obesity epidemic."
Experts said that it would probably take decades to wane the public off of its meat-eating tendency. "We need to better understand the implications of our diet," said Dr. Maria Neira, director of director of the World Health Organization's department of public health and the environment. "It is an interesting theory that needs to be further examined," she said. "But eating less meat could definitely be one way to reduce gas emissions and climate change."
Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.
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8. New Vegetarian Book by JVNA Advisor Released
Forwarded message:
"The most compelling evidence in favor of a vegetarian diet I have ever read." Tim Riesenberger, MD West Sound Emergency Physicians
1. Get the most up to date information on how a vegetarian diet can improve your health and the world you live in.
2. Prevent or improve high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis and arthritis.
3. Plant based diet yields more food and requires fewer natural resources.
4. Discover the nutritional benefits for toddlers through teens. athletes and seniors.
5. Reduce global warming and global hunger
6. "I highly recommend The Vegetarian Solution to all those wanting to maintain or regain their health." Neal Barnard M.D. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Author Stewart Rose [JVNA advisor] is vice president of the Vegetarians of Washington, the largest regional vegetarian organization in the country.
$12.95 /978-1-57067-205-7 /198 pages/ 6x9 paper
Available at your regular book distributor Or contact Thomas Hupp Book Publishing Company 888 260 8458 www.bookpubco.com thomas@bookpubco.com
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9. JVNA advisor to Present Challenging Analysis re Animal Treatment on Factory Farms
Forwarded message from JVNA advisor David Cantor, Director of Responsible Policies for Animals:
[Cross-Post Freely]
Mark your calendar!
Responsible Policies for Animals presentation November 8th!
Friends!
Inhumane treatment of animals is a root cause of racism, sexism, and other harmful discrimination; pollution, climate change, and other ecological destruction; influenza pandemics, the AIDS scourge, and other biomedical disasters; pervasive chronic disease and soaring medical & insurance costs; widespread poverty and hunger; and wars linked to rapidly diminishing fresh water, oil and other resources. I’ll explain the connections at a free presentation on November 8th in Glenside, Pennsylvania. Read on for details …
Nonhuman animals must have fundamental legal rights on which meaningful secondary rights and enforcement can be based, because they’re sentient – they experience their lives – they feel pain, fear, hunger, pleasure and have much else in common with the animals who already have basic rights: the humans who decide the fate of Earth’s other beings.
Animals’ sentience is reason enough in terms of right & wrong, but powerful interests keep animal rights off of the public agenda. That's why it is crucial to show people that their interests lie with an end to animal use and destruction.
I believe a key reason the American Revolution has stalled, so many people today see themselves as consumers rather than citizens, and so many are depressed, anxious, bored, apathetic, or frantic is that they are constantly urged to be a small part of small change when they know big change is needed. They know war without end is not necessary, we needn't keep driving species extinct, our bodies needn't be used mainly as dumping grounds for inhumane and non-natural foods or for pharmaceuticals-industry profits.
People are naturally altruistic, just, compassionate, and generous, but they’re asked to do and give little. Except to sacrifice their souls, hearts, and minds to do what “everyone” is doing.
I believe people can be inspired by humane treatment of animals / animal rights as the big change that is needed, even though reaching the goal requires long and difficult struggle and is not a sure thing like typical “improvements” for animals with no rights.
Especially if you live or work within a reasonable distance, join me at 7:00 P.M. on November 8th when I’ll give a presentation titled Food and Peace at the Won Institute of Graduate Studies, 137 S. Easton Road, Glenside, PA 19038. (Read on for details about Won….) I’ll emphasize how shutting down the flesh, milk & egg industries will bring peace to humans, relate that to other human interests, and explain the basic-rights connection and why anything less will not get the job done for humans or others.
Mark your calendar! I’ll send reminders and directions between now and November 8th. If you are among our many friends far from southeastern Pennsylvania and will not be traveling to the area in early November, tell friends in the area about this unique event - they won't regret attending!
Friendly and welcoming toward everyone, the Won Institute of Graduate Studies is a unique center for the study and experience of culture, health care, spirituality, and the arts. Its reputation has grown rapidly in the few years since it was established in 2005. The Institute offers a variety of programs and services to the public – such as an acupuncture clinic, meditation instruction, and free movies - in addition to its advanced degrees in applied meditation, Buddhism and acupuncture. Learn about the Institute’s wide selection of activities and services – and directions – at www.woninstitute.org.
Thank you for your support of Responsible Policies for Animals and your other contributions toward a humane future!
Best wishes,
David Cantor
Executive Director
Responsible Policies for Animals, Inc.
P.O. Box 891
Glenside, PA 19038
215-886-RPA1
RPA4all@aol.com
www.RPAforAll.org
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10. FAO Promotes Organic Agriculture
ISIS Press Release 10/09/07
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/FAOPromotesOrganicAgriculture.php
A fully referenced version of this article is posted on ISIS members’ website. Details here
An electronic version of this report, or any other ISIS report, with full references, can be sent to you via e-mail for a donation of £3.50. Please e-mail the title of the report to: report@i-sis.org.uk
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11. Canfei Nesharim Program Announcement Re Sukkot
Dear friend,
I hope that you had a meaningful and fulfilling chag. As we move toward Sukkos, I am writing to remind you of Canfei Nesharim's great new resources for Sukkos and Shemini Atzeres.
"He who has not seen the rejoicing at the place of the water-drawing has never seen rejoicing in his life." (B.T. Sukkah 51a)
This Sukkos, help your family and community appreciate the gift of water with:
Ø New, bigger Sukkah decorations!
Ø New eco-reminder children's stickers
Ø Shiurim and source sheets for Torah learning
Ø Program ideas for children, adults and families
Ø Tips for saving water
Ø Coupons for Sukkos paper goods
Ø Mail-order lulavim and etrogim
Families: Make sure that your Sukkah has a decoration that shares your Torah commitment to protect the environment with your family and guests!
Deadline for all orders is Wednesday, September 19th. For all our great Sukkos resources, visit Canfei Nesharim's website.
We look forward to sharing more Torah and mitzvos with you in the coming year, with Hashem's help.
With best wishes,
~Evonne Marzouk
P.S. Don't forget to subscribe to Eitz Chayim Hee: A Weekly Torah Commentary for Environmental Learning and Action, a series of teachings about the environment based on each weekly portion of the Jewish Torah, which will be distributed via email beginning on Tuesday, October 2. Subscribe today!
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12. Time To Avoid Global Warming Catastrophe Getting Short
Forwarded message:
Window to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change Closing; EU Should Press for Immediate U.S. Action
The warming climate is undermining biodiversity by accelerating habitat loss, according to Vital Signs 2007–2008.
Consumption of energy and many other critical resources is consistently breaking records, disrupting the climate and undermining life on the planet, according to the latest Worldwatch Institute report, Vital Signs 2007–2008.
The 44 trends tracked in Vital Signs illustrate the urgent need to check consumption of energy and other resources that are contributing to the climate crisis, starting with the largest polluter, the United States, which accounted for over 21 percent of global carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning in 2005. Europe, already feeling the effects of climate change, should pressure the U.S. to join international climate negotiations, according to Erik Assadourian, Vital Signs Project Director.
"The world is running out of time to head off catastrophic climate change, and it is essential that Europe and the rest of the international community bring pressure to bear on U.S. policymakers to address the climate crisis," said Assadourian, who spoke at the Barcelona launch of Vital Signs. "The United States must be held accountable for its emissions, double the per capita level in Europe, and should follow the EU lead by committing to reducing its total greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050."
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13. Four Recent Items Re Kapparot/My Letters in Response to Two of the Items
a. Shas spiritual leader calls for caution with kapparot ceremony
By Yair Ettinger
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/904102.html
Haaretz September 17, 2007
Shas movement spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is worried about unsupervised slaughter of chickens as part of the kapparot ritual ahead of Yom Kippur.
The ancient ceremony involves swinging a live chicken overhead in a ritual transferance of the person's sins in preparation for the day of atonement. It may be performed anytime between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Speaking Saturday at his Jerusalem synagogue, Hayazdim, Yosef warned that overworked ritual slaughterers wind up using flawed blades that are not deemed "perfectly sharp."
"If it is not perfectly sharp, it is not only non-kosher but nevela," he said, using the term for the carcass of a kosher animal not killed in accordance with Jewish law and therefore forbidden for consumption.
Despite the modern custom of using money in place of chicken and then giving it to charity, many ultra-Orthodox Jews continue to use chickens and slaughter them before giving the kosher meat to charity.
American rabbis also have expressed reservations about the proper slaughter of these animals, prompted by a complaint to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. A report by PETA about cruelty toward chickens before Yom Kippur led a group of Hasidic rabbis to discuss reducing the animals' suffering. The U.S. edition of the Orthodox publication Hamodia ran an editorial calling for greater supervision of the slaughter.
Yosef said that Rabbi Joseph Caro "is against this thing," citing the author of the Shulhan Arukh, or Code of Jewish Law, who considered kapparot a pagan ritual. However, Yosef refrained from banning the custom. He made do with calling on those who wish to perform the ceremony to do so early to prevent overloading the ritual slaughterers, and "also to go to God-fearing slaughterers who are kosher."
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My letter in response to the above article:
As president of Jewish vegetarians of North America, I was glad to read about Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef’s statement urging Jews to be careful in carrying out the kapparot ritual with chickens to make sure that everything done was consistent with Jewish law (“Shas spiritual leader calls for caution with kapparot ceremony;” September 17 issue). Since Jews are to be rachmanim b’nei rachmanim (compassionate children of compassionate ancestors) and the Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur period is one in which we ask for mercy from God, I believe that Jews should use the halachically acceptable substitution of money, rather than chickens for the ceremony. Also, since there are far more abuses of chickens and other animals on modern factory farms than during the kapparot ritual, I hope that Rabbi Yosef and other Jewish leaders will address this issue and the many other moral issues related to animal-based diets, including the negative effects on human health and the environment.
Very truly yours,
Richard H. Schwartz
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b. Article in New York magazine
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/37670/
Coq au Sin
• By Dan Levin
(Photo: Ziv Koren/Polaris)
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has a new target: Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn who swing live chickens in the air to symbolically transfer their sins to the birds. The practice, called Kapparot, takes place during the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Thousands of chickens are deployed in Brooklyn alone, then slaughtered and fed to the poor. This summer, PETA sent video of the practice, shot in 2005 and 2006, to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The footage showed teenagers ripping off birds’ heads and suffocating others in garbage bags as well as children handling blood-and-feces-covered chickens without gloves. Not very kosher, in any sense of the word. The agency, which claimed no jurisdiction over cruelty, referred the matter to the state’s Kosher Law Enforcement Division.
The negative publicity spurred the Orthodox world to action. A group of rabbis met in August about cruelty claims, and last week, it issued guidelines for authorized Kapparot facilities and tightened supervision over the handling and slaughtering of the chickens. The state says it will monitor whether these rules are followed.
“PETA has a record of trying to trample on Jewish rituals and customs,” says Rabbi Moshe Weiner, who was part of the group that issued the guidelines. “Things may have gotten relaxed, and we’re trying to bring it up to standard because [Jewish law] demands that animals be treated decently.”
“Donating money to charity is also a religiously acceptable symbolic sacrifice,” says Bruce Friedrich, a PETA spokesperson. “We hope compassionate Jews choose this act, rather than abusing terrified, squawking birds to commemorate Yom Kippur.” The PETA folks will be out with their camcorders again this year.
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c. Jewish Week Article/followed by my letter
Swinging No More Kaporos and the new eco-kosher movement.
Steve Lipman - Staff Writer
Growing up out of town, in a non-Orthodox household, I never knew from kaporos.
It’s a post-Talmudic, pre-Yom Kippur custom in some traditional circles that involves swinging a live chicken three times over your head, reciting some verses that symbolically transfer your sins to the fowl — a rooster for a man, a hen for a woman — then leaving it behind to be slaughtered, in a kosher manner of course, and given to a needy family.
Kaporos is Hebrew for “atonements.” The custom is supposed to teach sensitivity for God’s creatures and awareness of one’s own transgressions.
Orthodox, but a rationalist, I wasn’t interested.
Then Tami called.
“Do you want to do kaporos with me?” she asked.
A native of my hometown, the product of a chasidic home, she was living in my haredi Brooklyn neighborhood several years ago, wanted to see what kaporos was like and wanted some company a few days before Yom Kippur.
I don’t remember the details, where the shluging (the Yiddish word for the process means to beat) took place (in some warehouse in an industrial part of Brooklyn, I think) or how much the chicken cost me (probably about $20.) I remember hearing a roomful of chickens; following the lead of a man who showed me how to grip the bird’s legs with both hands and wave it without hurting it; repeating some words; and thinking I didn’t want to do it again.
I didn’t.
Apparently, I’m not alone.
In the Days of Repentance each year a movement grows to discourage kaporos, urging the pious to substitute money in the symbolic expiation ceremony, such tzedakah being a valid, halachic practice. A frightened chicken doesn’t fulfill the Tishrei imperative of introspection, the opponents of kaporos argue.
The chicken breasts or broth served pre- or post-fast may be kosher, these people argue, but the practice isn’t.
Opposition to kaporos, including a recent haredi panel in Brooklyn that examined the halachic efficacy of the procedure and issued a call to make it less offensive, is part of a wider trend in the Jewish world.
In recent years, the definition of kashrut — which literally means fit or proper, not just OK to eat — is widely expanding in some circles, here and in Israel. Other concerns, like the conditions in which the animals live and die, the treatment and payment of workers, and the wider environmental impact of the production chain are entering the discussion of what the Web site liberaljudaism.org calls “Ethical Eating.
“This level of care is demanded of us by halacha [Jewish law],” states kosherconscience.com.
Some people call this “eco-kosher.” Nigel Savage, executive director of Hazon (hazon.org), a New York-based Jewish environmental organization, prefers “Jewish food movement.”
The movement is transdenominational, from Reform Jews to the Jewish Renewal Movement to Conservative Jewry, which is establishing a “hechsher tzedek” that will certify food on ethical grounds. “A growing number of Orthodox Jews,” who are primarily concerned about ritual standards of kashrut, “are starting to care about the issue,” Savage says. He can cite traditional texts and Orthodox scholars who share his views.
Hazon’s jcarrot.org has become an on-line clearinghouse for movement members who, while not returning to the farm, are taking food-buying decisions into their own activist hands. The Torah and Talmud reflect people who lived on and cared for the land. As modernists, “we’ve been cut off from that,” says Savage.
We think meat’s natural state is plastic-wrapped in a grocer’s freezer. We don’t think about the animals who give their lives for our meals.
That’s why Savage likes to talk about the azazel, the biblical scapegoat that is the theme of the Yom Kippur Torah reading. The reference should make us aware, he says.
And that’s why Savage will have a goat slaughtered at Hazon’s second food conference at the upstate Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in December. The shechting will force the conference participants to confront an animal’s reality, he says. His announcement of the planned slaughter has generated a storm of discussion on the Internet.
Savage, of course, is against using chickens for kaporos.
The ASPCA in New York City confiscated hundreds of abandoned and starving kaporos chickens during the last two years. PETA this year called on the city’s Health Department to examine the conditions in which the animals are held.
Having done kaporos once, I don’t do it with a chicken anymore. I can’t believe that the waving doesn’t scare or hurt the bird, no matter how gently I hold it.
On Erev Yom Kippur, I do kaporos with money instead.
Now the only pain is in my wallet.
--------------------------
Dear Editor,
As president of Jewish vegetarians of North America, I was glad to read about Nigel Savage’s plan to “force [Hazon] conference participants [who eat meat] to confront an animal’s reality (“Swinging No More: Kaporos and the new eco-kosher movement;” September 14, 2007 issue). However, rather than shecting an innocent, defenseless animal, as they plan to do, I think it would be better to show the horrors of slaughtering by videos, and we would be happy to provide some. I think it would also be valuable if the Hazon conference addressed other realities re producing and consuming animals, including the devastating effects on human health and the environment.
Very truly yours,
Richard H. Schwartz
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d. JTA article
Activists cry fowl over kapparot
Published: 09/17/2007
An Israeli animal rights group appealed for an end to the use of chickens in the kapparot ritual.
Each year before Yom Kippur, many Orthodox Jews pay to have a chicken swung over their heads in a rite symbolizing penitence. The bird is then slaughtered for food.
Let the Animals Live, Israel's biggest animal welfare society, sent a letter to former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef this week asking him to urge his followers to opt for a more humane and doctrinally approved version of kapparot in which money is used instead of a chicken and given to charity.
Let the Animals Live argued that the more traditional ritual is unnecessarily cruel and thus contradicts biblical morality.
Yosef, who is considered the spiritual mentor for the powerful Sephardi religious political movement Shas, had no immediate response to the appeal.
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14. Are Our Oceans Becoming Depleted of Fish?
http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,2162131,00.html
Waves of despair
Once they were a national treasure chest, teeming with fish and wildlife. Now the waters of the North Sea are quiet, almost dead. But it's not too late, says Callum Roberts, to stop the fishing industry destroying itself
Wednesday September 5, 2007
The Guardian
SNIP
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15. Conference on Religious Perspectives on Climate Change Scheduled
"Religious Perspectives on Climate Change: Turning Faith into Action"
Ford School of Public Policy
University of Michigan
October 19, 2007
Join us for a multi-faith exploration of the intersection of religious beliefs and concern for the global environment. Does Aldo Leopold's lament still hold true today? How do some of the world's religions address the issue of the environment? How do they treat the split between human beings and nature? Is there scriptural support for attending to the issue of climate change as a religious and moral
issue? How can concern for climate change be integrated into religious rituals as a way to modify behavior and consciousness? What is being done to reach across traditions and to foster interfaith dialogue and collaboration? What more needs to be done? Come join in a conversation over the answers to these and many other questions.
Mary Evelyn Tucker, noted Yale University expert on the intersection of religion and the environment, will set the stage for a climate change panel discussion among representatives from the Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Protestant (Evangelical and Mainline) faiths. Engage in the discussion by asking questions about how these
faiths compare regarding the necessity and means of addressing climate change.
Reverend Sally Bingham, President of the Regeneration Project, will present the afternoon keynote, offering constructive suggestions for getting active and staying active on this important social issue that affects us all, regardless of whether you share one of the faiths discussed or not. Following her address, a second panel discussion among noted experts on ways to turn your religious beliefs into action through lifestyle changes, engagement with city government, developments in federal policy and using your pocketbook through socially responsible investing. Leave this meeting with a better understanding of what you believe about the morality of climate
change and what you can do about it.
Register now:
http://www.erb.umich.edu/forms/fall-2007oct19/default.htm
Conference Information:
http://www.erb.umich.edu/News-and-Events/ReligiousPerspectivesHome.htm
* Carbon emissions from speaker travel to and from this conference will be offset through Native Energy.
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16. Is the US Government Doing Enough to Combat Global Warming?
Federal Inaction on Climate Change Science
Two recent reports have exposed the Bush administration's
inaction on the science of climate change and its impacts. The
Government Accountability Office (GAO), an arm of Congress,
"harshly faulted the Bush administration for doing little to
deal with the far-reaching effects of climate change rapidly
taking place in national parks, forests, marine sanctuaries and
other federal lands and waters," according to a recent article
by the Associated Press (below).
** Read the GAO report here:
http://ucsaction.org/ct/u1_i4u71kzVS/
The National Academy of Science (NAS) reported this week that
the Climate Change Science Program has completed just 2 of the
21 planned reports on various aspects of climate science,
including agricultural yields, weather patterns, and the best
ways to adapt to rising temperatures. This was the first
independent analysis of the program's progress by a NAS panel
(article below)
** Read the NAS report here:
http://ucsaction.org/ct/ud_i4u71kzVL/
*********************************
GAO Faults Agencies Over Global Warming
By JOHN HEILPRIN
September 7, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) - Wildfires are flaring bigger and hotter in
Alaska, the northern Rockies and the Sierra Nevada. Bighorn
sheep, mountain goats and grizzly bears in Glacier National
Park, along with deer and marsh rabbits in the Florida Keys,
face a housing crisis.
Glacier's alpine meadows are disappearing, sea levels are rising
in the Keys and other federal lands are feeling the heat from
global warming - and the government is not doing much about it,
congressional investigators said in a report Thursday.
Climate change, however, does have things looking up for
heat-loving pests like beetles, grasshoppers and fungi. Spruce
bark beetles are chewing their way through 1,560 square miles of
Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, including 620 square miles of spruce
trees in Chugach National Forest. Southern pine beetles are on
the march in red spruce forests of the Southeast.
Non-native grasses are fast replacing native shrubs in the
Mojave Desert, where the grasses also are fueling hotter and
longer-lasting wildfires. Even pinyon pines hundreds of years
old that have survived droughts before in the Southwest are
dying off.
After more than three years of study, the Government
Accountability Office, an arm of Congress, harshly faulted the
Bush administration for doing little to deal with the
far-reaching effects of climate change rapidly taking place in
national parks, forests, marine sanctuaries and other federal
lands and waters - almost 30 percent of the United States.
The GAO said the Interior, Agriculture and Commerce departments
have failed to give their resource managers the guidance and
tools they need - computer models, temperature and precipitation
data, climate projects and detailed inventories of plant and
animal species - to cope with all the biological and physical
effects from the warming.
"Without such guidance, their ability to address climate change
and effectively manage resources is constrained," the report
says.
The White House disagreed.
"President Bush is committed to addressing climate and providing
the agencies with the tools they need to address this important
issue," said Kristen Hellmer, a spokeswoman for the White House
Council on Environmental Quality. "The president has provided
unparalleled financial investments for dozens of federal climate
change programs, many of which are directed at adaptation and
developing and deploying cleaner, more efficient energy
technologies."
The GAO investigators looked at four representative areas:
_The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
_Alaska's Chugach National Forest.
_Montana's Glacier National Park.
_Grasslands and shrubs managed by Interior's Bureau of Land
Management in northwestern Arizona.
From those studies, investigators concluded: "Climate change has
already begun to adversely affect federal resources in a variety
of ways. Most experts with whom we spoke believe that these
effects will continue and likely intensify over the coming
decades."
What turned out to be a 184-page report was requested in March
2004 by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz, when
Kerry was running for the presidential nomination. He now wants
legislation requiring more climate change science.
"We waited a long time for this report to confirm the daunting
prospect that climate change is impacting our public lands from
coast to coast, and this administration is ill-equipped to
respond," Kerry said.
Jamie Rappaport Clark, who was director of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service in the Clinton administration and is now
executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife, called the
report an urgently needed wake-up call for the nation.
"Global warming is and will continue to contribute to species
extinctions, flooding of coastal refuges and massive movements
of wildlife populations in search of more hospitable habitat,"
she said. "Polar bears and other imperiled species, wildlife
refuges, parks and myriad natural resources are at risk and
Congress clearly needs to provide more legislative direction
because the agencies have failed to do so."
The effects are widespread.
In Glacier National Park, the number of glaciers in the park has
dropped from 150 to 26 since 1850. Some project that none will
be left within 25 to 30 years. In south-central Alaska, many of
the ponds shown in 1950 maps and aerial photographs are now
grassy basins with spruce and hardwood trees.
On the Keys' receding coastlines, the climate threat extends
"not only to wildlife, but also to humans who live on the
islands," the report says.
Bleaching of coral reefs in the Florida Keys, too, is being
caused by the stress of warmer water - which causes the coral to
eject microscopic algae that live within its tissues. That could
harm the fishing and tourism industries, because they are needed
by fish and other marine species and are popular with snorkelers
and scuba divers.
The GAO said the Interior Department has ignored an order signed
by former secretary Bruce Babbitt on the last full day of the
Clinton administration that requires it to "consider and analyze
potential climate change impacts" in all its major decisions,
long-range planning, management of resources and setting of
scientific priorities.
In response, James Cason, an assistant interior secretary, told
the GAO that an agency task force with nearly 100 people began
meeting in April to study climate change, and the U.S.
Geological Survey will spend $27 million for climate research
in 2008. He said Interior "routinely takes actions to mitigate
impacts of climate change."
Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell said that studying one
forest, the Chugach, is not enough to draw conclusions about
more than 300,000 square miles of national forests. Though
Chugach's management plan does not address climate change, she
said, 12 of the 155 national forests do.
David Sampson, deputy commerce secretary, said the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is "at the forefront of
global efforts" to improve the ability to observe and forecast
climate change through computer modeling.
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17. 2007 International Compassionate Living Festival "Becoming the Change" Scheduled
Dear Richard,
With October just around the corner, the Culture and Animals Foundation and the Animals and Society Institute want to remind you that this is the last week to register for the 2007 International Compassionate Living Festival. "Becoming the Change" will take place in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, on October 5-7, and we very much want you to be with us. Registration ends this Friday, September 21, so please don't delay another day!
CAF and the ASI have brought together internationally recognized speakers to offer their expertise in a wide variety of animal protection issues. These scholars, authors, activists and artists will give you much to think about and a lot of inspired motivation that will help you in your own efforts to bring about important change for animals worldwide.
If you've already registered, we thank you, and encourage you to bring friends or colleagues to join you, especially if they have never experienced one of these unique Festivals. If you've been "thinking about it" but haven't yet registered yourself, we hope you'll make a commitment to attend and find out just how meaningful this conference is.
See below for more details, and we'll see you there!
Learn from Leaders Already Changing the World
Our keynote speaker on Saturday night:
Captain Paul Watson served in the Canadian Coast Guard in the late 1960s before co-founding the Greenpeace Foundation. A lifelong environmentalist and animal advocate, he has spent more than 30 years fighting for marine mammals by confronting their killers on the high seas and ice floes of the world’s waters. In 1977 he founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which in 2007 made international headlines for thwarting the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctica and campaigning against the Canadian harp seal slaughter.
Featured presentations:
Rory Freedman, co-author of the wildly popular book "Skinny Bitch," will join Herbivore magazine editor Josh Hooten on Friday night to kick off the conference with a "vegan chic showcase" highlighting how vegan food and fashion have become all the rage lately.
Bob Pyle, humorist and guitarist, will be our musical guest both Friday and Saturday evening.
During the plenary sessions on Saturday and Sunday, we will hear from:
Dr. Michael Greger, physician and author, on "Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching"
Tammy Grimes, Dogs Deserve Better, and Becky Robinson, Alley Cat Allies, on new, stronger efforts to change society's attitudes toward and treatment of chained dogs and feral cats
Lisa Kemmerer, Ph.D., of Montana State University on "The Buddha, the Bible and the Beasts"
Journalist Will Potter and attorney Lauren Regan on how the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act suppresses free speech and threatens effective animal activism
Bernard Unti, Ph.D., of The Humane Society of the United States on lessons from 18th-century (yes, that's right!) animal rights pioneers
Rita Anderson of the Committee for Research Accountability and Justin Goodman of the University of Connecticut and PETA, on successful campaigns against primate research at major universities
Former dophin trainer Ric O'Barry of the Earth Island Institute and Detroit Zoo director Ron Kagan on the growing movement to get dolphins, whales and elephants out of aquariums and zoos and into sanctuaries or back into the wild
Kim W. Stallwood, now the ASI's European director, on important developments in animal rights legislation in Europe and how those measures influence American activism
CAF co-founder Tom Regan, PH.D., will conclude the conference with his thoughtful presentation, "The Seed Never Sees the Flower."
Register Online Today!
You can register online easily using the link below. The cost is $139 for ASI members and $169 for nonmembers (including five vegan meals). But if you're not yet a member, you can join online at the same time and register at the discounted rate AND immediately get the additional benefits of ASI membership!
Rooms are still available at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel and Convention Center, on a first-come, first-served basis at regular rates; call the hotel toll-free at (800) 325-3535 or directly at (919) 941-5050. There is a free shuttle to the hotel from Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU).
Don't miss this important event; be part of "Becoming the Change" by signing up today!
Click here for easy online registration
Be There and Be the Change
Richard, this year's program continues the honored tradition begun by Tom and Nancy Regan in 1985 when they founded the International Compassionate Living Festival. Timed to coincide with Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, this conference and its theme of "Becoming the Change" furthers his teaching that "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."
We encourage you to join us in being part of this event and part of this change, and we look forward to seeing you in North Carolina.
Sincerely,
Ken Shapiro, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Animals and Society Institute
2512 Carpenter Road
Suite #201 A2
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108-1188
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18. Your Vote Can Help Get Vegetarianism Discussed on CNN
You can vote at:
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/
Which topic would you like to see Dr. Sanjay Gupta tackle on "House
Call" next weekend?
One option is vegetarianism.
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19. Gorillas Among Many Animals Facing Extinction
Gorillas head race to extinction
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Thanks to Movie Producer and JVNA advisor Lionel Friedberg for forwarding the following:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6990095.stm
Gorillas, orangutans, and corals are among the plants and animals which are sliding closer to extinction.
The Red List of Threatened Species for 2007 names habitat loss, hunting and climate change among the causes.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has identified more than 16,000 species threatened with extinction, while prospects have brightened for only one.
The IUCN says there is a lack of political will to tackle the global erosion of nature.
Governments have pledged to stem the loss of species by 2010; but it does not appear to be happening.
The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing
Julia Marton-Lefevre
"This year's Red List shows that the invaluable efforts made so far to protect species are not enough," said the organisation's director-general, Julia Marton-Lefevre.
"The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing, and we need to act now to significantly reduce it and stave off this global extinction crisis."
One in three amphibians, one in four mammals, one in eight birds and 70% of plants so far assessed are believed to be at risk of extinction, with human alteration of their habitat the single biggest cause.
Critical list
The tone of this year's Red List is depressingly familiar. Of 41,415 species assessed, 16,306 are threatened with extinction to a greater or lesser degree.
RED LIST DEFINITIONS
Extinct - Surveys suggest last known individual has died
Critically Endangered - Extreme high risk of extinction - this some Critically Endangered species are also tagged Possibly Extinct
Endangered - Species at very high risk of extinction
Vulnerable - Species at high risk of extinction
Near Threatened - May soon move into above categories
Least Concern - Species is widespread and abundant
Data Deficient - not enough data to assess
The main changes from previous assessments include some of the natural world's iconic animals, such as the western lowland gorilla, which moves from the Endangered to the Critically Endangered category.
Numbers have declined by more than 60% over the last 20-25 years.
Forest clearance has allowed hunters access to previously inaccessible areas; and the Ebola virus has followed, wiping out one-third of the total gorilla population in protected areas, and up to 95% in some regions.
SNIP
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