9/23/2009 JVNA Online Newsletter

Shalom everyone,

This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:

1. Best Wishes for a Meaningful, Transformative Yom Kippur

2. I Ask Your Forgiveness Before Yom Kippur

3. Efforts to Get Vegetarianism Onto the Copenhagen Climate Conference Agenda Continue

4. Group Seeking Information on Animal-Friendly Synagogues

5. Campaign Links Peace to the Foods People Eat and Climate Change

6. JVNA Advisor Links Rosh Hashana to Compassion to Animals

7. Great Video re 3 People going Vegan and All the Reasons For Such a Change

8. Farm Sanctuary Event Considers Legal Issues re Animals

9. UN Plans Shock therapy To Awaken Leaders to Climate Threats

10. Follow-Up Re Kapparot

11. Animal Sanctuary Schedules Talks Relating ‘Livestock’ Agriculture to Climate Change

12. Lantern Books Celebrating Tenth Anniversary

13. Article Challenges Non-Vegetarians on Diets

14. New Website Has Powerful Material Advocating Vegetarianism as Solution to Global Warming

15. First New York City VegFest Scheduled

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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Notice: Seeking Volunteers To Help Get Vegetarianism Onto the Copenhagen Climate Conference Agenda

As indicated in item #3 below, I am working as director of Veg Climate Alliance with some very dedicated activists from several countries in trying to get vegetarianism onto the agenda of the December Copenhagen climate conference. I am increasingly convinced that a major societal shift to plant-based diets is essential part of steps necessary for the world to avoid an unprecedented climate catastrophe, and it is essential that the Copenhagen delegates urge such dietary changes. If you can volunteer even a few hours a week to help us get our message to conference delegates, that would be much appreciated. If interested, please let me know.

Thanks, Richard

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1. Best Wishes for a Meaningful, Transformative Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur begins at sundown on Sunday evening. May all who will be fasting have an easy fast and may the holiday be the start of a very positive period for everyone. Please see my article on “Vegetarianism and Yom Kippur” in the festival section at JewishVeg.com/schwartz, and my articles about Kapparot in the sections on festivals and about animals at that web site. More about kapparot later.

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2. I Ask Your Forgiveness Before Yom Kippur

Judaism teaches that acts of repentance, prayer and ch arity can result in God’s forgiveness for sins between human beings and God, but that one must ask people you offended for forgiveness for acts against them. So, I ask your forgiveness for anything that I may have written or done in the past year that may have offended you. It was certainly not intentional.

I forgive anyone who may have unintentionally offended me during the past year.

In the words of an anonymous source:

“I hereby forgive whoever has hurt me,
Whoever has done ma any wrong,
Whether deliberately or on purpose,
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.
With God’s help, may I not willingly
Repeat the wrongs that I have committed.”

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3. Efforts to Get Vegetarianism Onto the Copenhagen Climate Conference Agenda Continue

As director of Veg Climate Alliance, I have been working with some dedicated activists in Europe and Australia in putting together the press release and letter to Copenhagen delegates below. Suggestions welcome, and please help spread the messages. Thanks.

COALITION URGES WORLD TO PUT DIETARY CHANGE ONTO COPENHAGEN CLIMATE AGENDA
Contact: Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D., Director of Veg Climate Alliance

Phone: (718) 761-5876

New York, September 22, 2009: A society-wide shift to plant-based diets i s essential to avoid an unprecedented global climate catastrophe! This is the message that a broad coalition of groups is sending to world leaders and organizations involved with December's UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen (letter attached).

Veg Climate Alliance wants our leaders to know about the major role of animal-based agriculture in increasing global warming, clearly demonstrated in the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2006 report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow.”

The UN report aims to raise awareness of “the very substantial contribution of animal agriculture to cl imate change and air pollution, to land, soil and water degradation and to the reduction of biodiversity.”

Director of Veg Climate Alliance Dr. Richard Schwartz stated “it’s essential that leaders at the UN climate conference apply these findings and recommend dietary changes as they set the agenda for mitigating climate change.”

The letter also stresses benefits of plant-based diets in many other areas of concern: health; environmental sustainability; resource conservation; reducing hunger; and reducing threats of terrorism and war.

Many of the people and groups supporting this initiative will be taking part in Friends of Earth’s ‘Human Flood’ demonstration, and will be bringing the vegan solution to grassroots attention in forums and other activities surrounding the UN conference.

Veg Climate Alliance is a non-profit international organization with a website packed full of information on diets and global warming [www.VegClimateAlliance.org].
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Below is the accompanying letter
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Veg Climate Alliance
Richard H. Schwartz, Director
263 Warwick Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10314
USA
Email: director@VegClimateAlliance.org
Phone: 001-718-761-5876

Re: Avoid Climate Catastrophe: Please Support Shifts to Plant-Based Diets
September 22, 2009

Dear ______________ ,

Please consider the mounting evidence that a major societal shift towards plant-based diets is essential if the world is to avoid an unprecedented catastrophe from climate change and other environmental threats. And please help inform the public of the negative environmental effects of their food choices and the urgency of major dietary changes, in order to help shift our imperiled planet to a sustainable path.

We urge you to consider the following important but often overlooked research, as you consider recommendations for reducing climate threats.

• A 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization “Livestock’s Long Shadow” determined that livestock production is globally responsible for more GHGs (in CO2 equivalents) than all the world’s transport combined (18 percent vs. 13.5 percent).
• There is increasing evidence that the impact of animal agriculture is far worse than the 18% mentioned, with a major new assessment to be published soon concluding that the livestock sector contributes over half of global human-caused emissions.
• Making the situation even worse, the UN report projects that the world’s population of farmed animals will double in 50 years if current trends continue. The resulting increase in GHGs would largely negate emission reductions from all other sectors – making it very unlikely that we will be able to avoid the impending climate disaster.

Hence it is absolutely imperative that there be a major shift toward plant-based diets if we are to have even a chance to avoid the impending catastrophe. This is why Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and others are urging people to significantly reduce their consumption of meat.

Besides reducing global warming threats, a dietary shift away from animal products would have many other globally significant social and environmental benefits:

• Increased health and quality of life. There would be a major relief from chronic disease epidemics such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes, with a related decrease in medical expenditures, freeing public funds to meet environmental and other societal challenges.
• The prevention of future zoological diseases and infections such as swine flu, bird flu, MRSA, mad cow disease, blue tongue disease, E. coli.
• A significant relief to global chronic hunger which now afflicts over a billion people. Over 40 percent of the world’s grain is fed to farmed animals, and most vital nutrients are lost in the conversion.
• The reduction of many environmental threats. Raising over 60 billion animals annually worldwide is the major contributor to most, if not all, environmental problems. These include wholesale deforestation, soil erosion and depletion, ocean and fresh water pollution and other habitat poisoning, the rapid extinction of species, and many more environmental problems (outlined well in Livestock’s Long Shadow).
• Safeguarding future resources. The production of animal products wastes huge amounts of water, land, energy and other valuable resources.
• Peaceful prospects. Because of global climate change, there will be many more desperate hungry, thirsty, homeless people fleeing droughts, wildfires, storms, floods and disease, greatly increasing the potential for instability, violence, terrorism and war.

Taking the above factors into account, it is clear that the world’s people are at a perilous turning point. We can continue present diets and contribute to the mounting problems and approaching calamity. Or we can shift to nutritious plant-based diets, greatly increasing prospects for a more peaceful, healthy and sustainable future for the planet’s people.

You are in a position to help determine the fate of future generations. Please do all that you can to help the world make the dietary and other choices that can help avoid the impending cataclysm. For example, please consider recommending that governments stop subsidizing the production of animal products and begin subsidizing healthier, more environmentally-positive food production and consumption choices, as for instance the organic vegan diet.

Thank you for your consideration, and best wishes as you carry on with your important efforts toward a better, more environmentally sustainable world.
Very truly yours,

Richard Schwartz

Director, Veg Climate Alliance
Supporting groups include: (List in formation)
Veg Climate Alliance (Initiator of the Letter)
http://www.VegClimateAlliance.org
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
AgireOra Network - Italy
http://www.agireora.org
Anglican Society for the Welfare of Animals, UK

http://www.aswa.org.uk
Animal Place, USA
http://www.animalplace.org
Animal Protectors, USA
Animals Australia, Australia
http://www.AnimalsAustralia.org
http://www.SaveBabe.com
http://www.LiveExport-Indefensible.com
A Well-Fed World, USA
http://www.wellfedworld.org
Penny Bassett-Scarfe, reporter and TV interviewer, Australia
Bunny Huggers, UK
http://www.bunnyhuggers.org.uk
Campaign Against Animals in Research Experiments , UK
http://www.caare.org.uk
Catholic Concern for Animals-USA, USA
http://www.Catholic-animals.org
Christian Vegetarian Association, USA
http://www.all-creatures.org/cva
Centro Vegetariano, Portugal
http://www.centrovegetariano.org
Compassionate Action for Animals, USA

http://www.ExploreVeg.org
Compassion For Animals Day, Australia
http://www.CompassionForAnimalsDay.com
Concern for Helping Animals in Israel (CHAI), USA and Israel

http://www.chai-online.org
Dansk Vegetarforening (Danish Vegetarian Society), Denmark
http://www.vegetarforening.dk
Edinburgh the Fur-Free City, UK
http://www.edinburghfurfreecity.co.uk
European Vegetarian and Animal News Alliance (EVANA), Europe
http://www.evana.org
Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM), USA
http://www.farmusa.org
Global Meat FREE Petition, International
http://www.MeatFreePetition.com
God’s Creatures Ministry, USA
http://www.Godscreaturesministry.org
Jens Holm, former Member of the European Parliament 2006-2009, Sweden
http://www.jensholm.se/english
Humane HEART (Health, Education, & Abuse Resolution Taskforce), USA
IG Glücklich leben ohne Fleisch (Happy Life without Meat), Switzerland
http://www.legalbanofmeat.info
In Defence of Animals (IDA) USA
http://www.idausa.org
Interfaith Council for the Protection of Animals and Nature (ICPAN), USA

http://www.ICPANonline.org
Jewish Vegetarians of North America, USA

http://www.jewishveg.com
Jews for Animal Rights (JAR), USA
http://www.micahbooks.com
Helmut F. Kaplan, Ph.D., philosopher and animal rights author, Austria

Let’s Act Now, International
http://www.letsactnow.org
Meat Free Movement, International
http://www.MeatFreeMovement.org
Menschen für Tierrechte, Tierversuchsgegner Baden-Württemberg e.V. 
(Humans for Animal Rights, Registered Association of Opponents of Animal Testing 
Baden-Württemberg), Germany
Nutrition Ecology International Center (NEIC), International
http://www.nutritionecology.org
Charles Patterson, Ph.D., author of ETERNAL TREBLINKA (in 14 languages), USA
http://www.powerfulbook.com
Proanima, Romania
http://www.proanimasv.ro
http://www.proanima.wordpress.com
programa accion comunitaria por el medio ambiente
(Community Action Program for the Enivironment ), Dominican Republic
http://www.acxm.blogspot.com
Protectia si Drepturile Animalelor (Animal protection & rights), Romania
http://www.protectiaanimalelor.ro
Revolutionary Action Conservation Society For Helping Animals, India
John Robbins, USA
Author of many books, including “The Food Revolution”
http://www.Foodrevolution.org
San Francisco Vegetarian Society, USA
http://www.sfvs.org
Schweizerische Vereinigung für Vegetarismus (Swiss Union for
Vegetarianism), Switzerland
http://www.vegetarismus.ch
Dr Nandita Shah, India
http://www.sharan-india.org
Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians, USA

http://www.serv-online.org
SOS Klimawandel (SOS Climate Change), Austria
http://www.sos-klimawandel.info
Tierschutznews (Animal Protection News), Switzerland
http://www.tierschutznews.ch
Uncaged, UK
http://www.uncaged.co.uk
VEGAN 2050, USA
http://www.vegan2050.org

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4. Group Seeking Information on Animal-Friendly Synagogues

All-Creatures has a listing of vegan/vegetarian animal-friendly churches:

http://www.all-creatures.org/church/churchdir.html.

We’d like to start of list of synagogues that fit this category.
Any suggestions? Ideas? Thoughts? Links?

And if you know someone who would to work with us on this, let us know.

Thanks much,

Veda
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All-Creatures.org is committed to expanding an online listing of synagogues and temples where people who care about animals and are committed vegans or vegetarians will feel welcomed and not have to be confronted with “animal meals.” We would like to know about synagogues and temples where people can worship, knowing their commitments to compassionate living for the whole of creation are honored.

Thanks!

Veda

[Please let me know if you have any information about Veg-friendly synagogues, or would like to help Varda find some. Thanks.]

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5. Campaign Links Peace to the Foods People Eat and Climate Change

Campaign Links Peace to the Foods People Eat and Climate Change
United Nations International Day of Peace September 21st - Peace begins on our Plate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_BjptdM_Ss

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

United Nations Peace Day Events Link Peace to Vegetarianism and Climate Change
Santa Monica, California – September 15, 2009 – To mark the United Nations’ International Day of Peace on September 21st, individuals across the globe are highlighting the peaceful effect of eliminating or reducing meat from our diets.
A number of events promoting the idea that “Peace beings on our Plate” will be held in North American cities such as New York, Santa Monica, San Jose, San Francisco, Victoria, and Ottawa as well as in Costa Rica, Australia and China.

Each event is officially recognized as part of the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. The U.N. General Assembly has named September 21st as the permanent date for the celebration, where individuals create practical acts of peace.

“The compassionate consumer saves resources and recognizes that an organic vegan diet is a tremendously effective way to promote peace,” says Leron Rabinowiz, organizer of Peace begins on our Plate. Rabinowiz also recently founded an organization to coordinate and link global initiatives such as petitions[1] calling for government support of weekly Meat-Free days in order to reduce climate change.

A weekly meat free day is a simple yet effective way to reduce climate change that is recommended by Nobel Peace prize winner and Chair of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr. Rajendra Pachauri. Dr. Pachauri has said, “If you eat less meat you would be healthier and so would the planet … it would help the global community enormously because the entire meat cycle is very, very intensive in terms of carbon dioxide emissions.”

Rabinowiz says that both climate change and peace are linked to meat free days because a vegetarian diet uses less resources that are common causes of global conflict, particularly water and energy[2],[3]. A University of Chicago study found that switching from the average American diet to a vegan diet would save 50 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions than switching from the average American car to a hybrid Prius.[4]

“A simple act of Peace is choosing sustainable health for oneself and for our planet. By choosing organic foods, eating vegetarian, and buying from local farmers, you are… nourishing your body, conserving water and energy,reducing pollution and helping the local economy. Peace begins with your plate!” says Avon Mattison, President, and co-founder of Pathways to Peace.Pathways to Peace is the non-profit organization granted as an official UN Peace Messenger in 1987; it manages UN Peace Day www.PathwaysToPeace.org
For further information on the events, please visit:
http://meatfreemovement.org/peace-day

http://internationaldayofpeace.org/participate/events_calendar.html

News contact:
Leron Rabinowiz

1.818.921.4845
P.O. Box 8398
Van Nuys, CA 91409
www.MeatFreeMovement.org
Sources and additional information:
[1] www.MeatFreePetition.com
[2] Steinfeld et al. (2006) Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options. Rome: UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
[3] McMichael, A., Powles, J., Butler, C., Uauy, R. (2007): Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health. The Lancet. Sept. 13, 2007
[4] Eschel, G., Martin, P.A. (2005) Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.: Diet, Energy, and Global Warming, scientific journal article in: Earth Interactions, Volume 10 (2006). http://www.vegetarisme.be/download/interndocs/milieu/klimaat/diet%20energy%20and%20global%20warming%20-%20martin%20eshel%20%20-%202005.pdf
Be veg! Go green! Save the planet!
www.suprememastertv.com

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6. JVNA Advisor Links Rosh Hashana to Compassion to Animals

Thanks to JVNA advisor Patti Breitman for giving this talk and for giving us permission for including it in this newsletter.

Shana Tova, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today about my own history with guilt, forgiveness and new beginnings.

Last night when we got to page 31 in our machzor, we read in unison, “Help us stand in awe of all Your creatures.” I realized it was the perfect title for what I wrote to share today.

Help us stand in awe of all Your creatures.

As a child I learned to say thanks for the God who brings forth bread from the earth and fruit from the vine. And last night, with Rabbi Dan’s help, we said thanks for the God who brings us apples.

I don’t pray when I wake up, when I lie down, when I sittest in my house or when I walkest by the way. But I do pray – most of the time – before and after most meals.
One thing I love about Judaism is that we are encouraged to say thank you after we eat because it’s easy to remember to be thankful when we are hungry, but it’s more of a challenge to remember our gratitude after we have sated our appetites.

So before most meals and after as many as I can remember to do it, I express my gratitude to the earth as the source of all my food, and to the people who helped get that food from the earth to my table. And this year, because I planted my first every garden, I included thanks to the experience gardeners and friends whose advice, support and compost helped me plant and tend the garden successfully. There were so many Shehekianus as we harvested our first radishes, beans, lettuce, arugula, and now, finally, painstakingly slowly, our tomatoes.

Despite years of Hebrew School, summer camp is where I learned the most about Jewish values. What stands out in my memory is how simple it seemed to live in accordance with God’s requirements for us:

Do Justly
Love Mercy
Walk humbly with God.

When I was a very young girl my family visited a farm in NJ called Pop Freeze. One afternoon I played with a chicken for an hour or more. We ran alongside one another and I watched the bird, chased the bird, and was delighted with her company.

That night I was told at dinner that the chicken we were eating was the bird I had been playing with that afternoon. I cried and cried and refused to take another bite of the chicken.

While I didn’t have words then to describe my feelings, I now know that I was feeling mad, sad and betrayed. How could the people who loved me not care about my friendship with that bird? How could my own family do this to me?

Many years later I got to know cows, lambs, turkeys and pigs, I remembered those early feelings of betrayal. I imagined what this kind of betrayal might feel like from the animals’ point of view.

It is so moving when I see parents encouraging children to visit petting zoos and to gently stroke the baby cow or rub the bellies of the piglets. But I am saddened to know that some of those families will be serving cow for dinner that night, but they will call the meat hamburger. And some will be serving pigs, but they will call the meal ribs or bacon, not Wilbur or Babe. So many betrayals. I do not want to be part of the systemic betrayal of people or animals.

When I became a vegetarian, it was in part because I felt that eating animals did not feel just or loving or merciful. I much prefer to eat food that I can harvest myself without cringing and without taking the life of an animal.

Living as a vegetarian was a new beginning for me. It has opened my heart and provided a n avenue for me to practice justice and mercy.

When I first stopped eating animals I felt guilty for all the times I had been oblivious to their lives and deaths. But I learned that I could assuage that guilt by taking action on behalf of the animals who are still bred, confined and killed for food. And I learned to forgive my loving parents whose early betrayal at Pop Freeze farm came from wanting me to eat what they had learned to eat and what society back then believed was the best food possible.

Now I speak up for the birds, pigs, cows, lambs, ducks and other animals who cannot speak up for themselves. I think of every meal as practice in justice and mercy and nonviolence.

In a world so filled with violence about which I can do so little, with my food choices I can take a stand against violence, practice peace on my plate, and help to reduce some of the violence toward animals.

Judaism places a very high value on health and life. So much so that people who are sick are not allowed to fast on Yom Kippur. As a vegetarian, I like to honor that reverence for life and health by choosing what science now tells us is one of the most health promoting diets there is: whole natural foods including vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes. And I am grateful also for the Jewish Vegetarian Society of North America (JewishVeg.com) that is supporting me in learning how a vegetarian diet is in accordance with and a good ambassador for Jewish values.

On Rosh Ha Shana and on Yom Kippur I feel the most connected with my Jewish heritage. And at every meal I feel the most connected with my Jewish values. May the new year be a sweet and healthy one for you and everyone you love.

Shana Tova.

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7. Great Video re 3 People going Vegan and All the Reasons For Such a Change

http://www.kindgreenplanet.org/programs/glasswalls/

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8. Farm Sanctuary Event Considers Legal Issues re Animals

Forwarded message:

Dear Richard,

For 23 years, Farm Sanctuary has been leading the charge to expose factory farming cruelty and increase legal protections for farm animals. On the local level, we have worked with prosecutors to punish those who neglect and abuse the animals in their care. On the state level, we have passed landmark ballot initiatives and legislation banning some of the worst factory farming practices, most notably with our victory in California last year with Proposition 2. On the federal level, we have called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to stop the slaughter of downed animals and have seen recent success with President Barack Obama closing a loophole that allowed downed cattle to be sold for slaughter. As our movement gains momentum, Farm Sanctuary is continually finding new opportunities to use the law to help farm animals. 



Find out how you can get involved in efforts like these by joining us on October 14 for “Farm Animals and the Law,” a panel discussion with three of the nation’s leading experts on farm animals and the law at the New York University School of Law. Farm Sanctuary’s Director of Legal Campaigns Delcianna Winders and attorneys Mariann Sullivan and David Wolfson will discuss the legal status of farm animals today, legal efforts currently underway to help farm animals, and how we can all use the law to pursue more protections for farm animals. More details can be found below:

Farm Sanctuary Presents “Farm Animals and the Law ”
Wednesday, October 14; 6 to 9 p.m.

New York University School of Law
Furman Hall, Room 216
245 Sullivan St. 
(Between Washington Square Park South and West 3rd Street)
New York, New York

Refreshments will be served.
 Please bring a photo ID to enter the building.

The event is being hosted by the New York University Student Animal Legal Defense Fund as part of the New York Week for the Animals.

I look forward to seeing you at this exciting event as we work together to build a more compassionate world for all.

Sincerely,


David Benzaquen

New York Advocacy Organizer
Farm Sanctuary


P.S. If you’re receiving this alert and haven’t yet signed up for our Advocacy Campaign Team, please join your fellow New York advocates and sign up today!

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9. UN Plans Shock therapy To Awaken Leaders to Climate Threats

UN plans 'shock therapy' for world leaders on environment
Pared-down summit will force heads of rich states to listen to those of third world in hope of kickstarting radical action
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
The Observer, Sunday 20 September 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/20/united-nations-summit-climate-change

The United Nations is planning a form of diplomatic shock therapy for world leaders this week in the hope of injecting badly needed urgency into negotiations for a climate change treaty that, it is now widely acknowledged, are dangerously adrift.
UN chief Ban Ki-Moon and negotiators say that unless they can convert world leaders into committed advocates of radical action, it will be very hard to reach a credible and enforceable agreement to avoid the most devastating consequences of climate change.

As the digital counter ticking off the hours to the Copenhagen summit – which had been supposed to seal the deal on climate change – hit 77 days today, progress at the UN summit in New York is seen as vital. Nearly 100 heads of state and government are to attend the summit, for which a pared-down format has been devised.

"We need these leaders to go outside their usual comfort zones," said one diplomat. "Our sense is that leaders have got a little too cosy and comfortable. They really have to hear from countries that are vulnerable and suffering."

Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won the Nobel peace prize with Al Gore, agreed. Commenting on the leaders attending the G20 summit in Pittsburgh next week, he said: "We n eed to remind these people about impacts of climate change – the fact that they are inequitable and fall very heavily on some of the poorest people in the world. We are likely to see a large number of failed states if we don't act in time."

The heads of state attending the UN summit are to be stripped of their entourages. Each will be allowed just one aide, generally their country's environment minister, in the sessions.

Instead of set-piece speeches, leaders will be paired off to chair discussion groups. Britain will be with Guyana, Tuvalu with the Netherlands, and Mongolia with the European commission.

The leaders will also lunch with environmental activists and chief executives of corporations who have been pressing their governments for action. At dinner, the leaders of the biggest polluting countries will dine with the leaders of Banglade sh, Kiribati and Costa Rica – which are among the primary victims of climate change.

By the end of the day, the rationale goes, the leaders will be imbued with a new sense of purpose. Leaders of rich countries will have been galvanised to take on the big emissions cuts – 25-40% over the next decade, 80% by 2050 – needed to keep temperatures from rising more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels, the temperature set by science to avoid the most calamitous effects of climate change.

The leaders will also, it is hoped, have some understanding of the threat to poorer countries. And, at the very least, they will have more of a common purpose in tackling the problem. "We need to gather together. We don't want to blame or point fingers at each other," said Yaqoub al-Sanada, counsellor at the Kuwaiti mission to the UN. Kuwait – one of the biggest producers of oil – will co-chair a discussion session with Finland.

The UN is hoping for help from Barack Obama. The US president will speak at the session, and there is anticipation he will deliver a strong signal that America is committed to action. There is growing anxiety for those kinds of reassurances, especially as opposition to Obama's green agenda grows in Congress. "The first question I get any time I meet with anybody is, 'Where's the legislation? How's it going?'," Todd Stern, the State Department's climate change envoy, said. There are also reports that China's president, Hu Jintao, in his first appearance at the UN, will announce new commitments to curb pollution – the kind of signal that will be crucial to boost negotiations in the days leading up to Copenhagen.

"We can get a successful outcome from Copenhagen. It is achievable, but at the moment it's in the balance," said John Ashton, Britain's climate change envoy. "We need to close the gaps."

Those gaps grew over the summer. There is what Ashton calle d the "ambition gap" – the failure of leaders of the big polluting countries to sign on to the deep emissions cuts needed. Then there is the "finance gap" – the failure of industrialised states to come up with a package on how to compensate poor countries that will suffer the most devastating consequences.

Britain came forward last June with an estimate of £61bn a year by 2020. Negotiators are frustrated that major industrialised states have not set clear figures on how much they are willing to commit, or how they will provide the funding.

Some climate change experts and negotiators have already begun planning a fallback position should the December Copenhagen summit fail to produce a strong enough agreement.

In Washington, Obama administration officials now talk openly about negotiating beyond Copenhagen. "Let's not make that one parti cular time the be-all and end-all, and say that if it doesn't happen we are doomed," Steven Chu, the energy secretary, told reporters.

Thinktanks are already starting to work on what is being called "Plan B" – scenarios for how the world could come up with an action plan before it is too late. But some are not holding their breath.

"It seems to me that Copenhagen is not the end of this," said Tim Wirth, the president of the UN Foundation, and the man who, in the 1980s, helped to write the first cap-and-trade plan for acid rain. He added: "We are going to have Copenhagens for the rest of our lives."

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10. Follow-Up Re Kapparot

Thanks to JVNA advisor and activist Rina Deych for her long-time dedicated efforts to reduce abuses of chickens during Kapparot, and for sending the report below. As indicated above, I have 2 articles about kapparot, both at JewishVeg.com/Schwartz, one in the section on animals and one in the section about Jewish festivals.

[While JVNA strongly urges that Jews who perform the kapparot ritual use money instead of chickens, we do not necessarily endorse all the characterizations of kapparot in the following message.]
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Dear Friends,
I did a little one-woman demo outside some places where they are doing Kapparot.
In case you are not familiar with them, here are two articles on the subject, one by me and one by Richard Schwartz:

http://rrrina.com/kaporot.htm

The raw footage is on my YouTube page (I didn't get any of them killing the birds, because, in each case I got kicked out before I had a chance ... one slaughterer stopped himself right before he made impact): http://www.youtube.com/user/rrrina
Through the years, I've done one-person demos outside these places.

My grandfather, a kosher butcher (who, in his final year of life was so revolted by what he witnessed when he had occasion to visit a slaughterhouse that he gave up his business and went vegetarian), was opposed to Kapparot. He was known throughout the neighborhood as a Tzadik (righteous man), who rescued abandoned cats, dogs, and even injured birds, gave free food away to the poor, and allowed homeless people to sleep in his store. Growing up, I remember a series of "borders," as he called them, homeless people whom he would allow to stay in a room on the top floor of his home, until he was able to help find them jobs so they could afford to live in an SRO (single room occupancy).

My grandfather denounced the practice of Kapparot as cruel, unnecessary, and, in fact, un-Jewish. He said that it was not in the Torah or the Talmud, and that for those who felt the need to do the ritual, it could be done with an inanimate object (money).

Kapparot takes place during the week between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Being around the places where they do this obscene sacrifice is bone-chilling. The stench of fear and blood permeates the entire neighborhood. The birds are left, packed tightly in crates, with no food and no water for the entire week.

The "unused" birds are often left in the crates in the heat and cold, starving amid the excrement, until they can be picked up. Some, in desperation, pluck each others' eyes out.

About a year ago, some Orthodox rabbis had a meeting about the practice. It was decided that there needs to be closer monitoring and regulation of Kapparot. Until last year, I used to see some of the slaughterers throw the birds into garbage bags (contradicting their claim that the meat is donated to the poor). This year, while I didn't get to film it, I found one place actually taking the dead birds, plucking them, and preparing them for donation... certainly not ideal, but an improvement over discarding them. Still this is a heinous practice that needs to be abolished.
Yesterday, I called the ASPCA to report that the animals had no food or water and were packed tightly in crates (stacked on top of each other), left in the hot sun.
Please call and complain... they WILL come. The more people who call, the more seriously they will take the complaints.

The ASPCA cruelty division number is: 212-876-7700, ext. 4450.

So far, I found three places where it is being done in Boro Park, Brooklyn:
- 43rd Street, between 13th and 14th Ave., closer to 13th, next to a synagogue.
-2050th Street, bet 13th and 14th Ave, closer to 14th, outside a school.
- corner of 49th Street and 14th Ave, next to the YM-YWHA.
Please call and complain that these animals have no food and water.
Thanks so much!!!

Rina

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11. Animal Sanctuary Schedules Talks Relating ‘Livestock’ Agriculture to Climate Change

Forwarded message from Animals Sanctuary:
[While this event is scheduled on the Jewish Sabbath, I am
including it here as an example of how to spread the message about dietary connections to global warming.]

To view this alert as a Web page, please use this link: http://action.farmsanctuary.org/site/MessageViewer


To share this message, please click here:
http://action.farmsanctuary.org/site/TellAFriend


Dear Richard,

On Friday, Septemb er 25, join me, Mia MacDonald (executive director of Brighter Green and Farm Sanctuary board member) and Marisa Miller Wolfson (outreach director of Kind Green Planet) for a presentation on the links between food, agriculture and global warming. As part of Climate Week, which is being held in NYC in conjunction with the UN General Assembly and special session on climate change, this workshop will address the contribution of meat and dairy production to rising greenhouse gas emissions, and the steps we need to take to reduce our “foodprint” and sustain our planet. This workshop is also being sponsored by New York University’s student group Earth Matters. 


Food and Climate Change: The Meat of the Matter


NYU Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South,
Room 804

Friday, September 25, 2009;
7 - 8:30 p.m.


Free
E-mail Mollie
http://www.kindgreenplanet.org/programs/presentations/general/workshopnscreenings_details.php?id=80

Also, read on for more information about the connections between the environment and farm animal agriculture, and take action on the NYC Foodprint Campaign!

Hope to see you on September 25

Warmly,



Jasmin Singer

National Advocacy
Organizer
Farm Sanctuary
http://www.kindgreenplanet.org/programs/presentations/general/workshopnscreenings_details.php?id=80

P.S. If you’re not yet a member of Farm Sanctuary’s Advocacy Campaign Team, please join your fellow New York advocate s and sign up today! It’s a great way to stay on top of our local outreach opportunities and NYC happenings.

Farm Sanctuary, PO Box 150, Watkins Glen, NY 14891

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12. Lantern Books Celebrating Tenth Anniversary

Forwarded message from Lantern Books:

[Full disclosure: Lantern is the publisher of my books “Judaism and Vegetarianism” and “Judaism and Global Survival” and many more books on vegetarianism, animal rights, environmentalism, spirituality and related issues. They are a very valuable asset to our movement. I wish them much continued success.]

Lantern is 10 Years Old!

We made it through the terrible twos, past the seven year itch, and this fall, Lantern Books will celebrate a full decade in the publishing business.

In those ten years, the "baby" of Gene Gollogly and Martin Rowe has employed, published, used the services of, provided services for, and sold to untold numbers of people, all who've helped step their vision of a more peaceful and sustainable planet forward.

We'll be celebrating our anniversary and launching an exciting, new book on Thursday, October 8th, 6:30 to 9 p.m., at Jivamukti Yoga, near Union Square in Manhattan.

PLEASE JOIN US while we toast our successes, launch this beautiful new book, and look forward to our next years in the publishing business.

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13. Article Challenges Non-Vegetarians on Diets

Thanks to JVNA Secretary/treasurer to forwarding this link to an important article, well worth reading.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-solomon/who-you-callin-vegangelic_b_290582.html?view=print

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14. New Website Has Powerful Material Advocating Vegetarianism as Solution to Global Warming

http://www.planetdiet.org/

I strongly recommend taking a look at some of this material, especially the VERY powerful powerpoint presentation, which is the best presentation of the arguments for a shift to veg diets being essential to avoid a pending climate catastrophe that I have seen. The=2 0material at this web site has the potential to really get vegetarianism onto society’s agenda, so please help spread the word about it.

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15. First New York City VegFest Scheduled

Forwarded message:

I am writing to inform you about the 1st edition of NYC VegFest taking place on Sunday, October 11, 2009 in Tompkins Square Park from 12-6 pm. There will be special guest speakers, yoga, meditation, vegan fashion show, and entertainment.
[This event occurs on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, but I am including it here as an example of what is happening and as a model for people to plan similar events.]

The 1st edition of NYC VegFest is an outdoor festival-come rain or shine from noon to 6pm, we will celebrate Vegetarianism and it is free to the public. There are so many reasons to choose a vegetarian diet: for health, the planet, and our precious animals. The NYC VegFest has something for everyone to enjoy, so please come w/your friends & family.

Peas & blessings,

Natalie P.
Event on Sunday, October 11, 2009
http://vegfest.webs.com
http://twitter.com/nycvegfest

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