02/07/2011 JVNA Online Newsletter
Shalom everyone,
This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:
1. My Four Articles Being Considered For Publication/Suggestions VERY Welcome
1a. A Dialogue Between a Jewish Vegan Activist and a Rabbi
1b. Eighteen Myths About Vegetarianism
1c. Protein and Calcium Myths
1d. Health Studies That Could Shake the World
2. Events at the Israeli Jewish Vegetarian Society Center
3. Producer of Jewish Environmental Documentary Seeking Support
4. Oprah Show Airs One Week Vegan Challenge
5. Significant NY Times Op-Ed Article on a Future Food Strategy
6. Proposed Jewish Vegan Cookbook Seeks Recipes and Financial Support
7. World Faces Increasing Climate Crisis
8. World Food Crisis related to Climate Change
9. World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week (April 16th- 24th, 2011 ) 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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1. My Four Articles Being Considered For Publication/Suggestions VERY Welcome
1a. A Dialogue Between a Jewish Vegan Activist and a Rabbi
Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.
For a long time, I have been trying to start a respectful dialogue in the Jewish community. Because I have had very little success, I am presenting the fictional dialogue below. I hope that many readers will use it as the basis of similar dialogues with local rabbis, educators, and community leaders.
Jewish Vegan Activist: Shalom rabbi.
Rabbi: Shalom. Good to see you.
JVA: Rabbi, I have been meaning to speak to you for some time about an issue, but I have hesitated because I know how busy you are, but I think this issue is very important.
Rabbi: Well, that sounds interesting. I am never too busy to consider important issues. What do you have in mind?
JVA: I have been reading a lot recently about the impacts of our diets on our health and the environment and about Jewish teachings related to our diets. I wonder if I can discuss the issues with you and perhaps it can be put on the synagogue's agenda for further consideration.
Rabbi: I would be happy to discuss this with you. But, I hope that you are aware that Judaism does permit the eating of meat. Some scholars feel that it is obligatory to eat meat on Shabbat and holidays.
JVA: Yes, I recognize that Judaism permits people to eat meat. Jewish vegans do not argue that Jews must be vegetarians. We recognize that people have a choice, but we feel that this choice should consider basic Jewish teachings and how animal-based diets and modern intensive livestock agriculture impinge on these teachings. For example, we should recognize the current and increasing tension between the permission to consume animals for human benefit and the extremely cruel treatment they now receive in preparation for such consumption on factory farms, which have become more prevalent in response to population increase and efficiency and cost concerns. With regard to eating meat on Shabbat and holidays, according to the Talmud (T. B. Pesachim 109a), since the destruction of the Temple, Jews are not required to eat meat in order to rejoice on sacred occasions. This view is reinforced in the works Reshit Chochmah and Kerem Shlomo and Rabbi Chizkiah Medini's Sdei Chemed, which cites many classical sources on the subject. Several Israeli chief rabbis, including Shlomo Goren, late Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel, and Shear Yashuv Cohen, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Haifa, have been or are vegetarians. Also, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom is a vegetarian, as is Rabbi David Rosen, former Chief Rabbi of Ireland.
Rabbi: we also should recognize that there is much in the Torah and the Talmud about which animals are kosher and about the proper way to slaughter animals. So eating meat is certainly not foreign to Judaism.
VJA: Yes, that is certainly true. But, there is also much in the Torah and our other sacred writings that point to vegetarianism as the ideal Jewish diet. For example, as the Torah verse below indicates, God's initial intention was that people be vegans.
And God said: "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that has seed-yielding fruit -- to you it shall be for food." Genesis 1:29
The foremost Jewish Torah commentator, Rashi, states the following about God's first dietary plan: "God did not permit Adam and his wife to kill a creature to eat its flesh. Only every green herb were they to all eat together." Most Torah commentators, including Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, Maimonides, Nachmanides, and Rabbi Joseph Albo, agree with Rashi.
In addition, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook, first Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel and a major Jewish 20th century writer and philosopher, believed that the messianic period would also be vegan. He based this on Isaiah's powerful prophecy that "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, … the lion shall eat straw like the ox.... and no one shall hurt nor destroy in all of God's holy mountain... (Isaiah 11:6-9). Hence the two idea times in Jewish thought - the Garden of Eden and the messianic period - are vegan.
Rabbi: I have to tell you one thing that concerns me. Jews historically have had many problems with some animal rights groups, which have often opposed shechita (ritual slaughter) and advocated its abolishment. Some have even made outrageous comparisons between the Holocaust and the slaughter of animals for food.
JVA: Jews should consider switching to veganism not because of the views of animal rights groups, whether they are hostile to Judaism or not, but because it is the diet most consistent with Jewish teachings. It is the Torah, not animal rights groups, which is the basis for observing how far current animal treatment has strayed from fundamental Jewish values. As Samson Raphael Hirsch stated: "Here you are faced with God's teaching, which obliges you not only to refrain from inflicting unnecessary pain on any animal, but to help and, when you can, to lessen the pain whenever you see an animal suffering, even through no fault of yours."
Rabbi: Another concern is with two teachings in Genesis: The Torah teaches that humans are granted dominion over animals (Genesis 1:26) and that only people are created in the Divine Image (Genesis 1:26, 5:1). I fear that vegans are promoting a philosophy inconsistent with these Torah teachings, hence potentially reducing the sacredness of human life and the dignity of human beings.
JVA: I think that if we explain how Judaism interprets these important verses, we can go a long way to reduce this potential problem. As you know, Jewish tradition interprets "dominion" as guardianship, or stewardship: we are called upon to be co-workers with God in improving the world. Dominion does not mean that people have the right to wantonly exploit animals, and it certainly does not permit us to breed animals and treat them as machines designed solely to meet human needs. This view is reinforced by the fact that immediately after God gave humankind dominion over animals, He prescribed vegan foods as the diet for humans (Genesis 1:29). While the Torah states that only human beings are created "in the Divine Image," animals are also God's creatures, possessing sensitivity and the capacity for feeling pain. God is concerned that they are protected and treated with compassion and justice. In fact, the Jewish sages state that to be "created in the Divine Image," means that people have the capacity to emulate the Divine compassion for all creatures. "As God is compassionate," they teach, "so you should be compassionate."
Rabbi: Yes, these are good points, but some vegans elevate animals to a level equal to or greater than that of people. This is certainly inconsistent with Judaism.
JVA: Vegans concern for animals and their refusal to treat them cruelly does not mean that they regard animals as being equal to people. There are many reasons for being vegan other than consideration for animals, including concerns about human health, ecological threats, and the plight of hungry people. Because humans are capable of imagination, rationality, empathy, compassion, and moral choice, we should strive to end the unbelievably cruel conditions under which farm animals are currently raised. This is an issue of sensitivity, not an assertion of equality with the animal kingdom.
Rabbi: Another issue to be considered is that, with all the problems facing humanity today, can we devote much time to consider animals and which diets we should have?
JVA: Vegan diets are not beneficial only to animals. They improve human health, help conserve food and other resources, and put less strain on endangered ecosystems. In view of the many threats caused or worsened by today's intensive livestock agriculture (such as deforestation, global climate change, and rapid species extinction), working to promote vegetarianism may be the most important action that one can take for global sustainability. In addition, a switch toward vegnism would reduce the epidemic of heart disease, various types of cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases that have been strongly linked to the consumption of animal products.
Rabbi: Perhaps I am playing the devil's advocate here, but by putting vegan values ahead of Jewish teachings, aren't vegans, in effect, creating a new religion with values contrary to Jewish teachings.
JVA: Jewish vegans are not placing so-called vegan values' above Torah principles but are challenging the Jewish community to apply Judaism's splendid teachings at every level of our daily lives. Vegans argue that Jewish teachings about treating animals with compassion, guarding our health, sharing with hungry people, protecting the environment, conserving natural resources, and seeking peace, are all best applied through vegan diets.
Rabbi: What about the Torah teachings about animal sacrifices and that Jews have to eat korban Pesach (the Passover sacrifice) and parts of other animal sacrifices?
JVA: The great Jewish philosopher Maimonides believed that God permitted sacrifices as a concession to the common mode of worship in Biblical times. It was felt that had Moses not instituted the sacrifices, his mission would have failed and Judaism might have disappeared. The Jewish philosopher Abarbanel reinforced Maimonides' position by citing a midrash (rabbinic teaching) that indicates God tolerated the sacrifices because the Israelites had become accustomed to sacrifices in Egypt, but that He commanded they be offered only in one central sanctuary in order to wean the Jews from idolatrous practices. Rav Kook and others believed that in the Messianic period, human conduct will have improved to such a degree that animal sacrifices will not be necessary to atone for sins. There will only be non-animal sacrifices to express thanks to God.
Rabbi: You have correctly pointed out that Jews must treat animals with compassion. However, the restrictions of shechita minimize the pain to animals in the slaughtering process, and thus fulfill Jewish laws on proper treatment of animals.
JVA: Yes, but can we ignore the cruel treatment of animals on "factory farms" in the many months prior to slaughter. Can we ignore the force-feeding of huge amounts of grain to ducks and geese to produce foie gras, the removal of calves from their mothers shortly after birth to raise them for veal, the killing of over 250 million male chicks immediately after birth at egg-laying hatcheries in the U.S. annually, the placing of hens in cages so small that they can't raise even one wing, and the many other horrors of modern factory farming?
Rabbi: As a rabbi, I feel that I must point out that if Jews do not eat meat, they will be deprived of the opportunity to fulfill many mitzvot (commandments).
JVA: By not eating meat, Jews are actually fulfilling many mitzvot: showing compassion to animals, protecting health, conserving resources, helping to feed the hungry, and preserving the earth. And by abstaining from meat, Jews reduce the chance of accidentally violating several prohibitions of the Torah, such as mixing meat and milk, eating non-kosher animals, and eating forbidden fats or blood. There are other cases where Torah laws regulate things that God would prefer people not do at all. For example, God wishes people to live in peace, but he provides commandments relating to war, knowing that human beings will quarrel and seek victories over others. Similarly, the Torah laws that restrict taking female captives in wartime are a concession to human weakness. Indeed, the sages go to great lengths to deter people from taking advantage of such dispensations.
Rabbi: Judaism teaches that it is wrong not to take advantage of the pleasurable things that God has put on the earth. Since He put animals on the earth, and it is pleasurable to eat them, is it not wrong to refrain from eating meat?
JVA: Can eating meat be pleasurable to a sensitive person when he or she knows that, as a result, their health is endangered, grain is wasted, the environment is damaged, and animals are being cruelly treated? One can indulge in pleasure without doing harm to living creatures. There are many other cases in Judaism where actions that people may consider pleasurable are forbidden or discouraged - such as the use of tobacco, drinking liquor to excess, having sexual relations out of wedlock, and hunting.
Rabbi: As you know the laws of kashrut (dietary laws) are very important in Judaism. But, a movement by Jews toward veganism would lead to less emphasis on kashrut, and eventually possibly a disregard of these laws.
JVA: I believe that there would be just the opposite effect. In many ways, becoming a vegan makes it easier and less expensive to observe the laws of kashrut. This might attract many new adherents to keeping kosher, and eventually to other important Jewish practices. As a vegan, one need not be concerned with mixing milchigs (dairy products) with fleichigs (meat products), waiting three or six hours after eating meat before being allowed to eat dairy products, storing four complete sets of dishes (two for regular use and two for Passover use), extra silverware, pots, pans, etc., and many other considerations incumbent upon the non-vegetarian who wishes to observe kashrut.
Rabbi: I must express a concern for the livelihood of some of my congregants and other Jews. If everyone became vegan, butchers, shochtim (slaughterers), and others dependent for a living on the consumption of meat would lack work.
JVA: There could be a shift from the production of animal products to that of nutritious vegetarian dishes. In England during World War II, when there was a shortage of meat, butchers relied mainly on the sale of fruits and vegetables. Today, new businesses could sell tofu, miso, felafel, soy burgers, and vegetarian cholent (Sabbath hot dish). Besides, the shift toward veganism will be gradual, providing time for a transition to other jobs. The same kind of question can be asked about other moral issues. What would happen to arms merchants if we had universal peace? What would happen to some doctors and nurses if people took better care of themselves, stopped smoking, improved their diets, and so on? Immoral or inefficient practices should not be supported because some people earn a living in the process.
Rabbi: If veganism solves some problems, doesn't it create others. For example, if everyone became vegan, wouldn't animals overrun the earth?
JVA: Respectfully, this concern is based on an insufficient understanding of animal behavior. For example, there are millions of turkeys around at Thanksgiving not because they want to help celebrate the holiday, but because farmers breed them for the dinner table. Dairy cows are artificially inseminated annually so that they will constantly produce milk. Before the establishment of modern intensive livestock agriculture, food supply and demand kept animal populations relatively steady. An end to the manipulation of animals' reproductive tendencies to suit our needs would lead to a decrease, rather than an increase, in the number of animals. We are not overrun by animals that we do not eat, such as lions, elephants, and crocodiles.
Rabbi: Instead of advocating veganism, shouldn't we alleviate the evils of factory farming so that animals are treated better, less grain is wasted, and less health-harming chemicals are used.
JVA: The breeding of animals is "big business". Animals are raised the way they are today because it is very profitable. Improving conditions, as suggested by this assertion, would certainly be a step in the right direction, but it has been strongly resisted by the meat industry since it would greatly increase already high prices. Why not abstain from eating meat as a protest against present policies while trying to improve them? Even under the best of conditions, why take the life of a creature of God, "whose tender mercies are over all His creatures" (Psalms 145:9), when it is not necessary for proper nutrition?
Rabbi: If vegan diets were best for health, wouldn't doctors recommend them?
JVA: Unfortunately, while doctors are devoted to the well-being of their patients, many lack information about the basic relationship between food and health, because nutrition is not sufficiently taught at most medical schools. Also, many patients are resistant to making dietary changes. The accepted approach today seems to be to prescribe medications first and, perhaps, recommend a diet change as an afterthought. However, there now seems to be increasing awareness on the part of doctors about the importance of proper nutrition, but the financial power of the beef and dairy lobbies and other groups who gain from the status quo prevents rapid changes. Experts on nutrition, including the American and Canadian dietetic associations stress the many health benefits of plant-centered diets.
Rabbi: some of my congregants would respond: I enjoy eating meat. Why should I give it up?
JVA: If one is solely motivated by what will bring pleasure, perhaps no answer to this question would be acceptable. But, as you well know, Judaism wishes us to be motivated by far more: doing mitzvot, performing good deeds and acts of charity, sanctifying ourselves in the realm of the permissible, helping to feed the hungry, pursuing justice and peace, etc. Even if one is primarily motivated by considerations of pleasure and convenience, the negative health effects of animal-centered diets should be taken into account. One cannot enjoy life when one is not in good health.
Rabbi: Well, I am sure that there are other questions that should be addressed. But I think that you have made the case for at least having a broad discussion of the Jewish and universal issues related to our diets. Why don't you form a committee with members of different viewpoints and set up a forum at which all of the issues related to our diets can be discussed.
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1b. Eighteen Myths About Vegetarianism
Richard H. Schwartz
1) The Torah teaches that humans are granted dominion over animals (Genesis 1:26), giving us a warrant to treat animals in any way we wish.
Response: Jewish tradition interprets "dominion" as guardianship, or stewardship: we are called upon to be co-workers with God in improving the world. Dominion does not mean that people have the right to wantonly exploit animals, and it certainly does not permit us to breed animals and treat them as machines designed solely to meet human needs. In "A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace," Rav Kook states: "There can be no doubt in the mind of any intelligent person that [the Divine empowerment of humanity to derive benefit from nature] does not mean the domination of a harsh ruler, who afflicts his people and servants merely to satisfy his whim and desire, according to the crookedness of his heart. It is unthinkable that the Divine Law would impose such a decree of servitude, sealed for all eternity, upon the world of God, Who is 'good to all, and His mercy is upon all His works' (Psalms 145:9)." This view is reinforced by the fact that immediately after God gave humankind dominion over animals (Genesis 1:26), He prescribed vegetarian foods as the diet for humans (Genesis 1:29).
2) The Torah teaches that only people are created in the Divine Image, meaning that God places far less value on animals.
Response: While the Torah states that only human beings are created "in the Divine Image" (Genesis 5:1), animals are also God's creatures, possessing sensitivity and the capacity for feeling pain. God is concerned that they are protected and treated with compassion and justice. In fact, the Jewish sages state that to be "created in the Divine Image," means that people have the capacity to emulate the Divine compassion for all creatures. "As God is compassionate," they teach, "so you should be compassionate."
3) Inconsistent with Judaism, vegetarians elevate animals to a level equal to or greater than that of people.
Response: Vegetarians' concern for animals and their refusal to treat animals cruelly does not mean that vegetarians regard animals as being equal to people. There are many reasons for being vegetarian other than consideration for animals, including concerns about human health, ecological threats, and the plight of hungry people. Because humans are capable of imagination, rationality, empathy, compassion, and moral choice, we should strive to end the unbelievably cruel conditions under which farm animals are currently raised. This is an issue of sensitivity, not an assertion of equality with the animal kingdom.
4) Vegetarianism places greater priority on animal rights than on the many problems related to human welfare.
Response: Vegetarian diets are not beneficial only to animals. They improve human health, help conserve food and other resources, and put less strain on endangered ecosystems. In view of the many threats related to today's livestock agriculture (such as deforestation and global climate change), working to promote vegetarianism may be the most important action that one can take for global sustainability.
5) By putting vegetarian values ahead of Jewish teachings, vegetarians are, in effect, creating a new religion with values contrary to Jewish teachings.
Response: Jewish vegetarians are not placing so-called "vegetarian values" above Torah principles but are challenging the Jewish community to apply Judaism's splendid teachings at every level of our daily lives. Vegetarians argue that Jewish teachings that we must treat animals with compassion, guard our health, share with hungry people, protect the environment, conserve resources, and seek peace, are all best applied through vegetarian diets.
6) Jews must eat meat on Shabbat and Yom Tov (Jewish holidays).
Response: According to the Talmud (T. B. Pesachim 109a), since the destruction of the Temple, Jews are not required to eat meat in order to rejoice on sacred occasions. This view is reinforced in the works Reshit Chochmah and Kerem Shlomo and Rabbi Chizkiah Medini's Sdei Chemed, which cites many classical sources on the subject. Several Israeli chief rabbis, including Shlomo Goren, late Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel, and Shear Yashuv Cohen, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Haifa, have been or are strict vegetarians.
7) The Torah mandated that Jews eat korban Pesach and other korbanot (sacrifices).
Response: The great Jewish philosopher Maimonides believed that God permitted sacrifices as a concession to the common mode of worship in Biblical times. It was felt that had Moses not instituted the sacrifices, his mission would have failed and Judaism might have disappeared. The Jewish philosopher Abarbanel reinforced Maimonides' position by citing a midrash (Rabbinic teaching) that indicates God tolerated the sacrifices because the Israelites had become accustomed to sacrifices in Egypt, but that He commanded they be offered only in one central sanctuary in order to wean the Jews from idolatrous practices.
8) Jews historically have had many problems with some animal rights groups, which have often opposed shechita (ritual slaughter) and advocated its abolishment.
Response: Jews should consider switching to vegetarianism not because of the views of animal rights groups, whether they are hostile to Judaism or not, but because it is the diet most consistent with Jewish teachings. It is the Torah, not animal rights groups, which is the basis for observing how far current animal treatment has strayed from fundamental Jewish values. As Samson Raphael Hirsch stated: "Here you are faced with God's teaching, which obliges you not only to refrain from inflicting unnecessary pain on any animal, but to help and, when you can, to lessen the pain whenever you see an animal suffering, even through no fault of yours."
9) The restrictions of shechita minimize the pain to animals in the slaughtering process, and thus fulfill Jewish laws on proper treatment of animals.
Response: This ignores the cruel treatment of animals on "factory farms" in the many months prior to slaughter. Can we ignore the force-feeding of huge amounts of grain to ducks and geese to produce foie gras, the removal of calves from their mothers shortly after birth to raise them for veal, the killing of over 250 million male chicks immediately after birth at egg-laying hatcheries in the U.S. annually, the placing of hens in cages so small that they can't raise even one wing, and the many other horrors of modern factory farming?
10) If Jews do not eat meat, they will be deprived of the opportunity to fulfill many mitzvot (commandments).
Response: By not eating meat, Jews are actually fulfilling many mitzvot: showing compassion to animals, preserving health, conserving resources, helping to feed the hungry, and preserving the earth. And by abstaining from meat, Jews reduce the chance of accidentally violating several prohibitions of the Torah, such as mixing meat and milk, eating non-kosher animals, and eating forbidden fats or blood. There are other cases where Torah laws regulate things that God would prefer people not do at all. For example, God wishes people to live in peace, but he provides commandments relating to war, knowing that human beings will quarrel and seek victories over others. Similarly, the Torah laws that restrict taking female captives in wartime are a concession to human weakness. Indeed, the sages go to great lengths to deter people from taking advantage of such dispensations.
11) Judaism teaches that it is wrong not to take advantage of the pleasurable things that God has put on the earth. Since He put animals on the earth, and it is pleasurable to eat them, is it not wrong to refrain from eating meat?
Response: Can eating meat be pleasurable to a sensitive person when he or she knows that, as a result, their health is endangered, grain is wasted, the environment is damaged, and animals are being cruelly treated? One can indulge in pleasure without doing harm to living creatures. There are many other cases in Judaism where actions that people may consider pleasurable are forbidden or discouraged - such as the use of tobacco, drinking liquor to excess, having sexual relations out of wedlock, and hunting.
12) A movement by Jews toward vegetarianism would lead to less emphasis on kashrut (dietary laws) and eventually a disregard of these laws.
Response: Quite the contrary. In many ways, becoming a vegetarian makes it easier and less expensive to observe the laws of kashrut. This might attract many new adherents to keeping kosher, and eventually to other important Jewish practices. As a vegetarian, one need not be concerned with mixing milchigs (dairy products) with fleichigs (meat products), waiting three or six hours after eating meat before being allowed to eat dairy products, storing four complete sets of dishes (two for regular use and two for Passover use), extra silverware, pots, pans, etc., and many other considerations incumbent upon the non-vegetarian who wishes to observe kashrut.
13) If everyone became vegetarian, butchers, shochtim (slaughterers), and others dependent for a living on the consumption of meat would lack work.
Response: There could be a shift from the production of animal products to that of nutritious vegetarian dishes. In England during World War II, when there was a shortage of meat, butchers relied mainly on the sale of fruits and vegetables. Today, new businesses could sell tofu, miso, felafel, soy burgers, and vegetarian cholent (Sabbath hot dish). Besides, the shift toward vegetarianism will be gradual, providing time for a transition to other jobs. The same kind of question can be asked about other moral issues. What would happen to arms merchants if we had universal peace? What would happen to some doctors and nurses if people took better care of themselves, stopped smoking, improved their diets, and so on? Immoral or inefficient practices should not be supported because some people earn a living in the process.
14) If everyone became vegetarian, animals would overrun the earth.
Response: This concern is based on an insufficient understanding of animal behavior. For example, there are millions of turkeys around at Thanksgiving not because they want to help celebrate the holiday, but because farmers breed them for the dinner table. Dairy cows are artificially inseminated annually so that they will constantly produce milk. Before the establishment of modern intensive livestock agriculture, food supply and demand kept animal populations relatively steady. An end to the manipulation of animals' reproductive tendencies to suit our needs would lead to a decrease, rather than an increase, in the number of animals. We are not overrun by animals that we do not eat, such as lions, elephants, and crocodiles.
15) Instead of advocating vegetarianism, we should alleviate the evils of factory farming so that animals are treated better, less grain is wasted, and less health-harming chemicals are used.
Response: The breeding of animals is "big business". Animals are raised the way they are today because it is very profitable. Improving conditions, as suggested by this assertion, would certainly be a step in the right direction, but it has been strongly resisted by the meat industry since it would greatly increase already high prices.Why not abstain from eating meat as a protest against present policies while trying to improve them? Even under the best of conditions, why take the life of a creature of God, "whose tender mercies are over all His creatures" (Psalms 145:9), when it is not necessary for proper nutrition?
16) One can work to improve conditions for animals without being a vegetarian.
Response: Certainly, animal abuse is a widespread problem and there are many ways to improve conditions for animals. However, one should keep in mind that factory farming is the primary source of animal abuse in this country. According to FARM (Farm Animal Reform Movement), "The number of warm-blooded animals brutalized and slaughtered each year is approximately 70 times the number of animals killed in laboratories, 30 times the number killed by hunters and trappers, and 500 times the number killed in pounds." They also reported that almost ten billion farm animals are killed annually to produce food. A typical meat-eating animal welfare advocate is personally responsible for the slaughter of twenty-two warm-blooded animals per year, 1,500 in an average lifetime.
17) If vegetarian diets were best for health, doctors would recommend them.
Response: Unfortunately, while doctors are devoted to the well-being of their patients, many lack information about the basic relationship between food and health, because nutrition is not sufficiently taught at most medical schools. Also, many patients are resistant to making dietary changes. The accepted approach today seems to be to prescribe medications first and, perhaps, recommend a diet change as an afterthought. However, there now seems to be increasing awareness on the part of doctors about the importance of proper nutrition, but the financial power of the beef and dairy lobbies and other groups who gain from the status quo prevents rapid changes.
18) I enjoy eating meat. Why should I give it up?
Response: If one is solely motivated by what will bring pleasure, perhaps no answer to this question would be acceptable. But Judaism wishes us to be motivated by far more: doing mitzvot, performing good deeds and acts of charity, sanctifying ourselves in the realm of the permissible, helping to feed the hungry, pursuing justice and peace, etc. Even if one is primarily motivated by considerations of pleasure and convenience, the negative health effects of animal-centered diets should be taken into account. One cannot enjoy life when one is not in good health.
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1c. Protein and Calcium Myths
People are increasingly concerned about adopting healthier diets. However, many are prevented from necessary changes because of myths about certain nutrients. For example, it is the common wisdom that one should eat ample amounts of meat in order to get adequate protein and large amounts of dairy products in order to get adequate calcium to avoid osteoporosis.
But, please consider the following: Countries with the highest consumption of dairy products, such as the United States, Sweden, and Finland, also have the greatest incidence of female osteoporosis. Eskimos, who consume the highest amounts of calcium of any of the world's people, have the highest number of cases of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis occurs relatively infrequently in China, even though they consume very little milk or other dairy products.
The reason is that people on meat- and dairy- based diets are getting far too much protein, generally 2 to 3 times the amount required, and when the excess protein is excreted, calcium and other minerals are drained from the body. A recent study showed that people getting 1400 milligrams per day of calcium along with about 150 grams of protein had a negative calcium balance of 65 units while people getting only 400 milligrams of calcium per day with only 50 grams of protein had a positive calcium balance of 31 units.
The main problem is the consumption of animal protein; studies have shown that protein from non-animal sources has health benefits. So the answer to preventing osteoporosis is not to consume a lot of dairy products, but to reduce animal protein consumption through a balanced, nutritious diet centered on the "New Four Food Groups": fruits, vegetables (especially broccoli, a very calcium-rich food, without the negatives of animal products), grains, and legumes.
Researchers have found that the consumption of high-fat dairy products is a leading cause of atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and strokes. While lower-fat dairy products represent an improvement, they are higher in protein, and this contributes to osteoporosis, kidney problems, and some forms of cancer. Dairy products are also the leading culprits in food allergies. Actually, milk is a wonderful product, but it was designed for rapid weight gain in calves. One might wonder if drinking milk is natural to human beings when we recognize that no other mammal on earth consumes the milk of another species or consumes it after a weaning period.
Many plant foods are good sources of calcium. Especially good sources are dark leafy greens (such as kale and mustard, collard, and turnip greens), broccoli, beans, dried figs, sunflower seeds, and calcium-fortified cereals and juices. Dairy products are good sources of calcium, but they also contain large amounts of fat and protein.
According to an American Dietary Association paper, vegans (who consume no animal products at all) can obtain the calcium they need from plant foods alone, and studies have shown that vegetarians can absorb and retain more calcium from foods and have lower rates of osteoporosis than non-vegetarians.
The question most frequently asked of vegetarians is "How do you get enough protein?" However, the amount of protein that a person needs (as a percent of total calories) is actually relatively low: 4.5%, according to the World Health Organization of the United Nations, 6%, according to the Food and Nutrition Board of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and 8%, according to the U. S. National Research Council. It is extremely significant that during infancy, the period when humans have the most rapid growth, mother's breast milk provides only 5% of its calories as protein.
Adequate protein can easily be obtained from vegetarian, even vegan (no animal products at all) diets. Protein is found in most plant foods as well as in animal foods. Potatoes, for example have 11% of their calories from protein, and spinach has 49%.
While an average working man needs about 37 grams of protein per day. 3,000 calories of rice alone would provide 60 grams of highly usable protein (for 3,000 calories of potatoes, 80 grams of protein would be provided). It is almost impossible not to get adequate protein, even on a plant-based diet, providing that one is getting enough calories and consumes a reasonable variety of foods. If this is true, how is it that we have gone so far wrong and so many people think that getting sufficient protein is a major dietary concern. The reason is that much of our nutrition information has come from experiments on rats, and rats require far more protein than humans do, as seen from the fact that a rat mother's milk has almost 50% of its calories from protein.
Consuming excessive amounts of protein can seriously damage human health. As indicated, it can result in a negative calcium balance and osteoporosis, because calcium and other minerals are lost in the urine, along with the excess protein.
Calcium lost due to high protein diets must be handled by the kidneys, which contributes to the formation of painful kidney stones. Excess protein causes destruction of kidney tissue and progressive deterioration of kidney function. Many people in affluent societies have lost 75 percent of their kidney function by the eighth decade of their lives. Extra kidney capacity enables the kidney to carry out its function in otherwise healthy people, but for people who suffer from additional diseases related to the kidney, such as diabetes, surgical loss, or injury from toxic substances, damage due to the excess protein may be fatal. When people with partial loss or damage to their kidneys are placed on low-protein diets, they are able to maintain much of their remaining kidney function.
People on meat-based diets not only get excessive protein, but also large amounts of hormones, fat, cholesterol, pesticides, antibiotics, and other harmful ingredients that place major burdens on the consumer's kidneys, liver, and digestive system.
Do vegetarians have to "complement" proteins, that is, get a combination of different foods containing proteins, to make sure that they get complete protein? This was a theory first advocated by Frances Moore Lappe, who mistakenly argued in the first edition of her very influential book, Diet for a Small Planet , that vegetarians should combine proteins in order to get the same "protein value" as meat. However, nutritionists no longer agree with that theory. The American Dietary Association stated in its 1992 paper, "Eating Well - The Vegetarian Way", "Vegetarians do not need to combine specific foods within a meal as the old 'complementary protein' theory advised. The paper states: "The body makes its own complete proteins if a variety of plant foods - fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds - and enough calories are eaten during the day." Even Frances Moore Lappe agreed with this assessment in later editions of her book.
In summary, more and more scientific studies are finding that the best health results are obtained by shifting to completely plant diets, rather than shifting from red meat to poultry, dairy, and other animal products.
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1d. Health Studies That Could Shake the World
There have been two major health studies in recent years that have the potential to radically affect medical practice. They dramatically show how dietary changes and other lifestyle changes can prevent and in some cases reverse diseases.
The first study, the Lifestyle Heart Trial, was conducted by Dean Ornish, M. D. of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Salusito, California, and his medical colleagues. It's aim was to study if changes in diet, exercise, and stress levels can unblock clogged arteries and save lives, without the use of expensive surgical techniques or drugs.
Ornish's initial study involved 48 patients with severe heart disease. He randomly divided them into two groups: 28 received his experimental regimen, and the other 20 were put into a control group, so that they could serve as a basis of comparison. The experimental group was put on a strict vegetarian diet, eating only egg whites and one cup daily of nonfat milk or yogurt. Their dietary fat content was a very low 10 percent of calories, and their cholesterol intake was only 5 mg per day. To control stress, they did stretching exercises, meditated, and performed other relaxation techniques. In addition, they walked for at least a half hour three times a week, and met as a support group twice weekly.
The results of the study were extremely significant. After one year, most of the experimental group indicated a complete or nearly complete disappearance of chest pains. Arterial clogging was reversed for 82 percent of the patients. In one case, the change was especially dramatic. Werner Hebenstreit, a 75 year old retired businessman, who reported that before starting the program he could barely cross the street without chest pains, was able to hike for 6 hours in the Grand Tetons at 8,000 feet by the end of the program. Other patients also experienced significant improvements.
What makes the results even more spectacular is a comparison with the findings for members of the control group. They received standard medical care, following the recommendations of the American Heart Association: up to 30 percent fat in their diets; dietary cholesterol limited to 300 mg per day; no red meat, but chicken without the skin and fish were permitted; they did a moderate amount of exercise, but there were no set stress reduction activities. None of these patients got better, and in almost all cases, their arterial blockages worsened significantly, and they reported an increase in chest pains. Evidently, the standard recommendations of the medical establishment are not sufficient, at least with regard to reversing heart disease.
Although Dr. Ornish initially found it difficult to find funding for his study because of the medical establishment's skepticism about reversing heart disease without surgery or drugs, there are several indications of the increasing acceptance of his approach:
1. His initial findings were published in the Lancet, a highly respected British medical journal, in 1990, and later results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, in 1995.
2. In a break from previous policies of medical insurers, which only reimbursed patients who underwent surgery or drug-related therapies, Mutual of Omaha, a major insurance company reimburses patients who receive the Ornish treatment. They found that of the patients motivated enough to try the Ornish approach, 90% stuck with it, and of those, almost 80% avoided bypass surgery or angioplasty; since these surgical approaches are much more expensive than Ornish's approach, Mutual of Omaha is saving about five dollars for every dollar invested. (Recently, many more insurance companies have followed in Mutual of Omaha's path.)
3. At least 8 hospitals throughout the United States, including Beth Israel in New York City, now provide treatment by the Dr. Ornish approach;
4. There have been many television programs and news reports about the success of the program.
Dr. Ornish spells out the philosophy, science, and diet behind his approach in his book, Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease (see the Bibliography) In the book, he stresses the main conclusion of his study: many patients who are willing to make major changes (involving diet, exercise, and stress reduction) can stop or reverse their heart disease. Ornish also addresses some important nutritional half-truths; for example, why taking aspirin to prevent heart attacks may be a bad idea, and why taking fish oil can increase cholesterol levels and may cause health problems. The book has received much critical acclaim. Since it was found that his technique also resulted in significant weight losses, Ornish wrote a companion book, Eat More, Weigh Less.
Since more Americans die from heart and blood vessel diseases annually than all other cause of death combined and more money is spent in the United States on the treatment of heart disease than any other illness. Ornish's results have the potential to revolutionize health care.
As important as Dr. Ornish's study is, there is another study that has the potential for even greater changes in health practices. This is the China, Cornell, Oxford Study, a collaborative effort between Cornell University, represented by T. Colin Campbell, Ph. D., the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, the Chinese Academy of Medical sciences, and Oxford University, England, as well as scientists from the United States, Britain , France, and other countries. Unlike the Ornish controlled study, the China Study is an epidemiological study that looked at the eating habits and diseases of 6,500 people in 65 Chinese provinces.
The China Project differs from other scientific studies in several important ways:
1. It utilizes the most comprehensive data base on the multiple causes of disease ever compiled; the Chinese government provided background data on 80 million Chinese people;
2. It examines relationships between health and diet in a holistic way, by considering ways in which complete diets and other lifestyle patterns affect health. By contrast, most contemporary studies focus on relationships between single nutrients and foods and single diseases;
3. China provided a "natural (living) laboratory" for the study of nutrition and disease that is unmatched anywhere else in the world; while people in most of the world's countries frequently change their places of residence, and eat foods from many different regions of the world, most Chinese live their entire lives in one area, and eat the same kinds of locally grown food throughout their lives. Yet, diets and disease rates vary sharply from one area to another.
The China Project has received much critical acclaim. Jane Brody, nutrition editor of the New York Times, called it "the grand prix" of epidemiology, and stated that it produced "tantalizing findings" from "the most comprehensive large study ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease." The East West Journal called the study, "one of the most rigorous and conclusive (studies) in the history of health research", one which has "unprecedented authority." Computerland Magazine stated that the information provided is "certain to have a global impact.
Here are some of the "tantalizing findings" that can (and should) have a global impact:
1. The Chinese diet, composed primarily of rice and other grains, vegetables, and legumes, such as soy products, is far healthier than the standard American diet. While Americans get an average of 37% of their calories from fat, Chinese get an average of 14.5%, with a range of about 6% to 24%, Chinese get only 10% of their protein from animal sources, while Americans get 70%. One result of their healthier diets is that the range of cholesterol levels in China vary from 70 mg to 170 mg, while in the United States, the average cholesterol level is over 200.
2. In China, regions in which people ate the most animal products had the highest rates of heart disease, cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases. In many cases, the differences were extremely large; for example, in one part of China, men died of esophageal cancer 435 more often than men in another region, and 20 times as many women in one county suffered from breast cancer than women in another county.
3. Degenerative diseases were associated with high levels of blood cholesterol and urea nitrogen (what is left over after the metabolism of protein in the body), and both of these factors increase as people eat more meat, dairy products, and eggs.
4. The more a diet is composed of foods of plant origin, the better, and there is no lower threshold on the amount of animal products in the diet in terms of health benefits received. Even small increases in the amount of animal products (meat, eggs, and dairy products) consumed result in significant increases in chronic degenerative diseases; hence, the ideal diet has no animal products in it at all.
5. Because cholesterol levels in China are only slightly more that half those in the West, heart disease deaths among American men occur 17 times more often, per thousand men, than it does for Chinese men. Also, Chinese at the lower end of the Chinese range have significantly less cancer and heart disease than those at the upper end.
6. Deaths from breast cancer are associated with 5 factors that are associated with diets high in animal-based foods: high intakes of dietary fat, high levels of blood cholesterol, high amounts of estrogen, high levels of blood testosterone, and early age at first menstruation. The Chinese plant-based diets give them benefits in each of these areas. For example, Chinese girls reach menstruation when they are 15 to 19 years of age, significantly later than the 10 to 14 years of age for most American girls.
7. Chinese people eat very little dairy products, and low levels of calcium-rich foods, yet get far less osteoporosis than people in the Western nations; For example, hip fractures per thousand people in China are only one-fifth of what they are in the West. This reinforces the theory that excessive animal protein causes calcium to be excreted from the body.
8. While the Chinese people eat an average of almost 300 calories per day more than Westerners do, they are generally much less obese. Dr. Campbell believes that in a very low-fat diet, a higher percentage of calories may be burned up, rather than being stored as fat.
9. The amount of animal protein in the diet correlated well with overall cancer rates; hence, dietary protein may be a bigger health problem than dietary fat; thus a shift from red meat and fish is not helpful since, while dietary fat is reduced, dietary animal protein is not; this is consistent with the results for the control group in Dr. Ornish's study.
Taken together, Dr. Dean Ornish's study and the China Project, along with many other recent scientific studies, clearly show that a shift to plant-based diets can have enormous health benefits and can sharply reduce current huge health care expenditures. It can only be hoped that increasing numbers of people will become aware of the "tantalizing findings" from these studies and change their dietary habits accordingly. The health of billions of people and, ultimately, the entire planet are at stake.
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2. Events at the Israeli Jewish Vegetarian Society Center
Forwarded message:
February Events at Ginger –
the Vegetarian Community Center
8 Balfour Street, Jerusalem
veginger@gmail.com 02-5665737
Shalom,
In February we are starting a new series of meetings, under the title “Popcorn and Social Justice”. The series will discuss violations of human and animal rights, and linkages between them, through analyzing the way they are represented in cinema. The first two films will be Machuca and Charlotte’s Web. This series is a joint project of Ginger and the Public Committee against Torture in Israel. Attention: The meetings will be held in Barbur Gallery (6 Shirizli Street, Nahlaot) and not in Ginger.
We are continuing our series of workshops on the ethics of food from a Jewish orthodox perspective. This month we will have a lecture on factory farms and will host the prominent Rabbi Yuval Sherlo. The project, the first of its kind in Israel, is in cooperation with “Jewish Nature“(the society for Jewish ecological responsibility) and “Tav Chevrati“ (the project of “Bema’agalei Tzedek” society).
Please spread the news about this project, especially to Hebrew-speaking national-religious friends.
Also in this month’s schedule: a lecture on conventional and complementary medicine, cabaret night, Italian meal, a workshop on vegan food from Cochin(!), and a musical evening.
Our regular monthly events include the freecycling market on the first Friday each month, and a communal potluck meal on the last Tuesday. Let us also remind you about our nutritional consultation project: You are invited to schedule a meeting with dietitian Orit Ofir.
Looking forward to seeing you,
Team Ginger
Sunday February 6th
7:00 pm: He makes me lie down in green pastures? The reality of animal factories
We will hear the facts from Attorney Yossi Wolfson, an animal-activist specilaizing in animals in factory farms. After his presentation we will study together the Jewish values involved with the facilitation of Hadas Yellinek from “Jewish Nature”.
The meeting is part of the course “Food for Thought”: a seven-meeting project on Judaism and food ethics.
The course is organized together with “Jewish Nature” (the society for Jewish ecological responsibility) and “Tav Chevrati” (the project of “Bema’agalei Tzedek” society).
In Hebrew
Admission: 15 NIS (or 10 NIS per meeting if registering to the rest of the course). Sliding Pay Scale is available – please talk to us.
SNIP [If you would like to be involved with the Israeli Jewish Vegetarian Society, please contact Yossi Wolfson at reyo@netvision.net.il.
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3. Producer of Jewish Environmental Documentary Seeking Support
Forwarded message:
I'm also doing some fundraising through the New York Foundation For The Arts at http://artspire.org/DirectoryDetail/tabid/95/id/600/Default.aspx. If by any chance you know anyone who could contribute, please forward it!
Hametaknim, a feature length documentary, follows four friends who met at Young Judaea's summer camp in New York, during the early 70's, as they work to improve a highly problematic environmental situation in Israel; the country suffers from one of the worst levels of air, water, and land pollution in the West. After years of being involved in numerous green causes around the country, the film's main characters are now leading the Israeli Green Movement Party, working together to get into parliament and gain real influence.
We have started filming and it will take about two to three years to complete the film. $20,000 is currently needed to continue filming, and generate interest from broadcasters in the U.S., and Israel.
In addition to documenting the environmental situation in Israel, Hametaknim has a chance to redefine Zionism, moving it from the current ethos of conquering the land at all cost, to one that has a broader perspective, and is humane, and gentle. The film’s main characters, who absorbed these lessons about Zionism at Young Judaea’s summer camp, has both the love of nature (they were introduced to it at summer camp,) and the understanding that environmentalism cannot stay disconnected from larger social values. This is true especially in Israel, where one’s love for the country, and the land, often determines his or hers course in life.
Hametaknim will also pay attention to the way those summer camp lessons evolved through the years, and have been fueling the film’s protagonists daily work for Tikkun olam (repairing the world) as leaders of some of the most successful environmental NGO’s in Israel.
Hametaknim, shot in full HD, will consist of interviews, archival material from Young Judaea’s summer camp, and scenes from the main characters' daily life and work.
Main Characters
Dr. Alon Tal. Chairman of the Israeli Green Movement political party. Founder, in 1991, of Adam Teva Vedin, the leading organization for environmental justice in Israel. Founder, in 1996, of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, the leading program in Israel for educating Arab and Jewish leaders to cooperatively solve the region's environmental challenges. Dr. Tal has been involved, over the past two decades, in almost every environmental cause around Israel.
Dr. Noah Efron. Serves as the head of the Green Movement's Tel Aviv branch, and as a Tel Aviv Yafo City Council member. Chairs the Graduate Program in Science, Technology and Society at Bar Ilan University. President of the Israeli Society for the History and Philosophy of Science. An expert on the relationship between orthodox and secular Jews in Israel.
Dr. Eilon Schwartz. Member of the Green Movement's leadership council. Founder and CEO of the Heschel Center, the leading institution for environmental education in Israel. Dr. Schwartz and Dr. Tal are considered the leaders of the modern environmental movement in Israel.
Gershon Baskin. Member of the Green Movement's leadership council. Founder and head of the Israel / Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI).
Mel Reisfield. Considered the spiritual leader of Young Judaea at the time the film's other protagonists met each other during summer camp. Ricefield, 82, lives in Jerusalem and teaches Hebrew to the current Young Judaea students.
About the director/producer:
Eyal Eithcowich, director and producer of Hametaknim, studied film, screenwriting, and acting at New York University and HB Studio in New York. His first feature documentary, “Enraged” (Israel, 2006) participated in festivals in the U.S. and Europe, was broadcast about 50 times on Israeli TV, and screened in theaters in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Mr. Eithcowich also directed “Israel’s General’s Speak,” an influential video aimed at Jewish American voters before the 2008’ President Obama campaign, and is currently working, in addition to Hametaknim, on a documentary about the Tel Aviv progressive municipal movement, City For All.
Disciplines: Film/Video, Social Action
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4. Oprah Show Airs One Week Vegan Challenge
Forwarded message from Karen Dawn(updated):
On Tuesday, February 1, Oprah and 378 of her staffers ended a one-week vegan challenge. Guests on the show included the terrific vegan advocate Kathy Freston and anti factory farming author Michael Pollan. Reporter Lisa Ling gave us an inside view of a "beef processing plant" i.e. slaughterhouse.
You can watch a trailer for the show at http://tinyurl.com/6fa4azh
You can leave comments on that page after you have seen it. The more enthusiastic support Oprah gets the better, so please join the discussion. And please send the Oprah show a separate note of support where the show take comments (some of which are read on air) at https://www.oprah.com/ownshow/plug_form.html?plug_id=220
Go to http://www.oprah.com/tows_listings.html to see when Oprah airs on your local station:
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts only if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line.)
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!"
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5. Significant NY Times Op-Ed Article on a Future Food Strategy
A Food Manifesto for the Future
By MARK BITTMAN
Mark Bittman on food and all things related.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/a-food-manifesto-for-the-future/?src=me&ref=homepage
For decades, Americans believed that we had the world’s healthiest and safest diet. We worried little about this diet’s effect on the environment or on the lives of the animals (or even the workers) it relies upon. Nor did we worry about its ability to endure — that is, its sustainability.
That didn’t mean all was well. And we’ve come to recognize that our diet is unhealthful and unsafe. Many food production workers labor in difficult, even deplorable, conditions, and animals are produced as if they were widgets. It would be hard to devise a more wasteful, damaging, unsustainable system.
Here are some ideas — frequently discussed, but sadly not yet implemented — that would make the growing, preparation and consumption of food healthier, saner, more productive, less damaging and more enduring. In no particular order:
End government subsidies to processed food. We grow more corn for livestock and cars than for humans, and it’s subsidized by more than $3 billion annually; most of it is processed beyond recognition. The story is similar for other crops, including soy: 98 percent of soybean meal becomes livestock feed, while most soybean oil is used in processed foods. Meanwhile, the marketers of the junk food made from these crops receive tax write-offs for the costs of promoting their wares. Total agricultural subsidies in 2009 were around $16 billion, which would pay for a great many of the ideas that follow.
Begin subsidies to those who produce and sell actual food for direct consumption. Small farmers and their employees need to make living wages. Markets — from super- to farmers’ — should be supported when they open in so-called food deserts and when they focus on real food rather than junk food. And, of course, we should immediately increase subsidies for school lunches so we can feed our youth more real food.
Break up the U.S. Department of Agriculture and empower the Food and Drug Administration. Currently, the U.S.D.A. counts among its missions both expanding markets for agricultural products (like corn and soy!) and providing nutrition education. These goals are at odds with each other; you can’t sell garbage while telling people not to eat it, and we need an agency devoted to encouraging sane eating. Meanwhile, the F.D.A. must be given expanded powers to ensure the safety of our food supply. (Food-related deaths are far more common than those resulting from terrorism, yet the F.D.A.’s budget is about one-fifteenth that of Homeland Security.)
Outlaw concentrated animal feeding operations and encourage the development of sustainable animal husbandry. The concentrated system degrades the environment, directly and indirectly, while torturing animals and producing tainted meat, poultry, eggs, and, more recently, fish. Sustainable methods of producing meat for consumption exist. At the same time, we must educate and encourage Americans to eat differently. It’s difficult to find a principled nutrition and health expert who doesn’t believe that a largely plant-based diet is the way to promote health and attack chronic diseases, which are now bigger killers, worldwide, than communicable ones. Furthermore, plant-based diets ease environmental stress, including global warming.
Encourage and subsidize home cooking. (Someday soon, I’ll write about my idea for a new Civilian Cooking Corps.) When people cook their own food, they make better choices. When families eat together, they’re more stable. We should provide food education for children (a new form of home ec, anyone?), cooking classes for anyone who wants them and even cooking assistance for those unable to cook for themselves.
Tax the marketing and sale of unhealthful foods. Another budget booster. This isn’t nanny-state paternalism but an accepted role of government: public health. If you support seat-belt, tobacco and alcohol laws, sewer systems and traffic lights, you should support legislation curbing the relentless marketing of soda and other foods that are hazardous to our health — including the sacred cheeseburger and fries.
Reduce waste and encourage recycling. The environmental stress incurred by unabsorbed fertilizer cannot be overestimated, and has caused, for example, a 6,000-square-mile dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico that is probably more damaging than the BP oil spill. And some estimates indicate that we waste half the food that’s grown. A careful look at ways to reduce waste and promote recycling is in order.
Mandate truth in labeling. Nearly everything labeled “healthy” or “natural” is not. It’s probably too much to ask that “vitamin water” be called “sugar water with vitamins,” but that’s precisely what real truth in labeling would mean.
Reinvest in research geared toward leading a global movement in sustainable agriculture, combining technology and tradition to create a new and meaningful Green Revolution.
I’ll expand on these issues (and more) in the future, but the essential message is this: food and everything surrounding it is a crucial matter of personal and public health, of national and global security. At stake is not only the health of humans but that of the earth.
This column appeared in print on February 2, 2011. It will appear in Opinionator regularly.
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6. Proposed Jewish Vegan Cookbook Seeks Recipes and Financial Support
Forwarded message:
Help Fund Our Jewish Vegan Cookbook
NewKosher is proud to announce the first New Kosher cookbook: Your Favorite Jewish Vegan Recipes.
The book will have amazing recipes that reflect the soul of Jewish cuisine from around the world, are friendly to animals and the environment, and are 100% kosher. The cookbook will come in paperback as well as e-book versions for Nook, Kindle, iPad and PDF.
If you have a recipe that you would like included in the cookbook, please submit it today! Recipes must be received by February 6th at 11PM EST.
In order to release this book, PunkTorah (our parent organization) needs to fundraise $400 to pay for publishing expenses. Would you like to make this cookbook a reality?
By sponsoring the NewKosher cookbook, you will receive:
$10.00 – Free advance e-copy of the book
$20.00 – Advance printed copy and e-copy of the book along with your name printed in the book and on our website as a sponsor for one week
$30.00 – Two advance printed copies of the cookbook and e-copies for you and a friend, your name in the cookbook as well as your name and photo on the sponsorship page of the NewKosher, PunkTorah and 3xDaily websites for three months
Sponsor today by sending your donation via Paypal to punktorah@gmail.com or by check to:
PunkTorah
Attn: NewKosher
872 Baltimore PL SW
Marietta, GA 30062
As of Monday, January 31st at 2:20PM EST we have raised:
$286.00
Thank you for your support!
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7. World Faces Increasing Climate Crisis
Food Prices Worldwide Hit Record Levels, Fueled by Uncertainty, U.N. Says
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: February 3, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/world/04food.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
UNITED NATIONS — Global food prices are moving ever higher, hitting record levels last month as a jittery market reacted to unpredictable weather and tight supplies, according to a United Nations report released Thursday.
Related
Crops Wither and Prices Rise in Chinese Drought (February 4, 2011)
It was the seventh month in a row of food price increases, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which put out the report. And with some basic food stocks low, prices will probably continue reaching new heights, at least until the results of the harvest next summer are known, analysts said.
“Uncertainty itself is a new factor in the market that pushes up prices and will not push them down,” said Abdolreza Abbassian, an economist and the grain expert at F.A.O. “People don’t trust anyone to tell them about the harvest and the weather, so it has to await harvest time.”
Scattered bright spots in the report led experts to suggest that a repeat of the 2008 food riots stemming from similar sharp price increases might not be imminent. Rice was slightly cheaper and meat prices stable, they noted. But the overall uncertainty and inflation could eventually make the situation worse than three years ago, they said.
Riots and demonstrations erupting across the Middle East are not directly inspired by rising food prices alone, experts noted, but that is one factor fueling the anger directed toward governments in the region. Egypt was among more than a dozen countries that experienced food riots in 2008.
The F.A.O. price index, which tracks 55 food commodities for export, rose 3.4 percent in January, hitting its highest level since tracking began in 1990, the report said. Countries not dependent on food imports are less affected by global volatility. Still, food prices are expected to rise 2 percent to 3 percent in the United States this year.
Four main factors are seen as driving prices higher: weather, higher demand, smaller yields and crops diverted to biofuels. Volatile weather patterns often attributed to climate change are wreaking havoc with some harvests. Heavy rains in Australia damaged wheat to the extent that much of its usually high-quality crop has been downgraded to feed, experts noted.
This has pushed the demand and prices for American wheat much higher, with the best grades selling at 100 percent more than they were a year ago, Mr. Abbassian said. The autumn soybean harvest in the United States was poor, so strong demand means stocks are at their lowest level in 50 years, he said.
Brokers are waiting to see how acreage in the United States will be divided between soybeans, corn and cotton, with cotton fetching record prices, Mr. Abbassian said.
Sugar prices are also at a 30-year high, he said. Prices for cereals are rising but still below their April 2008 peak. Oils and fats are up and close to their 2008 level, and dairy is higher but still below its 2007 peak, the report said. Even positive news, like good rains in Argentina and a strong harvest in Africa, has failed to keep prices from rising.
“Food prices are not only rising, but they are also volatile and will continue this way into the future,” said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the World Bank managing director.
Changing diets around the world stemming from higher incomes, especially in places like China and India, mean a greater demand for meat and better grains. Although it takes time for that to translate into higher prices globally, it does buoy demand, the experts said.
In 2009, the richest nations pledged more than $20 billion to aid agriculture in developing countries, including $6 billion for a food security fund housed at the World Bank. Just $925 million of those pledges has been paid, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala noted, because of financial problems in the donor countries. That will bring consequences, she said, as one billion people already go without sufficient food daily.
Derek Headey, an economist with the International Food Policy Research Institute, noted that in 2007 and 2008 many African countries were hit hard by soaring import bills, as were nations spread across the world, like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Ecuador.
But some of the world’s largest and poorest countries experienced rapid economic growth and only modest food inflation, so the number of people facing food insecurity in nations like China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam actually went down at that time, he said.
“This time around there is still strong economic growth in these countries, but inflation is much more of a problem,” he said. “So it is possible that the impact could be worse in 2011, especially if food prices stay high.”
It will take some months for those figures to emerge, he added.
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8. World Food Crisis related to Climate Change
Droughts, Floods and Food
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: February 6, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/opinion/07krugman.html?ref=opinion
We’re in the midst of a global food crisis — the second in three years. World food prices hit a record in January, driven by huge increases in the prices of wheat, corn, sugar and oils. These soaring prices have had only a modest effect on U.S. inflation, which is still low by historical standards, but they’re having a brutal impact on the world’s poor, who spend much if not most of their income on basic foodstuffs.
The consequences of this food crisis go far beyond economics. After all, the big question about uprisings against corrupt and oppressive regimes in the Middle East isn’t so much why they’re happening as why they’re happening now. And there’s little question that sky-high food prices have been an important trigger for popular rage.
So what’s behind the price spike? American right-wingers (and the Chinese) blame easy-money policies at the Federal Reserve, with at least one commentator declaring that there is “blood on Bernanke’s hands.” Meanwhile, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France blames speculators, accusing them of “extortion and pillaging.”
But the evidence tells a different, much more ominous story. While several factors have contributed to soaring food prices, what really stands out is the extent to which severe weather events have disrupted agricultural production. And these severe weather events are exactly the kind of thing we’d expect to see as rising concentrations of greenhouse gases change our climate — which means that the current food price surge may be just the beginning.
Now, to some extent soaring food prices are part of a general commodity boom: the prices of many raw materials, running the gamut from aluminum to zinc, have been rising rapidly since early 2009, mainly thanks to rapid industrial growth in emerging markets.
But the link between industrial growth and demand is a lot clearer for, say, copper than it is for food. Except in very poor countries, rising incomes don’t have much effect on how much people eat.
It’s true that growth in emerging nations like China leads to rising meat consumption, and hence rising demand for animal feed. It’s also true that agricultural raw materials, especially cotton, compete for land and other resources with food crops — as does the subsidized production of ethanol, which consumes a lot of corn. So both economic growth and bad energy policy have played some role in the food price surge.
Still, food prices lagged behind the prices of other commodities until last summer. Then the weather struck.
Consider the case of wheat, whose price has almost doubled since the summer. The immediate cause of the wheat price spike is obvious: world production is down sharply. The bulk of that production decline, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, reflects a sharp plunge in the former Soviet Union. And we know what that’s about: a record heat wave and drought, which pushed Moscow temperatures above 100 degrees for the first time ever.
The Russian heat wave was only one of many recent extreme weather events, from dry weather in Brazil to biblical-proportion flooding in Australia, that have damaged world food production.
The question then becomes, what’s behind all this extreme weather?
To some extent we’re seeing the results of a natural phenomenon, La Niña — a periodic event in which water in the equatorial Pacific becomes cooler than normal. And La Niña events have historically been associated with global food crises, including the crisis of 2007-8.
But that’s not the whole story. Don’t let the snow fool you: globally, 2010 was tied with 2005 for warmest year on record, even though we were at a solar minimum and La Niña was a cooling factor in the second half of the year. Temperature records were set not just in Russia but in no fewer than 19 countries, covering a fifth of the world’s land area. And both droughts and floods are natural consequences of a warming world: droughts because it’s hotter, floods because warm oceans release more water vapor.
As always, you can’t attribute any one weather event to greenhouse gases. But the pattern we’re seeing, with extreme highs and extreme weather in general becoming much more common, is just what you’d expect from climate change.
The usual suspects will, of course, go wild over suggestions that global warming has something to do with the food crisis; those who insist that Ben Bernanke has blood on his hands tend to be more or less the same people who insist that the scientific consensus on climate reflects a vast leftist conspiracy.
But the evidence does, in fact, suggest that what we’re getting now is a first taste of the disruption, economic and political, that we’ll face in a warming world. And given our failure to act on greenhouse gases, there will be much more, and much worse, to come.
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My Letter to the Editor of the NY Times:
Paul Krugman’s February 7 article, “Droughts, Floods and Foods,” which relates soaring food prices to the effects of climate change, provides two important reasons for a major shift to plant-based diets:
1. Seventy percent of the grain in the United Stats and over a third grown worldwide is fed to animals destined for slaughter.
2. According to a 2006 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” animal-based agriculture emits more greenhouse gases (in CO2 equivalents) than all of the cars, ships, planes and all other means of transportation worldwide combined.
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9. World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week (April 16th- 24th, 2011 ) Scheduled
!!!PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL ACTIVISTS AND EMAIL LISTS!!!
Fellow Activists,
World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week (April 16th - 24th, 2011 ) is just two months away! Please get involved now!
Go to http://all-creatures.org/wlalw/index.html for more information
Go to: http://all-creatures.org/wlalw/events-signup.html to register your events
Over 20,000,000 million animals suffer and die in U.S. laboratories every year. These innocent victims are subjected to addictive drugs, caustic chemicals, ionizing radiation, chemical and biological weapons, electric shock, deprivation of food and/or water, psychological torture and many other horrors. World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week (April 16th - 24th, 2011 ) is the time when activists come together to make a difference for these innocent victims.
This week has traditionally been a time when animal activists have organized rallies, protests, news conferences, literature tables, and other events to fight for the animals that are imprisoned in laboratories and to raise public awareness of their plight. These animals are depending on each one of us to stand up and act on their behalf.
Please use the information and resources on this web site to support your efforts on behalf of the 20,000,000 animals that will suffer and die in U.S. laboratories this year. If we can do anything to support your efforts please contact us at saen@saenonline.org.
Please send us information on all WLALW events (protests, news conferences, literature tabling, etc) so that we can post your activities in our events list on this website. This will allow all activists that view this web page to find out about and potentially attend as many WLALW events as possible. Please support us so that we can better support you.
Thank you for everything that you do for animals,
Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T.,
Executive Director, SAEN
www.saenonline.org
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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.
FAIR USE NOTICE
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.
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.