1.
Today’s Sermon
2.
Help Spread the Word with CVA Materials
3.
International Compassionate Living Festival in NC
10/3-5
4.
Letter Regarding PETA’s “Holocaust on Your Plate” Exhibit
5.
CVA Materials at Veggiefest in Richmond
6.
Why Was There Animal Agriculture in Europe and Not
the Americas
1. Today’s Sermon
from Rev. Frank and
Mary Hoffman
Love Your Enemies
and Bring Peace to Your Soul
http://www.all-creatures.org/sermons98/s20080608.html
2. Help Spread the Word with CVA Materials
We have t-shirts,
bumper stickers, coffee mugs and more at very reasonable prices at
www.christianveg.org/materials.htm
3. International Compassionate Living Festival in
NC 10/3-5
Tom Regan of the
Culture and Animals Foundation and Ken Shapiro of the ASI to invite you
to join us at "Speaking Their Truth," the 23rd annual International
Compassionate Living Festival, taking place in Raleigh/Durham, North
Carolina, on October 3-5, 2008.
CAF and the ASI are
once again bringing together renowned scholars, authors, activists and
artists dedicated to animal protection worldwide. Our unique combination
of presenters and topics attracts "activist thinkers" from across the
U.S. and beyond, to learn about and discuss important animal issues in
an intimate atmosphere of respectful discourse.
This year's program
features Dr. Irene Pepperberg as our keynote speaker, discussing her
30-year relationship with the now-famous African Grey parrot Alex (who
passed away last fall) and what he taught her about animal cognition and
interspecies communication. Alex and Irene were featured in the March
2008 cover story of National Geographic magazine, and Alex has been
cited as an example of why more legal rights should be extended to
nonhuman species. Our other speakers include:
* Michael
Mountain of Best Friends Animal Society, describing how his group is
rehabilitating 22 of Michael Vick’s pit bull dogs
* Chef Ron Pickarski,
the monk-turned-chef who will discuss vegetarianism and spirituality
* Gianluca Felicetti,
president of the Lega Antivivisezione, Italy’s most prominent animal
rights organization
* Dr. Lori Marino of
Emory University, a neuroscience and marine mammal specialist who will
talk about concerns related to dolphins used in animal-assisted therapy
* Norm Phelps, who will
discuss his latest book on animal rights history, The Longest
Struggle: Animal Advocacy from Pythagoras to PETA
* Dr. Leslie Irvine of
the University of Colorado, whose book If You Tame Me examines
animals’ sense of self
* A panel on business
strategies featuring Jennifer Fearing of The Humane Society of the
United States, Ché Green of the Humane Research Council, and Adam Durand
of Animal Rights International
* A political
organizing panel, led by Kim W. Stallwood, featuring Lisa Jennings of
Animal Protection of New Mexico, Nicole Paquette of Born Free USA, and
John Phillips of the League of Humane Voters of New York City
* Renowned artist and
comedian Dan Piraro of “Bizarro,” who will open the conference on Friday
night, and
* Singer-songwriter
Kyle Vincent, who will be our special musical guest
* And as always, Dr.
Tom Regan, CAF’s co-founder, will inspire us with a presentation that
will conclude the event on Sunday. “Speaking Their Truth” is an
all-vegan conference with exhibit space available for organizations and
businesses whose work reflects our shared interests.
Because Ron Pickarski's
talk will focus on spirituality and vegetarianism, we believe you would
find this a very worthwhile event to attend. By sponsoring and/or
exhibiting, you would be spreading your compassionate message to a very
receptive audience. The attached information provides details, but
please contact me directly if you have further questions.
Sincerely,
Jill
Howard Church, Communications Director
Animals
and Society Institute
(direct)
770-719-9773
(fax)
770-719-9783
4. Letter Regarding PETA’s “Holocaust on Your
Plate” Exhibit
(selected comments from
CVA members will be published in future e-newsletters)
Re "Trivializing the
unbearable" (Manfred Gerstenfeld April 29):
As your paper has reported favorably on PETA's work to reduce cruelty to
animals I was saddened to see a writer point a finger at me as someone
who reduces the horror of the Holocaust. On the contrary I am an ally of
the persecuted and I object to mischaracterization bolstered by a
misquote or two.
I apologize for any
pain caused by PETA's Holocaust on Your Plate exhibit but the exhibit's
message - that all needless suffering is an atrocity - is sound. The
exhibit bore that name because of Georges Metanomski a Holocaust
survivor who fought in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. He wrote: "When I see
cages crammed with chickens from battery farms thrown on trucks like
bundles of trash I see with the eyes of my soul the Umschlagplatz (where
Jews were forced onto trains leaving for the death camps). When I go to
a restaurant and see people devouring meat I feel sick. I see a
holocaust on their plates."
One always hopes that
tremendous suffering causes empathy for the plight of others instead of
causing people to hold to their chests only the suffering of those they
can readily relate to. As for the remark about chickens my point was and
is that those who struggle for the rights of billions of animals
slaughtered in fear and pain each year are the sort of people who -
undistracted by race religion or other differences - worked to hide Jews
and help Jews escape from the great horror of the Holocaust.
Ingrid E. Newkirk,
President
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Norfolk, Virginia
5. CVA Materials at Veggiefest in Richmond
We are grateful to
Vegetees (www.vegetees.com)
which will offer CVA booklets at their booth at the Veggifest (www.veggiefest.org)
on June 21st from noon - 6pm at Azalea Gardens in Bryan Park.
6. Why Was There Animal Agriculture in Europe and
Not the Americas1
Two weeks ago I
discussed why infectious diseases from Europeans invading the Americas
afflicted the Native Americans, but the Europeans got few diseases from
Native Americans. The answer had much to due with the extensive animal
agriculture Europe and little such animal agriculture in the Americas.
Why was that? Many Native American tribes had domesticated plant foods,
but there was very little domestication of animals for food. The
explanation is complex, but there were several major factors. The
animals best suited for domestication for purposes of meat production
have been large terrestrial herbivorous and omnivorous mammals. It is
difficult for humans to domesticate a given type of animal. The animal
must have several characteristics, and lacking any one of them will
often render them unsuitable for domestication:
Diet: Herbivores tend
to be much more efficient at converting biomass (matter from living
things) into flesh. Carnivores need to eat herbivores, and cycling
plants into herbivores and herbivores into generally slower-maturing
carnivores is often too inefficient.
Growth Rate: Many
animals grow too slowly to be good candidates for animal agriculture.
Problems of Captive
Breeding: Some animals breed poorly in captivity.
Disposition: Many
farmed animals are large enough to kill humans, and some animals are too
dangerous to be domesticated, such as the grizzly bear.
Docility: Some animals
are slower and less nervous than others, seek protection in herds, and
stand their ground when threatened, making them better candidates for
domestication.
Social Structure: The
ancestors of domesticated animals have almost always tended to live in
herds, have well-developed dominance hierarchy among herd members (which
makes them amenable to perceiving humans as the dominant animal of the
herd), and have herds that occupy overlapping boundaries rather than
being territorial (because territoriality makes it difficult to pen
different herds together).
There were far more
candidates for domestication among wild animals in the Eurasian
continent than in the Americas, for several reasons. One reason is that
the Eurasian continent is much broader than the Americas and it has
greater variability in climate, resulting in more ecological niches.
Another reason is many of the large mammals in the Americas went extinct
about 13,000 years ago – probably due to human hunting. Warmer climates
support more life and can therefore support more biodiversity. In the
Americans, the land mass is narrow north of the equator, and the equator
is dominated by the Amazon rainforest, which is not amenable to grazing
herd animals.
1. Much of the
material in this section comes from Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared
Diamond.