- Activist Feedback
- Guest Commentary: Are Plant Foods worse for Animals and the
Environment?
- This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman
1. Activist Feedback
Queenie, who leafleted with Sean and
Bryce at the recent Rock and Worship Show inPhoenix, AZ, writes:
The event was HUGE! We there by 5:30pm and the line was unbelievably
long with people everywhere. One of the reasons it was such a great
concert to leaflet was that you have to buy tickets at the door for
only $10. Tons of people had to wait in line, and they were very
receptive to receive a booklet (something to do).
We saw
people reading the booklets and passing them around to show their
group. We also saw hardly anyone just wasting/throwing the booklets on
the floor. Everyone was friendly!
The take rate was also very
high. We ran out of the box of ~500 CVA leaflets in a half hour. We
passed out another ~500 Vegan Outreach “Compassionate Choices”
leaflets before the hour was over.
Upcoming Activist
Opportunities
3/15-17 NC Winston-Salem
Joyce Meyers Ministries Conference
3/15
VA Norfolk
Winter Jam Christian Rock Fest
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3/16
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3/23
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3/24
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3/24
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3/25
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3/26
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Winter Jam Christian Rock Fest
3/29
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3/30 IN Indianapolis
Winter Jam Christian Rock Fest
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3/31
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3/31
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TABLE Texas Veg Fest
4/22 CA San
Diego TABLE EarthWorks' EarthFair
2012
4/22 MO St. Louis
TABLE Earth Day Festival
4/28-29 CT Hartford
TABLE Connecticut Vegetarian & Healthy Living Festival
5/20
CA Van Nuys TABLE WorldFest
2012
6/23 VA Richmond
TABLE Richmond Vegetarian Festival
2. Guest Commentary: Are Plant Foods worse for Animals and
the Environment?
In my local area I've been
encountering quite a bit of pushback from people who claim that
dependence on plant-based foods such as grains and seeds results in
exacerbated land use and the collateral killing of many more animals
than if we relied on pasture-raised livestock.
I did some
calculations on land use efficiency using figures obtained by doing a
Google search of Extension Offices and organic farmers
Pasture-fed "beef" cows who can be raised on 1 acre per year:
Number
of acres needed to raise 1 "beef" cow/heifer = 2 (a very liberal
estimate)
Pounds of meat obtained from 1 "beef" cow/heifer = 600
Calories per pound of meat = 800
Calories from meat per acre =
240,000 (800 x 600 / 2)
Sample combination of food crops that
can be grown on 1 acre (divided equally) per year:
5,000
lbs carrots AND 4,000 lbs potatoes AND 1,000 pounds wheat AND 4,000
lbs winter squash
Calorie value of those food crops:
carrots =
180 calories/lb = 900,000 calories per 0.25 acres
potatoes = 400
calories/lb = 1,600,000 calories per 0.25 acres
wheat = 1400
calories/lb = 1,400,000 calories per 0.25 acres
winter squash = 180
calories/lb = 720,000 calories per 0.25 acres
Total calories from
food crops per acre = 4,620,000
Number of persons who could be
fed in one year with one acre (assuming 2,100 calories per day):
With meat calories = 0.3 persons
With food crop calories = 6
persons
Land
use-efficiency of food crops over livestock =
19 times more efficient
I suppose the production of meat could
be made more efficient by raising different animals instead of just
"beef" cattle. Allowing for that, suppose we double the efficiency of
producing meat. That still leaves plant-based food crops at about 10x
the efficiency of meat production.
-Stephen Augustine
3. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman
Receiving Forgiveness