Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - October 18, 2020
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Richard Schwartz of Jewish Veg Announces a New Book and an Accompanying Campaign
  2. Estate Attorney Needed
  3. Justice, Part 10: The Malthusian Dilemma
  4. Recently from the All-Creatures.org Ministry

Note from the CVA

We are pleased to resume our weekly e-newsletter. We hope you find the newsletter interesting and/or helpful. If not, please let us know at cva@christianveg.org, and we will remove you from the e-newsletter list.

1. Richard Schwartz of Jewish Veg Announces a New Book and an Accompanying Campaign

Vegan Revolution: Saving the World, Revitalizing Judaism is now available from Lantern Books. Author Richard Schwartz reflects on his decades of tireless animal activism, noting that the ideals and practices that underlying veganism are crucial in humanity’s leading challenges. These include climate change, resource depletion, environmental degradation, hunger, and human-human violence.

Schwartz also announces the “Toward a Pandemic-Free World” campaign. Noting that many pandemics, which evidently includes the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, have resulted from humanity’s exploitation and consumption of nonhumans. For more information, go to:
Toward a Pandemic-Free World

2. Estate Attorney Needed

Longtime animal rights and vegan activist Nina Natelson, president of Concern Helping Animals in Israel (CHAI) needs an estate attorney to help identify whether estate funds promised to her organization are available. Contact cva@christianveg.org for more information.

3. Justice, Part 10: The Malthusian Dilemma

Thomas Robert Malthus argued that, if unchecked, animal populations expand exponentially. For example, consider an animal pair who produce four offspring in the first generation. These four, with four mates, give rise to 16 in the second generation. There are 64 in the third generation, 128 in the fourth, etc. At best, food sources increase arithmetically. Animals might find a new field of grass upon which to graze, but this discovery does not engender a further increase in available food.

Consequently, Malthus maintained, animal populations invariably reach the point where there is scarcity. It is in the interest of individual animals to acquire as many resources as they can. In human populations, this is exemplified by the “tragedy of the commons,” in which individual farmers have an incentive to graze as many animals as they can on the common grazing lands to the point that there will be insufficient grazing land to support them all. Individuals, acting independently in their own self-interest, work against the needs of the group.

Capitalism requires growth, and Malthus showed that growth is not sustainable. As populations exceed the resources needed to support them, there will be suffering and violent conflicts. If we are to avoid great tragedies, we must find ways to encouraging cooperation and sharing. To the degree that our society countenances the abuse and murder of nonhumans, it will be difficult to promote caring, compassionate, sustainable relationships between humans. The ethics that underly animal abuse are antithetical to the ethics needed to create harmonious, sustainable human communities.

Stephen R. Kaufman, MD

4. Recently from the All-Creatures.org Ministry

Newsletter: Here are some recent all-creatures Newsletters, which we hope you like and share with others to help end the exploitation and killing of animals.

Recent Sermons

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