Dear Boston Vegetarian Society,

 

Here are some items that may interest:

1. Help Promote Boston Vegetarian Food Festival with Flyers & Leaflets
2. Vote YES on Question 3 on Nov. 4
3. Oprah on Tuesday: How We Treat the Animals We Eat + NY Times Editorial
4. Poultry Meat Causes Most Cases of Campylobacteriosis
5. Consider the Lobster - David Foster Wallace (1962-2008)

 

 

 1) HELP PROMOTE BOSTON VEGETARIAN FOOD FESTIVAL WITH FLYERS & LEAFLETS

We are in the countdown days to our 13th Annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival on Sat. Nov. 1!!

With an amazing lineup of speakers, chefs, and exhibitors -- our goal is to bring in non-vegetarians to taste the wide variety of delicious plant-based foods readily available in the marketplace, and be inspired and informed by our speakers, chefs, and nonprofit educators.

Our subway ads are up, we are in Veg Times and VegNews, we anticipate coverage in Boston Magazine and Improper Bostonian and more, and we are even featured in magazines in Turkey, Italy, and Japan. Yet each year we hear from attendees who learned about the Festival by seeing a flyer or being handed a leaflet.

Please help us publicize this event, that has been a turning point in the lives of many. Please print and post our 8.5 x 11 flyer (color and B & W) at your health food store, gym, school, library, workplace, etc., and carry some leaflets to hand out. Here they are
http://www.bostonveg.org/foodfest/flyers.html

Add a Festival banner to any website you run:
http://www.bostonveg.org/banners/index.html

Remember to volunteer for food fest -- it won't happen without you!

 

 

2) VOTE YES ON QUESTION 3 ON NOV. 4

Massachusetts animal advocates have been working for years to protect dogs from the suffering they endure in greyhound racing. These gentle dogs endure lives of confinement, kept in cages barely large enough for them to stand up or turn around for 20 or more hours each day. They suffer serious injuries, breaking their legs, necks and backs. In recent years dogs have died from a mysterious illness and tested positive for cocaine.

On Nov. 4, please vote YES on Question 3, and encourage your friends to do so, too! More info:
http://www.protectdogs.org/index.php

 

 

3) OPRAH ON TUESDAY, OCT. 14: HOW WE TREAT THE ANIMALS WE EAT + NY TIMES EDITORIAL

 

Many have been waiting for this day: Oprah exposes the treatment of farm animals by the meat industry. Wayne Pacelle, CEO/Pres of the Humane Society of the U.S. will be there to make the case for CA ballot question YES on 2 campaign which addresses cruel confinement of factory farmed animals. Wayne will go head-to-head with agribusiness industry spokespeople who are fighting the initiative. Tune in! (ABC at 4 PM in Boston)

Lisa Ling Reports: How We Treat the Animals We Eat
http://www.oprah.com/dated/oprahshow/oprahshow_20081008_animals

Watch the Yes on Prop 2 Campaign's new 30 second TV ad:
http://www.yesonprop2.com/index.php (scroll down, right side)

The New York Times has taken a stand for Yes on Prop 2 in this remarkable editorial:

Standing, Stretching, Turning Around
NY Times Oct. 9, 2008

"The goal of the California Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act -- Proposition 2 on the state's November ballot -- sounds extremely modest. It would ban the confinement of animals in a way that keeps them from being able to stand, sit, lie down, turn around and extend their limbs. The fact that such fundamental decencies have to be forced upon factory farming says a lot about its horrors. We urge California voters to pass Proposition 2. We urge every state to enact similar laws. No philosophy can justify this kind of cruelty, not even the philosophy of cheapness."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/opinion/09thu3.html

 

 

4) POULTRY MEAT CAUSES MOST CASES OF CAMPYLOCACTERIOSIS

Grist: Environmental News & Commentary
Sept. 30, 2008
Meat Wagon: While antibiotic-resistant bugs flourish, a House subcommittee buries its head

Campylobacter jejuni causes more cases of gastroenteritis in the ‘developed’ world than any other bacterial pathogen, including E. coli, Salmonella, Clostridium and Listeria combined.

70% of antibiotics sold in the US are fed to cattle, pigs, and poultry to speed their growth and to keep them alive under conditions of filth, crowding, and stress. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)’s December 2007 report on zoonotic diseases found that the most common food-borne route of campylobacteriosis is through poultry meat. EFSA cautions that bacteria, particularly Campylobacter and Salmonella, are increasingly becoming resistance to antibacterial drugs, which in turn are becoming less effective in fighting human infections.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/9/29/14018/4663?source=daily.

 

 

5) CONSIDER THE LOBSTER - DAVID FOSTER WALLACE (1962-2008)

 

Hailed by the Boston Globe as “probably the most important novelist of his generation,” David Foster Wallace died by his own hand on September 12, 2008. One of his most brilliant works was his 6,000 word masterpiece on the Maine Lobster Festival which appeared in an unlikely place, Gourmet Magazine in 2004. In a tribute at his passing, Gourmet put the full amazing article on their website.

Wallace wrote this article “to work out and articulate some of the troubling questions that arise amid all the laughter and saltation and community pride of the Maine Lobster Festival.” He addressed the two coping mechanisms of avoidance and denial when faced with what we do to animals. He is compelled to ask, “Is it all right to boil a sentient creature alive just for our gustatory pleasure?”

Consider the Lobster
http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/consider_the_lobster