Boston Veg Food Festival News: 4 New Speakers and Media, World Watch on Climate Change, New York Times
October 27, 2009

Hello all in BVS!

  1. New Festival Speakers!
  2. New Festival Media
  3. Help Us Publicize
  4. Early Bird Volunteers
  5. World Watch Magazine: Livestock and Climate Change
  6. New York Times: Slaughterhouse Live

1) We have added four exciting new speakers to our roster for the Festival this weekend!

Check out our panel on Saturday titled Vegetarianism 101: Ask the Experts.

Also, see our new chef presenter on Sunday morning -- Did you know there is a Vegan Culinary Arts program right here in Massachusetts? Its Director will present a cooking demo for us, assisted by some of his culinary students. Learn some new ideas for holiday entertaining that can be used year-round.

http://bostonveg.org/foodfest/speakers.html

2) If all goes as planned, the Festival will be featured this Wednesday in the Boston Herald's Food Section, including one of the recipes that will be taught at the Festival, courtesy of The Conscious Kitchen. The Herald also spoke with one of our "Boston's Best Comic" vegan stand up comic presenters -- a show you will not want to miss on Saturday!

The Festival is slated to be in the Boston Globe's "G" section this Friday. As you know, print media has shrunk considerably, and it is much harder to get page space these days. So we are very excited to be making the cut in these papers!

Someone emailed that they were flying Southwest Airlines and saw our Festival in the airline's online flight magazine!

Hope you caught BVFF committee member David talking about the Festival and veg*m on the radio Sunday AM. The producer emailed afterwards: "David was AWESOME!!!"

3) We still rely on you, our BVS community, to spread the word about the Festival. We want to reach out to all communities, and especially to non-vegetarians. Our speaker roster and exhibitor room will have something for everyone. Please post the Festival on Facebook, blogs, websites, or post our flyers, printable from: http://bostonveg.org/foodfest/flyers.html Our web banners are here: http://www.bostonveg.org/banners/index.html

4) Volunteers, thank you so much in advance for your help this weekend! When we expanded to two days, we wondered if we could cover all the volunteer needs -- but you have risen to the occasion in aces. The Festival could not occur without you.

* Early birds -- volunteers needed from 7:30 - 10 AM on Sat. to assist exhibitors with unloading. This is a perfect job for those who want to help but don't want to miss any speakers. And you get to see the room as it fills with exhibitors and excitement! Contact us via http://www.bostonveg.org/foodfest/contact.html

5) Did you notice the topic for the Saturday 1:15 PM presentation at the Festival? It is "A New Global Warming Strategy: How Environmentalists are Overlooking Vegetarianism as the Most Effective Tool Against Climate Change."

World Watch Magazine's Nov/Dec 2009 Cover Story "Livestock and Climate Change" draws the same conclusion.

Livestock Emissions: Still Grossly Underestimated?
October 20, 2009

Washington, D.C.-The environmental impact of the lifecycle and supply chain of animals raised for food has been vastly underestimated, and in fact accounts for at least half of all human-caused greenhouse gases (GHGs), according to Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang, co-authors of "Livestock and Climate Change" in the latest issue of World Watch magazine.

Based on their research, Goodland and Anhang conclude that replacing livestock products with soy-based and other alternatives would be the best strategy for reversing climate change. "This approach would have far more rapid effects on GHG emissions and their atmospheric concentrations-and thus on the rate the climate is warming-than actions to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy."


Full item: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6297

6) The New York Times Fashion & Style section (Oct. 23, 2009) had an article about a new interest in classes in personal meat butchering titled "Slaughterhouse Live." It looks at this dark trend and includes some student observations. Here is one.

“Animals do not want to die,” he wrote. “They can feel pain and fear, and, just like us, will struggle to breathe for even one single more second. If you’re about to run 250 volts through a pig, do not look it in the eyes. It is not going to absolve you.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/fashion/25meat.html

Please join us this weekend at the Festival, which we offer in carrying out BVS' mission to help people, animals, and the environment by promoting a vegetarian way of life.