Subject: Marin VEG January News
From: Patti Breitman <eatplants@earthlink.net>
Date: 12/31/2018, 4:15 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;

January, 2019
Marin Vegetarian Education Group

The hills are green and veganism is more mainstream than ever before. What great reasons to celebrate!
Wishing you much joy, good health, and every good blessing in 2019!

Saturday, January 12 and Sunday, January 13
The Humane Hoax Online Summit
Sonoma County's Compassionate Living is hosting a free, online summit to address the myth of humane animal agriculture.  While at home, at your computer, from 10 - 5 on both Saturday and Sunday, you will hear from leaders in the vegan movement speaking on a fascinating array of seldom covered topics.  Although the summit is free, you must register to attend.  See the schedule and register to attend at https://compassionate-living.networkforgood.com/events/9710-the-humane-hoax-online-summit
Compassionate Living writes: As we successfully expose the animal agriculture industry for its cruelty and environmental impact, the clever industry marketers keep reacting with more “humane” labels, more small-scale tall tales, and more feel-good falsehoods. Bringing together a knowledgeable panel of experts on this issue, we hope to expose animal agriculture’s humane-washing with fresh insight into the humane hoax. Please join us in January for this exciting free event!

2019 Predicted to Be Year of The Vegan
Both Forbes and The Economist predicted that veganism would be more popular than ever in 2019.  The Economist said that 2019 would be the year veganism goes mainstream.  And Forbes said that in the coming year more people will embrace a plant based lifestyle. Thanks to Mercy for Animals for sharing these forecasts.  Read these predictions and other good news here:  https://mercyforanimals.org/2019-year-vegan-mainstream-economist-forbes


A Prayer for Compassion
A new feature length film for people who identify as spiritual  or religious is scheduled to be in theaters in March, but you can see a trailer now.  Called A Prayer for Compassion, it is produced by Main Street Vegan, the organization founded by Victoria Moran, one of my favorite authors, and it features leaders from many faith traditions explaining why eating animals is contrary to each tradition's tenets. There are scenes of animal cruelty shown in the trailer, but remember that the vast majority of people who are spiritual or religious have no idea what happens to animals before they're on the plate.  Watch the trailer and sign up for updates about the film's release at https://vimeo.com/283775716

Plant Based News Releases Film
Vegan 2018
This year's film about the vegan movement in the past year includes segments that trouble me.  Still, it is worth watching this hour long documentary about how veganism has become more mainstream than ever before.  What troubles me is the inclusion of lab grown meat.  Yes, it's a new trend and will reduce animal suffering. But it also reinforces the misguided notion that eating animal flesh is somehow necessary and normal, even if we grow the flesh from cells in a laboratory.   2018 was, indeed, a stellar year for veganism, and this movie summarizes it well.  Miyoko Schinner is featured here, and her outlook for the future is encouraging.  You may want to subscribe (free) to Plant Based News, and consider a financial donation to this excellent organization.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTeqU6_Jryc

World Veg Fest Videos Now On YouTube
If you didn't make it to the San Francisco Veg Society's World Veg Fest in November, or if you were there but missed some of the speakers, now you can watch every presentation on YouTube.  There are recipe demos and talks by many experts from near and far.   Among the  many speakers are Dr. Alan Goldhamer, Colleen Patrick Goudreau, Hope Bohanec,  Timaree Hagenburger,  Dr. Milton Mills, and Patti Breitman (that's me).  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrBBUuTzBsLLQLZs0zu5Qh7f5Nc3tAc5z   Congratulations and gratitude to SFVS for this landmark, 50th anniversary event, and for these recordings.

Want to Be a Better Vegan Advocate?
Plant Based News has teamed up with the Center for Effective Vegan Advocacy (founded by Dr. Melanie Joy and Tobias Leenaert) to create a series of videos on how to become a better advocate. Learn more and watch the videos at http://www.veganadvocacy.org/videos

Faux Furs
In the mail this week I received a catalog that sells fur coats, jackets, scarves and other accessories.  In small print it mentioned faux fur, but it wasn't clear if all the items were faux or just some.  So I went to their web site and learned that all the fur was faux fur. Then I wrote to ask if the leather and silk were from animals.  They answered within an hour:We do not use wool or silk. Everything we have is 100% faux. If we can assist further, please do not hesitate to contact us again.   While I do not like wearing faux fur because others won't know it's faux and it helps to normalize animal fur for human clothing, I recognize that many people do enjoy wearing faux fur.  And I was delighted to learn about a company that specializes in faux fur, faux leather, and faux silk and that has responsive customer service.  So if you are looking for a fur coat that did not involve killing animals, check out https://fabulousfurs.com/content--name-our-story

Cruelty Free Chocolate
Not all vegan chocolate is cruelty free.  The Food Empowerment Project has updated its  list of approved chocolate (that does not use abusive labor practices) in response to news about cocoa workers in a report from the University of Sheffield, Economic & Social Research Council and Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute. The dataset used “includes in-depth interviews with over 120 tea and cocoa workers, a survey of over 1000 tea and cocoa workers, and over 100 interviews with business and government actors."  If you already use the app and have not yet updated it, now is the time.  Learn more about the changes and sign up for the chocolate app for finding  cruelty free chocolate at http://appetiteforjustice.blogspot.com/2018/11/changes-to-food-empowerment-projects.html

Plant Based Food Association Announces New Stamp
In association with NSF International, a testing, inspection and certification agency, the Plant Based Food Association has launched the first and only plant-based food certification seal. Foods that are eligible for the seal include meat alternatives, dairy substitutes and egg substitutes.  Tofurky and Oatly, both members of the PBFA, are among the first companies to use it in their packaging.  Learn more at https://plantbasedfoods.org/certified-plant-based-stamp-launches/  And see what the media are saying about the seal at https://plantbasedfoods.org/pbfa-certified-plant-based-seal-launch-garners-widespread-interest/

Have Fun With Climate Change Food Calculator
See what a difference you are making with your food choices. I love this site, though kale and other greens are missing - gasp! Be sure to scroll down after your results are posted to see the comparison to other foods.   Thanks to JoAnn F. for bringing this calculator to my attention.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46459714

 
What Else to Do in January
As always, be sure to look at  http://www.bayareaveg.org/events.htm  and  http://www.meetup.com/marin-vegan/  to find out what's happening in the coming weeks. Also, check out Compassionate Living in Sonoma County. Their web site is  www.socoveg.org/ and The San Francisco Veg Society at www. SFVS.org.


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