February 2024
Marin VEG


There is so much to celebrate:  Rain! Frogs! Full reservoirs!  Leap year!  How will you spend the extra day this month? Let's saturate it with kindness and gratitude. I am putting that in my calendar today.

When I worked in New York, I had a poster in my office that said: I've read so much about the danger of smoking, the danger of drinking, and the danger of eating meat that I've decided to give up reading.  I am reminded of that poster when The Food Empowerment Project reports another cruel practice  behind some of our vegan food choices. Instead of giving up reading, my practice is to turn toward the cruelty and try to do whatever I can to minimize or eliminate it. To me, veganism is more than a diet. It's a way to cause the least harm possible. Please keep don't stop reading when you come to the piece about coconuts, below.


Saturday, February 3
Reiki taught at Goatlandia
and
Tuesday, February 13 and
Wednesday, February 14
Pick Up Sweet Treats from Goatlandia
in Sebastopol
Deb Blum and Jason Feehrer are offering a pop up opportunity to purchase plant based baked sweets and treats to enjoy on Valentine's Day. Reserve yours and learn more at https://mailchi.mp/goatlandia/valentinepopup  Read to to the bottom of the page to learn about the Reiki class being offered at Goatlandia on Saturday, February 3.


Wednesday, February 14
Sanctuary Tour and Dinner by Miyoko
Sold Out, Sorry
As a fundraising event at Rancho Compasion, a tour of the the sanctuary and a dinner for two by Chef Miyoko is planned for Valentine's Day.  Alas, as this newsletter goes to press the event is sold out.  Good reason to get on the sanctuary's mailing list for future events!
You can do that and/or make a donation at https://www.ranchocompasion.org/     Proceeds will go to the needs of the animal residents and to the expanding youth education programs. 


Free Range Is Not the Answer to Climate Change
Two excellent short films from Forks Over Knives explain why proponents of free range animal agriculture are missing the big picture.  The YouTube video is under two minutes. The second link is to a more in depth article and includes a 9 minute video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9smZJd15ok
nutritionstudies.org/free-range-livestock/


How Many Animals Are Eaten by Humans Every Year?
This short video is powerful. It comes with distracting links to ignore and is embedded in a very short article:
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/more-than-100-billion-animals-are-eaten-every-year-on-the-top-is-4909142



Vegan Twin Study on Netflix
The Stanford study of twins that I told you about in last month's newsletter (https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2023/11/twin-diet-vegan-cardiovascular.html?microsite=news&tab=news) is the subject of a popular Netflix documentary.
You Are What You Eat; A Twin Experiment is available on Netflix.  Here is a summary of the main points made in the film.
https://vegnews.com/vegan-news/twin-expriment-netflix-documentary-you-are-what-you-eat


Animal Cruelty and Child Labor in Coconut Harvesting
Thanks to the Food Empowerment Project for telling us about the cruel use of monkeys and children in coconut harvesting.  The industry is harming animals, people and the planet, and it can end only if we don't turn away.
https://foodispower.org/our-food-choices/coconut-controversy/