Taking Sides: Action For Animals Newsletter

8/6/2019 Taking Sides: Action For Animals Newsletter

1/8

Take sides.

Neutrality helps the oppressor,

never the victim.

Silence encourages the tormentor,

never the tormented.

TAKING SIDESAction for Animals Newsletter, Issue 1


2/8

I want to be vegan, but my parents wont letme. What do I do?

We hear rom a lot o kids who want to bevegan and their parents wont let them, butthere are a lot o ways to work towards hav-ing your parents support. First o all, talk toyour parents about their concerns. Ask themwhy they wont let you, listen to their reasons,and then address them. Many parents worryabout their kids getting proper nutrition. o goover this concern with them, it can be help-ul to look at a resource such as the Nutritionpage o the Vegetarian Resource Group website(vrg.org) and the literature section o our web-

site (aa-online.org/literature.html). Share withthem that the American Dietetic Associationapproves o vegan diets or all ages. You canshow your parents the inormation that yound and then talk with them about what oodsyoull be eating to get all o your nutrients.

I your parents are just generally worried about what oods youll eat as a vegan and whereto buy them, you can start by going throughyour cupboards and rerigerator with them. You can read ingredients together to discoverhow many o the oods that are already in your

home happen to be vegan. You can then talk tothem about what other vegan oods you mightwant to start keeping in the house, such as that

you want to start having soy milk or your ce-real. Ten plan a trip to the grocery store withyour parents to show them where to nd theoods and look at new oods with them. Makesure that they realize that they can shop at anygrocery store and that they do not have to buyexpensive oods at a specialty store. For lists ocommon vegan oods, you can look at the Ac-cidentally Vegan website (peta.org/accidental-lyvegan). While youre at the store with yourparents, you can also make suggestions or veg-an oods that you think they will like as well,and point out things such as the ake meat sec-tion. Using the internet, you can nd a lot ogreat vegan recipes that are easy to makeandthat your whole amily is likely to enjoy. Youcan do a search or a avorite ood along withthe words vegan recipe and youll nd manyoptions. You may also want to look at vegweb.com, an all-vegan recipe website.

Many parents worry that, by having a vegan inthe amily, they will lose having amily dinners,but you can show them that you can all enjoynew recipes together, you can alter amily a-vorites and make substitutions, and that manystaples are vegan. For example, a pasta or ricedish can easily be vegan, and a banana can beused in place o an egg in baking.

Overall, it may help to assure your parents thatyou will be healthy and will still very muchenjoy a wide variety o oods, as well as to letthem know why being vegan is important toyou. Tey can be proud o you or being veganand glad to have raised a child who is so com-mitted to helping animals, and you can let

them know this and tell them how much theirsupport would mean to you.

Action or Animals is a 501(c)(3)non-prot animal advocacy orga-nization headquartered in Seattle,

WA, USA. AFA operates under theprinciple that animals do not existor human exploitation. Animalshave the right to play, love, care ortheir amilies, and enjoy all the rich

experiences o their lives. o this end,we promote a vegan liestyle througheducational outreach with a specialemphasis on outreach to youngpeople.

AFA is unded entirely through indi-vidual donations and purchases romour online store; we do not receiveany corporate unding. o nd outmore about our work and how youcan help animals, please visit our

website: www.aa-online.org.

EDITORAMANDA SCHEMKES

ASSOCIATE EDITOR DAVE BEMEL

GRAPHIC DESIGNER JESSICA JENKIN

Action for Animals Founder and Pre

dent Dave Bemel received the coveted Henry Spira Grassroots Activi

Award at the Animal Rights 2009

National Conference in Los Angele

Dave was selected by a committee

of nationally recognized leaders in

the animal rights movement for hi

dedication to ending animal explo

tation. To qualify for the Henry Spir

Award, an activist must stand out a

an inuential voice for the animal

and must have been doing so unpa

for at least ten years.


3/8

Ruby Roth wrote and illustrated the childrens book Thats Why We

Dont Eat Animals: A Book about Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living

Things. It tells the true story of factory farms and the animals who

deserve to be free.

Ive read that the idea or Tats Why We

Dont Eat Animalscame out o teaching artto children. Can you explain or elaborateon this?I was teaching art at an elementary ater-school program and the kids were alwaysasking why I never ate the string cheese ormilk they were served. Tey were sincerelyinterested and many told me they wantedto go vegan, but there was no support sys-tem in their homes or school to help themdo it. I centered some projects on animals,but when I looked into nding more re-sources or them, I couldnt nd a book

on the subject that wasnt based on a talk-ing animal or vegetablewhich I elt theywere too smart or. Around the same time,I heard that the education o children wasa major actor in the success o recyclingprograms in Los Angeles. Kids learnedabout it and went home to radicalizetheir parents! I was motivated to createa book that had the potential to provideinormation and support, and ultimatelyinspire activism.

What is your response to parents whowant to protect their children rom the re-alities o actory arming and where oods(animal products) come rom?I understand the ambivalence aroundtelling children the truthno one wantsto scare their little ones. But there is aprescribed notion about childrenthatsmallness equals weakness and railty. Myexperience is that children do not requirethe sugarcoating they usually get. At thesame time, I took a lot o care to makethe inormation and images in my bookmanageable or a childs capacity. Tere isalways a way to be honest and gentle at thesame time.

What is the reaction that children tend tohave to your book?Children show incredible interest and in-sight. Tey ask questions and relate the in-ormation to their own livestheir pets,their gardens, their vegan aunt. One 4thgrader told me that actory arms remind-ed her o what her class was learning aboutslavery! And I have never experienced onechild who was overwhelmed or reakedout by the book. I think they enjoy being

let in on what seemed to have been

a secret kept rom them. Teyeel empowered by the truth. Ivereceived a bunch o emails romparents whose kids were inspiredto do things in their communitiesto help animals. I say in the bookthat each day, we have the reedomto change our lives. I think this is a veryimportant concept or any child or adultto absorband one to emphasize whenyou read the book to a kid: we never haveto ear things that we have the power tochange. And they get it!

What has been the reaction rom parents(or other adults)? Vegan parents? Non-vegan parents?Te response rom the parentsandeven veg people without kidshas beensupremely positive and enthusiastic. Iveheard rom people all over the world, romthe Czech Republic to Arica to Argentina,excited by the existence o a resource thatrepresents their values and invites theirchildren into the dialogue. And adultsacross the board have told me they learneda lot about animals rom the book! Mean-while, the negative comments have beenew and ar between in comparison, butthey are intense. Te terms brainwash-ing and propaganda have been thrownaround in reviews, but it only goes toshow that rom birth, people are set on aprogram that normalizes meat-eating as aundamental, God-given means o exis-tence. People are so deeply and emotion-ally attached to meat, they cant imaginetheir lives without it. Tey consider anydeparture rom what they consider normalto be deprivative and even abusive. But,as with any historical movement that hascalled or progress and some reection onour destructive patterns, we are going toconront ear and resistance. I recognizethat is the process o change.

Youve gotten a lot o support rom theanimal rights community or Tats WhyWe Dont Eat Animals. What role do yousee this book playing in the animal rightsmovement? Or what role do you hope tosee the book play?I hope this book becomes the go-to re-

source or teachers, librarians, parents, andveg amilies who respect a childs capacityor inormation as well as their capacityto make decisions. Tere has never beena more relevant time to learn about vegan-ism. It is a solution related to every crucialissue in the headlines today, rom disease

and healthcare to climate change and en-dangered species.What do you want children and parents totake away rom reading your book?I hope the book provides amilies a senseo connectedness to animals and the envi-ronmenta eeling that we have both aplace and power in this web o lie becauseour choices ripple out into the world. Iveseen this idea inspire kids with a greatsense sel-empowerment. Tey respondwith great intelligence and learn to choose

wisely. Tis kind o upbringing extendsbeyond veganism into all acets o lie...and it lasts a lietime.

As an artist, what do you want the impacto the beautiul--and very powerul--illus-trations to be? Were there specic moti-vations behind how you chose to do theillustrations?Te painting style in my book was highlyinspired by my students. Tey were re-ally genius at reducing complexly shapedanimals down to geometric shapes and I

ollowed suit with their point o view inmind. In the process o becoming vegan,it was visual inormationphotos and thelm Earthlingsthat really solidied mycommitment. Te mind doesnt alwaysbelieve until it sees evidence. So I knewthe paintings would be crucial to the mes-sage o the book. I wanted the paintingsto be emotive so that even i there were nowords to explain the details, the illustra-tions would still convey the magical worldo ree animals and the sadness o actoryarms.

Q&A WITHRuby Roth


4/8

What made you decide to become

a vegetarian?

When I was 13 years old, I was away at sum-mer camp and a kid said to me, Why wouldyou want to kill another living thing i it isntnecessary or you to survive? Our modern ex-istence oers us so many suitable alternatives.Why cause the pain, suering, and death o aliving and eeling being?

Now you have to understand that I grewup in South America, where we ate tons omeat and had parrilladas (barbeques) every-day where we would roast an entire pig. Iloved meat, but that kids words rang so true

to me that I said, I love animals. I I dontneed to kill them, why would I? It made somuch sense to me that right then and there Idecided to stop eating meat. It was the mostabrupt change Ive ever made in my lie. Soabrupt in act that the ollowing week, atercoming home rom camp, I was at a bar-mitzvah where they served chicken ajitasand I sincerely orgot that I no longer wantedto eat the esh o an animal. I was eating aajita when my riend said, Gabe, arent youa vegetarian now? I totally and honestly hadorgotten. Habits sometimes take a while tochange, but that was the last time I ate meat.

COBRA STARSHIP FRONTMAN GABE SAPORTA TALKS WITH

ACTION FOR ANIMALS ABOUT NOT EATING MEAT.

Gabe Saporta, vegetarian and singer of the popular band Cobra Starship,has welcomed AFA setting up an outreach table at shows on Cobra Starshipsheadlining tours and expressed to us multiple times how important the topic of

animal rights is to him. We recently talked with him about his decision to bevegetarian and love of animals.

How did being a vegetarian develop

into your concern for animal rights?

At that young age, I had the intuition thateating meat was unnecessary, and I wondered,What is compelling me to eel this way?When I went to college I majored in Philoso-phy to try to understand rom a moral andintellectual perspective what my instincts werealready telling me: animals have rights. Byanimal rights I dont mean that animals havethe right to vote or anything like that. I meanthat they have a right to have their interestsprotected. As a minimum, the most basic othose interests ought to be protected: the in-terest to not be killed.

Troughout history, philosophers and law-makers have justied the slaughter o animalsby basically putting animals on the same mor-al level as vegetables: put on the earth or usto exploit. But as I thought more deeply aboutthis, I began to question the conventionalwisdom. Tere is a big dierence between ananimal and a vegetable: an animal has the abil-ity to eel pain. As a living thing develops theability to eel pain, it simultaneously developsa morally justiable sel-interest in not eelingthat pain, and it thus works to avoid eelingpain and avoid being killed.

GABE SAPORTA

A VOICE FOR ANIMALS

We should have empathy or an animal whwants to escape pain. But instead we inictthat pain, that death, on a genocidal levelin a slaughterhousewith no semblance o

humanity and no regard or the pain beingendured by an animal as he or she is skinnealive.

For us to evolve as a species, or our humanity to reach a new level o peace, we need torid our lives o violence. And just becauseyou buy a hamburger at a supermarket aislwith a sticker o a smiling cow on it doesntmean that you are not a part o that circle oviolence. As much as I love animals, at the o the day, I dont abstain rom meat or thsake. I do it or mysel. I want to be able to

look at mysel in the mirror and know thatam not helping to cause the unnecessary deo an innocent being.


5/8

VEG FESTIVALS AND ANIMAL

RIGHTS CONFERENCES

At both Portland VegFest and SanFranciscos World Veg Festival, hundredso people stopped by our tables and wereeager to talk with us and take vegan recipesand inormation about being vegan. Wedistributed thousands o yers to manypeople who were not yet vegan, as well asto vegans who wanted inormation to helpthem stay vegan or to share with amily and

riends. It was great to meet people o allages, rom children to veteran vegans, andwhole amilies who share a love and concernor animals.

Our presence this year at animal rightsconerences included a table at Teir Lives,Our Voices: Midwest Animal AdvocacyConerence in Minneapolis andthe Animal Rights2009 National

Conerence in Los Angeles. Additionally, ourPresident Dave Bemel spoke about onlineoutreach and our Vice President AmandaSchemkes spoke about outreach to young

people at Teir Lives, Our Voices.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL OUTREACH

In Seattle, AFA actively helped the studentanimal rights group at the University o Wash-ington get the school year kicked o withtabling and leaeting. Weve also talked withhigh school students across the countrywho have contacted us about startinganimal groups at their schools and suppliedthem with materials, advice, and support.

Over the last several months, AFA has alsoheld a veggie hot dog giveaway, done GoVegan banner hangs, tabled street airs, andleaeted estivals and other events in our localcommunity. We have also distributed litera-ture to restaurants and activists nationwide,as well as sent vegan starter packs by request

to over 500 people per month in the

United States, Canada, and Australia.

Images (top to bottom)

1. Many young people attending Warped

Tour signed up on our email list to stay con-

nected and learn more about helping animals.

2. Blink-182 fans asking questions and taking

literature about veganism.

3. Picking up vegan information and recipes at our

Portland VegFest table.

4. Our table outside of the University Book Store

to introduce new students to their local animal

rights groups.

WARPED TOUR AND OTHER CONCERT OUTREACH

AFA traveled the West Coast on the Vans Warped our o Summer 2009 to do outreachto the thousands o young people who attend each stop o the traveling music estival.Both the people attending the shows and on the tour supported our work. Shane old,singer o the band Silverstein, told us, I think having inormation about animal rights andvegetarianism is really important at shows because or a lot o peopleits the only exposure they really have to that liestyle.

Other AFA summer concert outreach included booths at Blink-182, RiseAgainst, Dave Matthews Band, and Te Flaming Lips shows.

Warped concert-goers having fun showingtheir love for animals with our signs.


6/8

It is certainly no secret that, in sheer numbers,animals who are raised or ood are the most-

abused beings on the planet. Every year roundthe world, animal agribusiness raises andkills an estimated 55 billion chickens, pigs,cows, turkeys, sheep, goats and other animalssimply because people enjoy the taste o them.And that doesnt include the billions o shannually consumed. Its enough to discourageeven the most ardent animal advocate.Yet, sharing meals together is one ohumanitys oldest customs. We break bread toshow our solidarity. We dine to commemorateimportant events. And what holidaycelebration would be complete withoutsomething resh rom the oven? Because o itsunique position in our lives, ood oers thepromise o transormation, or what we placein our bellies can be the bridge to a higherlevel o compassion a rich appreciationo lie itsel. Te simple act o sharing adelicious plant-based meal with someonemore accustomed to dining on dead animalsmay not inspire them to immediately embracea cruelty-ree liestyle, but it helps demystiyethical eating, showing people that a meat-based diet is not necessary or good health(and, indeed, is even harmul).Following are a ew ideas to help you makethe most o vegan ood in your outreacheorts.

HOLIDAY MEALS & PARTIESSocial gatherings where meat will be servedcan be especially dicult or vegans whovisit their non-vegan parents and otheramily members. Most o us didnt growup on a strict vegetarian diet, so enduringthe wisecracks rom dubious relatives hasbecome as customary as Dad sitting at thehead o the table. But dont avoid these eventssimply because a dead animal makes a cruelcenterpiece; consider them opportunities todebunk the myths that vegan ood is strangeor that vegans are hard to please. Remember:you are representing animals who cannotspeak or themselves, so remain positive.

I your amily already knows you dont eatanimals, chances are theyll have somethingelse or you to eat, but consider bringing adelicious dish with you. I theres somethingelse vegan to eat, enjoy it with gusto.

While people are oten curious aboutveganism, a table lled with meat-eaters maynot always be your best audience or advocacy.Parties, on the other hand, aord you theopportunity to more readily speak one-on-one. Whatever the circumstances, youll bethe best judge o how you should handle anyquestions and comments about animal abuse.(When asked why Im vegan, I always beginby telling people its because I dont want tosupport cruelty to animals I let the situationdictate how much detail I go into.)

FEED-INSTe idea is pretty simple: Hand out ree vegan

ood to the public. Ater all, who doesntlike ree ood? For a eed-in, activists preparesome vegan versions o popular meat-basedoods, such as veggie burgers and chickennuggets, and pass out samples at a locationwith lots o oot trac like the ront o aast-ood restaurant. Passersby get to try sometasty vegan treats, have a non-conrontationalencounter with an animal activist and, wehope, walk away eeling that veganism isntthat unusual ater all. Feed-ins can be as basicas one person with a platter o ourky sausagesamples and some vegan literature or severalactivists going all out with a table, veggiedogs with condiments and a banner declaringFREE Vegetarian Food!

FOOD FAIRSPopular in the UK and catching on withactivists elsewhere, ood airs are a bitmore elaborate than eed-ins, but theopportunities or vegan and animal advocacyare exponentially greater. Food airs create asocial context or your activism, attractingmany attendees while giving you the chanceto make a presentation to promote cruelty-ree

living. Not only do these events give attendeesa better idea o what animal activists are like,but they showcase the amazing variety oplant-based ood options and demonstratethat vegans do not live o o iceberg lettuce.Putting on a ood air is as simple as reservingthe main auditorium in a city library and thenpreparing a dinner. Te ood may be donatedby local veg-riendly businesses or activists willbring a dish. One element that helps makeood airs an event is having a guest speaker,such as a dietician, che, philosopher or authorwho promotes veganism.

In addition to teaching the public aboutvegan-related issues, these dinners andlectures help train activists to be eectivespokespeople.

Whatever way you choose to advocate oranimals, ood is an incredibly powerulcomponent in the activists toolkit.Mark Hawthorne is the author of Strikingat the Roots: A Practical Guide to AnimalActivism (www.strikingattheroots.com).

1 stick vegan margarine, melted (Earth

Balance and Nucoa are vegan options)

2 cups (1 18-oz jar) peanut butter

1 1-lb box (about 4 cups) powdered suga

3 cups rice cereal (optional)

8-oz bar vegan semi-sweet Bakers

Chocolate

1 bag vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips

(Ghirardelli, Guittard, rader Joes, and

Whole Foods brands all have vegan chips

In a large bowl, mix the melted margarin

and peanut butter until ully blended.Continue to mix (with a spoon or byhand) as you gradually add the powderedsugar and rice cereal. Once the ingredi-ents are evenly mixed, mold the mixtureinto small balls, each about one inch indiameter. I the mixture is too dry to orminto balls, add more peanut butter. Setthe peanut butter balls aside. Break theBakers Chocolate into smaller pieces, thecombine it and the chocolate chips in adouble boiler. Melt the chocolate, stirringoccasionally. With the chocolate on lowheat, use a ork or toothpick to dip eachpeanut butter ball into the chocolate. Plathe dipped balls on wax paper on a cookisheet. Once all o the balls have beendipped and cooled, drizzle the remainingchocolate over the tops o the trufes tocreate a decorative eect. Rerigerate untall o the chocolate is rm, then removethe trufes rom the wax paper. Servechilled or at room temperature. Te number o trufes varies depending on the sizo each ball, but the recipe usually makesat least a ew dozen.

FOOD AS OUTREACHBy Mark Hawthorne


7/8

I always had a love and appreciation oranimals, and rom an early age I was con-cerned about their well-being. However, itwasnt until December 8, 1995 that I de-cided to give up consuming meat. My old-er sister was organizing an Animal RightsWeek at my high school. Out o respect

or her, I became a vegetarian or the week.I attended lectures, listened to speakers,read literature about animal cruelty, andwatched videos about actory arms andanimal testing. Tat week o becomingvegetarian turned to a vegan liestyle.As a vegan bodybuilder, I consume wholeoods (ruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, le-gumes, and seeds) as my undamental baseor nutrition. I eat six meals a day, threelarge meals and three smaller meals, tokeep mysel constantly nourished and

never too ull or too hungry. Tiskeeps my metabolism unctioningat optimal levels and allows me toget adequate calories, includingsucient protein. My avoritehigh protein oods include greenslike kale and spinach, grains likequinoa, nuts like almonds andwalnuts, beans, lentils, tou,tempeh, a variety o supplementslike Vega (a plant-based mealreplacement powder), and other

protein powders and bars based

around hemp, pea, and rice protein. Inaddition to my ocus on whole oods andnatural muscle-building supplements, ahuge part o my vegan athletic success is mdedication to my overall vision and mis-sion o what I plan to accomplish and myconsistency in my training. Aside rom a

sound nutrition program, there is nothingmore important than consistency in train-ing. Without consistency you cannot expecadaptation, improvement, or success. It juscant happen without putting in the time. Iwork out or 60-90 minutes ve days a weeand ocus on one or two muscle groupsper workout, and I train with intensity andpurpose.

I never orget what I stand or and what Iwork so hard or. My mission is to reduceanimal suering and reduce animal cruelty

and death, and the best way I know how todo that is rom leading by positive exampleas someone who is healthy, happy, and ex-cels on a pure plant-based diet as an athlete

Robert Cheeke is a 2-time ChampionBodybuilder, President of Vegan Bodybuildin& Fitness(www.veganbodybuilding.com) ,and the author ofVegan Bodybuilding &Fitness (www.veganbodybuildingbook.com).

RobertCheeke,veganbodybuilder

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8/8

Action or AnimalsP.O. Box 45843Seattle, WA 98145

ACROSS

4. vegetarian Simpson5. possible egg substitute6. vegan talk show host8. org. established in 1999 (abbrev.)9. animal experimentation10. cow milk alternative14. vegan mayonnaise18. gases created by animal agriculture19. documentary about humans treatment o animals

DOWN1. sheep mutilation by wool industry2. nut containing omega-3

3. cages used by egg industry7. Babe and Wilbur8. individual deserving respect11. vegan sandwich cookie12. wheat meat13. byproduct o dairy industry15. industry that kills male babies16. somatic cells in cow milk17. no animal products

Crossword answers in next newsletter.

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Taking Sides: Action For Animals Newsletter