(via Veggie Going Vegan) I was happy to find “The New Four Food Groups” from the PCRM:

Four Food Groups from the PCRM

It’s also available on their site as a full color handout and poster.

I’ve noticed lately that while reading my set of RSS feeds I’m getting lots of ads that I don’t consider well targeted at me as a vegan:

Ads by Google, in Google Reader

I’m reading feeds in a site-specific browser using Fluid, which means in essence I’m reading them in a browser using Google Reader.

The ads are clearly powered by Google Ad Sense, but look at the tags of the blog post to which this one was linked: business, collaboration, journalism, Media, news. Which one of those suggests I’d be interested in something called “Herd Management Software”?

I remembered that once upon a time, I checked out Google’s Ads Preferences Manager and opted out of targeted advertising. Revisting the site now, it looks like that only applies to the browser in which you did it, not all browsers.

Thus it looks like my SSB (which I use to visit Google Reader) still doesn’t have its opt-out cookie set, and is getting served targeted ads. Ok, that much I get.

But why does Google think Herd Management will be a good category for me?

Visiting the Google Ad Preferences Manager in the browser I actually use to view Google Reader, I find the following listed as my interests:

Computers & Electronics – Hardware – Peripherals – Printers
Computers & Electronics – Software – Operating Systems
Industries – Agriculture & Forestry – Food Production
Industries – Agriculture & Forestry – Livestock

Well there it is. Certainly I can see how reading lots of vegan blogs might suggest I’m interested in what the industry euphamistically calls “Food Production” (ie, the breeding, captivity, and slaughter of non-human animals).

But isn’t Google smart enough to recognize that a vegan’s interest in these things is different than a cattle rancher’s?

The fix is to opt-out in that browser as well, by the way.

Just a quick pointer to two new recently updated web resources useful for vegans and people who’d like to be vegan.

The first is brought to you by the good doctors at Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PMRC). It’s a 21 day “kickstart” program starting January 1st, 2010.

The new 21-day kickstart program from PMRC

The Kickstart program includes daily messages, breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, webcasts, coupons, celebrity tips and inspirational messages, etc. Should make it easier and help folks who might otherwise be going it alone as they try to transition to a vegan diet.

The second is brought to you by the folks at Mercy for Animals and Compassionate Action for Animals. It’s a launch of a new version of VegGuide, an extensive and user-sourced guide to vegan, vegetarian, and vegetarian-friendly restaurants around the world:

VegGuide.org

Loved this, from a discussion on Making Hay of Dr. Melanie Joy’s new book Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows:

What we eat – what we choose to consider food – is the product of ideology when we aren’t forced by necessity to eat whatever we can get.

And this:

Our goal isn’t to simply get people to stop eating meat, dairy and eggs, but to abolish the system that is carnism, one burgeoning vegan advocate at a time. In doing so, we must remember that when we ask a person to stop eating meat, we’re not simply requesting a change in diet. We are requesting a shift in deep-seated ideology, one that is intimately connected with family, community, spirituality, and politics. Making a change in lifestyle, the roots of which lie deep and strong, is no small task. When we realize this, we are able to approach our advocacy from a place of love and compassion, not anger and judgment. I really believe that when we advocate from this loving place, the world is possible.

Which is to say what we choose to consider food for most of us in North America and Europe is ideologically determined, and that overcoming ideology is what makes it difficult, but possible. (Ideologies can be changed through defamilarization and exposure to different modes of thinking).

Made me think of this recent pairing of images:

Little Orphan Angelo at Farm Sanctuary:

And this shirt, now available at Food Fight! in Portland and likely elsewhere:

The answer, of course, is one like me – before beginning the process of unlearning ideology and investigating the realities of “animal agriculture” that led me to becoming vegan . . .

The folks at Change.org will be hosting Blog Action Day again this year, with a focus on Climate Change.

It’s a great opportunity to remind people of the link between animal-based agriculture and climate change.

Related links:

• Livestock’s Long Shadow – the UN report from the Food and Agriculture Organization which concluded that “livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions” – more than that of transportaiton.
• Price of Meat: Cut some meat, cut global warming – a blog which focuses on these connections, and has lots of good links to more info
• Vegan Video from A Life Connected