The launch party for the Boston Vegan Association is Saturday, November 3rd, 5-10pm at the ICC in Allston (map).
Monthly Archive for October, 2007
Great new video, just in time for Halloween, from the folks at CommonCraft – Zombies in Plain English:
Tomorrow is the 12th Annual Boston Vegetarian Society Food Festival, at Reggie Lewis Athletic Center.
If you’ve never been, you should check out the speaker schedule, the list of sponsors and exhibitors, and directions are all on the BVS site.
Warning – it gets very very crowded by late afternoon – plan for plenty of time to make your way through the exhibit hall, and be prepared for some lines.
Come hungry, and be prepared to leave stuffed, and with a bag full o’ vegetarian goodness.
Nice to see the LA Times taking up the links between vegetarianism and the environment: “Killer Cow Emissions”
Now I actually have reason to use my digg and newsvine accounts. 
Highlights:
All told, livestock are responsible for 18% of greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide, according to the U.N. — more than all the planes, trains and automobiles on the planet. And it’s going to get a lot worse. As living standards rise in the developing world, so does its fondness for meat and dairy. Annual per-capita meat consumption in developing countries doubled from 31 pounds in 1980 to 62 pounds in 2002, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, which expects global meat production to more than double by 2050. That means the environmental damage of ranching would have to be cut in half just to keep emissions at their current, dangerous level.
It isn’t enough to improve mileage standards or crack down on diesel truck emissions . . . Eventually, the United States and other countries are going to have to clean up their agricultural practices, while consumers can do their part by cutting back on red meat.
. . .
A recent report in the Lancet led by Australian National University professor Anthony J. McMichael posits that available technologies applied universally could reduce non-carbon dioxide emissions from livestock by less than 20%. The authors advocate another, fringe approach that has long been embraced by dietitians and vegans but is a long way from going mainstream in the United States: eating less meat.
I do wish they could focus on not just the “emissions” piece – too easy to degrade into jokes about cows farting. There are other environmental impacts of livestock production as we – for example, the amount of grain raised to feed those livestock which would be more effectively consumed directly by humans. The waste runoff from containment style pig factories is a serious industrial pollutant
But at least they are paying attention to the issue, which is more than I can say for most mainstream media.
Dinner last night was at Chicago’s famous Veggie Diner.
The menu’s nicely varied – not too focused on the faux-meats, with a broad variety of dishes, as well as vegan organic wines and beers.
We had a fabulous Sweet Potatoe Polenta cake appetizer, and I had a spicy Thai Tofu rice bowl with broccoli.
Had to get the hot sauce on the side to make the Thai dish actually spicy, but the staff warned me it would be medium at best.
Friend ‘em on MySpace, or order a “Meat Sucks” T-Shirt.
If you’re ever passing through the Windy City this place is well worth checking out – I can see why they’ve won so many awards.
