Letters to the Editors
Vegetarianism Helps the Environment During Global Crisis
Kudos for your longtime, valuable efforts to educate people about the many benefits of vegetarianism and to provide the information to enable people to maintain vegetarian lives.
Today, your efforts are more important than ever as there are increasing indications that animal-based agriculture is a major factor behind the planet's rapid movement toward an unprecedented climate catastrophe. In 2006, a United Nations report indicated that animal agriculture emits more greenhouse gases in CO2 equivalents than all the cars, planes, ships, and other means of transportation worldwide combined. In a November/December 2009 cover article in World Watch magazine called "Livestock and Climate Change," two environmentalists argue that 'livestock' agriculture is responsible for over half of the human-induced greenhouse gases.
To move our imperiled planet to a sustainable path, it is essential that the vegetarian movement stress the urgency of a shift to plant-based diets. To help in our efforts, we can also point out the very significant contributions of meat consumption to disease, mistreatment of farmed animals, rapid species extinction, hunger, water scarcities, deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, and many more societal problems.
I urge The VRG to continue its valuable efforts to educate people on these issues.
Very truly yours,
Richard S.,
via e-mail
Note: Jeanne Yacoubou discusses this topic in detail on page 20. Also, check out The VRG's new brochure, "Save Our Water the Vegetarian Way," on this issue's back cover.
Passover Recipes From VRG Cookbook and VJ Are a Big Hit!
In response to No Cholesterol Passover Recipes by Debra Wasserman and Matzo Desserts and Vegan Easter Eggs by Nancy Berkoff in Issue 1, 2010, of Vegetarian Journal:
Happy Passover! Thank you for the yummy-looking recipes for our vegan Passover. This is our first year as vegans, and we're excited to celebrate with new foods.
And thank you for coming up with these alternatives. L'chaim!
Denise S.,
via e-mail
