Going Veg
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The Vegan Lifestyle --- It's For Real!
Dr. John Gobble,
DrPh, MPH, RD, LD, CHES
Monday, 6/2/08, 7p, McNail-Riley House, 601 W. 13th (at Jefferson), Eugene FREE - Map
Veg Wisdom
Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar. - Bradley Miller
Edu-Stat
Chickens killed for their flesh in the US are bred and drugged to grow so quickly that their hearts, lungs, and limbs often can't keep up.
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Rich - Long Term EVEN Member and Star McDougaller
Veg Wisdom
People are the only animals that drink the milk of the mother of another species. All other animals stop drinking milk altogether after weaning. It is unnatural for a dog to nurse from a giraffe; a child drinking the milk of a mother cow is just as strange. - Michael Klaper, M.D.
Going Veg
When someone asks us, "How do I go veg?" it is probably the most exciting question we ever hear. To us it signifies an interested newcomer is open to making a change---a change that will improve her/his life...and the world!
Natural, vegan foods, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, are nutritional powerhouses! They provide countless benefits----to us, for our own health, energy and vitality---and, quite amazingly enough, to the entire world around us. No one or thing on this planet exists independently of the others, and to think otherwise would lead to the rudest of awakenings. Sometimes too late.
When one pursues the value of a plant-based diet, we find so many issues interconnected. Respect for all life, compassion for the animals, living sustainably, creating and maintaining environmental health, global peace, personal peace, world hunger, spiritual awakening… And it becomes easier to see how all life truly is interconnected. There is a value for everyone and everything in a vegan diet. A plant-based diet is a Win-Win-Win. For you and me, for the planet, and for all the non-human animals with whom we share the Earth.
Wonderful and numerous books, articles and websites have been written on the benefits of going veg. This website will refer you to some that emphasize Why going veg is such a powerful choice. In this Going Veg section, we also will be referring you to How to Go Veg.
These Why and How questions are also linked. Typically, those who inquire into the Why, ultimately end up asking How, as soon as they realize how powerful their daily food choices are. And those that dive right into the How, eventually learn many more whys and wherefores than they originally thought existed!
If any of the issues interest you, set out on a wondrous journey in awareness. You are guaranteed a life-changing experience many times over.
From those of us who share the Earth with you, thank you.
Vegan Values
A PHILOSOPHY OF VEGAN VALUES
by Stanley Sapon, PhD
The term philosophy is often used to mean a set of basic values and attitudes toward life, nature and society. In this sense, Veganism is a "Philosophy of Life," guided by what I envision as an essential core of values and principles:
- Vegans see life as a phenomenon to be treasured, revered and respected. We do not see animals as either "The Enemy" to be subdued, or the Materials for Food, Fabric or Fun that were put on Earth for human use.
- Vegans see themselves as a part of the natural world, rather than its owners or its masters.
- Veganism recognizes no expendable or superfluous species that humans are free to hurt or destroy. Species of life-forms need not justify their existence, nor plead for protection from extinction on the grounds of their potential usefulness as food or medicine for humans. We continue to be burdened and misguided by adages such as "A weed is a plant we have not yet found a use for."
- Veganism acknowledges the intrinsic legitimacy of all life. It rejects any hierarchy of acceptable suffering among sentient creatures. It is no more acceptable to torment or kill creatures with "primitive nervous systems" than those with "highly developed nervous systems." The value of life to its possessor is the same, whether it be the life of a clam, a crayfish, a carp, a cow, a chicken, or a child.
- Veganism understands that gentleness cannot be a product of violence, harmony cannot be a product of strife, and peace cannot be a product of contention and conflict.
- Vegan ideals encompass much more than advocacy of a diet free of animal products, or a fervent defense of animal rights. Veganism excludes no sentient being---animal or human---from its commitment to compassionate, gentle benevolence. To show tender regard for the suffering of animals, yet treat humans with callous contempt, is a disheartening contradiction of Vegan principles.
- John Muir, talking about the natural environment, once observed "Every time I bend down to pick something up, I find it is connected to something else." There is an equivalent "ecology" to our behavior. Everything we do connects to something else; every action touches on the world around us, either close at hand and noticeable, or far away and unperceived, immediate in its effect or distant in time.
- If Veganism has a prime value, it is simply that life-respecting compassion overrides individual issues of custom, convenience, comfort or cuisine.
- If there is a single article of faith, it is that commitment to Vegan values will bring us closer to a world in which the fate and fortune of a planet and all its life forms do not hang on the judgment or the generosity of one species.
- If there is one single concept that both generates and sustains the meaning and the power of the Vegan worldview, it is found in the word mindfulness. As Vegans, we strive to be thoughtful, aware and concerned about the impact of our choices, our actions and our decisions. The fruit of this awareness is inner peace, the quiet strength of ethical confidence, and an uplifting sense of fulfillment.
Reprinted with permission of Dr. Stanley Sapon
Stanley M, Sapon, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of Psycholinguistics at the University of Rochester (N.Y.), where he was Director of the Verbal Behavior Laboratory and the Child Language Development Center. Since earning his Doctorate at Columbia University in 1949, he has taught at universities in this country and abroad, and carried out extensive research in learning at Harvard University and the University of California Los Angeles. He was Director of Research in Verbal Behavior at the Britannica Center for Studies in Learning in Palo Alto, California.
Dr. Sapon has been an active proponent of a vegan lifestyle for 28 years, and his extensive writings have earned him respect as a vegan philosopher. In 1989, he and his wife Rhoda founded the Rochester Area Vegetarian Society. As dedicated hunger activists, they established, and continue to direct, the Maimonides Project- a grassroots hunger action organization. They have both served as members of the Board of Trustees of the North American Vegetarian Society.