Is 202 the Year for a UN Convention Against Speciesism?

“People are dying from Climate Change in Africa” lamented Minister Kaouthar Chelbi of Tunisia.   She was waiting for Ambassador Moncef Baati to arrive for the meeting with Sharon Wallenberg, Founder of Vegan International.  The meeting was to discuss a new initiative - a proposed United Nations Against Speciesism.

“It’s a radical approach”, drawled Sharon Wallenberg, founder of Vegan International.  This was the first time Ambassador Inga King of St. Vincent and the Grenadines raised her sparkling blue eyes.  Ms. Wallenberg was describing the proposed UN Convention Against Speciesism.

Ambassador Mohammad Edrees of Egypt mentioned, “End Communicable Diseases – ECD” in comparison to Wallenberg’s proposed UN Convention Against Speciesism.  According to Edrees, the former was destroyed by the Pharmaceutical industry.

 

Ambassador Yabou from the Gambia has sent the proposed Convention to his legal department for review.  Vegan International legal advisor, Retired New York State Supreme Court Justice Ira J. Raab is also reviewing the proposed Convention in relation to International Law.

In all, Vegan International Founder, Sharon Wallenberg, has met with 17 United Nations Ambassadors to present the concept of a United Nations Convention against Speciesism.  The Ambassadors then relay the information to their respective Governments.  Several nations have expressed an interest in the idea. 

The new year, 2020, promises many new innovations, and it is hoped that Vegan International’s proposed United Nations Convention Against Speciesism will be one of them.

Next Week at the United Nations

Next week, Vegan International Founder and Author Sharon Wallenberg,  will promote a Convention Against Speciesism at the United Nations.  A new UN Convention is needed to promote and protect the rights of all species.  This Convention would be an internationally recognized instrument for the protection of all inhabitants of Earth.  Currently there are no rights or protection afforded to the most vulnerable on the planet, or to the planet itself. 

Speciesism, the exploitation, and violent abuse of individuals of another species, is not recognized as a category of discrimination.  It is widely tolerated throughout the world.  Species other than human are excluded from any protection, are treated as objects instead of rights holders, and are subjected to violence and abuse of all kinds.

Respect for the rights of all species benefits everyone: humans, those of other species, and the planet.  It helps achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by ultimately reducing poverty, achieving food security, improving nutrition, promoting sustainable veganic agriculture, reducing human mortality and morbidity from diet related disease such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, sustainably managing the scarce resources of land and water, combating climate change, sustainably managing forests, and reducing pollution of air, water, and land. 

A UN Convention Against Speciesism finally ‘leaves no one behind’.  It creates a ‘place at the table’ for all inhabitants of planet Earth.  This proposed new UN Convention would bring clarity to the nature of the rights of all species, and to the responsibilities necessary to protect them.  It would view all species as rights-holders, and these rights would be in a single document.  In addition, it would raise public awareness in those nations which do not ratify this Convention.

#UNConvention, #Speciesism, #Vegan, #compassion

The Unfulfilled Promise of Nuremberg

After millions of innocent people were killed in World War Two, everyone prayed for a more peaceful future.  The primary goal of the United Nations was “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” 

An International Military Tribunal (IMT) was established in Nuremberg. Chief Prosecutor Robert M. Jackson (US Supreme Court) warned that if law was to serve a useful purpose, “it must condemn aggression by any other nations including those who sit here now in judgement.” 

A war called Speciesism is being perpetrated on innocent victims by all developed nations.  This unlimited aggression is against those most vulnerable on this planet - defenseless animals - considered by some to be another nation.

“To initiate a war of aggression is the supreme international crime” was decided at Nuremberg...It was hoped that this might deter future wars.  Yet, it soon became apparent that not all were prepared to give up their perceived right to go to war. 

Speciesism, is a supreme international crime.  It is a war against the defenseless who are murdered, incarcerated, abused, subjected to habitat destruction and species extinction.  The by-products of this war are climate change from methane; pollution of water, land, and air; rising human health care costs and human morbidity and mortality.

The promise of Nuremberg remains unfulfilled.

#Nuremberg, #speciesism, #climatechange, #vegan

Today's Shoah

Alex Hershaft was five years old when the Nazis invaded his native Poland.  Almost immediately, half a million Jews were crowded into the Warsaw ghetto.  One in five died from disease or starvation, others were sent to the Treblinka death camp.  Those left in the Warsaw Ghetto put up a heroic fight, against impossible odds, to combat the Nazis in their ultimate destruction of the entire ghetto.   Alex and his mother survived because of the kindness of gentiles; his father is thought to have been caught and killed by the Nazis.

Dr. Alex Hershaft has a Ph.D. in chemistry and works as an environmental consultant, specializing in wastewater treatment.  He was sent to a slaughterhouse in the Midwest.  He turned a corner and saw piles of body parts – hearts, heads, and hoofs.  Horrified, he remembered the extermination camps, and could not get the images out of his mind.  He began to see other similarities between animal agriculture and the death camps in Europe:  farm animals are branded with numbers, separated from their families, taken to their death in rail cars, and murdered.

The parallels are not about the victims, but about the perpetrators. 

It was the arbitrary nature of the cruelty that struck him.  “The Christian lives, and the Jew dies; the dog lives, and the pig dies.  You need to get permission from society – to believe that it is alright that one sentient being will live, and another will die.” Hershaft says.

Dr. Alex Hershaft is the co-Founder of FARM, Farm Animal Rights Movement, the nation’s oldest, and the world’s first, organization devoted exclusively to promoting the rights of animals not to be raised for food.  In addition, he is the Founder of A Well Fed World.  He works closely with Jewish Veg, an organization that encourages Jews to embrace plant-based diets “as an expression of the Jewish values of compassion for animals, concern for health, and care of the environment.”

Why work on behalf of animals when humans suffer? 

“Animals are the most defenseless, the most vulnerable, therefore the most oppressed sentient beings on earth.  Oppressing animals is the gateway to oppressing humans”, says Dr. Hershaft.  “Everyone has the awesome power of life and death over animals.  Every time we shop for food, we literally make a choice between subsidizing life or subsidizing death”. 

Choose Life!

"VEGAN" is about "COMPASSION"

‘Vegan’ is about compassion’.  It is not just a diet.  It is about making the world a better place, not only for people, but for the billions of other inhabitants on this planet whose lives and well-being have been overlooked, habitats destroyed, some species driven to extinction, and used as vehicles for providing human satisfactions of all types. 

Vegan is about providing simple solutions to complex global issues.  The non-vegan lifestyle is a major contributor to Climate Change - the world’s current greatest threat to security and survival.   This is because methane from animal agriculture holds heat in the atmosphere more effectively than carbon dioxide.  In addition, forests are cut down to provide grazing land.

The meat and dairy based diet causes catastrophic health concerns - such as skyrocketing diabetes, cancer, heart disease, potentially devastating antibiotic resistance, along with accompanying rising health care costs. 

Then non-vegan lifestyle exacerbates world hunger since crops which could feed hungry people are fed to abused, incarcerated, soon to be slaughtered, animals while unfortunate people are hungry and starving.  The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.

Vegan is not a form of deprivation.  It is a lifestyle which embraces life, and life lived to the fullest.  Vegan holds the promise of a healthier population, a sustainable planet, and kindness and compassion for all.  Support Raoul Wallenberg Vegan International and Raoul Wallenberg Vegan Retreat.  www.VeganInternational.org and www.VeganRetreat.org.

Vegan International, Founded by Author Sharon Wallenberg, Participates at United Nations

Author Sharon Wallenberg represented Vegan International at the Anniversary of the United Nations Day of Older Persons Conference on Thursday, October 10, 2019.  Krishna Gautam, new V I International Advisory Board member, was the Keynote Speaker.  Mr. Gautam is the Founder of Aging Nepal, which teaches illiterate Grandmothers to read and write.  These Grandmothers were not given the opportunity to go to school as girls.  Education for girls was not allowed then.  Although school for girls is now accepted in Nepal, no provisions were made for the previous illiterate generation until Krishna Gautam founded Aging Nepal.  Mr. Gautam has also started a “No Kill Zone’ in Kathmandu.  According to Aging Nepal Founder, Krishna Gautam, ‘There are many bodies: people, animals, and insects - but only one life.’

Mr. Gautam also maintains that he would have been sleeping on the streets of New York if not for Sharon, who came to his rescue when he arrived from Kathmandu.  There was a problem at his hotel due to an oversight by the UN NGO Committee on Aging who was hosting Mr. Gautam.  Fortunately, between Krishna and Sharon, they straightened it out that evening, and the next morning the UN NGO Committee on Aging members arrived.

Vegan International, Founded by Sharon Wallenberg participated in the Anniversary of the UN Day of Older Persons Conference first with a proposed side event called “Healthy Aging”.  This had three parts: Diet, Exercise, and Health Care.  ‘Health Care’ was to be presented by Vegan Cardiologist, Robert Ostfeld, MD.  ‘Exercise’ was to be presented by Mindy Collette, Vegan Bodybuilder, and friend of VI Advisory Board Member, Robert Cheeke.  ‘Diet’ was to be presented by a Registered Dietitian from Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine arranged by Founder and VI Advisory Board Member, Neal Barnard, MD.  

The side events were cancelled by the UN NGO Committee on Aging, and written statements were accepted instead.  Vegan International submitted a statement on ‘Healthy Aging’ written by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Nandita Shaw, MD., and Neal Barnard, MD.

More UN Nations Interested in Convention Against Speciesism

  

Author and Founder of Vegan International, Sharon Wallenberg met with Ambassador Abdoulaye Barro and Minister Saliou Dieng of Senegal to discuss a UN Convention Against Speciesism during a recent trip to the United Nations.  

Minister Fritzner Gaspard from Haiti also met with Ms. Wallenberg.  He suggested that Vegan International form a Caribbean coalition to support their proposed  U N Convention Against Speciesism. These developing nations are at risk of incurring diet related disease, and skyrocketing health care costs, as they develop, potentially transitioning from their traditional plant-based diet to the unsustainable meat and dairy based diet.  Additionally, these islands are vulnerable to rising water from global warming making the UN Convention Against Speciesism an attractive solution.

South African First Secretary Diyana Tayobd was ‘very keen’ to meet with Ms. Wallenberg during her recent trip to the UN.  South Africa wants to present statistics to the UN Second Committee on the relationship between Animal Agriculture (methane) and Climate Change.  Climate Change causes are being taken very seriously by South Africa.

In all, there were a total of ten Ambassadors, Deputies, Ministers, and others who met with Vegan International Founder, Sharon Wallenberg, from Tuesday, October 8 to Friday, October 11, 2019 to discuss the UN Convention Against Speciesism. Two Ambassadors were unable to schedule a meeting for this visit.  They will be met with next time.  Ultimately, Vegan International hopes to make the proposed UN Convention Against Speciesism a reality.

  

UN Convention Against Speciesism promoted by Author Sharon Wallenberg, Founder of Vegan International

Author Sharon Wallenberg, Founder of Vegan International successfully seeks support for a UN Convention Against Speciesism in October 2019.

United Nations Ambassador Ambroisine Kpongo of Central African Republic agreed to initiate a United Nations Convention Against Speciesism at a meeting with Vegan International Founder, Sharon Wallenberg, in New York on Wednesday, October 9, 2019.  Ambassador Kpongo has suggested contacting other African Nations using her name to gather additional support for the U N Convention Against Speciesism.

In a meeting with Ambassador Franck Kpayedo from Togo, Ms. Wallenberg mentioned Free From Harm’s ‘Slaughter Free Chicago’ initiative.  After some confusion, Ambassador Kpayedo’s translator said that they don’t know what a ‘slaughterhouse’ is.  When told it is where animals go to be murdered and made into food, both men were visibly shaken.  Ambassador Kpayedo said through his Translator: “Destroying anything: even a plant or a leaf, contributes to the destruction of the entire planet”.  They are in favor of a UN Convention Against Speciesism.

Ambassador Abdoulaye Barro and Minister Saliou Dieng from Senegal expressed concern about working animals and the UN Convention Against Speciesism at a meeting with Ms. Wallenberg, Vegan International Founder.  Senegal is 70% rural.  Many of these people have never seen a car. They depend on their working animals to provide economic support.  These people would gladly transition to sustainable energy solutions, but they are unable to afford it.  Unfortunately, Senegal failed to meet their economic projections.  These working animals and their people would not be negatively affected by a UN Convention Against Speciesism.  Ideally, a philanthropist will provide sustainable energy solutions to working animals, but this has not happened yet.  Minister Dieng said Senegal is Vegan International’s Partner.

An Innovative Approach To Climate Change

There is an innovative approach to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and a simple solution to reducing climate change, hunger, poverty, improving food security and nutrition, sustainable agriculture, human health, water, sanitation, sustainable consumption, and achieving justice for all inhabitants of planet Earth.

Scientific facts prove that the main cause of global warming melting polar ice caps and raising sea water levels is methane.  Methane traps heat in the atmosphere much more effectively than carbon dioxide.  It is the meat and dairy based diet which is directly responsible for the impending disaster we are currently facing.  Rainforests are being cut and burned down to provide grazing land and land to grow crops to feed to animals raised for food, also contributes to climate change.

There is copious documentation that transitioning from the traditional fiber rich plant-based diet to the fat and cholesterol filled meat and dairy based diet causes human mortality and morbidity from heart disease, cancer and diabetes and antibiotic resistance.  Pollution of air, water, and land, misuse of scarce resources such as land and water, habitat destruction, species extinction are also associated with the meat and dairy based diet.

There is a deep injustice in rising waters.  Those who are most responsible are least effected.  Some individuals are benefiting at the expense of others, as in slavery years ago.  Speciesism is using some individuals for the sole benefit of others.  They have no rights of their own.  The UN needs a Convention Against Speciesism to stop the injustice of rising water, unsustainable practices, and other cruelties, and provide justice for the exploited.  Vegan International, www.VeganInternational.org, has applied for UN ECOSOC Consultative status, and is proposing a UN Convention Against Speciesism.

Happy Autumn!

Autumn is a time for Harvest, Farmer Markets, jumping in leaves, enjoying the fall foliage, and looking forward to the Holidays which are right around the corner. 

But do you really know what you are buying when you buy ‘organic’?  The truth is – it is only slightly better than conventional, the extra money you pay goes mostly to pay for all the bookkeeping involved.  The best produce is VEGANIC, not organic.

Veganic agriculture is a form of sustainable agriculture which uses no animal inputs for soil fertility.  Instead it uses green manures.  This is a method of farming which employs crop rotations, cover crops, veganic compost, and imaginative and creative uses of green manures.  Some are plowed under, some are killed and left on the surface of the soil for crops to be planted into, and some are planted between rows.  Different green manures offer different benefits to the soil. 

Soil fertility is key to nutritious food since crops take their nutritional value from the soil.  Tasteless fruits and vegetables indicate that they have been grown in depleted soil.  Soil that is depleted cannot product crops that have vitamins, minerals, and taste. All elements found on the Periodic Chart of the Elements are needed for the human body.  All except a few are found in soil.  The other few are in the air.  You cannot have good health unless you have healthy soil.

Minerals such as lime and phosphorous are added to amend the soil.  Veganic farming uses no manure, blood, or bone meal from factory farms and slaughterhouses as is typically used in organic farming.  There is e-coli and other deadly organisms in organic as well as conventional agriculture, but not veganic. 

Pests are managed first through crop rotation.  Then the philosophy, “Know your Enemy”, involves diagnosing the pest or disease.  Its life cycle is analyzed to find the vulnerable point.   Next the philosophy, “My Enemy’s Enemy is my Friend”, is employed, and a predator is found that can control situation at that vulnerable point.  This eliminates the need for toxic pesticides, even the “natural” poisons used in organic farming.  Veganic farming relies on the use of harmless soaps and ashes for pest control.     

The end result of veganic farming is produce that is loaded with vitamins and minerals, and has no toxic or poisonous pesticides, no hormones or antibiotics from animal manures and inputs as used in conventional and organic farming, has a light carbon footprint, is globally sustainable, and is totally cruelty free.

Peace On All levels

“Peace on all levels” was a comment by Kevin Martin, Founder of Peace Action, the nation’s largest grass roots peace organization.  Mr. Martin made this comment as a panelist during the UN NGO Annual Conference in Mexico City.  I was the moderator of the panel.  Drawing on this thought, it is a logical conclusion that peace be extended not only to countries and populations, but also to the environment and our fellow travelers on spaceship earth.

Recent findings have left no doubt that the warming of the climate is directly linked to human activity.  Of all the causes, the livestock sector generates the most greenhouse gas emissions according to a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization report.  The massive amount of animal feces produced in factory farms is the largest source of airborne methane in the United States.  Methane traps heat in the atmosphere much more effectively than carbon dioxide does.  Animals raised for food in the United States produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population does – 86,000 pounds per second.  A typical pig factory generates a quantity of raw waste equal to a city of 50,000 people, but without the sewage system.  The runoff from factory farms pollutes rivers and lakes more than all other industrial sources combined.  Chicken, hog, and cattle excrement have polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated ground water in 17 states.

Of all agricultural land in the U.S., nearly 80% is used to raise animals for food.  More than 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland to grow grain to feed farmed animals.  Twenty times more land is required to feed a meat-eater than to feed a vegan.  Raising animals for food consumes nearly half the water used in the U.S. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef, but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat.  More than one third of all the raw materials and non-renewable fossil fuels used in the U.S. are required to raise animals for food.  More importantly, these flesh and blood, sentient creatures are killed in ways that would horrify any compassionate person.

There will be no Peace in the world until it is experienced on all levels, including the treatment of our fellow travelers on spaceship Earth, our beloved animals.

Overcome Heart Disease With A Vegan Diet

We are all concerned about heart disease because it is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States today.  Heart disease results when the coronary arteries which bring blood and oxygen to the heart start to narrow, pinching off blood flow, and threatening the viability of the heart.  Arteries narrow due to the growth of small raised areas, or little bumps, on the inside of arteries.  These bumps are plaques composed of cholesterol, fat, and cells over growing from the artery’s muscle layer. 

Cholesterol is a raw material made in the cells of all animals and humans.  It is used to make cell membranes and hormones, among other functions.  Animal products are the only significant source of cholesterol in the diet.  It is in chicken, fish, and beef.  Chicken has essentially the same cholesterol as beef.  A single egg has 213 mg of cholesterol.

Saturated fats are sometimes called “bad fats” Their name comes from the fact that the fat molecule is completely covered with hydrogen atoms - that is - ‘saturated’ with them.  If it is not covered with hydrogen atoms, it is called unsaturated.  Saturated fats stimulate your own liver to make more cholesterol, which unsaturated fats do not.  Saturated fats are solid at room temperature, like cooled bacon grease.  Vegetable oils are liquid at room temperature showing they are unsaturated fat.  All fruit, vegetables, whole grains and beans are very low in fat overall, with absolutely no saturated fat or cholesterol. 

The only scientifically proven way to reduce your risk of heart disease, or to reverse it once you have it, is with a vegan diet.  There are no animal products on a vegan diet – no meat, fish, or chicken, and no dairy products – no milk, cheese, yogurt, or eggs.  Therefore, it has no cholesterol or saturated fat.  Vegan diets include fruit, vegetables, salad, sprouts, whole grains, legumes (beans), and tofu. 

Why Not Leather?

How many people do you know who would never think of eating meat (and maybe dairy) but love to wear leather?  Maybe you wear leather!  Here are some facts to consider before you purchase your next leather article.

Slaughterhouse production lines move at breakneck speeds, so workers routinely skin and dismember fully conscious animals to produce leather.  Much of the leather sold in the U.S. comes from India, where workers beat and torture tired, thirsty cattle to keep them marching endless miles to slaughter.  In Asia dogs and cats are cruelly killed for their skin.  They are simply labeled ‘leather” and show up in products all over the world.

 

What about shoes, belts, and handbags?  Being leather free can be fashionable.  Products abound that are leather free.  Markets respond to consumer desires, so more choices are constantly becoming available as we shop for them.   For example, there is the vegan leather free Moo Shoes, that are very popular.  Payless Shoes has leather free shoes that are very popular.  If your taste is designer quality, consider Stella McCartney, daughter of Sir Paul McCartney, and one of the world’s top designers.  She makes designer leather free items.  When I shop,  I often ask salespeople if a handbag is leather .  I make sure they are aware I want a cruelty-free product.  Their response is always positive as they assure me no animals were hurt to make this product.

Would you wear your dog or cat?  Shop compassionately!   Visit www.CowsAreCool.com for more ideas and to find everything from pleather pumps to synthetic biker jackets.  Enjoy your new faux leather goods.  Your friends the animals will thank you for it!

United Nations Global Call To Climate Action Focuses On Vegan Food

ActNow (www.un.org/en/actnow) is the United Nations’ global call to individual action on climate change. The campaign is a critical part of the UN’s coordinated effort to raise awareness, ambition, and action for climate change and accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Primarily an online and social media campaign, ActNow will educate and encourage individual actions, mainly by adjusting consumption patterns. By changing our habits and routines, and making choices that have less harmful effects on the environment, we have the power to confront the climate challenge.

The United Nations’ ActNow Climate Campaign aims to trigger individual action on the defining issue of our time. People around the world will be engaged to make a difference in all facets of their lives, from the food they eat to the clothes they wear. This year, we will be focusing on two mini campaigns around food and fashion.

What we eat has major implications for climate change. The destruction of rainforests to create land for agriculture, along with growing demand for meat, are major contributors to the increasing greenhouse gases which are taking a significant toll on climate and global food security. To top it off, we waste about one-third of the food that is produced. But more people are taking a closer look at what they are eating and the impacts of their diets on their health and on the environment. More and more chefs and other food suppliers are focusing on local and organic produce and shifting away from meat-heavy meals and fast food. They are joined by a growing movement of people changing the way they cook and eat. The UN’s ActNow campaign aims to inspire even more people to enjoy sustainable, climate-conscious and delicious food.

ActNow has invited people around the world to share their individual contribution to sustainable food consumption. The challenge: cooking up dishes that are not only delicious but also good for the planet and good for us– reducing meat and emphasizing diverse vegetarian ingredients instead. Leading chefs will provide inspiration by presenting their own creations, and kicking off a global wave of culinary creativity as people share their favorite recipes and photos on social media.

Climate Change is A Choice

Climate change is about choices – our choices.  We all know that we face a serious threat in the form of climate change, especially in Florida.  Sea levels are expected to rise, thus eliminating miles of coastal areas.  Global warming melts polar ice caps and mountain glaciers causing increases in sea levels that threaten coastal areas and small island nations.  Food, water, and security issues are exacerbated by the droughts and floods brought on by global warming.  Tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts, and floods have been scientifically linked to greenhouse gasses - carbon dioxide and methane – in the atmosphere.  There is a deep injustice in climate change.  Rich countries grow richer while causing the problem.  The poorest countries are the most affected, and have the least responsibility for the causes

Warming of the climate is directly linked to human activity and choices.  The meat and dairy based diet, the livestock sector, generates the most greenhouse gas emissions according to a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization report.  The massive amount of animal feces produced in factory farms is the largest source of airborne methane in the United States.  Methane traps heat in the atmosphere almost 100 times more effectively than carbon dioxide does.

Pollution is about choices.  Animals raised for the meat and dairy based diet in the United States produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population does – 86,000 pounds per second.  A typical pig factory generates a quantity of raw waste equal to a city of 50,000 people, but without the sewage system.  The runoff from factory farms pollutes rivers and lakes more than all other industrial sources combined.  Chicken, hog, and cattle excrement have polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated ground water in 17 states. 

Use of scarce resources is also about choices.  Of all agricultural land in the U.S., nearly 80% is used to raise animals for food.  Twenty times more land is required to feed a meat-eater than to feed a vegan.  Raising animals for food consumes nearly half the water used in the U.S.  It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef, but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat.  More than one third of all the raw materials and non-renewable fossil fuels used in the U.S. are required to raise animals for food.  This includes fuel to produce fertilizer for the crops that are fed to animals, oil to run the trucks that take them to slaughter, electricity to freeze their carcasses, and much more. 

Trees and forests combat rising temperatures, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and provide a defense against climate change.   However, more than 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland to grow grain to feed farmed animals.  Currently the Amazon rain forest in Brazil is being burned down to provide grazing land for animals raised to be murdered and cannibalized.

The choices you make impact not only you and your family, but the planet, other people, and the billions of sentient beings that are killed in ways that would horrify any compassionate person.  There needs to be a change in human values, hearts, and minds.  We need to plant more threes, and we need to eat a plant based vegan diet.

“The Search For Raoul Wallenberg  - The Truth”, tells the behind the scenes story of the efforts to learn the fate of disappeared World War II hero, Raoul Wallenberg, savior of 100,00 innocent people.  This inspirational story is full of intrigue and surprises.  It will educate, inform, inspire, and empower you!  It goes beyond the past and applies Wallenberg’s qualities of courage and compassion to present day issues. 

“The Search For Raoul Wallenberg – The Truth” is a true story which reaches back over 100 years, touches on the lives of over 100,000 people, involves the governments of four countries, includes hundreds of documents, and both exposes scandals, and showcases heroism.

There are many books about Raoul Wallenberg, the Diplomat who saved 100,000 innocent lives during World War II.  This one is unique.  It is about all the behind the scenes activity involved in the release of his prison records from the Soviet Union, where the idea originated, why it was important, how it was done, and the background of the impartial investigation which followed. In addition, it exposes the people who tried to prevent the truth, the reasons why, who confronted them, and those who worked tirelessly on behalf of this great hero.  I know because this is my story.

The book will demonstrate what an individual can accomplish if they are dedicated, imaginative, courageous, and compassionate.  Further, the book extends into the present and future by advocating implementation of lessons learned, avarice avoided, and compassionate lifestyles adopted.  It applies Wallenberg’s qualities of compassion, courage, determination and imagination to contemporary issues. This includes Climate Change, Sustainable Energy, Sustainable Agriculture, Plant Based Diet, optimal health, and showing compassion to ALL travelers on spaceship Earth.   

“The Search For Raoul Wallenberg - The Truth” is available for sale through the website or AuthorHouse.com, Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble.com.

A presentation by the Author, Sharon Wallenberg can be arranged.

UN Convention Against Speciesism

“Freedom is never voluntarily granted by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Unfortunately, not all the oppressed are in the position to demand their freedom or rights.  Sometimes it must be done on their behalf as in President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which ultimately ended slavery.  Raoul Wallenberg Vegan International has initiated a United Nations Convention Against Speciesism on behalf of all the abused, victimized, and exploited individuals who currently have absolutely no rights. 

The global issues we face, specifically the unsustainability of the meat and dairy based diet, its impact on human health, (causing cancer, heart disease, diabetes) the health of this planet (climate change, pollution, misuse of scarce resources - land and water),and the welfare of our fellow travelers on spaceship earth (the animals) needs to be addressed by the United Nations in a Convention.  A global patchwork quilt approach is not sufficient.

Left unchecked, the global demand for meat, eggs, and milk is due to double from 2000 to 2050, and will have a major impact on land and energy use globally.  The seriousness of this situation calls for a major step in addressing the issue.  A UN Convention Against Speciesism should be created to insure that all aspects of sustainability are taken into consideration, and that all individuals on earth are taken into consideration and treated justly.

Eliminating Meat Will End Starvation Forever

According to experts at both Cornell and Harvard, the optimal amount of meat in the healthy human diet is precisely zero.  Today one billion people are hungry.  20 million people will die from malnutrition. Cutting meat by 10% will feed 100 million people.  Eliminating meat will end starvation forever. 

Currently, poor countries sell their grain to the West while their own children starve in their arms.  The West feeds it to livestock so they can eat a steak.  This is a crime!  Every morsel of meat we eat is slapping the tear-stained face of hungry child, and an act of violence to an innocent being. The Earth can produce enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed. 

Water, as you know, is the new oil.  Nations will be going to war for it.  Underground aquifers that took millions of years to fill are running dry.  It takes 50,000 liters of precious drinking water to make one kilo of beef! Greenhouse gas emission from livestock is 50% greater than transportation: cars, buses, trains, trucks, the whole lot.  If everyone ate a western diet, we would need two planet earths to fed us.  We only have one and she is dying!

No More Bacon

No More Bacon

How could something so popular be so evil?

It starts with the treatment of the pigs – one of the most intelligent and affectionate animals on earth.  Undercover investigations reveal that when these docile, loving creatures are raised for food they are subjected to the most egregious abuses imaginable.  For example, semen is collected from the boars (male pigs).  Outside of a factory farm this would be called the crime of beastiality. 

The sows (female pigs) are locked in cages so small that they cannot stand or turn around.  They are immobilized like this for their entire short lives.  Even in prison solitary confinement, prisoners can stand and walk.  And the sows have done nothing wrong to deserve this!  Under other circumstances, this would be called cruel and unusual punishment.

In this vulnerable position, from which there is no escape, the docile, intelligent, sentient girls are artificially inseminated by workers.  They manipulate the sows’ vaginas to insert the semen.  Sometimes a male pig, a boar, is dragged around by a robot in the hope that this poor unfortunate’s smell will facilitate the heinous procedure.  Under other circumstances this would be called rape.

When the innocent baby pigs are born, they nurse from their incarcerated, pinned down Mothers briefly before being removed by workers.  The Mother’s and Babies’ screams are heartbreaking.  Under other circumstances this would be called kidnap.

The baby boy pigs have their testicles removed without anesthesia.  Their high-pitched screams are heart breaking.  They also have their tails removed to prevent the natural act of sucking by their companions looking for mother’s milk.  Their teeth are filed down to prevent ‘financial loss’ from cannibalism caused by the unbearable circumstances of their short lives.  Under other circumstances, this mutilation would be called torture.

Slaughter/murder comes for the Mothers when they are no longer able to produce babies either because their reproductive organs have been expelled from their bodies, or they have become so hopeless that they stop eating.  The babies are killed after they have gained weight.  This qualifies not only as murder, but since literally billions of pigs are killed annually, it is more accurately called genocide.

The only reason crimes committed against these individuals do not qualify to be called beastiality, rape, torture, kidnap, murder and genocide is their species.  It is the same reason that black individuals were forced into slavery, that a nuclear bomb was dropped on the already decimated Asian Japanese, and not the European Nazis.  It is because they do not look like the rich and powerful.

This evil will only stop when consumers gain some perspective and empathy, and stop eating bacon, sausage, ham, etc.  There are plenty of delicious plant based substitutes available. 

No more bacon!

Let's Save The Earth

Today one billion people are hungry.  20 million people will die from malnutrition.  Around the world developing nations sell their grain to the developed nations while their own children starve in their arms.  The west feeds it to livestock so they can drink milk, eat a steak, ice cream and cheese.   Does anyone see this as a crime? Every morsel of meat and dairy is a slap on the tear-stained face of hungry child.  Look into her face and tell me if you can remain silent.  Cutting meat and dairy by 10% will feed 100 million people.  Eliminating meat and dairy will end starvation forever.

Water is the new oil.  Nations will be going to war for it.  Underground aquifers that took millions of years to fill are running dry.  It takes 50,000 liters of precious drinking water to make one kilo of beef.  Even more water is needed for dairy.  Greenhouse gas emission from livestock is 50% greater than transportation.  Cars, buses, trains, trucks, the whole lot.

 

The Earth can produce enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.  If everyone ate a western diet, we would need two planet earths to fed us.  We only have one and she is dying.

Farmers are the ones with the most to gain.  Farming won’t end, it will boom.  Only the product line will change.  Governments will love it.  Health insurance premiums will plummet.  Meat causes a wide range of cancers and heart disease.  New industries will emerge and flourish. 

Animals are not just another species, they are other nations.  We murder them at our peril.  The peace map is drawn on a menu.  Peace is not just the absence of war, it is the presence of justice.  Justice must be blind to race, color, religion, or species. If she is not blind, she will be a weapon of terror.  There is unimaginable terror in those gastly Guantanamos we call “factory farms” or “slaughterhouses”.  

Lets get animals off the menus and out of the torture chambers. Please act for justice and for those who have no voice.  Go Vegan!

My Trip To Europe

There is a serious problem in the European Union today.  Hundreds of thousands of immigrants are arriving from North Africa, the Middle East, and Afghanistan. 

In Sweden the mandatory retirement age has been raised to support the new arrivals.  Approximately 90% are young men.  They form gangs, and are responsible for rapes, gang rapes, murder, attempted murder, arson, and other crimes.  Rape and gang rape victims are as young as ten and as old as 90.  The response in Sweden is to teach women and young girls to hold out their hand and say ‘Stop’.  One 12 year-old rape victim, was told that she did not firmly say ‘Stop’ to her assailant.  The youngest murder victim was a one-year old baby who was beheaded.

 

Several areas in Goteborg and Malmo are called ‘No Go’ zones because Police and Firefighters will not enter these ghettos under any circumstances.  ISIS fighters are reportedly living in Goteborg, leaving to make attacks, and then returning.  All this is accepted regardless of the burden on society because it is termed ‘politically correct’, and any protest against it is labeled ‘hate talk’.  Churches are even taking down crucifixes so as not to offend Muslims.

Germany’s political correctness allows this criminal behavior.  Anyone  against these criminal abuses is accused of ‘hate’.  It has been said that what Hilter did not accomplice militarily, the EU is achieving diplomatically.

France has hundreds of thousands of these immigrants living on the streets of Paris and other areas.  This is accompanied with bedding and belongings, urination and defecation in public areas.  There are now urinals in public, and ‘Pee Police’ who catch the urinators and miss the rapists.  There is also suspicion regarding the fire in Notre Dame Cathedral.

In response to the EU open borders policy, some countries try to escape this dilemma by leaving as in the UK ‘Brexit’.  Other countries that are less fortunate, and more vulnerable to repercussions from the EU, are refusing to open their borders. 

Hungary is the leader in this group.  Historically Hungary has experienced both Nazi and Soviet domination, and stubbornly refuses to submit to the inevitable immigration chaotic, oppressive, tyranny destined to follow the current social upheaval.  It is joined by Poland, Czech Republic, and Italy, 

Italy has closed its borders.  A Somali bus driver became so infuriated by this that he locked school children in their school bus, poured gasoline on it and set it on fire.  Fortunately a passer-by subdued the immigrant and rescued the children.

The current situation in Europe promises a radical change in the ethnicity of the continent, and the threat of a European Union civil war.  Europe is forever changed.  I am so glad I had the opportunity to see Europe years ago, because I do not want to go there now!   

The Truth About Dairy

Mounting scientific evidence points to milk as a source of disease, not health.  Despite no evidence that milk protects against bone fractures and osteoporosis, it continues to be marketed as necessary for bone health. The simple equation of milk = calcium= strong bones is nothing more than smart marketing.  Often thought of as the only source of calcium, milk, is a very recent addition to most food cultures. Great sources of plant-based calcium abound and include greens, broccoli, tofu, corn tortillas, nuts and seeds.

Medical studies have found dairy consumption to be linked to a higher risk for various cancers, especially prostate, breast and ovarian cancer, as well as increased sex hormones in children, and early puberty in young girls.  Also, the liquid calories and hormones in milk contribute to obesity and diabetes. 

When people who are lactose intolerant drink milk, they can experience digestive problems like gastrointestinal distress, diarrhea, and flatulence and impeded nutrient absorption. Lactose intolerance is the norm in most ethnic groups.

Every day in the United States 45 million meals are offered through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs. Federal and state school meal policies mandate that milk be offered at every meal. This is an incredible boon to the dairy industry, and places corporate profits over the health of the nation’s low-income children.  The harm done to children by school milk—and the benefit to the dairy industry—extend far past childhood. As children are taught that milk consumption is normal and necessary, healthier sources of calcium sources are overlooked and forgotten, and a whole new generation of future consumers is created.

Cows are Mothers.  They have been forcefully and brutally raped, and their babies stolen from them.  They grieve inconsolably for their babies.  The boys are brutally slaughtered.  The girls are fed a type of formula until they are just barely old enough to become Mothers themselves.  Then they are raped, tortured, tormented, and forced to produce milk until their bodies wear out.  ‘Spent’ cows are brutally slaughtered after their short lives filled with endless sorrow and pain.  There is a deep injustice in dairy.  For your sake and theirs, don’t consume dairy!

Most of Blog courtesy of Nassim Nobari, Seed the Commons, San Francisco

Why Athletes Are Racing to a Vegan Diet?

There are sound, scientific reasons that more and more athletes are becoming vegan to improve their performance.  This will work for you too!  You can improve your golf game, increase your stamina for tennis and swimming, and improve your overall enjoyment of life.  Here is why according to Neal Barnard, M.D. Founder of Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine (PCRM).

Reduced Blood Viscosity and Improved Tissue Oxygenation

In the course of athletic activity, blood viscosity (“thickness”) often increases, which causes a progressive loss of tissue oxygenation, potentially degrading athletic performance.  Reduced viscosity, which can be achieved through plant-based diet, improves tissue oxygenation, reduces heart rate during exercise, and reduces dehydration.  In a study of 48 individuals following vegan eating patterns, blood viscosity was significantly lower.

Improved Blood Flow

Atherosclerosis reduces blood flow not only to the coronary arteries, but also to other parts of the body. By the age of 20, approximately 10 percent of the population in developed countries has advanced atherosclerotic lesions in the abdominal aorta, reducing blood flow and contributing to disc degeneration and lower back pain.  Similarly, atherosclerosis can reduce blood flow to the legs, the brain, and other parts of the body.  Plant based diets have been shown to reverse atherosclerosis, increasing blood flow to all parts of the body. 

Reduced Inflammation 

Inflammation occurs not only in the artery walls contributing to atherosclerosis, but also in the joints and the soft tissues of the body.  A 2017 review published in Public Health Nutrition found that vegan diets reduce inflammation.  Researchers reviewed 18 prior studies, finding that individuals who followed a vegan diet for at least two years lowered their serum levels of C-reactive protein, a biomarker of inflammation, compared with those who did not follow a vegan diet.

To learn more about why eating fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes are the ultimate power foods for athletes, visit PCRM.org/Athletes.

Solution To Rising Health Care Costs

The United States expenditures on healthcare – drugs, surgery, and chronic disease treatments are rising.  There is a connection between this and the Standard American Diet (SAD) which is based on meat and dairy.  The United States spends more per capita on health care than any other industrialized nation.  At this rate, the US will spend 20.1% of Gross National Product (GNP) on health care by 2025.  And that is rising!   

The meat and dairy based diet have been linked to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, as well as other illnesses.  This is because it is high in fat and cholesterol, has no fiber, vitamins or minerals.  This fat clogs arteries, making blood pressure rise, and ultimately causing heart disease.

Animal Fat in the diet clogs cells and does not allow glucose, the end product of digestion, to enter and nourish the cells. Instead this glucose remains in the blood stream eventually causing diabetes. 

The hormones, antibiotics and other additives given to animals raised for food, so they can withstand the horrific conditions they are imprisoned in, and become as profitable as possible, as fast as possible, translate into abnormal cell activity in humans: cancer. 

The best way to avoid these health issues with their corresponding costs both physically and financially is to avoid the meat and dairy based diet which is causing the problem.  Go Vegan for all the health and financial benefits!

Go Vegan!