WHO Recognizes Animal Exploitation as Cause of Pandemics by Sharon L. Wallenberg

Vegan International has applied to the World Health organization (WHO) Scientific Advisory Group for the origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO).

Vegan International is a United Nations Economic and Social Council Non-Governmental Organization applicant.  One of the most important issues VI works on is the elimination of zoonotic disease: pandemics transmitted from exploited animals to humans.

Zoonotic disease has its origins in animal exploitation, including use of animals for food, clothing, medicine, entertainment, and experimentation. habitat destruction and species extinction.  Zoonotic diseases are the deadliest in the history of the planet.  They will become more frequent and deadlier if the root cause is not recognized and addressed.

WHO is calling for applications from the fields of social science/anthropology/ethics/political science and biosafety/biosecurity.  The rapid emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 has highlighted the importance of being prepared for any future event, to be able to identify novel pathogens early and to address the risk factors that contribute to their emergence and spread.

World Health Assembly requested the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) to continue to work closely with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and countries, as part of the One Health approach, to identify the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the route of introduction to the human population.

There have been an increasing number of high threat pathogens emerging and reemerging in recent years with, for example, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, Lassa, Marburg, Ebola, Nipah, avian influenza, the latest being SARS-CoV-2.

There is not only need for robust surveillance and early actions for rapid detection and mitigation efforts, but a need for a robust and systematic processes to establish the study around the emergence of these pathogens and routes of transmission from their natural reservoirs to humans.

 

Halloween is a favorite fall holiday! Is it Vegan? By Sharon L. Wallenberg

We all love the crisp Autumn weather, the bright orange pumpkins, clear blue skies, and crisp fall apples!  But where did Halloween originate and is it a vegan holiday?

Halloween is a contraction of All Hallows’ evening, and is the celebration observed on October 31, the evening before the Christian feast of All Saints Day, November 1.  This is the liturgical time of the year dedicated to remembering the deceased, including all saints, martyrs, and the faithful departed. 

Many Halloween traditions have been influenced by harvest festivals, particularly the ancient Celtic Harvest festival, Samhain.  This Gaelic festival which originally had pagan roots and was Christianized as All Hallows Day by the early Church.

Originally many Christians abstained from eating meat on All Hallows’ Eve and chose instead certain vegetarian foods such as potato pancakes, soul cakes and apples.  These soul cakes were traditionally given out to children who would go from door to door and are the origins of the modern tradition of Trick or Treat.  Every soul cake eaten was believed to represent a soul freed from Purgatory - a place of purification or temporary punishment for souls to be made ready for Heaven.

Trick or Treat For UNICEF, an idea started by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, is a way for children in the developed nations to share their Halloween bounty with children in dire circumstances.  It not only benefits children at risk but also teaches the happy Trick or Treaters the important concept of sharing with others who are in need.

There are recipes for vegan soul cakes – in fact, I am publishing one in my next book.  Pumpkin pie and other pumpkin treats can be made vegan, and apples - a fall favorite - are always vegan!  Enjoy your vegan Autumn and Halloween!

 

"A Plant-Based Lifestyle For You And the Planet"

 

“A Plant-Based Lifestyle for You and the Planet” by Author Sharon L. Wallenberg will help you explore alternative ways of living, ones that are more healthful for individuals, more beneficial to others, including planet Earth.  It will educate on the basics of Nutrition, how dietary choices affect the human body for better or worse, how those choices affect unseen others in the developing nations, as well as the global issues we face today.  It will show how to live a fuller life, without contemporary illness, dissatisfactions, and emptiness, a life that includes not just health, but happiness and purpose, one that is lived with courage and conviction, is meaningful and enjoyable and includes the satisfaction of knowing that your life makes a difference for many more besides yourself.  It is called the Plant-Based (Vegan) Lifestyle.   It is about compassion, not just diet.  It is a Lifestyle that not only involves diet, exercise, and health and making the world a better place, not only for people, but for the billions of other inhabitants we share this planet with.  It is about providing simple solutions to complex global issues.  What I am suggesting is that we go beyond ourselves to create a better world with a Plant-Based Lifestyle.

 

A Must Read! Sharon Leontine Wallenberg

“A Plant-Based Lifestyle for You and the Planet” is a new book just published by Author, Sharon Leontine Wallenberg.  It is available for purchase on Amazon.  This book will help you explore alternative ways of living, ones that are more healthful for the individual, and more beneficial to others, including planet Earth.  It will educate the reader on the basics of Nutrition, how dietary choices affect the human body for better or worse, how those choices affect unseen others in the developing nations, as well as affect the global issues we face today, including global warming, deforestation, rising waters and others.  The book also explores how governments influence dietary choices, and who benefits from this manipulation, which is usually not the consumer.  It explains the dynamics of pandemics, their causes, their unpublicized consequences, and how they can be avoided.  It is a great read, both informative and entertaining, and written for all readers.

DON'T BE AFRAID TO FAIL

 DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL

You’ve failed many times,

although you may not remember.

You fell down the first time you tried to walk.

You almost drowned

the first time you tried to swim.

Did you hit the ball

the first time you swung the bat?

Heavy hitters, who hit the most home runs,

also strike out a lot.

R,H. Macy failed seven times

before his store in New York caught on.

English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejections

before he published 564 books.

Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times,

but he also hit 714 home runs.

DON’T WORRY ABOUT FAILURE.

WORRY ABUT THE CHANCES YOU MISS

WHEN YOU DON’T EVEN TRY.

Food and Faith by Sharon L. Wallenberg

Food goes back to the Garden of Eden.  Animals ate leaves, grass.  People ate fruit, vegetables.  A ‘plant-based diet’!  Meat and dairy causes heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, obesity. antibiotic resistance, zoonotic diseases: covid-19, HIV / AIDS, SARS, MERS, Ebola, Avian Flu, Swine Flu, Black Flu, Spanish Flu, others.

 

Animal agriculture causes environmental degradation: land desertification, forest destruction, air, land, water pollution, and unsustainable use of land and water.  Methane from the animals raised for food holds heat in the atmosphere more effectively than carbon dioxide, making it the single greatest cause of global warming.  Species extinction from habitat destruction makes disease transmission between species more likely and more deadly.

 

“This is about food, but more importantly it is a justice issue.  Unjust treatment of individuals, who do not look or communicate like humans, is human pride and supremacy.  The unfortunate individuals are unjustly incarcerated in disease ridden, horrific conditions, subjected to mutilation, violation, rape, kidnap of their children, and ultimately murdered horrifically, usually while fully conscious, all to satisfy the whims of those in power – the humans.

 

“This is a charity issue.  “Of all the commandments, the greatest of these is love.”.  Love needs to extend to all the individuals regardless of species.  Earth is transitioning to Isaiah’s prophesized Peaceful Kingdom.  “The lion shall lie down with the lamb”, means plant-based food. 

 

Profile in Courage – Seba Johnson

Seba Johnson is the first Black woman Olympic skier, and youngest Alpine Ski Racer in Olympic History!  She placed 28th out of 64 of the world's best in the Women's Giant Slalom at age 14 in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.  She received death threats, hate mail and attempts to disrupt her safety then and through the following World Cup and World Alpine Ski Championship competitions.  Skiing was considered a white man’s sport. 

 Seba was born in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.  She lived in a public housing project, and attended Head Start.  Her family moved around living in New Hampshire, Maine, and Nevads.  A vegan since birth, Seba learned about animal exploitation and attended protests with her Mother.  By her early teens, she held her own protests, once standing alone with a handmaked sign outside a zoo.

In the 1992 Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France, Seba qualified for the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, Norway.  She boycotted because Norway had resumed commercial hunting for whales.  She was disqualified from a World Cup ski race for refusing to wear a ski suit with a patch of leather on it.

"We must connect to a moral and ethical regard for each human and nonhuman animal until oppression is completely eradicated.”

 

 

 

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The Meaning of 'Vegan' by SharonL. Wallenberg

‘Vegan’ is a word first coined by British activist Donald Watson (1910 – 2005), founder of the first vegan organization. He was frustrated that the word ‘vegetarian’ came to include dairy products and eggs. His definition of ‘vegan’ was a "philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude – as far as possible and practical – all forms of exploitation of and cruelty to animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.

‘Vegan’ is about compassion. It is about making the world a better place, not only for people, but for the billions of other inhabitants of this planet whose lives and well-being have been overlooked, sometimes driven to extinction, and usually used as vehicles for providing human satisfactions of all types. It is about providing solutions to complex global issues.  The meat and dairy based diet is a major contributor to Climate Change – the world's greatest threat to security and survival, and causes diabetes and heart disease and antibiotic resistance.

‘Vegan’ is not a form of depravation. 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.

 

 

Cooling For All critical during Global Warming by Sharon L. Wallenberg

According to the Representative from Rwanda at a recent Sustainable Energy For All Conference – 50% of their food is destroyed from the farm to the market because of lack of cooling.  Global Warming is increasing, and so is the need for cooling!

Cooling for All does not mean an air-conditioner or refrigerator in every home; it means providing affordable and sustainable solutions to address the needs of the vulnerable, such as access to nutritious food and safe medicines and protection from heat in the transition to clean energy.

1.09 billion people are at high risk due to lack of access to cooling and a further 2.34 billion lack access to clean and efficient cooling.  Cooling access gaps for the rural and urban poor at highest risk grew in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean compared to the previous year.

 

COVID-19 vaccination distribution is uneven, and inequities exist.  A dramatic expansion in cold chain equipment is necessary to guarantee equitable distribution of vaccines.  Those living at the last mile in countries will be at risk of not being able to access a COVID-19 vaccine specifically due to cooling requirements.  The Critical 9 are the countries with largest number of people at high risk: India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Mozambique, Sudan, and Brazil.

 

The single greatest contributor to global warming is the greenhouse gas, methane, resulting from animal agriculture for the meat and dairy based diet.  In addition, the destruction of forests to create grazing for animals raised for food and dairy exacerbates global warming and the need for sustainable cooling.  Transitioning to a plant-based diet is the single most effective way to solve global warming and need for cooling solutions.

 

Environmental and Health Consequences of Meat and Dairy by Sharon L. Wallenberg

“The animal protein culture, conventionally viewed as improved consumption in a “nutrition transition”, has serious environmental and health consequences.”  The Lancet

Seven million people die every year from air pollution.  Animal agriculture is responsible for methane which holds heat in the atmosphere more effectively than carbon dioxide.  In addition, animal agriculture causes air pollution from ammonia, nitrous oxide, methane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide.  This is in addition to water and land pollution.  Manure laden with disease, chemicals, antibiotics and hormones is polluting rivers and water tables worldwide, poisoning soils and contaminating waterways.

The single most effective way to eliminate the majority of the problems faced today – food insecurity, hunger, poverty, climate change, disease, habitat loss and species extinction is the plant-based diet, and elimination of exploitation of the most vulnerable – those of other species.

The recent EAT-Lancet Commission advocates plant-based foods.  “Eating plants directly rather than in meat, dairy, eggs, much less of the crop is required to deliver the same amount of protein, without the pollution and pandemics.”

 

Nature Strikes Back

U N Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated: ‘Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21^st century.  Humanity is waging war on nature, and nature always strikes back.  It is already doing so with growing force and fury.” 

The underlying cause of Earth’s problems are its thoughtless treatment of nature including animal agriculture, conventional agricultural practices, and the unjust treatment of other species.  Failure to live in peace with nature causes zoonotic disease, (75 % of all disease), wasteful use of scarce resources - land and water, and global warming.

16 times more farmland is needed for a diet of animal protein than plant protein.  Copious amount of water are used in animal agriculture.  Methane from animal agriculture holds heat in the atmosphere more effectively than carbon dioxide.  This dominion over the Earth and other sentient beings is not simply sustainable. 

Assuming human superiority over Nature, and other species, is causing the predicament we are facing today.  It is only when pride is surpassed by compassion will these deadly dilemmas be overcome.

Sharon L. Wallenberg’s new book ‘Transitioning To A Plant-Based Lifestyle’ is full of scientific facts, how lifestyle choices are affecting Earth, tips on living a happier, more fulfilling and compassionate life.  Available on Amazon soon.

"Transitioning To A Plant-Based Lifestyle", A New Book by Sharon L.Wallenberg

Today everyone is concerned with health, quality of life, and longevity.  Old ways are not working, and it is becoming more obvious that a comprehensive new approach is necessary.  No longer can we wait unit illness occurs or incorporate a nominal amount of exercise and supplements into our regime and consider the problem solved.  What is needed is a new Lifestyle!  And one that works!

Preventative medicine is a new relatively concept.  Given the rising healthcare costs, and plethora of preventable illness, it has practical ramifications.  Preventative medicine involves diet and exercise to prevent the more egregious and expensive maladies and for practical reasons and is beginning to have roots in modern medicine.  Lifestyle Medicine has begun to emerge as an alternative to conventional ways that are not working. 

I think it is possible to go further than preventative medicine and lifestyle medicine to simply ‘lifestyle’ which encompasses all facets of living life.  It is physical, mental and spiritual – mind, body, and soul!  This concept has been around for many years and was considered ‘new age’.  Although its roots may have been on the fringe, it is finally becoming a main-stream concept.  Doctors may refer to it as ‘Lifestyle Medicine’, but I prefer to simply call it ‘Lifestyle’ since it is an all-encompassing healthy way to live life.

‘Lifestyle’ includes not only Diet and Exercise, but also Relaxation, Rejuvenation, Detox, Happiness, Kindness, Compassion, Courage, Humility, Gratitude and Honesty - and most importantly - Forgiveness.  A toxic, unforgiving lifestyle can lead just as easily to disease and debilitation as any tangible cause.  Happiness and kindness may not have monetary value or scientific studies to prove their worth, but I believe they contribute greatly to wholesomeness and longevity.

My new book, “Transitioning to a Plant-Based Lifestyle” proposes to show you how you can live a fuller life, without the assortment of contemporary illness, dissatisfactions, and emptiness, a life that includes not just health, but happiness and purpose.  One that is lived with courage and conviction, is meaningful and enjoyable and includes the satisfaction of knowing that your life makes a difference for many more besides yourself.  It is called the Plant-Based (Vegan) Lifestyle.  

The Plant-Based (Vegan) Lifestyle is about compassion.  It is not just a diet.  It is a Lifestyle that not only involves diet, exercise, and health.  It is about making the world a better place, not only for people, but for the billions of other inhabitants we share this planet with.  It is about providing simple solutions to complex global issues.  Plant-based (vegan) is not a form of deprivation.  It is a lifestyle which embraces life, and life lived to the fullest.  This lifestyle holds the promise of a healthier population, a sustainable planet, and kindness and compassion for all.

 

 

 

On Line Vegan Retreat

The Vegan Retreat is a virtual internet business offering support for individuals seeking to transition from the unhealthy meat and dairy based diet to the healthful plant based vegan diet.  This will be accomplished through lectures by the Founder on a variety of relevant topics, and individual counseling sessions by appointment.  Individual counseling fees will be announced.

Lectures are offered remotely on the internet.  Topics include Understanding Nutrition; Reversing Diabetes; Cancer Causes and Prevention; Healthy Hearts; Natural Pain Management; Weight Loss Naturally; Raw Food Made Easy;  Personal Wellbeing; Stress Management; Understanding Zoonotic Disease Causes and Prevention; Plant Based Kitchen Essentials; Organic vs. Veganic; Sustainable Agriculture; Detox; Draining The Lymphatic System; Hormones and Balance; The Body’s Need for Water; Animal Agriculture - Its Implications for Human Health and the Environment;  Environmental Effects of Dietary Choice; Transitioning from the Meat and Dairy Based Diet to the Healthful Plant Based Vegan Diet; and many others.

Individual Counseling sessions will be offered by appointment on Zoom for a fee.  In person meetings for small groups will be held at The Rabbit Hole, a vegan restaurant in Pompano Beach.

Sharon Wallenberg is a Health Care Provider with experience as a Dietitian, Licensed Massage Therapist, Licensed Colon Therapist, and Licensed Esthetician.  She has certifications in Reiki, Reflexology, Live Blood Cell Analysis, Lymphatic Drainage, and Microdermabrasion.  She is a graduate of the Christian Healing Ministry - School of Healing Prayer. 

Ms. Wallenberg has a Masters Degree in Business from Long Island University, has studied on the Doctoral level at Fordham University, has a Bachelor Degree in Business from the University of the State of New York, and an Associate Degree in Nutrition from Westchester Community College.

Ms. Wallenberg is the Founder of Vegan International, a UN ECOSOC applicant.  The Advisory Board includes health experts: Neal Barnard, M.D., T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Nandita Shaw, M.D., Lawrence Kushi, Sc.D., Juliana Hever, R.D., exercise experts: Robert Cheeke and Mindy Colette, and veganic agriculture experts: Nassim Nobari, Mona Seymour, and William Faith.

Ms. Wallenberg attended Carolina Farm Stewardship Association Conferences, completed the Organic Growers Certification program, and attended agriculture classes at the University of North Carolina.

She is the Author of “The Search For Raoul Wallenberg – The Truth”, is currently writing “Transitioning to a Plant-Based Lifestyle” and many, many articles on Health, and United Nations issues.

 

Sunshine Overcomes Depression by Sharon L. Wallenberg

It is a scientific fact that sunshine produces a chemical reaction in the brain.  The brain produces serotonin, a chemical that is a potent mood enhancer.   There is a relationship between serotonin production and bright light, usually the sun, but can be from artificial light.  Serotonin is a natural anti-depressant without the dangerous side effects of anti-depressant drugs. Some of these drugs have been linked to suicides.

Conversely, the lack of sunshine has been scientifically proven to cause depression.  People who spend most of their time indoors not only miss receiving Vitamin D from the action of sunlight on the skin, but also have a higher risk of depression. 

Next time you feel down in the dumps, go for a walk outside, and enjoy the beautiful, healthful Florida sunshine.  Don’t forget the sunscreen!  Humans in their infinite lack of wisdom have depleted the earth’s ozone (protection) layer making it necessary (and lucrative for some) to use sunscreen.  The SPF rating (which you always wanted to know what it meant, but too were embarrassed to ask) stands for Sun Protection Factor. 

Enjoy the sun!  Be happy!

Enjoy the sun!  Be happy!

World Response to Coronavirus Disease and Climate Change by Sharon L. Wallenberg

The UN Climate Ambition Summit, (Dec. 12, 2020), the UN General Assembly 31^st Special Session – In Response To the Coronavirus Disease Covid-19 Pandemic (Dec. 4, 2020), and UN Summit on Biodiversity (Sept. 30, 2020), had one thing in common – THEY ALL MISSED THE POINT!

No one can argue with the ideas discussed in the Climate Ambition Summit, five years after the Paris Agreement.  Coal consumption needs to be cut, dependence on fossil fuel needs to end, solar, wind, and hydro energy need to be promoted.  BUT THE SINGLE GREATEST CONTRIBUTOR TO CLIMATE CHANGE, METHANE FROM ANIMALS RAISED TO BE EATEN BY HUMANS, WAS NOT EVEN MENTIONED.

The United Nations General Assembly 31^st Special Session – In Response to the Coronavirus Disease Covid-19 Pandemic discussed a plethora of ideas, BUT NOT THE CAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC - EXPLOITATION OF ANIMALS.  The discussion included the disproportionate adverse effect on women and girls being victimized by violence from frustrated men.  There are currently 2.5 million more child marriages, and a high rate of death from childbirth in girls 15 to 19 years old.  Eleven million girls are at risk of not going back to school after the pandemic.  Violence against children 2 to 17 years old is up to one billion.  Hundreds of millions of children have been out of school.  Refugees, displaced persons, migrant workers, and the countries that host them, are particularly vulnerable.  The poorest countries are the most impacted.  Worldwide there were eight million people in hunger increasing to135 million in the last four years.  This has now spiked to 270 million people starving during the Covid pandemic.  Efforts to provide clean water, nutrition and health care in developing nations have been seriously affected.  The pandemic has exacerbated efforts to combat other lethal diseases including malaria and measles.  The poorest countries are the most impacted.  The crisis is especially difficult in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) whose economies depend primarily on tourism.  235 million people may not survive 2021. 

Vaccines are currently available, but there is not enough money to purchase all the vaccines needed worldwide.  There are no vaccine distribution mechanisms in developing nations.  UNICEF, WHO, and GAVI will attempt to finance and distribute vaccines in remote areas.  The maxim: ‘No one is safe until everyone is safe’, needs to be embraced.

Only once during the Special Session was the actual cause of the pandemic referred to: ‘Wet markets should be closed.’  Only one speaker, Pavan Sukhdev, from United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), referred to the inability to live in harmony with nature, and habitat destruction, in relation to pandemic disease.  Ten percent of the Earth’s forests have been lost, causing closer interaction between humans and other species.  Habitat destruction and species extinction makes transmission of disease more likely to happen.  High biodiversity reduces the risk of zoonotic disease by the ‘Dilution Effect’, protecting human health.  Mr. Sukhdev said further that chemical farming is destroying soil, and referred to natural farming (also known as Veganic Agriculture) which produces higher yields at lower costs, without risk of the disease producing contaminants Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and others from animal exploitation.  THE CURRENT GLOBAL HEALTH AND ECONOMIC CRISIS IS CAUSED BY THE EXPLOITATION OF VOICELESS, RIGHTLESS SPECIES BY THE HUMAN SPECIES.

The Unfulfilled Promise of Nuremberg

From an article by Ben Ferencz (Wallenberg's Neighbor) and added to by Sharon Wallenberg

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.

 

 

 

What Athletes Are Saying About the Vegan Lifestyle By Sharon L. Wallenberg

More and more professional and amateur athletes are going vegan. Here is what they are saying:

“Eating a vegan diet has changed my everyday living.  I sleep better.  I wake up in a better mood.  I recover faster.  I’m not so inflamed, not so achy. I feel better overall in everything that I do.  I can take in more information easier. My mind is just open.”  Wilson Chandler, Professional Player, Denver Nuggets, National Basketball Association

“After a point, nutrition plays a huge part in how quickly you can recover, how hard you can push yourself the next day, back-to-back days and stuff like that.  I feel like it’s helped me tremendously and given me a big edge in that regard.”  Griff Whalen, National Football League Player who has played for the Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers, New England patriots, and Baltimore Ravens

“I changed my diet about four years ago because I wanted to cut out red meat for health reasons.  From there, I stopped eating other meat products and then dairy.  Finally, I went vegan.”  Mike Zigomanis, Champion Hockey Player

“There was always something off-putting to me about eating animals.  I remember petting a chicken on my Grandparents’ farm and realizing that she was another living creature with feelings and emotions.  Like most people, I grew up with dogs and cats I loved and cherished.  While holding this chicken I thought, “How is she any different from them?”  Once I made that connection, there wasn’t any difference to me.  I couldn’t bury my head in the sand any longer.”  Austin Aries, Professional Wrestler

“Does it matter if our protein comes from plants rather than animals?  Proteins consist of twenty amino acids, eleven of which can be synthesized naturally by our bodies.  The remaining nine – what we call essential amino acids – must be ingested from the foods we eat.  A well-rounded whole food plant-based diet that includes a colorful rotation of foods like grains, nuts, seeds, vegetables and legumes will provide all of these amino acids for even the hardest training athlete.  I can absolutely guarantee that eating plant-based you will never suffer a protein deficiency!”  Rich Roll, Ultra-Endurance Athlete

“Other bodybuilders eat steak, chicken, eggs, whey protein.  I just eat vegan versions of that; tempeh, tofu, seitan, rice and pea protein, some nuts and seeds, spinach and broccoli.”  Ed Bauer, Champion Bodybuilder

Even if you are not a professional, you can improve your stamina and endurance for golf, tennis, swimming, hiking, etc. You can believe these and other vegan athletes.  Try it!  Go vegan!

Sun Provides Energy For People and Planet By Sharon L. Wallenberg

The Sun provides energy, not only as a planet healthy alternative to fossil fuel, but is also the best source of energy for people!

Grass is green because of chlorophyll, the green pigment present in all green plants.  Chlorophyll is responsible for the absorption of light used in photosynthesis.  Photosynthesis is the basis of all energy; it is energy from the sun. All energy comes from the sun, not just solar energy to produce electricity, but energy for plants, animals and humans too.

Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants and other organisms convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy that can later be released as fuel for the organism’s activities. The process synthesizes foods from carbon dioxide and water and generates oxygen as a by-product.

Most animals, such as the horse- one of the world’s fastest animals - and the elephant – one of the world’s strongest animals, eat grass and leaves rich in energy synthesized from the sun.  Animals raised for food, such as cattle and chickens, also eat food rich in plant-based energy synthesized from the sun.

Why is it that some people believe they must eat animals - which get their food and energy from plants - for ‘protein’ instead of just going right to the source, and eating the plants?  I know!  It is because people crave fat and cholesterol!

What is cholesterol?  It is a waxy substance produced by non-plants for use in their body for cell repairs, and other functions.  The human body produces enough of its own cholesterol for these purposes.  What is fat?  It is a form of energy storage for an individual in the event of a shortage of food.  Why would anyone, who has their own source of cholesterol, and their own fat, rarely with food insecurity, want someone else’s fat and cholesterol?  I know!  They don’t have enough health issues already, and want the challenge of heart disease, diabetes and/or cancer. Fat and cholesterol from the meat and dairy based diet has been linked to these three serious health issues.

Sun is the greatest source of energy for the planet and people!  Be healthy!  Eat a plant-based diet!  Go Vegan!

Wool Is not Kind By Sharon L. Wallenberg

Wool grows on sheep, like hair on humans, or fur on dogs.  Most wool comes from Australia.  It is a big business and like anything else – there are winners and losers.  The winners are the corporations, and the big losers are the sheep.  Australia’s largest live sheep exporter, Emanuel Exports, recently had its license revoked after a whistle blower revealed the horrific truth about live export.                        

For decades, hundreds of thousands of sheep no longer considered profitable for wool production, have been shipped alive from Australia to the Middle East for slaughter.  More than 100,000 liters of urine and feces accumulates on a typical live export ship every day during the weeks that the sheep are on board.  The ship won’t be ‘washed out’ until after they disembark.  Any sheep who needs to lie down from exhaustion risks being buried alive in excrement.  There is no food or water for the animals, and as temperatures soar, the heat literally cooks sheep to death.  The sheep who survive will continue to suffer surrounded by the bodies of their dead companions.

Heavily pregnant ewes are shipped for slaughter like every other animal.  They will endure the trauma of live export while going into labor and giving birth.  Babies born on live export ships will lose their mothers, be trampled, or be killed by distressed crew members who are routinely ordered to slit the babies’ throats.  Weeks later, when they arrive in the Middle East, those individuals remaining alive will be slaughtered in the most horrific ways imaginable.  All this is after enduring a lifetime of suffering.

Sheep raised for wool suffer.  Shearers are paid by weight, not time.  It does not matter to them if an ear, breast, or testicle is sheared off.  The docile sheep are hit, beaten, and cursed at while being sheared.  If an animal does not survive being sheared, it is cooked and eaten in full view of the surviving sheep.   They know exactly what is happening, and that they could be next.  No medical attention is ever provided, even for the most serious conditions.

You can help stop this horrific abuse of sentient individuals – don’t buy wool.

There Are No "Good Eggs" By Sharon L. Wallenberg

 

THERE ARE NO “GOOD” EGGS

Cage-free, free-range, and organic are marketing terms used to sell eggs to consumers who erroneously believe that these eggs are guilt free.  Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Hens lay eggs.  The male chicks are treated by the organic, cage-free, free-range, and conventional egg industry as garbage.  These unwanted, unprofitable, vulnerable individuals are murdered, often hours after birth, by suffocation in large garbage bags, or are pulverized in machines designed to grind them up. 

While the male chicks are murdered soon after birth, the female chicks are mutilated by being de-beaked.  The sensitive beak, comparable to the human finger tip, is removed to prevent the babies from committing suicide by pecking itself to death, and thus eliminating profits.

These individuals have done nothing wrong to deserve this.  They are only guilty of being unprofitable.  In nature, Mother Hens keep all their babies – boys and girls – safe under their wings until they are old enough to venture out alone.

Cage Free facilities often house several thousand birds in a single building.  They cannot walk around, fly, groom themselves, or engage in any natural behavior.  They live in feces and urine, and breath ammonia not air.  But they are ‘cage free’.

Free range is no better.  These caring, affectionate, intelligent beings are not protected by any laws or regulations defining ‘free range’.  Free range is anything the profit driven producer wants it to be.  This is a marketing term used to sell products to uninformed consumers, not a way to treat the hens better.

Organic only refers to the food the birds eat.  All other horrific circumstances of their short horrific lives, and inhumane slaughter are the same.  Organic is about profit, not compassion.

In nature, hens produce approximately ten eggs a year, and only during the breeding season.  Commercial egg laying hens are forced to produce up to 300 eggs a year.  This is done by forcing a ‘moult’, or starving the hens into a new cycle in their bodies. 

Eggs are the hen’s menstrual cycle.  This often results in eggs being trapped in their bodies.  Since there is never any Veterinary help for these animals, the eggs are ‘cooked’ in their bodies.  This causes the hens to perish in a horrible and painful death.

Hens usually live 10 to 15 years in nature.  In the egg industry the hens live 12 to 18 months before their bodies give out.  

Hens are sentient beings not protected by the ‘Human Slaughter Law’.  Those very limited protections are reserved for mammals - animals, who like humans, produce milk for their young.  This restriction exists because humans can ‘relate’ to mammals more than hens.  

Lessons Learned in 2020 and Going Forward in 2021 By Sharon L. Wallenberg, Founder Vegan International

The UN Climate Ambition Summit, (Dec. 12, 2020), the UN General Assembly 31^st Special Session – In Response To the Coronavirus Disease Covid-19 Pandemic (Dec. 4, 2020), and UN Summit on Biodiversity (Sept. 30, 2020), had one thing in common – THEY ALL MISSED THE POINT!

No one can argue with the ideas discussed in the Climate Ambition Summit, five years after the Paris Agreement.  Coal consumption needs to be cut, dependence on fossil fuel needs to end, solar, wind, and hydro energy need to be promoted.  BUT THE SINGLE GREATEST CONTRIBUTOR TO CLIMATE CHANGE, METHANE FROM ANIMALS RAISED TO BE EATEN BY HUMANS, WAS NOT EVEN MENTIONED.

The United Nations General Assembly 31^st Special Session – In Response to the Coronavirus Disease Covid-19 Pandemic discussed a plethora of ideas.  These included the disproportionate adverse effect on women and girls being victimized by violence from frustrated men.  There are currently 2.5 million more child marriages, and a high rate of death from childbirth in girls 15 to 19 years old.  Eleven million girls are at risk of not going back to school after the pandemic.  Violence against children 2 to 17 years old is up to one billion.  Hundreds of millions of children have been out of school.  Refugees, displaced persons, migrant workers, and the countries that host them, are particularly vulnerable.  The poorest countries are the most impacted. 

Worldwide there were eight million people in hunger increasing to135 million in the last four years.  This has now spiked to 270 million people starving during the Covid pandemic.  Efforts to provide clean water, nutrition and health care in developing nations have been seriously affected.  The pandemic has exacerbated efforts to combat other lethal diseases including malaria and measles.  The poorest countries are the most impacted.  The crisis is especially difficult in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) whose economies depend primarily on tourism.  235 million people may not survive 2021. 

Vaccines are currently available, but there is not enough money to purchase all the vaccines needed worldwide.  There are no vaccine distribution mechanisms in developing nations.  UNICEF, WHO, and GAVI will attempt to finance and distribute vaccines in remote areas.  The maxim: ‘No one is safe until everyone is safe’, needs to be embraced.

Only once during the Special Session was the actual cause of the pandemic referred to: ‘Wet markets should be closed.’  Only one speaker, Pavan Sukhdev, from United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), referred to the inability to live in harmony with nature, and habitat destruction, in relation to pandemic disease.  Ten percent of the Earth’s forests have been lost, causing closer interaction between humans and other species.  Habitat destruction and species extinction makes transmission of disease more likely to happen.  High biodiversity reduces the risk of zoonotic disease by the ‘Dilution Effect’, protecting human health.  Mr. Sukhdev said further that chemical farming is destroying soil, and referred to natural farming (also known as Veganic Agriculture) which produces higher yields at lower costs, without risk of the disease producing contaminants Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and others from animal exploitation.  THE CURRENT GLOBAL HEALTH AND ECONOMIC CRISIS IS CAUSED BY THE EXPLOITATION OF VOICELESS, RIGHTLESS SPECIES BY THE HUMAN SPECIES.

The United Nations Summit on Biodiversity stressed urgent action on biodiversity for sustainable development.  The summit provided a “Voices For Nature” platform, and highlighted the goal of “Living in Harmony with Nature”.  Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are currently among the top threats facing humanity - jeopardizing food security, water supplies, weakening human ability to fight diseases, causing extreme weather events, and exacerbating geopolitical tensions and conflicts.  ACCORDING TO THE SUMMIT, THE EMERGENCE OF DEADLY ZOONOTIC DISEASES SUCH AS HIV/AIDS, EBOLA, AND COVID 19 ARE A CONSEQUENCE OF HUMAN IMBALANCE WITH NATURE.  SPECIFICALLY, THE EXPLOITAITON OF OTHER SPECIES BY HUMANS.  

The fundamental issue is very simple.  It is Speciesism – the exploitation by one species - humans, of all other species.  The results of speciesism are destroying the planet: climate change, pandemics, human mortality and morbidity, species extinction, loss of biodiversity, pollution of air, water, and land, and misuse of scarce resources, among others.  MOST IMPORTANTLY, THIS IS A JUSTICE ISSUE AND A LEGAL ISSUE: THE LACK OF RIGHTS OF EXPLOITED, VOICELESS INDIVIDUALS.

Currently there are enforceable non-human rights in the Constitution of Ecuador.  ‘Rights for Nature’ does not treat nature as property under the law, it acknowledges that nature in all its life forms has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, and that people have the legal authority to enforce these rights on behalf of ecosystems.  This shining example needs to include all species, be accepted, and implemented everywhere.

In the words of Nobel Literature Prize Winner, Isaac Bashevis Singer, “How much longer, God, will you look on this inferno of yours and keep silent?  What need have you of this ocean of blood and flesh whose stench spreads across your universe?  Have you created this boundless slaughterhouse merely to show us your power and wisdom?”…“What do they know – all these scholars, all these philosophers, all the leaders of the world – about such as you?  They have convinced themselves that man, the worst transgressor of all the species, is the crown of creation.  All other creatures were created merely to provide him with food, pelts, to be tormented, exterminated.  …for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka.”

“THOU SHALT NOT KILL” APPLIES TO ALL OF GOD’S CREATION, NOT ONLY HUMANS.”

 

Animals, My Brethren By Edgar Kupfer-Koberwitz

 The following pages were written in the Concentration Camp Dachau, in the midst of all kinds of cruelties. They were furtively scrawled in a hospital barrack where I stayed during my illness, in a time when Death grasped day by day after us, when we lost twelve thousand within four and a half months.

Dear Friend:

You asked me why I do not eat meat and you are wondering at the reasons of my behavior. Perhaps you think I took a vow — some kind of penitence — denying me all the glorious pleasures of eating meat. You remember juicy steaks, succulent fishes, wonderfully tasted sauces, deliciously smoked ham and thousand wonders prepared out of meat, charming thousands of human palates; certainly you will remember the delicacy of roasted chicken. Now, you see, I am refusing all these pleasures and you think that only penitence, or a solemn vow, a great sacrifice could deny me that manner of enjoying life, induce me to endure a great resignment.

You look astonished, you ask the question: “But why and what for?” And you are wondering that you nearly guessed the very reason. But if I am, now, trying to explain you the very reason in one concise sentence, you will be astonished once more how far your guessing had been from my real motive. Listen to what I have to tell you:

I refuse to eat animals because I cannot nourish myself by the sufferings and by the death of other creatures. I refuse to do so, because I suffered so painfully myself that I can feel the pains of others by recalling my own sufferings.

 I feel happy, nobody persecutes me; why should I persecute other beings or cause them to be persecuted?

 I feel happy, I am no prisoner, I am free; why should I cause other creatures to be made prisoners and thrown into jail?

 I feel happy, nobody harms me; why should I harm other creatures or have them harmed?

 I feel happy, nobody wounds me; nobody kills me; why should I wound or kill other creatures or cause them to be wounded or killed for my pleasure and convenience?

 Is it not only too natural that I do not inflict on other creatures the same thing which, I hope and fear, will never be inflicted on me? Would it not be most unfair to do such things for no other purpose than for enjoying a trifling physical pleasure at the expense of others’ sufferings, others’ deaths?

These creatures are smaller and more helpless than I am, but can you imagine a reasonable man of noble feelings who would like to base on such a difference a claim or right to abuse the weakness and the smallness of others? Don’t you think that it is just the bigger, the stronger, the superior’s duty to protect the weaker creatures instead of persecuting them, instead of killing them? “Noblesse oblige.” I want to act in a noble way.

I recall the horrible epoch of inquisition and I am sorry to state that the time of tribunals for heretics has not yet passed by, that day by day, men use to cook in boiling water other creatures which are helplessly given in the hands of their torturers. I am horrified by the idea that such men are civilized people, no rough barbarians, no natives. But in spite of all, they are only primitively civilized, primitively adapted to their cultural environment. The average European, flowing over with highbrow ideas and beautiful speeches, commits all kinds of cruelties, smilingly, not because he is compelled to do so, but because he wants to do so. Not because he lacks the faculty to reflect upon and to realize all the dreadful things they are performing. Oh no! Only because they do not want to see the facts. Otherwise they would be troubled and worried in their pleasures.

 

'The Fifth Commandment' By Sharon L. Wallenberg

The Fifth Commandment of God is THOU SHALT NOT KILL.  God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai after the Israelites were released from captivity and slavery in Egypt.  God had just shown His might in the parting of the Red Sea, the single greatest miracle in the history of planet Earth.  Evidence of this miracle was in a deep channel through the Red Sea where the remains of the Egyptians’ chariots were found, and reported in the New York Times, as well as other reputable news outlets.

Soon after the God’s greatest miracle, God called Moses to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments.  This Covenant between God and people is recorded in the Bible in Exodus and Deuteronomy.

The Ten Commandments are the foundation of the moral code, and the basis of the legal system of justice for western civilization.  When Mahatma Ghandi was asked what he thought of western civilization, he said it would be a good idea.  The distance western civilization has moved from its original purpose can be seen most clearly in its total disregard for the fifth commandment: ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’.  

Literally billions of innocent defenseless animals are killed annually to satisfy the taste of human carnivores.  They are tortured and murdered for the use of their skin, fur, and wool for human clothing.  Non-human individuals experience horrendous acts of torture and murder for ‘tests’, and ‘entertainment’.

Nowhere does it state that the Ten Commandments apply only to the human species.  Disregard for the welfare of all species causes zoonotic pandemics, climate change, pollution, hunger, human mortality and morbidity, and could be reduced or eliminated by simply following the Fifth Commandment –“Thou Shalt Not Kill”!  Go Vegan!