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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