Bioneers and Meat? Pickets?

September 13, 2002

Bioneers Conference - Oct 18 to 20 - Marin Center San Rafael

" VISIONARY AND PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS FOR RESTORING THE EARTH??? "

Last year we picketed and distributed food-choice/environmental

literature at the bioneers meeting in Marin because there was no speaker

addressing PERSONAL FOOD CHOICES as one " PRACTICAL SOLUTION for

RESTORING THE EARTH. "

We reminded them that the Union of Concerned Scientists indicated that

the production of meat and dairy was the second-most consumer cause of

environmental pollution after cars.

Last year Davy Davdison wrote the Bioneers organizers and very cogent

and respectful letter asking that they address the issue of personal

food choices (not her words - I lost her letter when my computer was

recently stolen). She suggested John Robbins as a speaker.

I looked on the 2002 conference website http://www.bioneers.org and

could find NO speakers addressing personal food choices.

Julia Butterfly Hill, who is a vegan, is listed as a speaker but her

subject is " Honoring and Empowering Youth. "

There are several speakers addressing " sustainable agriculture " which

can, it appears in their views, include meat and dairy.

The vegan community has MANY compelling and articulate speakers to

address the issue of " personal food choices and the environment. "

There will also be a bioneers banquet. I asked for the menu and whether

or not it was vegetarian.

The person said that there would be a " vegetarian choice. "

I asked if the main menu included meat. She had to ask.

She came back and said " We don't know, we are leaving that to the chef. "

You might want to look at the bioneers site and write them a letter.

http://www.bioneers.org

Any suggestions for our presence at Oct 18 to 20 at the Marin Center???

Polly Strand

September 13, 2002

Dear Polly, Davy & other friends ~

This absurdity at the Bioneers has gone on for far too long, and we have been

far too patient in waiting for them to wake up and smell the slaughterhouse. In

addition to Davy's wonderful letter, I recall that Simone Spearman also engaged

the folks at the Bioneers in attempting to gently persuade

them to address the elephant - I mean, the cows, pigs, chickens & turkeys - in

the living room. Our amazing friends at Satya magazine have also attempted to

push the Bioneers in a direction more consistent with the purported spirit of

Bioneers.

I think we need to do something big, colorful, positive, and fun - and something

media-savvy. Here are some quick ideas:

* We can design a postcard featuring a graphic of the earth going to hell in a

hand basket (something that represents that) while a person representing

Bioneers has his/her back turned to that image while getting ready to carve a

huge platter of meat. It's relatively inexpensive to print 500

postcards (if memory serves, it's about $190), and we can print enough so that

we can give a postcard to every person that goes to Bioneers.

* I think something like a manure dump is not positive enough to ensure that we

get what we want in the end. I don't think we want to alienate these people

entirely; we want to engage them and we want to realize that we have the numbers

and media audience (let's hope!) to be able to challenge their

position publicly. But, I like the idea of the manure dump (getting the

statistic out that farmed animals - according to a senate report - produce 130

times the manure of the human population in the U.S., and this s**t is dumped,

untreated, into our nation's waterways. If we could think of something

positive that could highlight this statistic, I think that would be great.

Everyone could carry signs that read, " 130 " and then the media would have to

report that statistic.

* Something theatrical with costumes and masks and stuff. I dunno.

* Definitely our cheerleaders! And we could work on some enviro cheers.

Something where they had Go Vegan on one side of their placards and For the

Earth on the other (would have to work with the lettering, etc.).

Okay, that's a start. We may be able to use some of these ideas in concert. Or,

we could do something entirely different.

Thanks for initiating this discussion, Polly!!

xo,