FW: OPEN LETTER TO THE VEGETARIAN COMMUNITY

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RSchw12345 [RSchw12345]

Thursday, June 21, 2007 10:42 AM

undisclosed-recipients:

OPEN LETTER TO THE VEGETARIAN COMMUNITY

 

 

OPEN LETTER TO THE VEGETARIAN COMMUNITY

 

Dear fellow vegetarians,

 

The world is imperiled as possibly never before by global warming and many

other environmental threats, and a shift toward vegetarian diets is an

essential part of the necessary response.

 

However, our leaders are avoiding this " inconvenient truth. " The future of

humanity may depend on our ability to alert the public that a plant-based

diet is perhaps THE most essential measure available to shift the world to a

sustainable path.

 

Are we ready to take on this task?

 

Are we ready to:

 

o Challenge individual members of society to take personal

responsibility

for their part in helping to save planet earth?

 

o Argue that animal-based diets and agriculture are madness and sheer

insanity since they contribute so significantly to so many current threats

and since healthier, more humane and environmentally sustainable

alternatives are available?

 

o Work with vegetarian, animal rights, environmental and

other groups from all over the world to endorse a call to get vegetarianism

onto society's agenda and work cooperatively on a wide variety of projects

to

accomplish this?

 

o Declare that medical practice today is often " malpractice, " because of

the

failure to inform patients about dietary approaches to prevent and, in many

cases, reverse diseases?

 

o Stress that one can be a far more effective environmentalist today as

a

vegetarian, and preferably a vegan?

 

o Challenge religious leaders and followers to recognize that the

production

and consumption of meat and other animal products violate religious

teachings about treating animals with compassion, protecting human health,

preserving the environment, conserving natural resources and

helping hungry people?

 

o Challenge the media, educators, politicians and others re the need to

put

the survival of humanity, and the urgency of taking steps such as dietary

changes in response, at the top of their agendas?

 

o Help people understand that it is scandalous to continue

animal-centered

diets that:

* involve the raising of over 50 billion farmed animals worldwide

annually, most under very cruel conditions on factory farms;

* require up to 14 times as much water per person as plant-centered diets,

when it is estimated that over half of the world's people will live in areas

chronically short of water by the middle of this century;

* involve over 70 percent of the grain produced in the United States and

over 40 percent of the grain produced worldwide to be fed to farmed animals

while an estimated 20 million of the world's people die of hunger and its

effects annually?

 

Are we ready to work together on effective strategies that will lead to a

vegetarian-conscious world as soon as possible? Ten suggested strategies can

be found at http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=22119 & lang=en .

 

We need creative ways to get our messages effectively out there. So, please

consider this and let me know what you think. As indicated, the fate of

humanity may rest on the success of our efforts.

 

Background information on the threats and the importance of a shift toward

vegetarianism can be found at:

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/05/the-warming-globe-and-us/

and at http://www.ivu.org/vuna/globalwarming/index.html

 

Thank you for all that you are doing to help create a more humane, just,

healthy and environmentally sustainable world. I hope this letter has

provided information and motivation that will help in your important efforts

to prevent global warming one bite at a time.

 

[PLEASE FORWARD FAR AND WIDE. THANKS.]

 

Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

President

Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and

Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV)

http://jewishveg.com/schwartz

 

=========================

 

Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus, College of Staten Island

Author of " Judaism and Vegetarianism, " " Judaism and Global Survival, " and

" Mathematics and Global Survival, " and over 130 articles at

JewishVeg.com/schwartz

President of Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and

Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV)

Phone: 718-761-5876 FAX: 718-982-3631

rschw12345