September/October 2017
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The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world - Dr. Paul Farmer

In this edition...

Featured Video
  Porcupine fish refuses to abandon trapped friend

Top Stories
  Why factory farming is not just cruel - but also a threat to all life on the planet
  Meat giant Cargill invests in 'clean meat' startup
  Goodbye - and good riddance - to livestock farming
  Why animals should be given the same legal rights as humans

Health
  Going vegan propelled NBA veteran Wilson Chandler to his best season ever
  62-year-old vegan powerlifter smashes world records
  Is my medication vegan?

Environment
  Collapse at salmon farm renews debate about fish farming
  We've grossly underestimated how much methane from livestock is contributing to global warming
  Sixth mass extinction of wildlife also threatens global food supplies

Lifestyles and Trends
  Pea protein just got the Cameron bump
  Five fabulous vegan experiences in Paris
  Battle lines drawn in German debate on meat substitutes

Signs of the Times
  China inks deal to buy lab-grown meat from Israel
  Organization plans to make factory farming illegal In Switzerland
  Plant-based foods top $3.1 billion in sales

Animal Issues and Advocacy
  If not now, when? If not you, who?
  Whales and dolphins have human-like social structures and culture, say researchers
  A baby wails, and the adult world comes running

Books and Perspectives
  Natalie Portman narrates essential documentary on meat consumption
  Vegan with a side of humor
 

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(Excerpts are included from current news stories. Click on the "Full story" link to read the full article.)
  Featured Video    


Porcupine fish refuses to abandon trapped friend
Video source: Care2

When her best friend got stuck in a net, this loyal porcupine fish stayed by her side.   Read more/Watch video...

Care2 - September 26
Related/More:
Fish have complex personalities, research shows
Phys.org (September 27)
Video: How one girl's illness changed what a nation eats
Antibiotics can be removed from livestock farming - BBC (September 5)

 
  Top Stories    

Why factory farming is not just cruel - but also a threat to all life on the planet
Full story: Guardian, UK

The world desperately needs joined-up action on industrial farming if it is to avoid catastrophic impacts on life on earth, according to the head of one of the world's most highly regarded animal campaign groups. Philip Lymbery, chief executive of Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) and the author of Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat and more recently Dead Zone: Where the Wild Things Were, said: "Every day there is a new confirmation of how destructive, inefficient, wasteful, cruel and unhealthy the industrial agriculture machine is. We need a total rethink of our food and farming systems before it's too late."   Read more...

Guardian, UK - October 4

Meat giant Cargill invests in 'clean meat' startup
Full story: WSJ

Cargill Inc. is betting you won't always need cattle to make hamburgers. The agricultural conglomerate has invested in Memphis Meats Inc., a startup developing technology to grow meat from self-reproducing animal cells. The stake marks the first investment by a traditional meat company in the nascent "clean meat" sector, where startups are creating products they say are better for the environment than meat derived from traditional sources.   Read more...

WSJ - August 23

Goodbye - and good riddance - to livestock farming
Full story: Guardian, UK

What will future generations, looking back on our age, see as its monstrosities? What madness of our times will revolt our descendants? There are plenty to choose from. But one of them, I believe, will be the mass incarceration of animals, to enable us to eat their flesh or eggs or drink their milk. While we call ourselves animal lovers, and lavish kindness on our dogs and cats, we inflict brutal deprivations on billions of animals that are just as capable of suffering. The hypocrisy is so rank that future generations will marvel at how we could have failed to see it.   Read more...

Guardian, UK - October 4

Why animals should be given the same legal rights as humans
Full story: Maclean's, Canada

Around the world, environmentalists have been arguing for the rights of animals and entire ecosystems in the courts-and they're winning. For environmental lawyer and University of British Columbia professor David Boyd, author of The Rights of Nature: A Legal Revolution That Could Save the World, such legal developments are, "the first cracks in the wall of the way we treat individual animals."   Read more...

Maclean's, Canada - September 14
 
  Health    

Going vegan propelled NBA veteran Wilson Chandler to his best season ever
Full story: Stack

Wilson Chandler knew he needed to do something different. After being told he'd miss the entire 2015-2016 NBA [U.S. National Basketball Association] season with a hip injury, a frightening pattern had emerged. Injuries had also hampered him in the past. Interested in keeping himself healthier on and off the court, Chandler started following a pescatarian diet (which is similar to a vegetarian diet but allows for fish). But as he continued to do more research, he came to the conclusion a vegan diet would be best-suited to his needs. His play last season speaks volumes. Chandler appeared in 71 games while posting new career highs.   Read more...

Stack - September 20

62-year-old vegan powerlifter smashes world records
Full story: AZ Family

Forget every preconceived notion you have about weightlifters; one Arizona [U.S.] athlete defies all expectations. She is a 62-year-old, completely vegan, record-breaking powerlifter. Rocky Luedeker has 13 world records and 26 state and national records, to be exact.   Read more...

AZ Family - October 13

Is my medication vegan?
Full story: UK Vegan Society

Many of us, including vegans, need to take medication at some time in our lives. However, many medications contain ingredients or excipients (the bits they add to make the medicine into a tablet etc.) which are not suitable for vegans. We need to ask a number of questions to ascertain if a medicine is vegan... [Advice from a vegan pharmacist.]   Read more...

UK Vegan Society - October 13

More Health News:
Breast cancer - treatment reality vs myth
McDougall Newsletter (September)
Five steps for taking the veg challenge
Vegan Outreach (October 2)
Video - Jo Lynne no longer suffers from severe pain in her feet
Dr. McDougall - from the archives

 
  Environment    

Collapse at salmon farm renews debate about fish farming
Full story: CTV, Canada

A marine net pen holding 305,000 farmed Atlantic salmon collapsed recently, releasing thousands of fish into Puget Sound [BC, Canada] and renewing concerns that a new proposed salmon farm could harm wild salmon stock and cause other environmental damage.   Read more...

CTV, Canada - August 24

We've grossly underestimated how much methane from livestock is contributing to global warming
Full story: Gizmodo

A new NASA-sponsored study shows that global methane emissions produced by livestock are 11 per cent higher than estimates made last decade. Because methane is a particularly nasty greenhouse gas, the new finding means it's going to be even tougher to combat climate change than we realized.   Read more...

Gizmodo - September 29

Sixth mass extinction of wildlife also threatens global food supplies
Full story: Guardian, UK

The sixth mass extinction of global wildlife already under way is seriously threatening the world's food supplies, according to experts. "Huge proportions of the plant and animal species that form the foundation of our food supply are just as endangered [as wildlife] and are getting almost no attention," said Ann Tutwiler, director general of Bioversity International, a research group that published a new report.   Read more...

Guardian, UK - September 26

Related/More Environmental News:
Earth's sixth mass extinction event under way, scientists warn
Guardian (July 10)
Grass-fed beef is bad for the planet and causes climate change
New Scientist (October 3)

 
  Lifestyles and Trends    

Pea protein just got the Cameron bump
Full story: Good Food Institute

Pea protein had its breakout role when it was featured in Beyond Meat's product line, and gained additional notoriety playing the lead in Ripple's plant-based milk. Now, Oscar-winning director James Cameron (of Avatar and Titanic fame) and wife Suzy Amis Cameron are giving pea protein a place on the A-list. The Camerons are launching the largest pea protein fractionation plant in North America: Verdient Foods Inc. in Saskatchewan, Canada. Beyond processing, the plant will also develop plant-based foods for producers and provide a profit structure and mentorship program to keep young Canadian farmers engaged in organic, plant-based farming.   Read more...

Good Food Institute - October 6

Five fabulous vegan experiences in Paris
Full story: VegNews

The City of Light's vegan scene is on fire, and we've got a hotlist for your next trip...   Read more...

VegNews - August 21

Battle lines drawn in German debate on meat substitutes
Full story: Food Navigator

Controversy is mounting over how vegetable-based meat substitutes should be labelled in Germany as draft regulations backing "meaty names" is released.   Read more...

Food Navigator - October 18

More Lifestyles and Trends News:
How haute cuisine went vegan
Times, UK (requires free registration - September 7)
11 politicians around the world who refuse to eat meat
Mojo Mathers, NZ, Jeremy Corbyn, UK, Murray Rankin, Canada.... Mercy for Animals (September 11)
75 rabbis urge transition to animal-free diet
Jewish Veg (September 27)

 
  Signs of the Times    

China inks deal to buy lab-grown meat from Israel
Full story: Independent, UK

China has signed a $300m deal to purchase meat grown in a laboratory in Israel in a deal that could open a lucrative floodgate for vegan food manufacturers into the world's most populous country.   Read more...

Independent, UK - September 16

Organization plans to make factory farming illegal In Switzerland
Full story: Plant Based News

An 'antispeciesist political think tank' is calling for the end of factory farming in Switzerland. Sentience Politics - which was headed up by thought-leader Adriano Mannino for some time - plans to collect 100,000 signatures on a petition, then instigate a vote proposing to change the law.   Read more...

Plant Based News - October 16

Plant-based foods top $3.1 billion in sales
Full story: Mercy for Animals

A study commissioned by the Plant Based Foods Association and The Good Food Institute revealed that the plant-based foods market topped $3.1 billion in sales. The results showed an overall growth in plant-based foods of 8.1 per cent from last year.   Read more...

Mercy for Animals - September 14

More Signs of the Times News:
Clean meat startup attracks major investors
Fortune (August 23)

 
  Animal Issues and Advocacy    

If not now, when? If not you, who?
Full story: Gentle World

Have you ever been driving on a highway and come alongside a cattle truck? Or perhaps you've had the experience of going fishing and feeling a pang of sympathy for both the worms wriggling on the hooks and the fish flapping their bodies, in a desperate struggle to return to life-giving water... If they could, every animal in the world would rise up, and with one pleading voice, say to you: "What on earth are you waiting for?"   Read more...

Gentle World - October 2

Whales and dolphins have human-like social structures and culture, say researchers
Full story: CBC

Cetaceans form complex alliance relationships, work together for mutual benefit of the group, teaching one another how to hunt and hunt co-operatively. They are also capable of complex vocalizations, including regional group dialects and 'name' recognition.   Read more...

CBC - October 16

A baby wails, and the adult world comes running
Full story: New York Times

In almost every mammal species, an infant's cry has a primal impact on nearby adults. Scientists are beginning to figure out why.   Read more...

New York Times - September 4

More Animal Issues and Advocacy News:
Experts gather in Vancouver to brainstorm on killer whale recovery
Globe & Mail, Canada (October 9)
100 photos from the inspiring animal rights marches around the world
Vegan Truth (September 3)
Lebanon president signs country's first animal welfare bill into law
The National (August 29)


 
  Books and Perspectives    

Natalie Portman narrates essential documentary on meat consumption
Full story: The Wrap

Eating Animals is not a preachy, militant vegan documentary, but rather an affectionate and thoughtful examination of traditions that helped build this country in the early days: actual farms with actual farmers raising livestock naturally, rather than pumping antibiotic after antibiotic into our food production system as we barrel toward superbugs we can't control. Produced and narrated by notable vegan Natalie Portman and directed by Christopher Dillon Quinn from novelist Jonathan Safran Foer's memoir, Eating Animals may be the most important documentary that screened this year at the Telluride Film Festival, though it could be hard to get audiences across America to watch it. Why? Because most people don't want to know where their food comes from.   Read more...

The Wrap - September 4

Vegan with a side of humor
Full story: Vegan Outreach Blog

Finally - a vegan with a sense of humor! I'm joking, of course, but as many of us know, vegans are often accused of taking things too seriously and lacking a sense of humor. In The Skeptical Vegan: My Journey from Notorious Meat Eater to Tofu-Munching Vegan - A Survival Guide, Eric Lindstrom proves that one can be vegan and also skilled at making other people laugh. Providing hilarious anecdotes and advice, he details the journey from someone who could've easily entered - and won - a chicken wing eating contest to a full-time animal advocate.   Read more...

Vegan Outreach Blog - September 11

Also of interest:

Events
Complete list of global VegFests - thanks to Meatout Mondays for this!

Sites/Petitions:
One Step for Animals - not eating chicken is the most impactful thing to do
Kirschner's Korner.com/ - Let's make the world a more humane place
Mulled Mind - stainless steel straws
Gentle World - for the vegan in everyone
Twyla Francois - beautiful images with a message
RescueDiaries on YouTube
Petition - Fodor's: Stop Promoting Elephant Cruelty
Petition: Ban fur farming in Ontario, Canada
Petition: Help Esther the Wonder Pig

Plus:
VegE-News Archives

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