Vegatopia: Promoting ethical veganism through academic research and teaching.

Just when you thought 2008 couldn't get any more veganically exciting some very clever people in Wales have started an awesome new vegan website

Vegatopia: Promoting ethical veganism through academic research and teaching.

Announcing www.vegatopia.org a multi-disciplinary academic resource

Vegatopia is dedicated to providing a comprehensive academic resource on all things vegan. If you are a student, researcher or teacher interested in any aspect of veganism, then Vegatopia is the site for you. We hope to facilitate new areas of research into issues relating to veganism. We want vegatopia to be an interactive forum for dialogue, informing individual and collaborative research and teaching, as well as making a contribution to vegan activism and having a positive impact on veganism in a wider sense.

The website includes:

• A news page with information about vegan academic activities, such as conferences, seminars, publications or courses.

• A diary with alerts to upcoming talks and other events.

• A comprehensive, interdisciplinary bibliography. We have archived over 1500 references relevant to the theory and practice of veganism. The bibliography is searchable according to keywords, such as ‘social research’ or ‘activism’.

• A list of significant media sources relevant to veganism, including print, television and radio broadcasts, films and music.

• A set of resources for research and teaching veganism in academia, including the text or notes of lectures on veganism, conference papers, theoretical notes, and other unpublished work.

• A research forum, inviting discussion of ideas for future academic work to research and promote ethical veganism.

• An archive of public statements on vegan matters.

• Links to other organizations promoting veganism, including activist groups, educational charities and more.


Interested in joining vegatopia, or finding out more?

Contact us:

Dr. Matthew Cole
matthew.cole @ vegatopia.org
School of City and Regional Planning
Cardiff University

Fair Trial My Arse

Reprieve


Bill Bailey showed his support for the reprieve Lush campaign at the Lush Regent street store yesterday!

Recently Lush's co-founder Mark Constantine met human rights lawyer and director of Reprieve Clive Stafford Smith. Stafford Smith represents many of the prisoners in Guantánamo and when Mark heard about desperate situation of two current detainees - Al Jazeera News cameraman Sami Al Haj and British resident Binyam Mohamed, he decided Lush should get involved.

See the youtube Video with Bill Bailey - Fair trial my Arse

Reprieve

See also Lush - Terrorists

Metro

WhatGreenCar? Green Car Guide , Green Car Ratings & Green Car Reviews. Petrol, Diesel, LPG & Hybrid.

WhatGreenCar? Green Car Guide , Green Car Ratings & Green Car Reviews. Petrol, Diesel, LPG & Hybrid.: "

View the WhatGreenCar search Tool

Naked Pregnant Mother Pig Protest

Naked, Pregnant and Helping Pigs This Mother’s Day

A nude heavily pregnant mother protested naked in a farrowing crate in London's busy Covent garden to highlight the plight of mother pigs on Mother's day.

Pigs are one of the most intelligent of all animals , more intelligent than dogs, and so like humans they have also been experimented on to provide replacements for human body parts, vital organs such as heart, kidneys, liver, etc.

Organised by PeTA to highlight the reality of bacon, ham, pork sausages, pork chops and the production of hotdogs and the issue of the mother pigs routinely trapped in a crate with no room to move.

It’s almost Mother’s Day! So PETA thought it the perfect opportunity to get people talking about what happens to mothers all over the world… pig mothers, that is. Today in Covent Garden as shoppers dashed around for gifts for their mothers, PETA’s very pregnant Noemie stripped, got down on all fours and knelt in a replica farrowing crate with the banner ‘Unhappy Mother’s Day for Pigs, Go Vegetarian.’

Mother’s Day is a time to show love, respect and gratitude for mothers so it is only fitting that we extend that kindness to mothers that have a really tough time all year round – sows, who are squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely bigger than their own bodies. Unable to turn around, nuzzle their piglets or do anything that comes naturally to them, they live in misery. When weaned, the piglets are taken away to be fattened for slaughter, and the mothers are put through the process all over again.

Free Video Naked Pregnant Protester

Free pics

Google Trends: vegan

Google Trends are vegan

Ethical, environmentally friendly, healthy, fairest of fair trade,carbon friendly, this is no ordinary google trend, this is a vegan google trend.

'Cut the Crap' say Vegan Society

Invitation To Farming Talk (from Redditch Advertiser)

It seems like The UK Vegan Society is cleaning up it's act. They are now giving talks on shit free farming. About time they focussed on cutting out the crap some may say but I applaud their efforts.

Less pooh pooh, plops, turds and poops, more out-reach I say.

Of course it would be even more productive making good use of their excellent new CDRom for schools and talking to children but I'm sure that's in the pipeline!

Vegans - Friends of The Earth

We received this call to arms today and thoroughly agree this could be a massive opportunity to educate many new people about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle.

News - ActiVeg - vegan inspiration, news & events: "Within our grasp is the support of the UK's most powerful environmental organization. If you only act on one issue this year, let it be this one - everything else pales into insignificance.
The vegan community has long understood the grave issues concerning meat consumption on many aspects of the environment. With the high profile emergence of the Global Warming as the pressing issue facing the planet, the role of livestock has at last started being examined with vigor."

Activeg goes on to say

-

The UN's ground breaking report last year has moved the devastating impact of our animal-based diets into the media's consciousness. But although we have understood the issues in great details for a long time, the general public is just getting the faintest idea that the diet they have been raised on may have enormous consequences for us all. We should never under-estimate the challenge in changing one's diet.

The voice of the vegetarian community is relatively weak compared with other campaigning groups. But when one of the big guns steps forward to enormously amplify our concerns, it is only a fool who ignores that opportunity.

That chance has appeared and we must act upon it, not just for the animals, but for the whole planet that every species relies on. Friends of the Earth (FoE) has, for the first time, started to speak on the "Meaty Issue". Earthmatters, the FoE members' magazine, has at last openly questioned its readership on their diet.

I can not over emphasise the importance of FoE's involvement in this issue. We must support them, and save the planet from the blight of meat and dairy diets. FoE have a voice so much stronger than ours and so widely respected. Use it. If FoE raises the huge environmental impact of animal farming, the other green organisation will follow.

What you must do
Join FoE. If you can't afford it then drop your subscription to one of your veggie organisations - the Vegan Society, the Vegetarian Society, Animal Aid .. . what ever - this is more important. If FoE delivers on this issue in response to support from members, then we will have hope in combating global warming and reducing the suffering of all animals in the process.
If you are already a member then increase your donation.
Contact them and tell them why you have joined or increased your donation and praise them for what has been a difficult decision for them.
Now complete the FoE meat survey. You can only do so as a member.
Thanks, you are really helping to saving the planet, all the life on it, and millions animals for a miserable life in farming.

McCartney Vegan Cookery Show

Heather Mills McCartney lands vegan cookery show - Sunday Mirror

According to the Sunday Mirror vegan Heather Mills McCartney is set to be a vegan version of Nigella Lawson. They report a source close to the vegan charity campaigner said: "Heather thinks a cooking show will give her a caring, sexy image like Nigella.

Apparently she is also being groomed to be the next Oprah winfrey.

Meanwhile Heather was in Disneyland Paris with her daughter. We hope she found better vegan food than we did! French vegetarian menus in Disneyland feature fish and chicken.

Fair Trade Vs Vegan Productrs

Exhibit ethical products at Bristol Vegan Fayre 2008

Can products be truly Fair traded if they are not Vegan? Can products be truly Vegan if they are not produced in a fair trade way?

Whatever your views if you are a manufacturer with products that appeal to this massive new ethical consumer market then The Bristol Vegan Fayre should be an essential part of your marketing activities.

Market research, Feedback, ideas for NPD, raising product awareness, networking or just purely to sell product to a very appreciative and unique audience gathered by their thousands in one place.

EVANA Janez Drnovsek, ex-Slovenian president who helped lead country to independence, dies en

EVANA Janez Drnovsek, ex-Slovenian president who helped lead country to independence, dies en

Vegan President Janez Drnovsek dies.

Mild-mannered but resolute, Drnovsek became a political icon in part for working to keep violence at a minimum when Slovenia gained independence in 1991. He later led the country to European Union and NATO membership.



Republic of Slovenia

Guest Blog - Vegan Blog Tour

Vegan Blog Tour

My name is Susan Daffron and I'm the author of a book called Vegan Success: Scrumptious, Healthy Vegan Recipes for Busy People (http://www.vegansuccess.com). I have been vegetarian since 1988 and completely vegan since 1994.

First I'd like to say thank you to Tony for letting me do a guest post. It's great to run across vegans...other than me. Let's just say that there aren't a whole lot of vegans in rural Idaho where I live ;-)

I noticed that a lot of your posts focus on the relationship between veganism and the environment. One of the best ways to embrace eco-friendly living is by going vegan. It's well documented that becoming a vegetarian or vegan is one of the best things you can do for the environment. After all, it takes a lot more land to feed cows than vegans. If more people adopted a vegetarian diet, it would result in lower fuel usage, fewer pesticides, and less soil erosion.

Going vegan also saves you money at the checkout. For example, our cookbook focuses on quick, easy meals you can make out of standard ingredients you can find in virtually any grocery store. A trip down the grocery aisles will show that it's far less expensive to eat non-packaged food, such as vegetables and whole grains.

By purchasing foods such as fruits, vegetables, and dry goods, you also reduce the amount of packaging that ends up in landfills. If you shop at local farmer's markets, you also reduce the amount of fuel used to transport foods long distances.

Many people seem to fear that becoming a vegan is "hard" or that "you can't eat anything." Our cookbook offers ample proof that it's easy to eat in a way that's good for the planet, your pocketbook, and your taste buds.

If you're just considering going vegan and struggling for ideas on what to make for dinner, check out our book. It specializes in healthy easy recipes. You can see a few on this page:

http://www.vegansuccess.com/recipe.htm

Vegan Pirate Opens World's First Vegan Strip Club

Customers Find All Skin, No Meat At Vegan Strip Club - News Story - KPTV Portland

We were looking forward to visiting the Vegan Pirates Tavern - but Long Johnny Diablo has moved along and opened the world's first vegan strip joint.

Johhny Diablo, a vegan for more than 20 years, insists his club isn’t a publicity stunt.

He hopes to expose people to the vegan way and change the way they think.

While it may not be the most orthodox way to win over new vegans, Diablo hopes people bring some green and eat some green at his new club.

“(It’s) vixens, not veal, and sizzle, not steak,” Diablo said. “We put the meat on the pole, not on the plate.”

In addition to laying claim to the world's first vegan strip club, Diablo also said his club offers another first in Portland -- the first non-smoking strip club in the city.

Adult only video - vegan pole dancers by KBTV

Has Beef Been Poisoning School Kids?

Company Orders Largest Recall of Ground Beef - New York Times



The beef recall follows release of an undercover video by The Humane Society of "downer" cows, that carry an increased risk of BSE, entering the food chain illegally

“The great majority has probably been consumed,” said Dr. Richard Raymond, the Agriculture Department’s under secretary for food safety.

The video was embarrassing for the Department of Agriculture, as inspectors are supposed to be monitoring slaughterhouses for abuse. It surfaced after a year of increasing concerns about the safety of the meat supply amid a sharp increase in the number of recalls tied to a particularly deadly form of the E. coli pathogen.

There were 21 recalls of beef related to the potentially deadly strain of E. coli last year, compared with eight in 2006 and five in 2005. No one is quite sure what caused the increase, though theories include the cyclical nature of pathogens and changes in cattle-feeding practices caused by the ethanol boom.

The recall on Sunday was more than four times bigger than the previous record, the 1999 recall of 35 million pounds of ground beef by Thorn Apple Valley, federal officials said.

Slave Trade - life is cheap at Tescos

BBC NEWS- Anger over £1.99 Tesco chickens

Kept in cramped acrid conditions, unable to walk properly, prone to disease and unusual growths and tumours, fed GM grain, standing most of it's life in excrement, reared by dispondent farmers struggling to make a living on rediculously low profit margins and forced to cut corners - this is no ord-in-ary chicken - this is tesco's chicken....

Ok so if this chicken is £1.99 * what's it been fed? * what conditions has it been kept in? * What were the farmers paid to rear it? * what nutrients can it possibly contain ? * What a waste of resources to produce protein - most of the food fed to a chicken is turned into chickenshit not fat.

Tchicken - Tastes a bit like Tofu but with less minerals, less protein, more fat, more calories, more risk of disease.

Kate Moss Does Vegan Weed

Kate Moss Rolling Stone Kate Gathers no Moss, just Seaweed and Algae.

It's a leap forward if Kate Moss is ditching her usual weed for sea weed. She is allegedly (according to source at the BBC) following in Vicoria Beckham's footsteps and getting into vegan superfoods - seaweed and algae shakes.

London Nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston says " It certainly won't do her any harm!"

Vegan Food Takes off in South Africa

Vegan venture turned into magical experience of an exotic culture

Ethical Vegan cuisine is now featured in restaurants all over the world.

This is an extract from a review of an Ethiopian Restaurant in Johannesburg called Addis...

"Owner Senait Mekonnen explains that vegetarian fare is a staple diet for many Ethiopians, who call it "fasting food" - as Coptic Christians refrain from eating meat on Wednesdays, Fridays and over religious festivals like Easter. We've obviously come to the right place to begin my pilgrimage into the ethics of what we eat.

Every object at Addis tells a story of an ancient Ethiopian culture of emperors, cliff-side monasteries and coffee ceremonies. When our starters arrive, the waitress removes the wicker cone to reveal a table ingeniously set in the base.

The service is attentive and warm in the African way. Nono, our waitress, shows us how to unroll the signature injera - an indigenous bread made from fermented rice flour. Injera is used like roti, which you eat with your hands, and is coated in delicious berbere (an aromatic, spicy masala) and kibe (a spicy clarified herbal butter). We dip injera into zesty azifa - a paste of lentils in olive and mustard oil.


'We break bread and share four divine dishes spread on an extra-large injera "crepe" with vegetable pickle - misir wot (lentils in a rich sauce), kike alicha wot (chickpeas in a chunky stew), a mushroom stew and shiro wot (a spicy vegetarian paste). The fare is dark and aromatic, the flavours are earthy and robust with a sweet, spicy aftertaste."

Legal Definition of Vegan Considered by Govt

Govt response to petition

We have recieved a response from the UK Govt. on the subject of facillitating a Legal Definition of the word Vegan for labelling purposes.

The UK Govt. have agreed there is a framework within Technical Standards Directive 98/34/EC for introducing a national standard as there is with Organic but wish to wait to see how well the voluntary guidelines introduced by the FSA have been utilised. Meanwhile the overburdened Trading Standards officers have little legal backing when prosecuting manufacturers for including animal ingredients in products marked for vegetarian and vegan consumers.

Here is the UK Government response:


The Government are aware of consumers' concern over honest labelling, particularly in regard to the use of the terms 'vegetarian' and 'vegan'. After meeting with representatives of consumers, industry, enforcement, several religious groups and the Vegetarian and Vegan Societies and following a full public consultation, the Food Standards Agency published Guidance on the Use of the Terms 'Vegetarian' and 'Vegan' in Food Labelling in April 2006. The Guidance aims to assist manufacturers, retailers and caterers to use the terms in a consistent way, which in turn will make it easier for consumers to understand.

The guidance is best practice advice and it remains the decision of the manufacturer whether or not to make this declaration if their product fulfils the criteria in the guidance.

Any labelling of food or drink products as 'vegetarian' or 'vegan' is voluntary. However, consumers are protected by general legal provisions outlawing false or misleading labelling in UK legislation. The Food Safety Act 1990 (as amended), the Trade Descriptions Act 1968, and Article 16 of European Union Regulation 178/2002/EC must be complied with if such labelling is used.

It may be possible for the UK to introduce national measures regarding labelling with the terms 'vegetarian' or 'vegan', subject to the notification and acceptance procedures set out in the Technical Standards Directive 98/34/EC. However, we wish to see whether voluntary criteria as set out in the guidance published in 2006 are effective in improving labelling and increasing consumer confidence. The guidance will be subject to periodic review.

In answer to MiV / Foods for Life petition.

Vegan Labelling - Vegan Nutrition - New Product Development


"The Government has confirmed there is no legal definition of 'Vegan' or 'vegetarian' in the EU or UK. We call upon the Govt to draw up a framework using the model of 'Organic' and The Indian Government's experiences to create a legal definition for 'vegan' and 'vegetarian'."

Paul McCartney on ITV ITN News at Ten

ITV - Paul McCartney on ITN News at 10

Paul McCartney is interviewed by ITN News at Ten to draw attention to The United Nations Livestock's Long Shadow Report and how veganism can help to save the planet from catastrophe.

He's been veggie for 30 years but says that the fact that meat eating experts at The United Nations have now admitted cattle rearing is devastating the planet and more harmful to the planet than the effects of all cars and planes, many more ordinary people should sit up and listen.

Sir Paul credits Linda McCartney with turning the family vegetarian but apparently she said it was his decision, Sir Paul said Linda said "it was you that said it you know!"

Sir Paul sidestepped talking about his second wife's long term vegetarianism but she is now vegan and campaigning with UK vegetarian charity Viva!

He admit's despite all the clear evidence that a veggie lifestyle is better for the planet and better for health, people are unlikely to change overnight.

The repercussions if we don't change will be catastrophic for the planet, no habitable land , no water, no clean air - what sort of legacy is that to leave our children.

See the whole Paul McCartney interview on ITN News at 10

Famous Vegans

Vote now in the 2008 Vegan Awards

See reports

CIWF - UN Report - ViVA - The Vegan Society

Ethical Guide for Conscious Consumers

New Ethical Junction Guide: ETHICAL GUIDE FOR THE CONSCIOUS CONSUMER

If ever there was a good time for your business or group to join Ethical Junction an organisation dedicated to promoting ethical businesses and organisations it's now.

Quite frankly it's hard to understand why you haven't already joined Ethical Junction! It's only £50 (to cover the screening costs and admin fees), it's got Co-op backing, it's got a Google rating of 6/10, you get to exploit Ethical Pulse their online News service and if all that weren't enough (are you omega 3 DHA and EPA deficient?) now they are planning to publish an ethical guide called The Ethical Guide for the Conscious Consumer.

Read More on Ethical News at Ethical Pulse

Join here

Apply to contribute to the Ethical guide

Visit Ethical Junction see who's who

manashantii.com - Vegan Poetry

manashantii.com

Are you ready for this?



MANASHANTII = AFRICAN, VEGAN, BUDDHIST, HUMANIST, WRITER'S WEBSITE - There's an oxymoron in there somewhere struggling to break free I feel sure.

Manashantii reveals herself as a vegan feminist, born in Accra,the capital of Ghana who came to London aged nine. She believes in putting her faith and trust in humanity first before Religion or God and practicing love, peace, understanding and Buddhist meditation.

Some of the women she admires are Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nawal El Saadawi, Alice Walker, Rebecca Walker, Toni Morrison, Jhelisa Anderson and Amel Larrieux.

The men she admires most are Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jnr. Bhante Buddharakkhita,Thich Nhat Hahn,Russell Simmons, Ajahn Karuniko and of course Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso).