SVS Viewpoint archives

Web author Arthur Poletti returns to SVS Viewpoint this month with a unique message: one that is at the core of the modern animal rights movement, but one that, sadly, is all too often completely missed: unity among all of us. Poletti's writing is often visionary. And so, with our eyes and senses hopefully cast toward 2008, SVS presents a new essay by Arthur Poletti.

Our world’s human population today, in my opinion, needs to begin to focus on just one thing.
 
We should continue our present efforts to establish a global community via the Internet, radio, and television, come to a definite consensus regarding our most pressing societal problems with the assistance of our elected leaders, and together work to bring these problems to the forefront of our thoughts, while working diligently to solve them on a daily basis.
 
To me, as an animal rights activist and environmentalist, the two most urgent problems facing us today, which in fact seems to take precedence over all other problems, are animal rights abuses and climate change.
 
If we were somehow able to UNITE and come to a global consensus regarding these two issues – via the Internet, newspaper editorials, radio talk shows, clergy, town meetings, local government and City Hall, corporate advertising, work place environment, the United Nations, national leaders, and perhaps most importantly, among each other, face-to-face, in our daily interactions with others – we would then be able to finally bring about the changes needed to reverse these two urgent problems.

The benefits for humans, animals, the Earth, and the Earth’s atmosphere call out for this dire need for consensus and understanding. Most of our suffering and worry today stems from our use and abuse of animals, and our ignorance regarding the levels of carbon that we as humans are placing into the atmosphere on a daily basis.
 
As you know, with the rise of the Internet, we’ve all recently seen and heard a lot more about animal rights, the abuses on factory farms, and the many benefits that veganism has to offer to end these abuses. Similarly, at the same time, we’ve all also seen and heard a lot lately about climate change, Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize award, and international efforts to halt global warming and climate change, which we now know is caused at least in part by human carbon emissions, carelessness, apathy, use of animals, and human overpopulation.
 
It seems to me that whereas global warming, climate change, and the current “green” movement have been relatively well received lately by most people, the issue that is still not being well received, and which in fact continues to be largely ignored by most of the mainstream establishment and our population today is animal rights and veganism – these two terms being virtually interchangeable.
 
Let’s take a closer look for a moment about what is actually happening.
 
Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide together cause the vast majority of global warming, and is now being blamed in large part for the drastic climate change that we’re now experiencing. Raising livestock for food is a known source of carbon dioxide and the single largest source of both methane and nitrous oxide emissions.
 
Vegans and animal rights activists are aware that removing animals from the food chain and ending the raising of livestock using factory farming methods is only a part of the overall solution toward a comprehensive, realistic, viable, manageable, enforceable, and effective solution to climate change.
 
However, in addition to environmental concerns, there are also the obvious humane and ethical concerns surrounding the issues of animal rights and veganism. Whereas climate change, global warming, and the “green” issues appeal to humans on an urgent, human level (“What’s in it for us?), animal rights and vegan issues have mostly been shunted to the back burner. After all, we’re not animals. We’re not the one’s being imprisoned, abused, and consumed. Therefore, at the most basic level, our human instincts to survive and to “win” have made climate change a more urgent and important issue to us than animal rights.
 
Yet just as humans cannot escape the consequences of climate change – including the possibility of cataclysmic disasters, and the dwindling supply of the very real resources and the environment that we depend upon daily – so too is it impossible for us to escape the consequences of our overuse and abuse of animals for food and other products, the result of our ongoing and ever escalating factory farming mentality.
 
I believe that it will ultimately be the role of government leaders to initiate this realization among us, and then to mandate the rapid changes that are now needed, especially in terms of animal rights and alternative diet. Chances are that people will continue to act in the coming years to combat climate change, which threatens all of us. But the changes that must come into play, in terms of the way we currently use animals, are not as concrete or as tangible as are the mounting effects of climate change, with the effects of Katrina, melting polar ice caps, and the depletion of the Amazon rain forest staring us in the face from the Internet and on television news.
 
There are currently many animal rights organizations working on documenting the abuses now taking place on factory farms, in the animal transportation industry, in slaughterhouses, and at animal processing plants. Undercover videos and testimonies from former workers within these industries are now widely available via the Internet, and at vegan and animal rights events in local communities.
 
I humbly invite you to take a moment to view the following videos, using the Web links provided below. All of us – meat eaters, vegan/vegetarians, and government leaders – need to heighten our awareness of the evidence now available of animal abuse within the present food production system. The videos document this evidence on film, captured by undercover video cameras.
 
Only we – who become aware and remain aware of these abuses, and who then begin to pro-actively spread the word to help prevent further animal use and abuse – can affect the necessary changes. Again, I believe that truly solving this problem will take the UNITED efforts of all of us, including government leaders, actively focusing on it daily, and pushing it to the forefront of our political and social agenda.
 
Here are the links to review, including one from a group called Animal Friends Croatia. Warning: These videos are extremely graphic and difficult to view, yet they show evidence of the very real abuses currently inflicted upon animals raised for food production:
 
http://www.chooseveg.com/meet-your-meat.asp
 
http://www.liveexport-indefensible.com/   
 
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/petas-goriest-video/1968919385 
 
http://www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr/index.en.php?id=382
 
Before summarizing my thoughts, to briefly return to the topic of climate change, shockingly, it’s recently been discovered that because of the escalation of global warming, ice sheets are melting much faster than predicted by many climate models. In addition, a catastrophic fracture of various ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic regions could cause sea levels to rise by amounts as high as 20 to 23 feet in a much shorter period of time than most experts have predicted.
 
The 10 countries with the highest populations in low coastal areas are Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam. Bangladesh, a nation of 145 million, occupies a river delta located barely above sea level.
 
China, Vietnam, the United States, Greenland, Iceland, and other countries, have already experienced unprecedented weather patterns, ranging from torrential rains, strong winds, landslides, power outages, flooding, melting ice shelves, all thought to be caused in part by global warming patterns
 
In summary
 
All of us – meat eaters, vegan/vegetarians, and world governments and their leaders – need to raise our level of awareness, not only of global warming and climate change, but also of the current abusive, unnecessary conditions created by humans in order to maximize and profit from the raising and processing of livestock for food and for other products. This heightened awareness must be diligently followed up by more swift action to alleviate and to finally end the use and abuse of animals.
 
When we all finally reach a global consensus, and resolve to support kindness and life for all animals, human and animal, we will then together attain the power and influence needed to create a global society. It’s already evident that we’re attempting to strive for this. If we can reach this consensus and act, the world will undergo the remarkable positive transformation we seek, resulting in the removal of all animals from the food chain, and establishing a vegan world community.
 
Afterthoughts
 
For those of you who follow the news: Imagine what it would be like to pick up tomorrow morning’s edition of the newspaper, or to visit your favorite Internet news site, and to read the following headlines:
 
AL GORE ANNOUNCES HE HAS BECOME A VEGETARIAN; RECOMMENDS VEGAN DIET
 
GLOBAL WORLD LEADERS BEGIN TO CLOSE FACTORY FARMS, SLAUGHTERHOUSES
 
VEGETARIAN FOODS TO REPLACE ANIMALS IN US FOOD PRODUCTION
 
LAST US FACTORY FARMS, SLAUGHTERHOUSES TO OFFICIALLY CLOSE
 
GLOBAL CONSENSUS REACHED ON ANIMAL RIGHTS; SLAUGHTER TO END
 
CHURCH BELLS TO RING GLOBALLY WHEN LAST SLAUGHTERHOUSE CLOSES
 
 
For the animals,

Arthur Poletti
http://www.all-creatures.org/book/gdnem.html

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No Apologies

Salem Vegan Society Business Manager Kim Hyder recently traveled to the Farm Sanctuary animal-care farm in Watkins Glen, central New York, where she attended the Critter Care seminar. Critter Care teaches individuals who are considering opening their own farm sanctuary how to provide the best care for animals. Here are some thoughts that the seminar evoked in Hyder.

What can I say? What can I write? What can I do? When will all of this end? How long will we have to endure this? This is very frustrating, to say the least. And I am writing, outside of captivity, as a free individual.

I’m writing following a weekend visit to Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, New York, during which I took part in a weekend seminar called, Critter Care.

According to the Farm Sanctuary Web site: the Critter Care event is a “shelter training conference for people interested in learning more about caring for rescued farm animals.”

The intensive, two-day seminar includes farm animal care training, including basic health care needs, proper restraint techniques, and animal housing and facilities design.

During the seminar I attended, we also received information on shelter administration, shelter fundraising, and shelter media and outreach programs.

Farm Sanctuary was founded in 1986 by Gene and Lori Bauston, and since that time, the New York and California shelters have rescued thousands of animals, and have educated millions of people who might otherwise remain largely unaware of the almost unspeakable horrors inflicted on farm animals on a daily basis at thousands of “factory farms” throughout the United States.

The brutality, torture, and ultimate death for most of these farmed animals is almost unspeakable for most American citizens today.

How much longer will we continue to inflict the degradation, humiliation, suffering, and pain upon these poor, defenseless creatures? How much longer will we have to view the raw, horrific undercover images taken at factory farms?

I refuse to offer any sort of apology for these questions, these musings. This remains, as it has from the beginning, a life or death situation. Not your life, but the lives of billions of special creations sharing the Earth with us. Each animal life has an inestimable value.

Therefore, there are no compromises, negotiations, rationalizations that can possibly enter into this tragic story.

I believe that there is, presently, an almost complete breakdown of our so-called “culture” and our “educated society” that tolerates this kind of abuse.

What kind, compassionate, educated individual believes that torturing an animal is “okay?”

Ask anyone you happen to be near right now, or who you might encounter momentarily, and you will undoubtedly get the same response from everyone: “Of course it’s not okay to hurt animals.”

When we stop for a moment to look at the statistics, how many animals are killed and consumed each year in the US, we can see that a massive amount of public education is needed.

But how do we educate others so that all of these statistics might finally “sink in?”

If we, as a people, only allowed to take place on “farms” (factory farms), those incidents which we “allow” or which we “expect” to take place in our own backyards, or on our own front steps, where present-day “civility” can be clearly witnessed daily, the problem would not exist.

If we looked outside our window now and witnessed an animal being electrocuted, or stepped on, or kicked, or stabbed with a knife, or having its throat slit, or with its legs stuck in a pit filled with stale urine and feces, unable to move, wouldn’t we stop what we’re doing to assist them?

Well, I have news for you. This is what’s going on in our “backyards,” on our “front steps.” Only all of this is happening in horrific barns, breeding sheds, and slaughtering plants called factory farms.

Now that you are aware of this, will you take the time to help make others aware of what’s happening? This is what is needed, now, as you read this. Most people simply remain either unaware or unaccepting of what's happening. And they need education, and awakening, possibly from you.

Our world is currently full of apathy on a massive scale. We’ve lost a very important connection to each other. And the bottom line is: it’s not we who are paying the highest cost, it’s the animals, who in fact deserve all of the rights and freedoms that we currently enjoy.

Where is the passion, the protest, the outrage? There are leafleting opportunities through People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Farm Animal Reform Movement (FARM), Farm Sanctuary, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Massachusetts Animal Rights Coalition (MARC), and other similar groups in various states, and even internationally.

Believe it or not, there are even leafleting opportunities here monthly in Salem through SVS.

Have we all become numb? Helpless? Overwhelmed? Are we afraid to say to our friends, our family, our co-workers: “Look what I read today about these animals on factory farms,” or “Look what I saw today on the Internet." We can no longer assume that the things we know are known by others.

We confront other people every day and convey both the vital and the trivial to them in our messages. Can’t we find the compassion and the humility in our hearts to finally speak the words, “I learned this today about animals. Would you consider helping them, too, with me?”

What if each person who is able to afford dinner for one other person did so? Hunger would end. What if each person who finds violence toward others repulsive acted to prevent it? Violence would soon end.

Studies have been conducted in which it has been found that the crime rate is dramatically reduced in close-knit communities. In these communities, the people police each other. So, is this type of close-knit “policing” and crime reduction possible within the world community, on a global scale? Yes, it is!

But we have to start with each other first, with our neighbors, our families, our friends and our co-workers, and show that we care about each other, and about animals.

I think what bothers me the most about the lack of what is possible in this regard is that, honestly, we’re not talking brain surgery here. We’re simply talking about communication and caring at the most basic human level. It really is as simple as that, but somehow, we've made it much more difficult.

Once we as individuals are aware of what is currently happening to animals on factory farms and in slaughterhouses, when we fail to convey this message to those with whom we associate with daily, pro-actively, outwardly, we are tacitly acting as accomplices of the factory farm owners, and of the slaughterhouse butchers.

I beg each one of you reading this message today, to reach out each and every day to educate those around you, to calmly and carefully instruct them on how we can begin to move away from this ill pandemic that currently runs throughout our now complicit and apathetic society.

By kindly asking the grocery store clerk: “Do you notice the poor lobsters in the tank there slowing dying, day in and day out?” By asking your boss at work: “Would it be possible to have an equal number of vegan entrees at our next office party?” It doesn’t have to be harsh. It can be simply an observation, stated with compassion and conviction.

Let’s all continue this fight, together, as new pioneers within the movement. The modern animal rights movement began as early as the 1940’s with the formation of the first Vegan Society in the United Kingdom, and began to be documented in the early 1970’s at Oxford, and then with the publication of Peter Singer’s seminal work, Animal Liberation.

We may not see great changes in our own lifetime. But if each one of us continues to spread this simple message, about caring for animals and about veganism, to those we meet on a daily basis, kindly, gently, but with conviction and courage, the changes will come.

But we need to have foresight and strength. Our numbers as animal rights activists are currently low. But, hopefully, if luck continues to be on our side, those numbers will continue to grow. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and to understand this message. I am honored to be among like-minded souls. Now, please, do not fail to act.

For more information: Farm Sanctuary's New York Critter Care Conference

To help support Farm Sanctuary's work: Donate to Farm Sanctuary

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COK Investigation: Life inside a turkey hatchery

The print publication for DC-based animal rights group, Compassion Over Killing (COK), previously called The Abolitionist, has a new look and a new name, Compassionate Action, with its Winter/Spring 2007 issue. This October, SVS proudly presents a special investigative report and video obtained by COK at a North Carolina turkey hatchery. Viewer discretion is advised.

Every year in the United States, nearly 250 million turkeys are raised and killed for human consumption. While the abuses these birds endure on factory farms and in slaughterhouses have slowly been garnering the public’s attention in recent years, the treatment of newly-hatched chicks has been kept hidden behind closed doors—until COK’s groundbreaking investigation inside a hatchery.

For nearly three weeks during June and July of 2006, a COK investigator was employed at a turkey hatchery in North Carolina that now supplies Butterball. While there, the investigator witnessed and documented the hatchlings’ suffering as they began their short lives in the turkey industry.

What the video footage reveals is shocking: from the moment they’re hatched, these turkeys are submerged into a world of misery. Dumped out of metal trays and jostled onto conveyor belts after being mechanically separated from cracked egg shells, the newly-hatched turkeys are tossed around like inanimate objects—they are sorted, sexed, de-beaked, de-toed, and in some cases de-snooded before they are packed up and shipped off to a “grow out” confinement facility.

The video further shows that not all chicks survive this harsh process. Countless chicks become mangled from the machinery, are suffocated in plastic bags, or deemed “surplus” and dumped (along with injured chicks) into the same disposal system as the discarded egg shells they were separated from hours earlier.

When most people think about where eggs come from, they’re likely to conjure up idyllic images of Old MacDonald’s Farm. This should come as no surprise since such picturesque scenes adorn many egg cartons found on grocery store shelves across the United States. Consumers also face a barrage of assertions aiming to assuage their concern about animal cruelty. These images and claims on egg cartons, however, don’t necessarily reflect how the hens who laid those eggs were actually treated. Nor do they legally have to.

While federal agencies have already taken on the task of regulating and mandating a variety of health and safety claims consumers see on egg cartons, the use of animal welfare labels is currently unregulated in the United States. This enables egg producers to advertise pictures of happy hens roaming around outside or stamp phrases like “animal-friendly” and “naturally raised” on cartons indiscriminately—even if those eggs were laid by hens intensively confined inside wire battery cages. In fact, the dismal reality is that more than 95% of eggs produced in the U.S. come from caged hens forced to spend their lives inside battery cages so restrictive, they can barely even move.

Common egg industry practices, however, enjoy little public support. Polls show that the overwhelming majority of consumers are opposed to the use of battery cages. Yet this cruel method of production, which has been banned in several countries in Europe based on welfare concerns, continues to dominate the U.S. egg industry. To make matters worse, with no federal regulations in place to prevent deceptive animal welfare labeling, claims on egg cartons can—and commonly do—mislead consumers with false or exaggerated claims.

In other words, not only is the egg industry cruelly confining hens in cages, it’s also deceiving consumers about that abuse.

Taking Action

In September 2006, COK, along with Penn Law Animal Law Project filed a rule-making petition with the Food and Drug Administration requesting that the agency address this rampant use of misrepresentations on egg cartons. The petition specifically outlines the dire need for mandatory labels on egg cartons clearly identifying production methods. If approved, battery cage egg producers would be required to stamp their cartons with the phrase: “Eggs from Caged Hens.” Read the full text of our petition in PDF format.

Read the full text of our petition and to learn more about how you can make a difference for egglaying hens.

The Turkey Industry

Of the nearly 250 million turkeys slaughtered for food in the U.S. each year, roughly 42.5 million of these birds are raised in North Carolina, making it the nation’s second largest turkey producing state (Minnesota is the first). The turkey hatchery where COK’s investigator worked for nearly three weeks is owned by Goldsboro Milling Company, a company that recently announced its acquisition of 51% of the shares of Butterball, LLC, the industry’s most widely recognized brand name and now the nation’s largest producer of turkey products.

Watch the Undercover Video

While employed at a North Carolina turkey hatchery that now supplies Butterball, a COK investigator documented the conditions forced upon newly-hatched chicks. As the investigation video shows, from the moment they’re hatched, these turkeys are submerged into a world of misery. Dumped out of metal trays and jostled onto conveyor belts after being mechanically separated from cracked egg shells, the newly-hatched turkeys are tossed around like inanimate objects—they are sorted, sexed, de-beaked, de-toed, and in some cases de-snooded before they are packed up and shipped off to a “grow out” confinement facility.

The video further reveals that not all chicks survive this harsh process. Countless chicks become mangled from the machinery, suffocated in plastic bags, or deemed “surplus” and dumped (along with injured chicks) into the same disposal system as the discarded egg shells they were separated from hours earlier.

The Investigation: Working Inside a Turkey Hatchery

In June and July of 2006, a COK investigator was employed at a North Carolina turkey hatchery for nearly three weeks. While there, he witnessed and documented the misery endured by newly-hatched chicks as they began their short lives in the turkey industry. As our investigator caught on camera, many chicks never even made it out of the hatchery alive. Those who survived the rough handling of the hatchery processing were shipped off to “grow out” confinement facilities where most of them will never set foot outside.

Turkeys are typically slaughtered for food when they are just 4 to 5 months old, meaning that the birds filmed during COK’s investigation in June and July were being raised for Thanksgiving dinner tables.

Support Compassion Over Killing's Work

If you found this COK investigative report useful and informative, Salem Vegan Society encourages you to support COK's work. You can donate to COK online. COK merchandise is also available for purchase, which also supports their work. SVS is proud to have this opportunity to network and to share ideas among other activists and other vegan and animal rights groups such as Compassion Over Killing. Please support our work this fall. Salem Vegan Society also accepts donations online.

Coming in November

In November, the Viewpoint page will present our own special report, on a more positive note, obtained by SVS Business Manager Kim Hyder, during a recent trip to Farm Sanctuary's Watkins Glen farm. Hyder spent a weekend in September observing and taking classes to discover what living and working at Farm Sanctuary is actually like, and she'll be sharing her observations with Viewpoint.

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Veganism on campus

In the past 10 years, college meal plans have made advances in giving vegan students what they want. Vegan options on campus now have variety, taste, and are incorporated into the meal plan. Vegans no longer have to resort to the salad bar. About one quarter now favor veganism. Will these numbers continue to rise? What's more: Are they really good enough?

One of the most exciting developments in veganism in recent years is the expansion of the vegan options now being offered to students on college campuses. A quick review of the menu options now available on most college campuses shows that most, if not all, colleges and universities are offering at least one vegan option on their daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus. And the quality tends to be improving. Not in all cases, but in some.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when this trend toward offering vegan options in campus dining halls began. At least the most current trend. Some colleges have offered, technically at least, some vegan options for many years, but often the options were nutritionally incomplete and somewhat boring. For example, a college dining hall might offer a salad bar, but not any substantial vegan protein options, or any real vegan variety, flavor, or substance.

By the mid-1990’s, with the rise of the Internet and the Information Age, along with the emergence of a stronger, bolder vision within the vegan and animal rights movement, the often anemic dining hall salad bar lost its standing as a college vegetarian Mecca. It began to be replaced by the leading corporate dining services – Aramark, Chartwells, and Sodexho Marriott – who began to actively respond to student dining surveys and overall vegan trends, and to actively, often in a very positive, substantive way, include vegan options into their standard daily menus.

By 2001, the number of news articles and college food service press releases began to increase, such as this one posted in Nation’s Restaurant News in February 2001:

Sodexho Marriott debuts vegan menu at Ithaca College

ITHACA, N.Y. - Following a successful test at Ithaca College here, Sodexho Marriott is beginning to roll out its new vegan menu at its higher-education accounts.

According to Sarah Cody, spokeswoman for the company's Education Services division, the 16-recipe vegan platform is being rolled out this year at the University of Vermont, Babson College in Babson Park, Mass., and Oakwood College in Huntsville, Ala.

"Just because a food is vegan doesn't mean it has to be boring," said Matt Mantini, who is executive chef for the Education division and did lead the development team that wrote the recipes. "We knew it was important to create food that was both healthful and delicious. The students seem to agree, we've had a tremendous response to the new menu."

Among the items on the menu are mushroom risotto cakes, Turkish grilled eggplant sandwiches, grilled-herbed polenta cakes, and grilled zucchini with olive tapenade.

A far cry from a plateful of watery iceberg lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and a few garbanzo beans.

In June 2005, Aramark Corporation, which provides managed food services to more than 400 colleges and universities in the US, issued this press release via its corporate Web site:

Vegan Options More Popular Than Ever on College Campuses

ARAMARK Focuses on Meeting Customer Needs in Honor of Vegan World Day

PHILADELPHIA, June 21, 2005 - ARAMARK nationwide research has revealed that, out of more than 100,000 college students surveyed, nearly a quarter said finding vegan meals on campus - which contain no meat, fish, poultry or other products derived from animals such as dairy, eggs or honey - was important to them.

To better serve its customers and in honor of Vegan World Day on June 21st, ARAMARK, a worldwide provider of managed services, has increased its number of vegan menu items on campuses and continues to work with campus vegetarian and vegan resource groups to meet customer demand…

Training chefs and food servers for vegan dishes is critical and focuses on close inspection of ingredient labels, proper separation of ingredients during storage, preparation and service to protect against contact with animal-based products, and designation of utensils as "for vegan only" to give customers confidence in the meals being served…

For instance, students at the University of Pennsylvania are being treated to vegan items in their residential dining facilities. Menu items range from salad bars with vegetarian protein options, pasta dishes and desserts, including the popular Vegan Carrot Cake with Tofutti Cream Cheese Icing. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's new Rams Head Center, a station dubbed, Lean & Green hosts a full salad and fruit bar, soups, and made-to-order vegetarian and vegan selections. The on-campus grocery store at The George Washington University features an organic and vegan-vegetarian section and Wesleyan University in Connecticut is home to the First Harvest Vegan Cafe, a "green" food bar that provides a wide selection of vegan and organic offerings and incorporates local sustainable foods.

Further, examining several other college dining service menus at random via their Web sites yields more of the same. One example is Pennsylvania’s Allegheny College, which lists their daily menus divided into easy-to-read categories that include: Pasta, Pizza, Salad, Grill, Deli, and Vegan. The vegan options listed sound tempting and nutritious, including Portobello Sandwich and Country Vegetable Sandwich; Spice Market Hummus Wraps; and Moo Shu Vegetables over Rice.

It’s important to note that while these are great advances for college students and for the college food service industry as a whole, these services are by no means vegan. In each Web listing, the predominant menu listings are not vegan. They are made up for the most part of the usual, traditional college food service entrees and side dishes. Most of the pizza, pasta, salad, grill, and deli choices are comprised of beef, pork, chicken, fish, dairy, and egg ingredients.

While the vegan options have increased for students, they still only comprise a fraction of what is available on the food services’ menus daily. In reviewing the college menus, the non-vegan versus vegan ratio averages about 5 to 1. What has actually occurred with college and university food service menu options is that, while they have added more options for vegan students, the change actually amounts to merely a societal update, or reality check, that reflects what is currently occurring in the real world, outside of college. Is this good? The answer depends upon your own perspective and your vegan (or perhaps non-vegan) experience.

On the plus side, more students have responded to dining hall or application food surveys indicating a vegan or vegetarian preference, and the food service corporations, colleges, and universities have responded in kind, often, as stated, in a quite beneficial and generous way toward vegan students. This is probably due to the numbers. ARAMARK states that of 100,000 students responding to their survey, nearly one quarter indicated a vegan/vegetarian preference. Those numbers are difficult to ignore, especially considering the average cost that students' families are paying for their meal plan, in some cases as much as $4,000 - $5,000 or more per semester.

New York’s Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, whose meal plans costs between $4,200 and $4,700 per student, per semester, has actually introduced Vegan Cooking Seminars to assist students who already utilize a vegan sautéing station as a part of their Campus Dining plan. According to the Vassar site, chef Jack Freeman provides students with a course in “Vegan Station Basics,” a hands-on demonstration “aimed at students who want to know how to get started sautéing on their own or veterans of the Vegan station who just have some questions.”

Vassar’s effort in this regard is certainly laudable, and exemplary of what college students “should be” learning about vegan cooking and eating. (If not college, then where?) Regrettably, what’s happening at Vassar is probably not representative of most colleges and universities today. Furthermore, a quick look beyond the “Vegan Cooking Seminars” page, to Vassar’s Campus Dining daily menu, reveals, as suspected, a generous number of non-vegan entrees, with vegan options comprising about one-fifth of the daily menu entrees offered.

Leaving the Vassar site to review the latest vegan demographic statistics at The Vegan Research Panel (VRP), reveals that in the year 2000, a mere 0.9 percent of the US population overall was vegan; a number that actually decreased from a previous figure gained in 1997 of one percent. The same site also states that most people, 52 percent, became vegan between the ages of 16 and 24, and that the average vegan today is most likely to be under 35 and female. Seventeen percent became vegan under the age of 15, and 21 percent turned vegan between the ages of 21 and 34, with the numbers falling sharply after the age of 34.

Therefore, while the news about college dining services and meal plans becoming more vegan friendly is certainly good news, a closer look at what is actually happening on campus, in a relative sense - and at the still exceptionally small percentage of the US population overall that is “vegan” (as of 2000) - we can see that what is actually happening on campus is, as is often the case, simply a reflection of what is happening in the real world. And from a purely vegan perspective, that’s not really all that great.

As we’ve learned in other recent Viewpoint articles, even with the advent of the so-called Information Age, in which we’re all currently thriving, change tends to happen painfully slowly, especially if you happen to be sitting in a cage preparing to become someone’s lunch. Ironically, according to the VRP statistics, college is where most people discover veganism and become vegan. As the English philosopher Herbert Spencer noted, “The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action." If only college administrators could somehow rub elbows with the college Philosophy Department… the greatest good and all. The wheels of change continue to turn, but ever so slowly.

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Vegan Poet

The first thing that comes to mind in reading M. Butterflies Katz' poetry is a strong sense of force and power. That's fitting, since Katz strives to promote veganism. A vegan chef & essayist, she has recently written and published a collection of vegan poetry, Metamorphosis. Our Viewpoint page inspired her to write the poem, WE WILL, published for the first time here this month.

WE WILL

We will always be mindful of spreading the word,

that the vegan ideal is the best we have heard.

Our love for the animals will guide what we say.

We will express what we know in a gentle way.

We will be the example of the truth that we teach,

so that people can witness the heights they can reach.

By maintaining our bodies in excellent health,

we exemplify a vegan’s bountiful wealth.

We will share all the plant foods that vegans can eat,

all the vibrant colors, both savory and sweet.

With our food and our stamina being so good,

people will see that they haven’t understood;

how important it is for our diet to evolve,

and the planetary problems that we can resolve.

For the vegan concept will magically bring

a multitude of benefits to everything.

We will strive to expand our heartfelt compassion

until loving animals is a world-wide fashion.

We won’t pay for by-products like blood and bone,

but will make our gardens veganically grown.

We will read the ingredients before we buy.

Our dollars won’t require an animal to die.

We will oppose cruelty with each passing year,

until all of the animals can live free of fear.

We won’t give up until that awaited day arrives

when it’s inconceivable to exploit other lives.

There will come a time, when people will wonder how,

man could earn his living by slaughtering a cow.

We will bring about a gentle and new age

when the innocent are free from all human rage.

We will be vegan and usher in a world of peace,

heading toward that time when speciesism will cease.

By M. Butterflies Katz
http://www.veganpoet.com

Dear Viewpoint readers,

The Salem Vegan Society’s Viewpoint page inspired me to write “WE WILL." In my life, the inspiration for my writing has come from nearly 30 years of being vegan, and 38 years of being an ethical vegetarian, during which time I have witnessed the blossoming of the vegan ideal all over the planet.

The movement was hardly alive when I became vegan. You hardly ever heard the word vegan. Now, there are vegan shopping sites, vegan restaurants all over the globe, hundreds of vegan cookbooks, vegan societies, vegan festivals, and more. It has been amazing to be a part of the growth of the Vegan Movement.

On the other hand, we who have been in the movement for a long time, wonder why it is taking so long to end all the suffering. One could become discouraged. But because of my love for the animals, I persevere in my mission to be an instrument of inspiration. My writing is my vegan activism. I write articles and poetry, and then send them out into the world. I write from my personal experience of being vegan for so many years. And I write from the knowledge I've gained from living a quarter of a century within a vegan community and a non-profit educational organization, Gentle World.

The founders of Gentle World have been vegan even longer than I have. At the time of our meeting, I was vegan, but I was also an out-and-out misanthrope. I hated mankind for its inhumane treatment of animals. Light and Sun taught me that I cannot help to cure the human race if love is not in my heart, that love is where I have to start. So now, for the sake of the animals I feel such an affinity with, I try to reach people with compassion, in order that they might get in touch with their own compassion.

I also love sharing the many benefits of living the vegan ideal. All through my years at Gentle World, one of our methods has been to show the public just how incredibly delicious vegan food is, so they can know that it is absolutely not a sacrifice in taste. Whether it be through the two Celebrity Vegetarian Banquets we held in Hollywood, the successful Vegan Restaurant that we've created in Hawaii, our best-selling recipe books, our annual local fair promoting plant-based food and products, or just feeding the many visitors who come through our doors, our theme has been the same: A taste is worth a thousand words!

I have been blessed and have learned a lot living within a vegan community my entire adult life. I write in order to share with others that which has healed me. I am hoping that this poem, WE WILL, and all of my poetry, will help to inspire this necessary change in the world. Please visit my recently launched web site veganpoet.com, where you'll find my book of poems and photographs, which speak of human, animal, and environmental rights. The compilation is entitled, Metamorphosis: Poems to Inspire Transformation.

Gentle World will soon be launching a new site, TheVeganLife.com, that will include some of my articles on various vegan issues, a large section on Vegan Companies and Businesses, as well as a project called Heroes of the Vegan Movement. If anyone has nominations for a hero of the Vegan Movement, or knows of any vegan companies or businesses, please send an email through the Gentle World site.

If you're interested in obtaining a copy of Incredibly Delicious: Recipes for a New Paradigm by the members of Gentle World, you can do so at the Gentle World site. It's a beautifully presented book, which includes over 500 vegan recipes, both raw and cooked. It also contains a wealth of vegan information such as Dogs Can be Vegan Too!, Vegan-Organic Gardening, Healthful Hints, Vegan Sources of Vitamins and Minerals, Non-Vegan products as well as a mega-list of Vegan Products, and more! Nearly every page has an inspirational quote from modern-day authorities and from some of the greatest minds throughout history.

Gentle World also authored The Cookbook for People Who Love Animals, a classic, published in 1981, which has sold nearly 100,000 copies.

We think of ourselves not only as vegan missionaries, but as evolutionaries, changing the world by evolving our consciousness. As Gandhi said, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."

M. Butterflies Katz

Here are two more poems by M. Butterflies, written expressly for the Viewpoint page.

BECAUSE I’M FEMALE

Because I’m female, my body and breast
feel for a cow and her life of unrest.
Because I’m female, I’m filled with disdain
at using sisters for financial gain.

Because I’m female, I’m upset at how
insemination is forced on a cow.
Because I’m female, it’s awful to see
cows impregnated artificially.

Because I’m female, I see why they mourn
when we heartlessly steal their infant born.
Because I’m female, I’m saddened to think
that veal is part of the dairy we drink.

Because I’m female, I naturally know
cow’s milk is meant for a young calf to grow.
Because I’m female, my belief is strong:
Dairy consumption is sexist and wrong.

By M. Butterflies Katz
http://www.veganpoet.com

WE ARE ALL ENTWINED

Could it possibly be?

We are all entwined.

Each "me" a part of "we"

We are all entwined.

Every color, every face

All members of the human race

We are all entwined.

Both genders; straight or gay

We are all entwined.

Those who have lost their way

We are all entwined.

The old, the young, the rich, the poor

And even those who live no more

We are all entwined.

Those who shirk or labor

We are all entwined.

Each stranger or neighbor

We are all entwined.

All rats and cats and breeds of dogs

And all the trees we turn to logs

We are all entwined.

Those busy bees and ants

We are all entwined.

Fruiting and flowering plants

We are all entwined.

All furry creatures passing by

And feathered things that skate the sky

We are all entwined.

Green grass and shining sea

We are all entwined.

Even that which longs to be

We are all entwined.

The stars and moon that light the night

The sun that makes our world so bright

We are all entwined.

All life forms interweave

We are all entwined.

If we could just believe

We are all entwined.

these words would reach every land

And all the world would understand

We are all entwined.

By M. Butterflies Katz
http://www.veganpoet.com

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The Walk - A personal observation

“All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure.”

Mark Twain

Sunday morning, June 24, 8 am. I am walking up the stairs of the Immaculate Conception Church on Hawthorne Boulevard in Salem with an elderly neighbor, who I’ve taken to Mass regularly for the past few months while she is recovering from a fall. Deeply religious and an ardent Catholic, the Mass and the sermon seem to help her mind, and the steps from the car to our seats in the front row of the bright nave seem to help her legs. I don’t question this. I’m simply assisting her.

On this particular Sunday, en route to church, at the intersection of Lafayette and Derby, we drive slowly past hundreds of walkers getting an early start in the North Shore Medical Center’s 2007 Cancer Walk. We glance at the participants through the windshield, walking on the side of the road, some in pairs, some in groups, or “teams,” dressed in the usual walking gear and hopefully doused with plenty of sun block, as the day is already turning out to be warm and sunny.

The walk (capitalized in NSMC and Partners Healthcare marketing as the WALK), an annual event in Salem, is anticipated and attended by thousands of individuals and families from the North Shore each year and raises hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. This year, the event drew 6,000 walkers. In 2006 it raised $995,000, with 2007 yet to tallied, but expected to surpass 2006’s total.

Similar to many of the regional walks for charities and various causes, the NSMC WALK is a relatively mild, family-oriented 10K (6.2 miles) that begins and ends at the Salem Willows Park. Participants register and obtain sponsors in advance of the walk date. According to the NSMC’s WALK site, the average walker raises $100, typically asking about 10 friends, neighbors, and co-workers for $10 each.

Participants are encouraged to form “teams,” often with catchy names, comprised of team “captains” and members. A quick glance through the “Tributes 2007” Cancer WALK booklet, included in a Salem News delivery as an advertisement prior to the walk, yields page after page of team captain and member names – thousands of them. In glancing through them, it becomes evident that the WALK is greatly respected and enjoyed by its participants, and that the WALK registration process is well-coordinated in Salem and on the North Shore.

In addition to individual sponsors, the WALK is also sponsored by several presenting and media companies, including, in 2007, General Electric, Eastern Bank, and Boston’s Channel 7, the regional NBC affiliate station, and by many national, regional, and local businesses who purchase display ads in the printed marketing brochure.

The purpose of all this money gathering and marketing, and of all the individual miles logged on the day of the event, in case you haven’t yet guessed, is to raise vast funds, annually, to support the North Shore Medical Center’s cancer research. A portion of the 2007 walk proceeds, along with portions of the 2008 and 2009 walks, are now being designated for a special fund that will help to build and establish the MGH/NSMC Cancer Center, which will be housed in the new MGH/NSMC Center for Outpatient Care in Danvers, a town north of Salem. Scheduled to open in February 2009, the Center’s construction cost is approximately $104 million.

Suddenly, $995,000 doesn’t seem like quite so much. Or does it? Let’s take closer look, from another perspective: a vegan perspective. A view which few, I suspect, if any, WALK participants are actively aware of.

A modern icon

According to the NSMC/Partners marketing brochure for the WALK, the new Cancer Center will occupy “44,000 square feet of the new Center for Outpatient Care, provide 24 infusion bays for chemotherapy; 4 linear accelerators for radiation therapy; 22 exam rooms; a blood lab and a pharmacy; a healing garden; a roof deck garden; a health resource library; and a café.

The brochure also provides a full-color artist’s rendering of the new Outpatient Center building. It shows a lavish, state-of-the-art building, with lots of floor-to-ceiling plate glass and a rich, marble-like appearance, overlooking a tranquil setting. The text next to the rendering reads:

"The new Cancer Center, located on the lower level, will have its own entrance overlooking tidal wetlands, providing soothing vistas and natural light to cancer patients during their chemotherapy treatments. It will feature the latest advances in medical oncology and radiation therapy, access to life-saving clinical trials, and the latest innovations in technology for patient safety and convenience, such as electronic medical records, [and] computerized physician order management."

First of all, lest anyone harbor any doubts as to the intention of this piece, I in no way wish to cast any negative light whatsoever upon the new Cancer Center. The new Danvers Cancer Center will undoubtedly provide untold assistance to countless cancer patients in the future, and will be a godsend to many. However, my intention is to point out that there is another side to this story, one that I feel should be pointed out, and one that has indeed been addressed by other authors and journalists in other vegan- and animal rights-related books and articles.

From a vegan perspective, the new NSMC Cancer Center may be viewed, in one sense, as a sort of modern icon. Many thousands of individuals, medical experts, for-profit and non-profit agencies, and businesses have spent, and will continue to spend, countless hours and dollars researching and building this fantastic, glamorous new state-of-the-art Center, which will provide state-of-the-art care to individuals who have unfortunately acquired cancer. And there is nothing at all wrong with this picture. The Center’s purpose and methods may certainly be viewed as correct and admirable.

Yet to the average vegan, and certainly to the well-read and well-informed vegan, the notion of the Cancer Center will probably still tend to revert back to an icon status, despite its noble purpose and intentions. Most vegans today are keenly aware of cancer and its many facets, how it’s acquired, and how to prevent it. Vegans know the facts and the statistics, because the transition from a meat diet, to a vegetarian diet, to veganism requires careful research and reading pertaining to health and nutrition. Vegans know that by eliminating all animal foods from their diets, their overall chance of living a completely healthy life, free from any cancer, greatly increases.

On the other hand, those who continue to eat meat and animal products may face a completely different, much more serious fate. It is these individuals, who continue along their traditional paths and ways of eating, who will certainly be among the first to show up at the doors of the new Cancer Center seeking cancer treatment. These individuals – most of whom will sadly remain forever unaware of what they’re subjecting their bodies to, not to mention to billions of farmed animals annually, and to the degradation of our environment – the Cancer Center may yet become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that those of us who have taken the time to learn these things – in our pursuit of vegan health, animal rights, and modern environmentalism – may be apt to view the new Danvers Cancer Center as iconic. An icon, as we know, is defined as “an object of uncritical devotion.” I can’t help wondering to myself, as each June I witness the thousands of participants in the annual NSMC WALK: “All of this time, effort, and money spent to raise millions of dollars to treat cancer and to erect a state-of-the-art Cancer Center, when most of these same individuals will return home at the end of the day to consume a plate of chicken, perhaps a hamburger, veal, pork, fish, eggs or dairy. They’re setting their bodies up for cancer, and they remain completely unaware of it.”

The World Peace Diet

Ironically, at about the same time that I am assisting my elderly friend up the steps of the Immaculate Conception Church, as the approximately 6,000 NSMC WALK participants are filing past us on Derby Street, I am also in the middle of reading Dr. Will Tuttle’s 2005 work, The World Peace Diet, and preparing to introduce Will at the Organic Garden Café in Beverly for a lecture, book signing, and vegan breakfast event in mid-July.

In addition to being a professional pianist, composer, teacher and an internationally-recognized lecturer on vegan and animal rights topics, Will Tuttle, in The World Peace Diet, has provided the global vegan and animal rights community with an invaluable work that remains the definitive tract within the current animal rights movement. A quick glance through the end notes of The World Peace Diet, amid Will’s Notes, Resources, and Selected Bibliography, reads like a Who’s Who within the movement. Everyone from Carol Adams (The Inner Art of Vegetarianism, 2002) to Erik Marcus (Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating, 1998) to Robert and Shelley Young (The pH Miracle, 2002).

For me, someone who closely follows the international vegan and animal rights movement 365 days a year, The World Peace Diet has opened new vistas of thought. It was not until reading Will’s careful and thoughtful re-telling and updating of the movement, including the utter pain wrought upon billions of animals on a daily basis, worldwide, that I began to see the true, complete picture. I once sat and listened to an American Indian storyteller reciting ancient tribal stories to a group of silent, rapt children at a powwow at the Tri-County Fairgrounds in Northampton. As I reached midway through The World Peace Diet, I suddenly felt as if I was one of these children, sitting cross-legged on the grass, listening to a wise, knowing teacher unwind an ancient, sad story; a story that is continuing and being carried out even at this moment.

In a chapter titled, The Intelligence of Human Physiology, Will proves time and again the truth behind what he refers to as “The Meat/Medical Complex.” This term refers to the current mis-information (not to mention the vile products) provided by the meat industry, combined with the mis-information (or perhaps more accurately the lack of correct information) provided by the medical industry and doctors. These, according to Will’s meticulous citing, prime us all perfectly for all sorts of potential cancers and other diseases within our bodies; including osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, gallstones, strokes, and liver and kidney disease.

Will writes of the present medical establishment: “By ignoring the obvious fact that we humans are not designed to eat large quantities of animal foods typical of our culture, the pharmaceutical-medical establishment actually contributes to the supply of sick people and guarantees what John McDougall, M.D., refers to as its “job security.” This is not to imply any sort of conspiracy or that the average doctor is not motivated by altruistic impulses. Yet the medical establishment, like any other industry functioning within our culture’s economic framework, simply follows the path of least resistance and most reliable financial return.”

He goes on to conclude: “To those in the upper echelons of the medical industry pyramid, who help determine political strategies and media/education policies, maintaining the status quo must seem like a basically good idea, so they de-emphasize prevention in favor of drug and surgical treatments and encourage the continued acceptance of an omnivorous diet for humans.”

Of course, most of the rest of The World Peace Diet is full of gruesome examples of the meat industry’s contribution to this “Meat/Medical Complex.” Tuttle’s descriptions of the current meat, poultry, dairy, egg, and fishing industries' practices are not pleasant to read, yet are highly informative and insightful. But it is Tuttle’s brilliant citing and summary of the medical industry’s systematic thwarting of the vegan concept in favor of the omnivorous diet, which undoubtedly has earned him his world-renowned acceptance within the animal rights movement, including his acceptance of The Peace Abbey’s Courage of Conscience Award on July 15 in Sherborn, Mass.

The world, even the Boston-metro region, is full of examples of ludicrous attempts to raise money for the current charity- or disease-of-the-week, including laughable and grotesque hot dog eating contests to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), held in various locations, and Boston’s own annual Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl^® to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. How ironic and pitiful that pork and beef hot dogs and dairy ice cream are used to raise funds to treat diseases which, according to medical research, help to bring about these diseases in the first place.

While the annual NSMC WALK does not fall into the above category – after all, it’s only a simple 10K walk on a Sunday afternoon – I stand with Will Tuttle in his assessment, backed by meticulous research and numerous examples, that while no one wishes to blame or to criticize the many fine, hopefully altruistic individuals who comprise the medical industry, there is still something amiss. Cancer can develop in numerous ways, from sun exposure, smoking, radiation, and in many other ways. Clearly, a new Cancer Center would benefit us. And why not have the best? Yet, should a Cancer Center be elevated to icon status?

I think not. Let’s not teach our children to elevate the radiation and chemotherapy centers and place them on a pedestal, while many of those who would advise us to use them also continue to advise us to eat a non-vegan diet. Perhaps, as vegan author Jethro Kloss (Back to Eden, 1939) advised at the beginning of the last century in America, a simple, vegan diet, and a simple vegan lifestyle, are all that are needed to prevent most cancers. Just as most people today have never taken the time to read or to understand the likes of Jethro Kloss or Will Tuttle, so most people today also take stock and place their trust in cancer treatment, while tending to largely ignore careful cancer prevention. Walk, to be sure. But walk as vegans.

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Good as Gold

In case you've been living in a cave, the environment is key these days. To escape global warming, I decided to get a head start on some summer reading - and take in a movie. I was surprised to learn that James Bond was a chain-smoker. Not in Hollywood today, but in 1953. And there's more.

What is my reaction, what should it be?

Confronted by this latest atrocity.

                      Sting, The Police, Driven To Tears

There’s a wonderful, thrilling scene in Ian Fleming’s original 1953 novel Casino Royale, the first in his series of James Bond spy novels.

In this scene, Bond has just gone undercover at the extravagantly elegant, if slightly fading, Casino at Royale, a fictional town placed by Fleming somewhere near the rich holiday resort towns of Le Touquet and Deauville, along France’s exclusive north coast.

Bond's mission at Royale is to beat international syndicate boss, Le Chiffre (in French, the cipher), at the card game Baccarat, thus depleting Le Chiffre of his millions, along with his powerful influence in the underworld.

The play at the Baccarat table has gone into the early morning hours. Several excruciatingly tense scenes have already played out between Bond and Le Chiffre, and at this point, Le Chiffre has just won the latest hand, depleting Bond completely of his own millions, financed by British intelligence.

In the crowd surrounding the table are Bond’s co-agents, the amiable Mathis, the beautiful Vesper Lynd, and CIA agent, Felix Leiter, as well as Le Chiffre’s own co-conspirators, all well-armed and extremely dangerous.

Faced with his total loss, Bond remains seated at the table, along with the other players, for a few painful moments, contemplating a humiliating walk to the door, and having to report to his superior, M, in London.

Suddenly, a thick envelope arrives at the table from the caisse (the Casino’s cashier office). In it is 32 million francs in casino bank notes, enough to cover Le Chiffre’s pending bet and to keep Bond in the game. Astounded, Bond reads the single-line note included with the money. It reads, simply, “With the compliments of the USA.”

Bond is able to proceed in the game with his newly funded stake.

Contemplating Evil

The note included in the envelope is as much of a surprise to the reader as it is to Bond. The reader takes in, and grasps, the message, provided by Leiter, at the same moment that Bond does, and the effect is joyous and exhilarating. The reader shares Bond’s joy – and his sudden, miraculous recovery from total loss.

But this is 2007, not 1953, and so I suspect that the joy and exhilaration experienced by the modern reader is soon followed by the all-too-uncomfortable reality that this is now in fact 2007 – a world entirely transformed from the one that Fleming was writing about.

Of course it’s a different world now, hints Fleming, as if anticipating the modern reader’s reaction: the world continues to evolve, the issues, and our perception of them, are constantly transformed as well.

In 1953, Fleming set forth the controlling mob boss Le Chiffre as the enemy, the underworld figure that Bond must win against; the embodiment of evil. Today, it is popularly accepted that we are all – collectively – the enemy. We are the cause of death and destruction, of animals, of the environment – not some lone enemy lurking in the shadows.

Today, if Americans, or say the Chinese, collectively, have enough, or perhaps even too much, then we have obtained this at the expense of other nations, and the degradation of our planet as a whole. But it is we – ourselves – who desire these things, who acquire them, smoke them, drink them, eat them, heat them, and continue to keep them burning. And our governments? Governments today can often appear ethically flawed at best, and hopelessly corrupt at worst. More about them in a moment.

Competing with each of us today in the villain category, are a host of minor demons, even more ominous than Le Chiffre’s underworld accomplices. These include global warming, factory farming, corporate farming, corporate fishing, deforestation, human overpopulation, animal-transmitted viruses such as H5N1 and mad cow disease, and, as Harvard psychologist, Martha Stout, has set forth, the “sociopath next door,” one out of 23 Americans today, aka, our next door neighbor.