Plant-based Eating (vegan)

“Faye” the Explorer – our adoptive turkey who lives out her days at Farm Sanctury in Watkins Glen, NY

Vegans & Vegetarians Throughout History

•Siddhartha Gautama, Buddhist Monk (c. 563 ─ c. 400 BCE)
• Plato, Greek Philosopher (c. 424/423─348/347 BCE)
• Pythagoras of Samos, Greek Philosopher (c. 570 ─ c. 495 BCE)
• St. Francis of Assisi, Italian Catholic friar (1181─1226)
• Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Polymath (1452─1519)
• Martin Luther, German Catholic Priest (1483─1546)
• Voltaire, French Enlightenment Philosopher (1694─1778)
• John Wesley, Theologian, Founder of Methodism (1703─1791)
• Benjamin Franklin, American Polymath (1706─1790)
• Jeremy Bentham, Founder of Utilitarianism (1748─1832)
• Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Romantic Poet (1792─1822)
• Mary Shelley, English Novelist (1797─1851)
• Bronson Alcott, American Transcendentalist (1799─1888)
• Charles Darwin, English Naturalist (1809─1882)
• Leo Tolstoy, Russian Writer (1828─1910)
• Thomas Edison, American Entrepreneur (1847─1931)
• Nikola Tesla, Serbian American Physicist (1856─1943)
• Mahatma Gandhi, Indian Lawyer & Politician (1869─1948)
• Albert Schweitzer, Philosopher, & Physician (1875─1965)
• Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist (1879─1955)
• Franz Kafka, Novelist (1883─1924)
• Steve Jobs, American Business Magnate (1955─2011)

Vegan & Vegetarian Celebrities

• Al Gore – American Politician and Environmentalist (b. 1948)
• John Mackey – American Businessman, Whole Foods (b. 1953)
• Eric Adams – American Politician, Mayor-elect, NYC (b. 1960)
• Moby – American Musician (b. 1965)
• Cory Booker – American Politician, U.S. Senator, NJ (b. 1969)
• Jared Leto – American Actor (b. 1971)
• Biz Stone – American Entrepreneur, Twitter (b. 1974)
• Joaquin Phoenix – American Actor (b. 1974)
• Milo Ventimiglia – American Actor (b. 1974)
• Mayim Bialik – American Actor (b. 1975)
• Alicia Silverstone – American Actor (b. 1976)
• Venus Williams – American Tennis Player (b. 1980)
•Natalie Portman – Israeli-born American Actor (b. 1981)
• Kat Von D – Mexican American Tattoo Artist (b. 1982)
• Carrie Underwood – American Singer/Songwriter (b. 1983)
• Rooney Mara – American Actor (b. 1985)
• Elliot Page – American Actor (b. 1987)
• Alex Morgan – American Team USA soccer player (b. 1989)
• Ariana Grande – American Singer/Songwriter (b. 1993)
• Billie Eilish – American Singer/Songwriter (b. 2001)
• Gary & Melissa Rendsburg – American Academics

University of Oxford

9% of people aged 18 to 24 in the UK are vegetarian.

Most people still eat some meat, but surveys suggest that many are adopting a diet with less animal products. Especially young people.

What share of people say they are vegetarian, vegan, or flexitarian?

Edouard Mathieu and Hannah Ritchie (2022) – “What share of people say they are vegetarian, vegan, or flexitarian?”. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/vegetarian-vegan’ [Online Resource]

Thanksgiving 2018

Instead of my complaining about the 6 million discarded turkeys that were senselessly slaughtered only to be thrown away as garbage this Thanksgiving (in addition to the 46 million turkeys that were consumed), I would like to focus on what I am truly grateful for and why.

Naturally, I am grateful for the collective love of my entire family, past, and present, this goes without saying. However, more importantly, I wish to give thanks to the Earth, to Gaia, for providing me and the rest of humanity with food and water.

You snicker, I get it. Like most, as a society, we have become so far removed from the source of our food that most people barely blink an eye when millions of animals are bred so that they can be killed and tossed out with the trash. This is not about providing food to sustain a human body; this is about the callousness of mass production to maintain a holiday tradition. Why aren’t humans more shameful and outraged about this aspect?

Think about this for a moment: without food and water, humans could not exist here on Earth – none of us would be alive. Everything we eat, and indeed everything humans use (metals, stone, clay, glass, wood, precious gems, and minerals) all come from the precious Earth. This is an all too easy fact to forget.

Before there were humans, there was only vegetation and water on Earth. Then came the animals. It was only once the Earth had prepared itself for life, did humans spring forth. Though I eat a plant-based diet, I am not opposed to what other people choose to eat. However, has anyone stopped to consider that the animals widely consumed are all herbivores? Turkey, cattle, horse, sheep, rabbit, goat, chicken, etc. After all, we know what happens when one feeds animal protein (meat-and-bone meal) to cattle: the result is Mad Cow disease. The omnivorous pig is the main exception, though even its diet is mainly vegetarian.

My request, then, is for everyone to be more mindful of the source of one’s food, to be less wasteful, and to remember that meat does not come in a cellophane wrapper, but rather originates from one of Earth’s creatures.

Forever grateful.

Melissa
November 24, 2018
(word count 374)

I also invite you to read, “The Vegetarian Ideal in the Bible” (article no.112)
https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/docman/rendsburg/115-the-vegetarian-ideal-in-the-bible/file