Judy K from the excellent Savvy Veg has this to say about living with and eating alongside non-veggies:

Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Together

Savvy Vegetarian Report: Guide to Harmonious Cohabiting and Eating Between Veg and Non-Veg

“My non-vegetarian relatives, friends and acquaintances often assume that I look down on them for eating meat. I could say that their perception is their problem and that their negative attitude doesn’t help. But actually, their reaction is completely understandable.

After spending most of the last 30 years as a vegetarian, I don’t consider meat as food, I can’t pass the meat counter in a grocery store without feeling ill, and I look away when I see someone eating meat.

Just because I feel that way doesn’t make the other guy’s diet wrong…

…What’s important is that evil people are a minority, and most people are good. We’re all for good, and against evil, right? So veg and non-veg should have no problem getting along.

It’s clear that vegetarians and non-vegetarians must work together to solve the problems we’ve created, like global warming, environmental degradation, poverty, and hunger. Eating together is a great place to start. To enjoy sharing food, veg and non-veg need to set aside their differences, do their best to provide for each other’s needs, and place humanity before ideology. Hopefully, it will then be easier to do the same on a global level.

One in three advice letters to Savvy Veg is about veg feeding non-veg or vice-versa. These letters come from both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. This means that one in three people have this problem! Obviously, nobody’s dying from this, but why should this sad condition continue, when it can be helped by good will, common sense, and a few ground rules?”

» Link

- Also check our her blog (sadly no RSS feed).

“Wine consumption in the UK is hitting record levels. The health benefits of the occasional glass of red wine are widely acknowledged and it is generally assumed to be a straightforward product of grapes. But in this investigation, journalist Jane Moore (pictured) reveals that a great deal of what we now consume is enhanced, sweetened, flavoured or added to, creating a drink that one critic describes as no better than “an alcoholic cola”.

This documentary reveals some of the 40 different substances, including fish and dairy products, that can be used in producing wine but that rarely appear on the label of the average bottle, in stark contrast with the regulations on food labelling. Jane Moore investigates the recent scandals in Italy, France and South Africa that have tarnished the image of the industry and reveals how difficult it is to be sure what is good value for money.

Jane Moore conducts her own taste test of a leading brand of champagne versus a sparkling wine costing a third as much, with surprising results. She also visits the vineyards of Champagne, and discovers that for decades rubbish from Paris was dumped on the soil as a fertiliser. The organic matter may have decayed, but razor blades, syringes, batteries and fragments of plastic bin bags can still be seen littering the landscape in some areas.”

Tonight (Monday 15th September) at 8pm.

If you missed it watch via 4OD.

The Observer asks…

Is our taste for Sunday roast killing the planet?

A UN expert has blamed meat eaters for visiting environmental mayhem on the world as the demand for beef drives deforestation, water scarcity, air pollution and climate change. Science editor Robin McKie and Caroline Davies report

Your Sunday roast stands accused. According to the United Nation’s chief climate expert, Rajendra Pachauri, that tasty piece of top rump resting on your dining table is the source of many of the world’s environmental woes, in particular those involved in the dangerous warming of the planet’s climate.

Our appetite for animal flesh is boosting fertiliser production, pollution and emission of greenhouse gases to dangerous levels, Pachauri has told The Observer. Give up meat - at least for one day a week - and we can help to save the Earth, he added.

Nor is Pachauri, the chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, alone in his complaints. A host of campaigners have united to condemn meat-eaters for bringing environmental mayhem to the world. ‘The human appetite for animal flesh is a driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening the human future: deforestation, erosion, fresh water scarcity, air and water pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, social injustice, the destabilisation of communities and the spread of disease,’ the Worldwatch Institute has warned.

» Full article

Via the Observer:

Meat By Number
Caroline Davies

82g The amount of protein the average Briton eats daily, of which 50g is meat, the equivalent of a chicken breast and lamb chop. The figure is relatively low for a developed country, but higher than developing nations and 25-50 per cent above the World Health Organisation recommendation.

8 The number of beef cattle we eat over an average lifetime. We also consume 36 sheep, 36 pigs and 550 poultry birds. Britons’ meat consumption is now 50 per cent higher than it was 40 years ago.

500lb The amount of meat that is produced by the average cow.

1m tonnes The amount of beef we consume as a nation each year, along with 1.3 million tonnes of pork and bacon and 1.8 million tonnes of poultry.

990 litres The amount of water that is required to produce one litre of milk.

100kg The amount of methane emitted by the average cow every year. Methane is a greenhouse gas with an effect 23 times greater than carbon dioxide, so this is equal to 2,300 kgs per year, or almost the same as two return flights between London and New York, or driving 7,800 miles.

» Full article

Via the Beeb:

Shun meat, says UN climate chief
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website

People should consider eating less meat as a way of combating global warming, says the UN’s top climate scientist.

Rajendra Pachauri, who chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will make the call at a speech in London on Monday evening.

UN figures suggest that meat production puts more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than transport…

» Full article

Also via the Observer:

UN says eat less meat to curb global warming
Juliette Jowit, environment editor

People should have one meat-free day a week if they want to make a personal and effective sacrifice that would help tackle climate change, the world’s leading authority on global warming has told The Observer

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which last year earned a joint share of the Nobel Peace Prize, said that people should then go on to reduce their meat consumption even further.

His comments are the most controversial advice yet provided by the panel on how individuals can help tackle global warning.

Pachauri, who was re-elected the panel’s chairman for a second six-year term last week, said diet change was important because of the huge greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental problems - including habitat destruction - associated with rearing cattle and other animals. It was relatively easy to change eating habits compared to changing means of transport, he said.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has estimated that meat production accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. These are generated during the production of animal feeds, for example, while ruminants, particularly cows, emit methane, which is 23 times more effective as a global warming agent than carbon dioxide. The agency has also warned that meat consumption is set to double by the middle of the century.

‘In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity,’ said Pachauri. ‘Give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there,’ said the Indian economist, who is a vegetarian.

» Full article

Sorry for the pun. - I spotted two cat related articles and posting both of them here to show the different side of things.

First one via the Echo:

Court hears of sick film of boy torturing cat

Sep 9 2008 by Kevin Core, Liverpool Echo

A TEENAGER filmed a friend swinging a cat around by its tail and launching it into the air, a court heard.

The 13-year-old, who is too young to be named, was identified only when the footage was unwittingly shown to the pet’s owner.

The schoolboy could be heard giggling throughout the recording of the sickening attack when the mobile phone clip was played to Wirral magistrates yesterday.

He was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

On the video, his accomplice, who pleaded guilty to the same offence in June, can be seen pouncing on the animal and holding it down in a Bromborough street.

He then picked up the Bengal cat, named Thai, by the tail, swung it around and aimed a kick at its head as he launched it into the air.

The cat could be heard to screech in pain throughout.

» Full article

Next one via Fish and Chimps: PETA Europe’s Blog:

Boy Faces ASBO Searching for Lost Cat

“Losing a companion animal can nowadays give you more than heartache and countless sleepless nights, waiting for them to return. Thirteen-year old Daniel Cope from Kent was faced with an ASBO of £80 under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act for putting up posters to find his cat in his local neighbourhood. This is often the first thing people do when finding a companion animal has gone missing, but the demand from the community warden was firm: Tear the posters down or be fined. Milly, the family cat has been missing for two weeks now, after falling out of the family home’s window.”

» Read the full post

» Original article about the lost cat

I like this idea. I hope they take it up.

Via the Beeb:

Foods ’should label up eco-costs’
By Jennifer Carpenter
Science reporter, BBC News, Liverpool

Food packaging could be embedded with computer chips that instantly link your phone to an on-line sustainable food guide, a UK conference has heard.

The guides would help consumers navigate their way through the ethical and ecological decisions about what they eat, the proponents argue.

The UK should lead Europe on this approach, food policy expert Professor Tim Lang said.

He was speaking at the British Association Science Festival.

Ethical impact

The criteria used to judge food sustainability are still up for debate.

“Do I eat green beans from Kenya, because they are good for me, or do I say no because there are four litres of water embedded in each stem of green bean?” asked Professor Lang, from City University, London.

He said scientists and policy-makers now realised the environmental, ethical, and health impacts of the food we ate.

Producers needed to find a way to present this information to the consumer, he told the conference.

He outlined a number of criteria that consumers should consider when buying food: how much energy and water are used to produce each calorie of food; what is the impact of the food item on climate, biodiversity, and the labour-force of the country it was grown in, and what are the health and financial costs of food.

» Full article

Merseyside Animal Rights are hosting another vegan food fair:

Vegan Fayre 13th September - Celebrating Raw Food

“Our next Vegan Food Fayre will take place on Saturday 13 September. It will be held in the Liverpool Social Centre ‘Next to Nowhere’ (Bold St Liverpool, next to News from Nowhere bookshop), starting at 12pm and finish at 4pm. This particular free event will be promoting the benefits of raw food, allowing you to sample such wonderful things as, raw soup, sushi, dips, desserts, cheese, and bread. We will also be holding a raffle, giving you the opportunity to win lots of delicious raw ingredients for your kitchen.”

This event is being sponsored by the following companies. Please take time to visit their websites.

• Raw Living
• Total Raw Food
• Yaoh
• Beanie’s Health Food (Fry’s)
• Conscious Chocolate
• Goodness Direct
• Matta’s International Foods

» Liverpool Social Centre
» Map/Directions

Via the Echo:

Girl, 3, grows ‘cannabis’ from Asda health food
Sep 5 2008 by Ben Rossington, Liverpool Echo

A GREEN-FINGERED three-year-old grew a cannabis plant in her back garden with seeds bought from a Merseyside supermarket.

Lois Williams wanted to be just like her father, 31-year-old Danny Williams, who grows his own potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, beans and fruits.

She planted some seeds from the packet of organic health food seed mix bought from Asda, in Huyton, in the garden of her family’s home in Aldwark Road, Dovecot.

Two months later, Mr Williams noticed a pungent smell coming from his vegetable patch and was shocked to discover the seeds had blossomed into a full-grown cannabis plant.

» Full article plus video

Via the Eastbourne Herald:

Veggie caterers win top contract

THE owners of a vegetarian and vegan catering firm have been invited to prepare a four-course gourmet dinner for a top annual conference.

Pat Wilder and Diane Page, who run Hailsham firm Veg Out, received diplomas from the UK Vegetarian Society’s Cordon Vert School of Cookery in 2005.

Now they’ve been asked to cook for delegates at the society’s AGM in Altrincham, Cheshire, next month.

Veg Out is an exclusively vegetarian and vegan company which caters for weddings, parties and other events.

Pat and Diane, both themselves vegetarian, started the firm as a reaction to vegetarian food at functions which they felt lacked creativity.

They put together an imaginative menu based on very strict criteria and requirements received from the Vegetarian Society.

Some of the dishes they will be preparing include marinated tofu kebabs with satay sauce, Mediterranean cassoulet, hazelnut and cranberry pie and Caribbean pineapple with coconut ice cream.

Diane said, “It is a fantastic honour to be asked to cook for the Vegetarian Society’s delegates.”

Pat added, “It is a great opportunity to be able to prepare a gourmet menu for our mentors when only a few years previous we were students.”

» Full article

» Veg Out website