Ithaca Voices for Animals Newsletter (Spring 2005)

[IVA-info at ithacavoices.org]

IVA: Ithaca Voices for Animals

Spring 2005 Newsletter

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In this edition:

1. Welcome to IVA
2. What's New
3. Recent Events
4. Upcoming Events
5. Vegan Recipes
6. Recommended Reading
7. About IVA

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1. WELCOME TO IVA
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This edition of the Ithaca Voices for Animals spring newsletter is going 
out to people who stopped by our table at Ithaca's Earth Day 2005, held at 
the Ithaca Farmer's Market. We hope that you'll enjoy reading about our 
organization and our recent and upcoming activities. Also included in this 
edition of our newsletter are recipes for the egg- and dairy-free desserts 
we were giving away that day.

Thank you for stopping by our Earth Day table, picking up information, and 
sharing with us your concerns and compassion for animals. We hope that 
you'll continue to stay in touch with us and contact us if you desire 
additional information or have other ideas about helping animals.

Please feel free to forward this e-newsletter to others you know who care 
about animals and might be interested in getting involved on their behalf 
in Ithaca and surrounding communities.

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2. WHAT'S NEW
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 >>> New website! IVA will be launching a new website at 
www.ithacavoices.org. The site will be the place to go for information 
about local issues that concern animals as well as listings of IVA's events 
and activities. The site is under construction right now, but it will soon 
feature useful links and other information for Ithaca residents who want to 
show compassion to animals and are seeking to step more lightly on the 
earth. Be sure to check back frequently for updates.

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3. RECENT EVENTS
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 >>> 3/29: Tabletop and wall-case display at Tompkins County Public Library 
(www.tcpl.org). IVA arranged to have a tabletop display at TCPL from March 
29 to April 6. The display featured a poster-board made with Veg for Life 
(www.vegforlife.org) campaign materials produced by Farm Sanctuary 
(www.farmsanctuary.org), located in Watkins Glen. On the table were also 
numerous informational brochures from various organizations including 
United Poultry Concerns (www.upc-online.org), Syracuse's Community Animal 
Project (www.communityanimalproject.org), and Ithaca-based Tribe of Heart 
(www.tribeofheart.org). The table-top display was a huge success--we had to 
replenish the brochures several times during the week!

The wall-case display remained at TCPL from March 29th to April 28th. We 
chose to display books and videos covering a broad range of topics related 
to the use of animals--from vegetarian cookbooks to animal rights 
philosophy. It was difficult to guage how many people stopped to look at 
the display, but we were very pleased with its appearance and happy to 
utilize this service that the library supplies for community groups. We 
have picked two books that were on display to highlight in our recommended 
reading section, below.

 >>> 4/05: Two talks by Erik Marcus at the Greater Ithaca Activities 
Center. Erik is the author of Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating 
(www.veganessentials.com/catalog/vegan-the-new-ethics-of-eating.htm) and 
Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money 
(www.veganoutreach.org/enewsletter/meatmarket.html). He is also the founder 
of vegan.com (www.vegan.com) and a former Ithacan who will soon be 
returning to the city. IVA was pleased to invite Erik to deliver talks that 
focused on the reasons for choosing a plant-based diet and his strategic 
vision for creating a shift in the way society views and treats nonhuman 
animals. Both talks were thought provoking and informative, and we hope to 
collaborate with Erik on future projects. Organizing Erik's talks also 
motivated us to plan more lectures (see upcoming events, below).

 >>> 4/24: Earth Day celebration at Ithaca Farmers Market. Most of the 
people receiving this newsletter found out about IVA through our table at 
Ithaca's Earth Day celebration. This was IVA's first tabling event, and we 
couldn't be happier with the feedback we received. Although it would have 
been nicer if the temperature had been about 25 degrees warmer, it was well 
worth our time to be there because we met so many concerned, friendly folks.

The focus of our table at the Earth Day celebration was chickens and how 
they are used in the egg and meat production industries. We chose this 
subject because chickens, particularly laying hens, are frequently 
overlooked when talking about animals used for food. Our table was a 
compilation of materials and information from Compassion Over Killing 
(www.cok.net), United Poultry Concerns, VIVA! USA (www.vivausa.org/), Farm 
Sanctuary, Vegan Outreach (www.veganoutreach.org), and Tribe of Heart's 
film Peaceable Kingdom (www.tribeofheart.org/pk.htm), to name a few. We 
received many great questions and lots of compliments on our vegan snacks. 
We thank everyone who stopped by to say hello, and we hope to see you at 
our future events (snacks provided, of course)!

 >>>5/30: Tabling on the Ithaca Commons. We took our tabling materials from 
Earth Day to the Ithaca Commons for some tabling over the Memorial Day 
holiday. We spoke with passers-by about factory farming and the advantages 
of a vegetarian diet. We also publicized the upcoming talk by Harold Brown 
(see Upcoming Events, below).

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4. UPCOMING EVENTS
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 >>> Saturday, 6/25: WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR FOOD? A discussion led by Farm 
Sanctuary's Harold Brown, former farmer and current advocate for 
agricultural reform. Harold will discuss current farming practices, 
corporate agribusiness, the future of the US food supply, and the way 
industrial agriculture impacts human health, local economies, the 
environment, and farmed animals. Light refreshments will be provided. Free 
and open to the public. 2:00 pm in the Borg Warner Room of the Tompkins 
County Public Library, 101 E. Green St, Ithaca. For more information, 
contact: 277-0159.

Harold Brown, Farm Sanctuary Outreach Coordinator (www.askfarmerbrown.org), 
was raised on a cattle farm in Michigan and spent half of his life in 
agriculture. As Outreach Coordinator for Farm Sanctuary 
(www.farmsanctuary.org), Harold is coordinating a campaign to encourage 
farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices. Harold Brown appears in the 
film, "Peaceable Kingdom" (www.tribeofheart.org/pk.htm), where he tells the 
powerful story of his transformation from "beef" farmer to vegan farm 
animal advocate.

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5. RECIPES
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Here are the egg- and dairy-free recipes from our recent Earth Day table. 
Enjoy!

 >>> Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

Sift together:
3/4 cups cocoa and enough flour to make 3 1/3 cups altogether
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Mix and add:
3 Tbsp vinegar
3/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups sugar

Blend wet and dry ingredients well by hand or using an electric mixer. Pour 
into lined cupcake tins. Bake at 350 degrees until an inserted toothpick 
comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Cool and frost. Makes 2 dozen regular 
cupcakes and many mini-cupcakes.

 >>> Coconut Macaroons

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups unsweetened, shredded coconut
1 1/2 cups walnuts (or almonds) (9 oz)
1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup rice syrup (or barley malt)
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Directions:

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread 2 1/2 cups coconut and walnuts on 
separate baking sheets. Bake coconut until lightly toasted, stirring 
occasionally 5 to 7 minutes. Bake walnuts until lightly toasted, 8 to 10 
minutes. Set toasted coconut and walnuts aside; keep separate.

(2) Place remaining 3/4 cup raw coconut in shallow bowl; set aside. Lightly 
brush two baking sheets with oil or line with parchment paper; set aside.

(3) Put oats in a food processor and pulse on/off 6 times. Transfer oats to 
large bowl and add toasted coconut and salt. In food processor, process 
walnuts to a paste. Add oil, rice syrup (or barley malt), maple syrup & 
vanilla and process until blended and smooth. Add wet ingredients to dry 
and mix well.

(4) Scoop dough into rounded tablespoons and roll into balls; then roll 
each in raw coconut. Place cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 
inches apart. Bake until bottoms are lightly brown, about 15 minutes. (Do 
not overcook; macaroons should be moist and chewy.) Transfer cookies to 
wire racks to cool.

Makes 2  1/2 dozen cookies.

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6. RECOMMENDED READING
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Two books that IVA recommends for those who want to learn more about 
corporate agriculture, animal advocacy, and veganism.

 >>> Empty Cages, by Tom Regan

Tom Regan dedicates his book _Empty Cages_ to "Muddlers, everywhere." He 
explains that Muddlers are those who take time to make conclusions, who 
"muddle" through life, discovering one thing, then another, until they 
finally amass enough information to make a decision. _Empty Cages_ is both 
the personal story of Regan's own muddling and the accumulation of 
knowledge and thought that brought him to the position of being an animal 
rights advocate. It contains a wealth of information about the way in which 
humans use animals and an easy-to-understand explanation of his philosophy 
that animals are "subjects of a life" and therefore have inherent value. 
The book is a great resource for anyone even mildly interested in animal 
issues or wondering what animal rights philosophy is all about, as well as 
die-hard activists who want some insight into why their opinions often seem 
to be misunderstood or rejected by others.


 >>> The Complete Vegetarian Kitchen by Lorna Sass

This vegan cookbook contains recipes for appetizers to desserts and 
everything in between. Using readily available ingredients, Sass's 
whole-foods creations are both delicious and easy to make. Many of the 
recipes are geared toward cooks using pressure cookers, but the recipes are 
easily accessed by all cooks, and Sass provides easy-to-follow directions 
for all cooking methods. Full of information for new and long-time 
vegetarians alike, The Complete Vegetarian Kitchen provides a advice for 
stocking the vegetarian pantry and a wealth of information on vegetarian 
cooking technique and ways to make meal planning easy and meal preparation 
efficient and quick. Lorna Sass's recipes prove that a vegan diet is not a 
diet of deprivation--it's one that's full of flavor, variety, and good health.

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7. ABOUT IVA
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IVA is a new animal advocacy group organized to raise awareness about the 
suffering and exploitation of animals locally, nationally, and throughout 
the world. IVA supports the belief that animals are not ours to use for 
food, fiber, experimentation, or entertainment. IVA puts that philosophy 
into action by advocating a vegan diet and educating the public about ways 
to reduce animal suffering and exploitation.

IVA's focus is on animals, but there is no doubt that our concerns 
intersect with other social justice issues of the day. Pollution, labor 
abuses, human rights issues, and other environmental concerns are often 
closely tied to animal agriculture, biomedical research, corporate welfare, 
and health issues that impact animals as well as humans. IVA seeks to 
connect with other activists who are working in these areas to make the 
circle of compassion as wide as possible and translate compassion for 
animals into awareness about and action against all suffering.

Contact IVA at info at ithacavoices.org or 607-277-0159.