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Holiday Leafletting – Recap

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

I’m slooowly getting back to work after the holidays, and this is something I meant to post about sooner. (Resolution: procrastinate less. I’ll get on that soon, I swear.)

Chris and Tracy with leaflets

We had a great December, handing out about 2000 of our turkey leaflets altogether. We handed out 1000 at the Santa Claus Parade downtown on December 5, and another 1000 over four days in the week before Christmas, outside various Skytrain stations.

Thanks to all the great volunteers who came out to help: Almira, Alexandra, Chris, Johnathan, Layne, Paige, Tracy and especially Mary-Chris. (I hope I haven’t left anyone out….)

Our turkey leaflets were a little different this year from past years: as well as the usual information about the routine cruelty of animal agriculture, and about sponsoring a rescued turkey at Farm Sanctuary, Mary-Chris put together a two-column list of recipes for a vegan holiday feast. This made the leaflets more popular than usual–there were a number of times when someone would initially say no, but take a leaflet when I told them it had recipes. Great idea!

I really like leafletting to commuters around the city. It doesn’t take a huge investment, and it can reach a lot of people in a short time. If you have any ideas for leafletting themes in the next few months (i.e., now that the holidays are over), let us know in the comments.

And happy new year, everyone!

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Tags: Holidays, leafletting, outreach, turkeys

Leafletting at Diwali Downtown

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

Jason leafletting at Diwali

Last week was Diwali, the Indian festival of lights. There were several events around Vancouver, culminating in a big celebration at the Roundhouse Centre in Yaletown on Sunday. This sounded like a good opportunity for some outreach to the people of the South Asian community, many of whom already have a great respect for cows. So Joanne and I took a bag of our dairy leaflets down to Davie & Pacific to hand out to the people coming in to the Roundhouse Centre. Later in the afternoon, Jason from the Humane South Asians would come by to help out, along with Lauchlan.

I can’t remember the last time I had such a good time leafletting. Aside from the beautiful weather (thank you, lack of rain), we had a very positive, and very receptive crowd. Just about all of the people I talked to seemed both surprised and upset by the systemic cruelty to animals involved in dairy. We finished the bag of leaflets well ahead of schedule–in fact, Joanne and I had to stop early for fear we’d run out before Jason and Lauchlan had a chance to get there!

Roger leafletting at Diwali

That was fine, of course: it gave us a chance to look around inside and see what the event was like. There was lots of food (long lines, though, so I didn’t find out what exactly was there (and vegan) except for some tasty samosas; maybe someone in comments can fill me in), lots of performers (see here for the full list), visual art, crafts, and generally what looked like a lot of fun.

We should definitely make sure we’re back for Diwali next year!

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Tags: animal rights, dairy, outreach, vegan

Thanksgiving turkey leafleting dates announced

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Here are the dates for our annual turkey leafleting. We will be handing out copies of our “Talking Turkey” leaflet to commuters during rush hour on these dates:

Download a copy of the flier

Sep 27 – 4:30-5:30pm – Burrard station
Sep 28 – 4:30-5:30pm – Cambie & Broadway
Sep 29 – 4:30-5:30pm – Granville & Broadway
Sep 30 – 4:30-5:30pm – City Centre/Granville Skytrain stations
Oct 1 – 4:30-5:30pm – Waterfront station

Oct 4 – 4:30-5:30pm – Burrard station
Oct 5 – 4:30-5:30pm – Cambie & Broadway
Oct 6 – 4:30-5:30pm – Granville & Broadway
Oct 7 – 4:30-5:30pm – City Centre/Granville Skytrain stations
Oct 8 – 4:30-5:30pm – Waterfront station

Volunteers are needed to help. If you would like to volunteer, contact Glenn at glenn@liberationbc.org or 604-761-4497.

[NOTE: I've updated the locations]

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Tags: events, outreach, turkeys

Speaking out for animals at Davie Day

Saturday, September 18th, 2010

Last weekend we spent the whole day on Saturday at Davie Day, the West End’s community festival. It’s really a great event, with just about the whole length of Davie Street closed for the entire day.

We had our booth with lots of information about choosing a more compassionate and ethical lifestyle, and there were also appearances by Moo-rice (pronounced MOO REECE), the escaped veal calf.

Many people stopped to talk to us and we even ran out of vegan recipe booklets. A whole bunch of people played the “Save the Cows” game and learned all about the dairy industry.

Moorice urges Davie Day attendees to Go Vegan (photo by Kyla and Max)

Play the Save the Cows game and learn about the dairy industry (photo by Kyla and Max)

Kyla and Moorice invite people to play the Save the Cows Game

Moorice and Kyla invite people to play the Save the Cows game (photo by Becci)

Sean and Roger answering questions (photo by Becci)

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Tags: Davie Day, events, outreach

Month-long online humane education course

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

I received an email about this humane education course recently. It looks like it would be a great course for anyone who does any sort of animal rights outreach.

If 4 or more people register together there is a significant cost savings. If anyone is interested please let me know and I can help coordinate a group rate.

Here’s the announcement:

ONLINE COURSE HELPS BUILD MORE CONFIDENT, EFFECTIVE CHANGEMAKERS FOR A BETTER WORLD

Learn to live a joyful life more aligned with your values and to become a more effective, compassionate advocate. Sign up for A Better World, A Meaningful Life (September 6-October 1) a month-long online course through the Institute for Humane Education, and cultivate the skills, knowledge and motivation to assess your life, examine your values, explore new information and do more good for yourself, other people, animals, and the environment.

The course includes a downloadable course booklet, an interactive online discussion forum, phone salons, support from the course advisor, and a copy of Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life by IHE President, Zoe Weil.

Past course participants have called the course “…powerful, inspiring and life-changing” and “…one of the best decisions that I have ever made.”

The Institute for Humane Education is offering a special discount to Liberation B.C. members and supporters. The normal cost for A Better World, A Meaningful Life is $125, but if 4 or more supporters/members from Liberation B.C. register together, they’ll receive a special rate of only $80 each. To receive the special rate, email Amy@HumaneEducation.org with the names and emails of the 4 or more participants, and she’ll send the link.

Find out more about A Better World, A Meaningful Life:
http://humaneeducation.org/sections/view/better_world_meaningful_life

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Tags: activism, humane education, outreach

Liberation BC at Justice Rocks 2010

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

Save a cow! Visitors play to reunite a cow and her calf.

Liberation BC volunteers were out at Justice Rocks this past Sunday with information about dairy, veganism, and compassion for animals.

Justice Rocks is a festival of music and activism organized by Pivot Legal Society with help from several other nonprofits.

We had a tent with information, including our new Save the Cows game. The game had people answer questions about diary and non-dairy foods with the goal of reuniting a mother cow and her calf. A whole bunch of people played the game – and everyone who won got a free cow ribbon. People playing the game were able to learn about dairy ingredients like rennet and paneer.

It was a really great day. Thanks to Shelly, Paige, Willow, and Joanne who did a wonderful job of sharing information, including many personal stories about animals.

Shelly & Paige - 2 of the best volunteers ever.

Starting out the day quietly

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Tags: Cow Ribbon, dairy, outreach, tabling

Kitsilano Farmers Market

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Sinéad and Joanne

Yesterday we had a table at the Kitsilano farmers market. We do one date each year at each of the markets around town (Main, Kitsilano, Trout Lake, and the West End).

While the day was not the best – it was a bit grey and cold – we still had a very nice time.

Our volunteers were overwhelmed by how positive the reception was. In an email, Layne wrote that “I think it was the best tabling experience I have had. A number of people wanted to be on the mailing list and/or were interested in the veg recipes or nutritional advice.”

Over the past few years we’ve definitely observed a shift in how people react to animal rights and veganism.

Both Layne and Sinéad recounted the same story about a mother and her little boy:

A 2-year-old boy in a stroller, with a toy cow in his hand, grinned eagerly upon seeing our booth and proceeded to exclaim, “COOOOWWWS!!!!!”

(His mother promptly whispering to us not to tell him anything about hamburgers or he won’t be able to sleep at night, that he loves tofu, and is “all about the cows”)”

At first when the mother told us not to tell him anything about meat or dairy, we worried that she was feeding him meat and just sheltering him from the facts, but then she told us that he doesn’t really get much exposure to meat and they’re going to wait a couple years before they tell him about where it comes from (makes sense, he was just 2 and a half!). He wanted to take the “Dairy: A Mother’s Suffering” pamphlet because it had pictures of cows on the front…but we managed to distract him with some of the cow stickers and the colouring book.

To top it all off, just two booths down from us was Edible Flours, a new vegan baking company! We, of course, sampled some of their muffins and cupcakes.

Goodies from Edible Flours

Keep an eye out for us at the Trout Lake market on July 24 (Veganmania will also be there) and the West End market on August 7 (Edible Flours will be there too). If you are a paid Liberation BC member, Christa from Veganmania has generously offered a 10% discount on your purchases of her delicious vegan goodies.

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Tags: events, Farmers Market, outreach

Across the internet this past week (late!)

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Sorry I’m late in posting this. I had a busy weekend. So I’m rolling last week and the past couple of days all together for this collection of links to some interesting articles and thought-provoking pieces from across the internet. Don’t miss Lesley’s article about gifting of animals, and also don’t miss Virginia Messina’s articles on the same subject. There’s also a post in here on the new Change.org Animal Welfare Blog, which has been quite good so far. The post is well worth reading and thinking about.

Enjoy!

Digging Through the Dirt: Chicken Council Balks at Consumer Reports Study

Vegan Soapbox: Salmonella And Campylobacter Found In Most Chicken

Minneapolis/St. Paul News: Mist of pig brain tissue sickened slaughterhouse workers

USA Today: Why a recall of tainted beef didn’t include school lunches

Fox News: H1N1 Flu Strain Found in Canadian Turkey Flock

Reuters: U.S. finds pandemic H1N1 virus in turkey flock

JAVMA News: Pigs, people, and now, pets

Making Hay: Go Tell it on the Mountain: Think Globally, Act Locally

Peter Fricker: Animal shelters must combine compassion with responsibility

Animal Blawg: Are Seahorses Becoming Extinct?

Vegan.com: Europe Grants Animals Legal Status of Sentient Beings

Vegan Dietician: Promoting Veganism: Finding the Message that Works

Animal Person: On Scheduling Epiphanies . . . and Coral Snakes

Vegan Soapbox: Veganism Is More Than A Personal Choice

Change.org Animal Rights Blog: The Mass Killing of Wildlife for Your Burger, Cheese, and Leather

Digging Through the Dirt: ‘Julie & Julia’ Writer Assaults More Dead Bodies

Vegans of Color: Gender policing has no place in AR/vegan movements

Change.org Animal Welfare Blog: The Globalization of Animal Welfare

Vegan Etsy Blog: Eating Animals: Hiding / Seeking – the fourth chapter of the new book by Jonathan Safran Foer

Vegan Etsy Blog: Eating Animals: Influence / Speechlessness – the fifth chapter in the new book by Jonathan Safran Foer

Veg Climate Aliance: CopenVegan

Lesley Fox: If you care about world hunger, don’t give a cow

Seattle Vegan Examiner: Donations to Heifer International may do more harm than good

Seattle Vegan Examiner: Sustainable and ethical choices for reducing world poverty

Making Hay: Holiday Gifts with Compassion

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Tags: activism, charities, Christmas, disease, eating animals, endangered species, extinction, factory farming, gender, gifts, hunger, outreach, poverty, racism, swine flu, turkeys

Full stomachs, tired feet – EAT! Vancouver wrap-up

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

This weekend was the big EAT! Vancouver food and cooking show. It is a big show at BC Place with vendors giving out samples and selling their various products, restaurants selling food, and cooking demonstrations.

The crowds

I initially was really nervous about going. I was worried about arguments or conflict from the audience and from some of the vendors. But, strangely enough, we only had one negative comment over the whole weekend.

Our display

We had a small booth, paid for by a very generous donor. The display largely focused on factory farming and the environment, but we also had Farm Sanctuary’s “Recipes for Life” booklet, which was very popular. We gave out over 300 copies.

Neda at our booth

Me, Layne, and Neda (sorry it's so blurry)

A lot of people were happy to see us there. The Vancouver Humane Society was there too, with their battery egg display. It was really nice to see the animals represented.

The hardest part of the weekend was that we were placed next to a pig farm. They turned out to be very nice people, and we talked before the show opened and tried our hardest to avoid conflict. We shared a lot of laughs when people would remark on the strange irony of an animal rights group being next to a pig farm.

They are experimenting with selling directly to the public for the first time ever, and have a free-range type farm, where the pigs are kept in an open space on sawdust rather than on concrete in small pens. We talked a bit about consumer perceptions and the unwillingness of people to spend more for meat that costs more to produce. Lots of people want animals to be treated better, but are unwilling to pay the extra cost. I can see how this is a real challenge. It will be interesting to see how this farm manages.

I was really glad to meet them and talk to them. Sometimes I get insulated in my little animal rights world, where I forget that “they” are real people who are trying to do the best they can within their own values. There are always real lives on the other side, and this weekend served to remind me of that. Yes, we are on opposing sides, but we can also treat each other with respect.

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Tags: activism, outreach

Our Boycott Procter & Gamble event

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

The view from across the street

We held an event today in honour of International Boycott Procter & Gamble Day. In case you don’t know, Procter & Gamble is a giant company that conducts huge amounts of testing on animals. Much of this testing is on cosmetics, soaps, cleaners, toothpaste, etc. Almost nothing that P&G makes can be considered a necessity.

For more information, check out the In Defense of Animals website.

There are many alternative products that are not tested on animals. Have a look at Peta’s list of companies that don’t test on animals. Also look at AAVS’s list of companies that have signed on to their Leaping Bunny program and don’t conduct animal tests, commission any animal tests, or test ingredients on animals.

We had a fantastic turnout to the event, with 19 volunteers! Joanne did a great job with slogans for the signs. I love the Ivory one. We gave away over 500 leaflets and had a very positive response from passers-by. Plus the weather was nice so it was a really good day!