Eugene Veg Education
Network (EVEN)
January 2014
Without moving critical mass (the majority of the
global human population) in a swift manner (within 34 years) toward a 100%
plant based diet, there may not be a future. The Gaia Theory may indeed be
valid, but the complex speciesenvironment interactive and supportive
relationship could reach a point where the human species is not part of the
equation.
The interesting issue at hand is: that in order for any of us to reach a
state of true sustainability, we have to move in a collective manner or else
none of us may make it—we have to make the journey together—AND that
collective journey toward true sustainability cannot be realized without
inclusion of a vegan lifestyle.
I wish I had the opportunity to understand and appreciate the connection between what I was eating and where it came fromnot just from a human health standpoint, but in order for me to really open my eyes to the beautiful lives that were being raised and slaughtered and that there was another, more peaceful and just way for us to eat. This awareness should be fundamental to every child and therefore a critical component of early childhood education, and then reinforced by every academic institution at all levelsit should be mandatory learning for many reasons and on many levels.
Some quotable quotes from Dr. Oppenlander:
Approach
the vegan activist movement by first being an example of the highest level
of peace and logic/reasoning — rather than letting your emotions dictate the
situation.
The more aware one becomes of the devastating effect raising and eating
animals has on the animals (wild and domesticated), our planet, and
ourselves, and conversely all the positive aspects of eating purely plant
based foods, the more likely one will be to appreciate and adopt a vegan
lifestyle. It is about awareness.
Asking someone to stop eating animals and to adopt a vegan way of life
should no longer be viewed as an infringement of individual rights since it
is actually the other way around.
Let your emotion fuel the desire for change to occur but keep it nicely
balanced with objective reasoning that has been formed by your increased
base of knowledge and keen awareness.
The thought of achieving sustainability must extend through many layers —
economic, social, ethical — not just ecological — and ultimately be carried
by our choice of foods.
EVEN's exclusive interview, January 2014
Dr. Richard Oppenlander is a sustainability consultant and advocate, researcher, and author whose award winning book, Comfortably Unaware, has been endorsed as a must-read by Ellen DeGeneres, Dr. Jane Goodall, Dr. Neal Barnard, among others.
Dr. Oppenlander is a much sought after lecturer on the topic of food choice
and how it relates to sustainability, all within the framework of fresh
perspectives and critical insights. He also serves as an advisor to world
hunger projects in developing countries and with municipalities in the U.S.
He has spent 40 years studying the effects food choices have on our planet
and on us.
He started an organic vegan food production company, operates an animal
rescue sanctuary (with his wife Jill), and is the founder and president of a
nonprofit organization called Inspire Awareness Now.
Dr. Oppenlander has written a new, groundbreaking book titled, “Food Choice
and Sustainability: Why Buying Local, Eating Less Meat, and Taking Baby
Steps Won’t Work”, which has just been released and is now available. Visit
Comfortably Unaware for more.
EVEN: How did veganism become part of your life?
Richard: My wife, Jill, and I began eating and living by
way of fully plant based alternatives to any animal products (vegan
lifestyle) as a brief evolutionary transition from vegetarianism nearly 35
years ago. The first step for us in the 1970's occurred primarily because I
had discovered the human health and environmental damages caused by eating
animals and animal products while involved in medical research as a graduate
student—in the laboratory. This then was combined with witnessing the
cruelties of animal research and Jill's innate compassion for animals.
EVEN: Who was an influential person in your life earlier on
that led you to veganism?
Richard: I don't think I would have reached the level of
veganism that I am at today without Jill's influence early on (four decades
ago) related to the beautiful souls found in animals—particularly those
farmed animals that we humans have tortured for so many years, those that
have been harvested and slaughtered from our oceans, and those that have
been devastated by loss of habitat due to animal agriculture.
EVEN: What advice would you give to a vegan advocate
wanting to become more of an activist?
Richard: I think the most important advice I could provide
to anyone wanting to become more of an activist is the following:
1. Increase your own awareness levels: to round out your comprehension on
how eating animals effects our environment and human health, rather than
only approaching the activism from an animal rights or welfare standpoint.
This way you will likely increase the positive effect you will have on
others.
2. Certainly there is a place for passion and emotion, but approach the
vegan activist movement by first being an example of the highest level of
peace & logic/reasoning — rather than letting your emotions dictate the
situation.
EVEN: What do you think makes veganism hard for people?
Richard: I'm assuming by "hard for people" you mean what
makes veganism difficult for individuals (who are not vegans) to accept and
adopt as a lifestyle, but your question could also imply that veganism is
difficult as a lifestyle for those who already are vegan, and, both are very
good questions! So I will answer both perspectives.
The difficulty people, organizations, or institutions who are not vegans,
have with embracing veganism as a lifestyle lies in a complex web of
cultural/social, political, and economic influences which I believe begins
with awareness.
Now, what creates difficulties for those who are already vegan is, of
course, the misunderstanding, misinformation, and indifference caused by
multiple layers of cultural and political influences that inhibit the world
from allowing proper progress to be made. This actuality, and the
frustration caused by it, becomes perhaps the most challenging aspect for
vegans—seeing and knowing that, despite their best efforts, there is still
killing and devastation happening every second around the world—all quite
sad and unnecessary.
EVEN: What, in your opinion, is the most misunderstood idea
about veganism?
Richard: Since everyone is fairly familiar withthe obvious
misunderstandings surrounding the human health benefits of a plantbased
diet (for example the protein or calcium myths, etc.), I think it's
important to touch on other misunderstandings perhaps rarely discussed.
There are many misunderstandings about veganism that range outside of the
human health topic, but these are most relevant:
1. Discussions of 'ethical' food choice regarding veganism should not be
confined to animal rights or animal welfare.
Instead, the following questions should be posed—with ethical or humane food
choice being viewed in a much larger context: br />
IIs it ethical, for instance, for any of us to eat food that causes the
extinction of other species if we don’t need to?
Is it ethical for the vast majority of the humans on earth to cause
irreversible climate change, loss of ecosystems, and resource depletion,
while 2% of all
humans have adopted a vegan lifestyle that actually protects earth? br />
Is it ethical for any of us to use our planet in a way that exacerbates
world hunger and extracts the potential for future generations to survive?
AAnd, is it ethical for 310 million Americans to impose their diet related
health care costs on the 5 million who choose to eat the right foods?
There is a gross misunderstanding, or disconnect, related to the fact that
what we decide to eat can significantly impact something somewhere else in
the world. In continuation of that disconnect is that those who consume
animals and animal products are casting irreversible ecological damage and
the cost of these damages on those who have adopted a vegan lifestyle.
Asking someone to stop eating animals and to adopt a vegan way of life
should no longer be viewed as an infringement of individual rights since it
is actually the other way around.
2. Another largely misunderstood perspective is that we have time lines
related to our species' effect on our planet and ultimately our very
existence — most of which can be remedied by mass collective change to a
fully plant based diet.
In other words, we humans have reached a point in time where we can
adversely impact our biosphere (litho, hydro, and atmosphere) and are doing
so in an irreversible manner—so much so that our survival as a species is
questionable beyond 50100 years. What is vastly misunderstood is not only
the time lines we are presented with (greenhouse gas emissions/climate
change, water scarcity, loss of biodiversity, collapse of our oceans, etc.)
but the role that our food choices present and that massive and swift global
change to a fully organic, whole plant based diet is the only way we can
steer ourselves through this evolutionary bottleneck we are faced with.
3. There is great misunderstanding with nearly all food movements that we
see today—and the proper role of veganism.
All of the following are riddled with inaccuracies, misinformation, lack of
proper direction and therefore anyone following these movements are being
misled: local food, organic/biodynamic, grass fed/pastured, cage free,
sustainable seafood, traceable, humane, farm or seed to table,
urbanagriculture, "Real" food, "Cool" food, etc. None of which are
sustainable, healthy, or humane if they include the raising, harvesting,
slaughtering of animals...which they all do.
EVEN: What one thing from your thinking in childhood do you
wish you could change?
Richard: More than anything, I wish I had the opportunity
to understand and appreciate the connection between what I was eating and
where it came fromnot just from a human health standpoint, but in order
for me to really open my eyes to the beautiful lives that were being raised
and slaughtered and that there was another, more peaceful and just way for
us to eat. This awareness should be fundamental to every child and therefore
a critical component of early childhood education, and then reinforced by
every academic institution at all levelsit should be mandatory learning
for many reasons and on many levels.
EVEN: If you were to mentor a younger person today, what
guidance might you offer? What encouraging words might you share with a
newbie?
Richard: The most relevant guidance I could offer a younger
person today would relate to both breadth of knowledge and then emotion.
First, it is so very important to continue learning all that is available
from reputable sources about the role food plays with our human health, the
state of our planet and implications of global depletion, and the animals
effected (wild as well as domesticated).
Be in a constant state of increasing your own awareness and be constantly
updated. Understand that the vast majority of humans are indeed comfortably
unaware and some are aware but unable to move forward. Both types (unaware
and partially aware), while unwittingly contributing to irreversible damage
of our planet and life on it, will ultimately rely on leaders such as you to
help guide them toward truth. The future is actually now, in terms of food
choice, and our youth have the greatest opportunity of all to create the
positive change necessary on a global scale. Let your emotion fuel the
desire for change to occur but keep it nicely balanced with objective
reasoning that has been formed by your increased base of knowledge and keen
awareness.
EVEN: Do you have a favorite vegan meal or food you can
tell us about that really makes veganism work for you?
Richard: From a spiritual standpoint, every meal that is
made with fully organic, whole plant foods is a gift and what "works" for
me. Truly.
Although I have many favorite meals and am quite spoiled (Jill is a
phenomenal artisan vegan mealcrafter), I suppose at or near the top would
have to be (everything must be organic/biodynamically grown, an appropriate
distance away from any animal operation) a raw salad with predominately kale
fused with other veggies of many colors, multiple vegetable (including
potato) curry, with Kamut or quinoa on the side, and also lightly steamed
collard greens (nothing added—no oil or seasoning) on the side as well, and
a buckwheatamaranth roll. There are so many fantastic vegan meals—I just
happened to have had this last night which is why it moved up to first
place!
EVEN: What one thing makes veganism worthwhile for you?
Richard: Knowing that with every bite of food, article of
clothing, or anything else consumed by me, it is with the most efficient use
of resources, it optimizes my own health, and I didn't contribute to the
slaughtering of another life.
Also, knowing that I may be able to, by directly influencing or simply by
example, increase awareness for others and open the door for them to find
the most peaceful, healthy, and compassionate lifestyle.
EVEN: Any opinion or insight on the future of veganism in
today's world?
Richard: As you know, I have many thoughts about this and
most have been covered in either in my first book, Comfortably Unaware, or
my newest book Food Choice and Sustainability: Why buying local, eating less
meat, and taking baby steps won't work, which was just released a couple of
weeks ago.
The most critical insights I could leave you with regarding the future of
veganism in today's world would have to be those related to just that—our
future. Not so much 'our' future as an individual, but more the future of
our human species—the need to begin looking outside of self—at all living
things (plants, animals, insects) around us and at future generations. br />
Without moving critical mass (the majority of the global human population)
in a swift manner (within 34 years) toward a 100% plant based diet, there
may not be a future. The Gaia Theory may indeed be valid, but the complex
speciesenvironment interactive and supportive relationship could reach a
point where the human species is not part of the equation.
The interesting issue at hand is: that in order for any of us to reach a
state of true sustainability, we have to move in a collective manner or else
none of us may make it—we have to make the journey together—AND that
collective journey toward true sustainability cannot be realized without
inclusion of a vegan lifestyle.
It's time for all vegans to inspire others to become aware. That single act
will determine our future—today.
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