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Portland Meatout offers alternative eats |
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by Jim Lockhart On the first day of Spring, 2009, the Portland chapter of In Defense of Animals provided free veggie hot dogs and cupcakes at Pioneer Square to celebrate the 25th Annual International Meatout, the worlds largest grassroots diet education campaign. Website for this organization is www.meatout.org. Matt Rossell, spokesperson for In Defense of animals, stated that they were there to help people see how they can lead a compassionate lifestyle, still eat yummie food, and also kick the meat habit." When asked about getting the proper nutrition from this diet, Matt responded that, "the reality is that it's the excess animal, meat protein that's causing all the diseases that's killing people. Heart disease, stroke, diabetes, about 80 percent of what's killing us is directly related to our diet of too much meat. Vegans and vegetarians get their protein from beans and legumes and get plenty of protein." Another member of the group, Syd, stated, "we are focusing on the impact that "factory farming makes on the earth, it's land, it's water and it's air............you can feed 400 people on what it takes to feed one steer." Therefore we're asking people to go vegan on Monday, because 20 percent of hear attacks occur on Mondays." Syd further remarks how when people see the video that was playing near the hot dog stand, "many decide real quickly that they don't like the suffering. Fifty billion animals a year are born and tortured, frankly, until they are killed. In the case of layer chickens, it's five weeks; in the case of steers and cows, about 2 years and then their lives are over." Casey, a man who happened to be in the Square that day exclaimed, "I just can't believe that we treat living animals like that, there has got to be a different way,.....this is torture, this is like the holocaust, only worse." He further says that he will certainly alter his diet to some degree. "I do love meat, but I'm going to eat less, eat more salad, fruits and vegetables." And every time I eat meat, every time, I'll be thinking about what is happening now." Matt states that "according to a recent UN study, methane gas produced by animal agriculture is the greatest cause of global warming, even greater than all the car exhaust from all the cars around the planet. Going vegan is helping your health, you're helping the planet and you're helping the animals at the same time." To view a 5-minute video of the Portland 2009 Meatout, go to www.PhilosopherSeed.org/embeded_video.htm.
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