2017 Animal Rights and Vegan Conferences!

Every year, several conferences and events for vegan/animal rights activists take place across North America and around the world. These events can provide a forum for activists to network, learn about issues and advocacy strategies, and be inspired to make a difference! Below is a list of some of the animal-rights-related conferences that will be held in 2017. Please note that this is not a complete list, and, as I haven’t been to any of these events in previous years, I can’t say which ones are the best/most worthwhile to attend!

Animal Rights National Conference 2017: According to this conference’s website, the Animal Rights National Conference is the largest and longest-running animal rights gathering—the first one was held in 1981! It is organized by the Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM). If you can go to only one conference this year, consider making this the one you go to. Here’s what they say you can expect:

“The Animal Rights National Conference is designed for people who wish to improve their animal advocacy skills or simply to network with other animal activists. The Conference offers a number of educational and networking opportunities, including:

• Sessions on animal advocacy, organizing, tactics, and issues
• More than 100 speakers from 60 organizations
• Eyewitness reports on key campaigns
• 100+ free exhibits
• Video premieres
• Newcomer Orientation
• Nightly networking receptions
• Awards Banquet on Saturday evening
• Closing celebration on Sunday evening
• Post-conference protests on Monday”

When: August 3 – 6

Where: Alexandria, Vermont (just outside of Washington, DC), USA

Pre-registration opens: January 2017

Vegetarian SummerFest 2017: This is an annual vegan festival and conference. The 2016 conference was jam-packed with world-renowned vegan speakers, cooking classes, fitness classes, vendors, and more!

When: July 5-9, 2017

Where: last year it took place in Pennsylvania.

International Animal Rights Conference: This conference took place in Luxembourg in September 2016. Their website does not yet mention if there is going to be a 2017 conference, but I speculate it is likely that there will be, as they have had six of these conferences to date.

Conscious Eating 2017 Conference: This conference, hosted by United Poultry Concerns and Berkeley Organization for Animal Advocacy, will focus on the ethics of eating and the role that religions play in the issue of animal liberation.

When: Saturday, March 11, 2017, 10am-6pm

Where: Berkeley, California, USA

Cost: $15/person (free for students)

The Anti-Fur Society Vegan Conference: This conference is focused on promoting vegan alternatives to fur in clothing.

When: Saturday, April 8, 2017

Where: Manhattan, New York, USA

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine "Food For Life" Training: Interested in getting certified by PCRM to teach healthy vegan cooking in your community? Anyone interested in this can register to attend the next training! This isn't a conference, but I've included it because vegan activists may be interested in it anyway.

When: Wednesday, May 3 - Friday, May 5, 2017

Where: Washington, DC, USA

Your local VegFest: Don't forget to find out when your local VegFest will be taking place this year!

There's also:

• The Animal Film Festival on February 25, 2017 in California
• The World Vegan Summit (date not yet announced) in the USA (I cannot confirm that there will be one in 2017, but it sounds like there will be)
• Animals and Social Change Conference from June 29 - June 30, 2017 in Liverpool, UK
• Conference on Animal Rights in Europe, which took place in 2016 in Warsaw, Poland (I don't know if there will be a follow-up conference to this)
• Animal Activists Forum 2017 in October 2017 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Vevolution Festival 2017 (date not yet announced) in London, England

There is also an animal welfare conference taking place in Ottawa, ON, Canada in 2017. It doesn't look like it's related to animal rights at all, but if you live in Ottawa, it might be good to bring your vegan voice to that conference, to raise awareness! 

The events that I've listed above are the ones that I believe are the most relevant, but you can find a list of some other events at All-Creatures.org, and a list of some major vegan festivals at Vegan.com.

Bank of Canada: Remove tallow from Canadian bank notes!

Recently I learned that the Bank of Canada's polymer bank notes contain animal fat in the form of tallow. I've started a petition on Change.org to ask the Bank of Canada to stop putting tallow in bank notes. A similar petition in the United Kingdom recently got over 130,000 signatures. Please consider signing my petition on Change.org: Bank of Canada: Remove tallow from Canadian bank notes!

Photo from Bank of Canada website

Veganism in Politics-- Britain's new All-Party Parliamentary Group on Vegetarianism and Veganism

Good news-- in the UK, an "All-Party Parliamentary Group on Vegetarianism and Veganism" has been formed. This group will be made up of politicians from various UK political parties, and it will aim to promote legislative change that will have a positive impact for vegetarians, vegans, and the issues that matter to us (which may include "food and medicine labelling, vegetarianism and veganism as protected beliefs, impact of diet on climate change, and institutional catering provisions", according to the group's website).

Photo from the Vegan Society's website.

The Vegan Society, the Vegetarian Society, and Vegetarian for Life are collaborating to form this group. The groups has four "Officers": Christina Rees (Labour MP), Kerry McCarthy (Labour MP), Henry Smith (Conservative MP) and Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party Peer).

I don't know whether all the Officers of the group are vegan or not, but I do know that Labour MP Kerry McCarthy is vegan, according to The Vegan Option podcast (see link below).

According to the Vegan Society,

"The APPG on Vegetarianism and Veganism will be a great platform for discussion and learning, with the aim of encouraging legislation change.

This will be a forum for exchanging ideas and concerns relating to vegan and vegetarian issues. Speakers will be present at each of the quarterly meetings, providing an insight to their various expertise. Experts, leaders in their fields and parliamentarians are all welcome to join."

As the Vegan Society mentions, "The APPG on Vegetarianism and Veganism is an important opportunity to get veganism on the political agenda."

I think that it's extremely important for veganism to be acknowledged in political forums. If we want to create a world in which all animals are free from abuse and exploitation, it's important for veganism and animal rights to enter all major areas of society, including (but not limited to) popular culture, industry, media, commerce, law, education, and, indeed, politics.

I'm glad that this group plans to put a focus on veganism, rather than farm animal "welfare" reforms. Although I respect my fellow vegan activists who take a "welfarist" approach to farmed animals, I never spend my time advocating for farmed animal "welfare" reforms. The problem with simply enacting more farmed animal "welfare" reforms (such as putting chickens in bigger cages, etc.) is that "welfare" reforms don't work to eradicate the underlying exploitation of the animals, and they often don't translate into a big change for the animals, anyway. Rather than encouraging people to go vegan and therefore stop the inherent cruelty of exploiting and killing our fellow sentient beings, arguing for farmed animal welfare reforms is ignoring the fact that exploiting and killing animals is fundamentally wrong. Although I wouldn't advocate against farmed animal welfare reforms, I believe we can save more of these animals and transition to a vegan world faster if we focus our energies on veganism and animal rights. I hope, therefore, that this group will keep the focus on veganism and the rights of vegans and vegetarians.

If you're interested in learning more about vegan politicians and how veganism has begun to make its way into the political realm, The Vegan Option podcast has a three-part series called "Veganism in Politics". Part 1 includes interviews with some vegan or vegetarian MPs from Britian, the US, and India who were in office at the time the episode was recorded. Part 2 has a Q & A with three vegan British MPs, and Part 3 is the recording of a debate in the British House of Parliament on World Vegan Day. You can also read about two more vegan politicians in a blog post on The Vegan Option's website here.

If you are a member of the British public and would like to attend the first meeting of the APPG on Vegetarianism and Veganism, you can RSVP on the group's website. If I lived in Britain, I would be very keen to go!

Fixing the Problems on Canada's Food Guide

Some of you may remember the blog post I wrote for the NCVA blog a little while ago, on teaching kids about healthy vegan nutrition. In that post, I mentioned how the dietary recommendations of Canada's Food Guide were influenced by the dairy, meat, and egg industries, according to this CBC article. For example, the 2003 version of the Food Guide was revised by a panel that included food industry lobby groups. More shockingly, when the 1992 revision of Canada’s Food Guide was released, the meat, dairy, and egg industries successfully lobbied the government to increase the recommended number of servings of these products, according to the CBC article. You can see the effect that these lobby groups had on the government-endorsed dietary recommendations in the article "Canada's Food Guides from 1942 to 1992" on the Government of Canada's website-- in 1982, the Food Guide had 2 servings of "Meat and Alternatives" and 2 servings of "Milk"; but in 1992, these numbers increased to 2-3 servings of "Meat and alternatives" and 2-4 servings of "Milk". These new, increased recommendations continue to exist on the most recent Food Guide to date.

Canada's current Food Guide consists of four food groups: Vegetables and Fruit, Grain Products, Milk and Alternatives, and Meat and Alternatives. In school, children are taught that the recommendations on the Food Guide comprise the fundamentals of a healthy diet. Growing up, I, too, assumed that the Food Guide was based upon scientific fact. More recently, however, science has been finding something different: meat, dairy, and eggs actually increase the risk of many chronic diseases, while a vegan diet is a very healthy way to eat and can prevent certain diseases.

Although many vegan activists are already spreading the message about the healthfulness of veganism, it isn't just activists who are willing to point out the health benefits of an animal-free diet. Here are some statements on veganism and plant-based diets from just a few high-profile organizations around the world:

• Dietitians of Canada: "A healthy vegan diet has many health benefits including lower rates of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer."
• American Dietetic Association: "It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases."
• World Health Organization:
• "Specific recommendations for a healthy diet include: eating more fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts and grains; cutting down on salt, sugar and fats. It is also advisable to choose unsaturated fats, instead of saturated fats and towards the elimination of trans-fatty acids."
• The WHO has declared some types of meats to be Group 1 carcinogens (right up there with cigarette smoking) and Group 2 carcinogens.
• According to a study conducted by students at the University of Oxford, if the world went vegan, millions of human lives would also be saved due to dramatic reduction in the incidence of chronic disease: "A global switch to diets that rely less on meat and more on fruit and vegetables could save up to 8 million lives by 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two thirds, and lead to healthcare-related savings and avoided climate damages of $1.5 trillion (US)... ...They found that adopting diets in line with global dietary guidelines could avoid 5.1 million deaths per year by 2050. Even greater benefits could come from vegetarian diets (avoiding 7.3 million deaths) and vegan diets (avoiding 8.1 million deaths)."
• British Dietetic Associaton: "Well planned vegetarian diets [including vegan diets, which they mentioned as a form of vegetarianism] can be nutritious and healthy. They are associated with lower risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, certain cancers and lower cholesterol levels."
• United Nations Environment Programme: "A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products." (Found on page 82 of this document, or page 84 of the PDF)

Based in the United States, an organization of medical professionals called the Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine more actively promotes a vegan diet as a way to prevent and reverse chronic disease. They've devised a new food guide made up of "The New Four Food Groups", which include Fruit, Vegetables, Legumes, and Whole Grains.

Click on the image to see it in full-size!

When one combines the health, environmental, humanitarian, and, of course, animal-related reasons to live vegan, it becomes obvious that the government ought to start supporting it, too!

So, why am I telling you all this? Well, Health Canada is now working on its next revision of Canada's Food Guide. From October 24, 2016 to December 8, 2016, Health Canada is holding an online public consultation on the Food Guide to get the public's input; all Canadians are welcome to submit their opinions through the Government of Canada's website.

In Mid-2017, the government will present a revised version of the Food Guide to the public, at which time Canadians will have another opportunity to provide their feedback on the revisions. After that, the new materials will be published.

I've already completed the questionnaire. On one page of the questionnaire, I was asked whether I find the current four food groupings in the Canada Food Guide helpful. I clicked "no", and then a box came up asking, "Why do you say that?"

Here was my response:

"I don't bother using the Food Guide, because the current recommendations simply doesn't apply to vegans like myself. The Food Guides' current food groupings are actually promoting ill health among Canadians. Furthermore, the current Four Food Groups are not at all accommodating for vegans and others who follow a dairy-free diet.
Dairy is not essential to the human diet. Although it is the perfect food for baby cows, it simply was not designed for human consumption. Some may claim that dairy is healthful because it contains calcium and protein, but the fact is, there are plenty of healthier plant-based sources of protein and calcium available. According to the Dieticians of Canada, calcium can be found in abundance in leafy green vegetables, fortified soy products, tahini (sesame seed butter), and many more vegan foods; protein can be obtained from soy products, beans, grains, nuts, and nut butters, to name a few.
According to the Dieticians of Canada, “A healthy vegan diet has many health benefits including lower rates of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.” (Source: http://www.dietitians.ca/Your-Health/Nutrition-A-Z/Vegetarian-Diets/Eating-Guidelines-for-Vegans.aspx)
I would like to propose 4 new food groups: Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, and Legumes/Nuts. The latter category combines the current two food groups of “Dairy and Alternatives” and “Meat and Alternatives” into an overall “Plant-based Protein” food group. The Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine, an organization of medical doctors in the United States, also promotes this idea (Source: http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/vsk/vegetarian-starter-kit-new-four-food-groups).

I hope that Health Canada can start promoting healthy eating in the ways I’ve mentioned above. I also hope that Health Canada can specifically mention the word “veganism” as a healthy diet on the Food Guide itself."

I also gave more information, such as statistics on the environmental benefits of veganism, in response to another one of their questions.

In addition, one thing that Health Canada seems to be focusing on in this revision of the Food Guide is reducing sugar consumption. If you are going to be filling out this survey, you may wish to point out that dairy products are actually quite high in sugar-- for example, there are 13g of sugar in one cup of 1% M.F. cow's milk.

That being said, we must not hesitate to voice our ethical views about veganism-- if Health Canada is aware that people are vegan for ethical reasons, they may be more likely to accommodate vegans in their next version of the food guide.

If you believe that veganism should be better represented and promoted on the Food Guide, please consider taking a few minutes out of your day to fill out the questionnaire. Feel free to copy and paste the quotations from the organizations I've listed above in your responses.

Thank you for believing that we can create a healthier, kinder, and more sustainable world.

Opinion Article: "Health Canada Should Recommend a Vegan Diet"

An opinion essay I wrote, titled "Health Canada Should Recommend a Vegan Diet", was published on the Epoch Times website yesterday-- you can find it on the Epoch Times website here.

Although the Epoch Times website makes it look like I wrote this Op-Ed on behalf of the National Capital Vegetarian Association, please note that I only wrote it as a representation of my own opinions.

A longer blog post on Canada's Food Guide is coming soon!

Logo of the Epoch Times

Printable Vegan Environmental Brochures!

I've created some more brochures that promote veganism; these ones have a focus on the environment this time. Please feel free to print them and give them out to your environmentally-conscious friends, and/or hand them out while leafleting at environmental events!
The brochures can be downloaded (for free, of course) here.

Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals

Resources for Going Vegan

I've just created a "Resources" page, accessible through the menu above, that provides some helpful links for both new vegans and seasoned vegan activists. You can always find these resources by clicking on the Resources tab above, but I thought I'd post them as a separate post, too. I hope you find something useful among them!

General resources:

• The Vegan Society UK
• 21-Day Vegan Kickstart (free) with the Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine

Vegan Starter Guides:

• Downloadable Vegan Starter Kit booklet from Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine
• Online Vegan Starter Guide: livevegan.org

Vegan Recipes (for free online):

• The Full Helping blog
• Recipes from the Vegan Society
• Chocolate Covered Katie: A deliciously healthy vegan dessert blog
• Olives for Dinner blog
• Happy Healthy Life blog
• Fat-free Vegan Kitchen blog
• An Unrefined Vegan blog

Vegan Restaurants:

• Find vegan and vegetarian restaurants near you, anywhere in the world: HappyCow.net

An in-depth look at healthy vegan nutrition:

• Vegan for Life (book) by Jack Norris and Virginia Messina
• Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine
• VeganHealth.org

Quick Vegan Food Guides (a good place to start, but be sure to read more about vegan nutrition than just these):

• "The Plant Plate" by Virginia Messina
• "The Power Plate" by PCRM

2016 Ottawa Earthlings March

Two Sundays ago, I participated in an Earthlings March that took place in downtown Ottawa. The Earthlings March is a peaceful protest that was thought up by an animal liberation group called Direct Action Everywhere (also known as DxE). In Earthlings Marches, which have taken place in dozens of cities all over the world, activists march through their cities while holding signs and chanting about animal rights. For each march, Direct Action Everywhere sends activists a large banner that shows photos of the eyes of many different animals and reads "We are all Earthlings". Often, activists wear blindfolds as part of the march, to symbolize humanity's denial of the violence that is being committed against animals.

Ottawa's first-ever Earthlings March took place this year, and I was glad to have the opportunity to attend!

The event started with a couple of speeches from some of the activists among us, and then we marched through downtown Ottawa for about an hour. I held my sign high in the air for almost the entire time!

Our chants included:

Freedom for all,

Justice for animals!

Humans and animals
We are all equal

No more oppression,
Animal liberation

For the rabbits and the foxes and the mink and the pigs
No excuses
Let the animals live!

For the lambs and the cows and the birds and the fish
No excuses
Let the animals live!

Not just for Cecil
Not just for Harambe
We want justice for all animals!

Not just for dogs, not just for cats, no
We want justice for all animals!

Stop exploitation
Meat abolition

One struggle, one fight
Human freedom, animal rights

Since Ottawa is the capital of Canada (obviously!), we marched past Parliament Hill and the Chateau Laurier, and down Bank Street.

We also handed out some leaflets to onlookers as we marched along, and some people put stickers on the lampposts, etc. that we passed by. Since we marched both on the sidewalk and on the road, the organizers notified the police (before the march) of our route and how many people were expected to show up. The police were polite and helpful-- they rode their bikes alongside us and stopped the traffic to ensure that we could pass by safely.

It was satisfying to see that so many onlookers saw and heard us, and many even filmed us using their phones as we passed by.

The big question, of course, is: Do events like this make a difference? Do they help animals? I would say yes. Our protest was very focused on the animal rights message, and it was seen and heard by a lot of people (hopefully they shared their footage of the march on social media, too!).

Of course, just because a protest gets attention, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is productive-- some protests use tactics that are unethical and/or send the wrong message about animal rights. However, I think that this march got the right kind of attention, because we kept the attention focused on our message, and we didn't use any unethical tactics.

I don't know how many people (if any) went vegan as a result of seeing our march, but it certainly helped to increase people's awareness of animal rights and veganism. Seeing a march like this could plant the seed in someone's mind that may eventually lead them to choose a vegan lifestyle. Participating in a march like this is also incredibly satisfying. After all, how many opportunities do we have in our real lives to yell "Animal Liberation!" while walking down the street? :)

Here is a video of the march that was posted on Youtube by one of the activists:

***Why "Earthlings"?

The word "Earthlings" refers to the fact that all humans and animals are sentient beings who live together on Earth. The use of this word for the name of the march was inspired by the documentary Earthlings, which is about the abuses and injustices that take place in the animal industries. (Warning: the documentary is very graphic.) There are also events that take place around the world called "The Earthlings Experience", in which activists gather in a public place, holding laptops/tablets that are playing the documentary.***

As far as I'm aware, our march didn't get any coverage from the mainstream media; I find that the Canadian mainstream media tends not to cover animal rights, but I think that will change over time. Hopefully next year's Earthlings March will get some media coverage!

Overall, the march was a success, and I'm looking forward to participating in this march again next year!

(Please note: The first and the third photos in this blog post were downloaded from someone else's post on this event's Facebook Event page, and I didn't create the video shown above. All the other photos are Copyright Carolyn Harris 2016.)

Bringing Education on Plant-Based Nutrition into Schools

I have recently written a blog post for the National Capital Vegetarian Association's blog (I'm currently a member of the NCVA's Board of Directors) that discusses and shares some resources for bringing education on plant-based nutrition into schools. The resources that I linked to in the post are in English, and in the comments section, I've also linked to some that are in French. You can find my post at https://ncva.ca/2016/09/04/giving-kids-a-plant-based-education/
Have a great day!

My New Printable "Why Vegan?" Brochures!

Hi everyone!

Lately I've been working on writing literature on animal rights and veganism. One of the things I've written is a brochure called "Why Vegan?". In the brochure, I discuss the reasons for going vegan and  include some details on how to make the switch. I also provide links to other websites, so that people can learn more! I've used some of Jo-Anne McArthur's beautiful photos of animals and humans (since she allows advocates to use her photographs as long as they give her credit for her work) in these leaflets, so they are visually attractive, too!

I created these brochures because I felt that there weren't enough options of leaflets out there. I wanted to hand out leaflets that were non-graphic, that promote veganism unequivocally, that focus on the underlying values of veganism, and that would appeal to the general public.

I have recently made a brochure for the National Capital Vegetarian Association that is very similar to this one, but that one isn't available for download through my blog. If you live in Ottawa, you might see the NCVA version being handed out at events, however!

You can find my brochures at Google Drive at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzC9bTdfS67Pb1VnYldFWXFHUmc/view?usp=sharing

Feel free to print off my brochures and hand them out, if you'd like-- let's spread the word about compassion and justice, one leaflet at a time! :)

Free Downloadable "I Am A Vegan" Posters!

Want to put up more posters advocating for veganism? I've created some downloadable posters that you can print off your computer and put up around your city or town! Each poster says, "I am a vegan..." and then gives a reason to go vegan. Some of them are in colour, while others are not. There are five of them in all. Thanks to Jo-Anne McArthur for letting me (and all other animal rights activists!) use her lovely photos!
To give an example, here is one of the posters:

 

To download all of them, see the PDF here!

Thanks, and keep advocating for the animals!

Get involved in my "Reasons to be Vegan" video!

I am creating a short video to put on Youtube (and on this blog) called “Reasons To Be Vegan”. In it, I want to have clips of individuals who are vegan briefly explaining why they are vegan. Each person would politely begin with, “I am a vegan because...” and then give their reason in one or two sentences. It can be something simple, like “I am a vegan because I love animals,” or something more complicated, like “I am a vegan because billions of animals are killed each year in the meat, dairy, and egg industries, and I don't want to support that.”

In order for this project to work, I need vegans like you to send in your short videos (it doesn’t have to be professional—a cell phone video will do!) that will go into my video. The deadline is June 14^th, 2016, but the sooner the better. If you would like, I will place your name in the credits at the end!

By sending in your video, you are agreeing to let me use your clip as part of my videos to promote veganism on my blogs, on YouTube, and possibly on other websites, if the opportunity arises.

Please send your short video to me by getting in touch on Facebook.

Thank you!

Welcome to Vegan Forget-Me-Nots!

Hello, and welcome to Vegan Forget-Me-Nots! Vegan Forget-Me-Nots is a vegan activism blog by Carolyn Harris. Here, you will find videos, posters, and other resources to help raise awareness for the animals!

To be notified of new blog posts by e-mail, please enter your e-mail address into the bar in the right hand sidebar!

Together, we can make the world a kinder and more respectful place for all animals.