Justice For All October 28, 2009

I want to let all you Nashvegans out there know about this really cool opportunity to check out a great speaker.   Vanderbilt Law School’s Animal Law Society is bringing Jonathan Lovvorn, Vice President & Chief Counsel for Animal Protection Litigation and Research, from the Humane Society of the United States, to speak on campus on Thursday, October 29 (that’s tomorrow!).  This event is free and open to the public.  The event will take place at noon in the law school building, in Flynn Auditorium, and should last about an hour.

A nationally recognized expert in the field of animal law, Mr. Lovvorn has litigated extensively on behalf of animals, and manages the nation’s largest animal protection litigation program, with dozens of attorneys prosecuting more than 40 cases in state and federal courts around the country. He also oversees the Research & Analysis group at the Humane Society, which conducts major research projects in furtherance of the organization’s key campaigns and programs.  He gave a keynote presentation at the Animal Law Conference in Portland, OR, that I attended a few weeks ago, and I can tell you that he is a dynamic and fascinating speaker.

If you’re in the area and can make it to the talk, I highly recommend that you go.  Bring a friend.  I know I’ll be there.

Justice For All: An Introduction to Animal Law with Jonathan Lovvorn

Vanderbilt Law School, Flynn Auditorium, 12:00 – 1:00 PM

131 21st Avenue South

Nashville, TN 37203

Morningstar Farms just PISSED ME OFF October 12, 2009

Morningstar Farms Crumbles - NOT VEGAN ANYMORE

I was going through my Google Reader this morning when I came across an extremely disturbing post on Erik Marcus’ vegan.com blog about Morningstar Farms unveganizing its products. His initial post was quite short, so I followed a link to Quarry Girl’s blog.  According to that post, Morningstar Farms has done the unspeakable: made previously vegan products no-longer-vegan.  This is AFTER a promise from the company from just last year that Kellogg would reduce the number of eggs used in Morningstar products by 1 million.  And now, without any change to the packaging to indicate the ingredients have changed, Morningstar Crumbles contain skim milk and egg whites.  See for yourself:

Morningstar Farms Crumbles Nutrition Information

Why would they do this?  WHY?????????  Why take a previously vegan product and unveganize it?  There’s a thread over on VegWeb complete with a response from Morningstar Farms, but the response doesn’t really say anything at all.  This is just completely ridiculous.  And now I have a bag of the stuff in my apartment that I will not be eating.  Seriously, if I hadn’t seen that post in my reader this morning, I would have probably just eaten those crumbles.  When you find something that you know is vegan, you stop reading the label on that particular product, am I right?  Because I know I can pick up a bag of “vegan” crumbles, or Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos, or Oreos, or whatever, and not have to worry about it because I already checked.  I guess this goes to show that you can never stop reading labels, because EVEN VEG-FRIENDLY COMPANIES will pull the rug right out from under you.  I think it will be a long time before I buy any Morningstar Farms products again.  This is just insane.  And you better believe I will be giving them a piece of my mind.  At the end of this post I’ve provided a link to contact Morningstar Farms, and I recommend you do so, and let them know how disappointed and angry you are.  And please share this post with all your vegan friends, so people don’t make the same mistake I did and buy the crap.

Contact Morningstar Farms here.

World Farm Animals Day October 1, 2009

Friday, October 2, is World Farm Animals Day. The date honors the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. On this day, people around the world speak up for farm animals and the abuses they suffer. Wouldn’t you know it, there’s a little gathering right here in town. On Friday around 4:00 PM, the Nashville Vegan Meetup Group is convening at Fido in Hillsboro Village to spread the word about the plight of farm animals. Interested in participating? All the juicy details are right here.  Who knows, you might even spot me.

Fido is located in Hillsboro Village at 1812 21st Avenue South.  There’s parking around back.