EarthSave Baltimore

Earthsave Baltimore E-News: Earth Friendly Food Choices

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
~Steve Prefontaine~

Hi Earthsaver,

Here’s the latest news from Earthsave Baltimore. We are an all-volunteer nonprofit that helps people make healthier, compassionate, earth friendly food choices. We have some real good news for you!

Our July dinner event with Dr. Michael Greger’s annual nutrition update was a wonderful way to celebrate Earthsave’s 13th year in Baltimore. The talk, the food, and the attendance were all exceptional. And Dr. Greger’s nutritional recommendations, along with an article by veg icon Dr. Dean Ornish, which Dr. Greger sent us, are now posted on our Earthsave Baltimore website. See “Fliers & Handouts” on the menu to your left.

I’m really grateful to Earthsave’s founder, author John Robbins, whose book “Diet for a New America” led to the formation of our nonprofit. I’m grateful, also, for the members, volunteers, and event attendees who have helped our chapter to grow and prosper. It feels terrific to be involved in helping to bring about the dietary and lifestyle changes that are so needed for us to become the kind, thoughtful, and compassionate stewards of the earth that we wish to be.

Our society has gone so far in the other direction that we have to wonder sometimes whether there really is a way to turn things around. But I’m encouraged to keep the faith and to do my best every time I get together with the wonderful, like-minded people who attend the Earthsave and Veg Meetup events, which occur several times each month.

Our next Earthsave dinner event, on Saturday, August 28th, will be a real special one, with Bruce Friedrich, of PETA, speaking on “Effective Advocacy: Living as a Vegetarian in a Non-Vegetarian World.” Bruce is a wonderful speaker, and one of the all-time favorites of Earthsavers. And please let us know if you might be able to arrive early to help with folding and placing our Earthsave brochures inside the Health Quest and On Purpose Woman magazines that we help distribute.

We’re happy to inform you that “The Land of Kush”, Baltimore’s newest vegan restaurant, will open any day now. And they promise that their Mount Vernon area restaurant will feature the “Ultimate Vegetarian Soul Food Cuisine.”

Many Earthsavers already know about Facebook, but here’s a reminder that it’s a free online social network that allow us to make lots of new friends easily. It’s also a great way to educate and support others in making healthier food choices. See more info below.

Hope to see or hear from you soon! Be well!

Peace, Don Robertson

EARTHSAVE VEG DINNER ED SERIES: SATURDAY, Aug. 28th, 6-9 pm: Dinner will feature a live presentation by animal protection advocate Bruce Friedrich on “Effective Advocacy: Living as a Vegetarian in a Non-Vegetarian World”. Bruce Friedrich spearheaded the PETA campaigns that resulted in landmark reforms in the animal treatment practices of several huge fast-food corporations, and was named by Details magazine as one of the most influential young men in this country. He recently co-authored “The animal Activist’s Handbook”.
There’s more info on this event at http://earthsavebaltimore.org/. You may download and print an event flier at http://earthsavebaltimore.org/node/47.
If you plan to be there, please RSVP at 410-252-3043, or email Baltimore@Earthsave.org. Direct replies to this email message may not go through.

DINNER GUESTS bring a dish made without animal products to serve 6-8 people, along with a donation of $5 (members $2). Guests may attend without bringing a dish for a $12 fee (members $10). To attend only the presentation, donation is $5. Please give 1 day notice if paying for dinner. Dinners held at the Learning Center of Your Prescription for Health, 10210 S. Dolfield Rd., in Owings Mills. Please RSVP and join us if you can!

HELP WITH FOLDING AND STUFFING: Volunteer help will be especially appreciated at our August 28th Earthsave dinner. Each month volunteers fold several hundred brochures and place them inside the new magazine issues of Health Quest or On Purpose Woman, which we help distribute. This month we will be filling both magazines with brochures, so we can use all the help we can get! Please let us know if you can arrive early by calling 410-252-3043. And feel free to arrive as early as 4:30 pm. Dinners start at 6 pm.

SATURDAY, Sept. 25th, 6-9 pm: Dinner will feature a video screening of Registered Dietitian Jeffrey Novick’s talk, “Reading Food Labels”. Jeff’s talk is is a really good one! It’s packed with useful information to help us separate truth from sales hype. Jeffrey Novick has the soul of a standup comic, and his presentation will have us laughing as we learn! Join us if you can! There’s more info on this event at http://earthsavebaltimore.org/.

MONTHLY VEG DISCUSSION GROUP MEETUPS are casual and are held in restaurants over great vegetarian food. Attendance is usually around 10-20 people, and discussions include a wide variety of topics that support people in making healthier choices in diet and lifestyle. There are two different groups, one vegan and one vegetarian. The vegetarian group currently meets on the first Sunday at noon at the Kathmandu Kitchen in Towson, and the vegan group meets on the third Wednesday, at 7 pm, at Mr. Chan in Pikesville. Both groups welcome all who are interested in learning about healthier eating. For details, or to register and let others know you plan to attend, go to http://vegetarian.meetup.com/9/, or to http://vegan.meetup.com/29/.

THE HUGE EGG RECALL now in effect, for salmonella contamination, is just one more reminder of how far off track we've gone by relying so heavily on animal products for food. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the major food borne microorganisms that make people sick and can even kill them – viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi – occur mainly in “meat, poultry, seafood, dairy products and eggs”. Current egg production methods involve so much violence and insensitivity to the needs of animals that it really should be no surprise when the violence comes full circle and is visited upon us. Most people have no idea that half of the newly hatched chicks in egg industry hatcheries are killed before the day’s end. Since male chickens can’t lay eggs and the industry has no use for them, the chicks are routinely tossed into plastic bags with hundreds of others and left to smother. Free range egg production is typically no different. For the latest info on the recall, see http://tinyurl.com/24tkztx.

Dr. Michael Greger, the director of Public Health & Animal Agriculture with the Humane Society of the U.S. was interviewed by CNN about the recall, and how the close confinement and filthy living conditions in which laying hens are kept contribute to such problems as this. See video at http://tinyurl.com/244eoac.

DR. MICHAEL GREGER’S DVD: “LATEST IN NUTRITION RESEARCH” contains some amazing information. Baltimore Earthsavers got to hear a presentation by Dr. Greger last month, which included one hour’s worth of Michael’s newest findings. One such interesting piece of info – an organization recently purchased burgers from several of the largest fast food companies, and analyzed them for content, which included some unappetizing thing like nerves, blood vessels, and cartilage, and some unhealthy things like ammonia. But the real surprise for most of us was that the content of the burgers ranged from only 5-14% meat. We think Dr. Greger’s DVDs are well worth owning. Volume 4, his newest DVD, is a two disc set which contains answers to the following questions and more:

• Dangers of folic acid supplementation
• Dietary theory of Alzheimer’s disease
• Dietary treatments for rheumatoid and osteoarthritis
• How to improve memory through diet and reverse cognitive decline.
• Is homeopathy good, bad, or useless?
• Is stevia harmful, harmless, or helpful? What about chili peppers, kimchi, kombucha, licorice, and peanut butter?
• Mad fish disease
• Melatonin and breast cancer
• Obesity-causing chicken virus
• Plant-based diets and mood
• Toxic megacolon superbug
• Wart cancer virus exposure through food
• What are the best fruits for cancer prevention?
• What is the new target cholesterol level?
• What’s the healthiest form of chocolate?
• What’s the healthiest variety of apple to eat?
• Which is the healthiest herbal tea to drink?
• Which vegetables are healthier cooked?
• Which common vitamin supplement significantly shortens our lifespan?

For a complete listing of topics and to order, go to http://www.DrGreger.org/DVDs.
Earthsave Baltimore has one copy available in our library, which is exclusively for group members. So it’s first come, first served. If you want it, we suggest you arrive early on the 28th.

NEW VEGAN RESTAURANT – THE LAND OF KUSH will open in September in the Mount Vernon area of Baltimore, and promises to present the “Ultimate Vegetarian Soul Food Cuisine.” You may already know proprietors Greg Brown and Naijha Wright if you’ve visited ArtScape, the African American Heritage Festival, or one of the other Baltimore area street fairs at which they have been popular food venders. We hope to be among their many frequent visitors, and wish them the very best. You can register at their website to receive a special 25% Grand Opening discount coupon. http://www.thelandofkush.com/home Hope to see you there!

FREECYCLE.COM provides a real helpful service that finds new homes for our serviceable but currently unused items. Freecycle will list any items we have to give away, which of course will help slow the growth of landfills. We may also create “Wanted” listings for any items we might like to have. Those who would like to have our discarded item will contact us by email and tell us when they will be able to pick it up. Most Freecyclers will then leave the item on their porch for pickup. Our experience with this service has been very favorable. Here’s a link to a local Freecycle listing http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclebaltimore/.

DID YOU KNOW… the clinical studies of medical doctor Dean Ornish have shown us that most patients who followed standard medical advice for coronary artery blockages got worse, while those who adopted a total vegetarian diet coupled with lifestyle changes showed improvement, including reversal of coronary artery blockages. See more fascinating facts about our food choices at http://earthsavebaltimore.org/node/78.

CAMPBELL COALITION FOR HEALTH CHANGE is a new educational initiative that’s being developed by “China Study” author Dr. T. Colin Campbell and his son Nelson Campbell. Dr. Campbell is the nutritional biochemist from Cornell University who led the most comprehensive large study ever completed on the relationship between diet and disease. That study gives us some of the best scientific evidence available to show that a plant-based diet has the potential to prevent and often reverse the chronic diseases that cause the vast majority of deaths in this country each year.

What they have in mind is a replicable wellness program that could be revolutionary – one that has never been used in a business start-up. They “will launch a company to spearhead this business and then place this company’s stock into a trust, subject to the requirement that financial returns generated from these shares be used to support initiatives consistent with a defined social mission statement. The Trust will fund activities that 1) promote our health message, 2) benefit the environment, and/or 3) help to strengthen communities. This ‘not-just-for-profit’ structure will enable us to harness the power of the free market, but in a way that maximizes our contribution to the social good.”

“While confident we can make this dream a reality, we recognize that we lack sufficient resources. And for this reason, we are starting as a cash-generating foods business. We soon will announce details of a company launched with a group of like-minded business partners that is focused on selling tasty, wholesome and affordable plant-based foods. This company will be embody our health message and will set a new standard for product quality.”

“At this early stage, we also are working hard to widen our circle of support, primarily through web-based networking. We are committed to building a community of people who can join with us in launching a revolution. This is not a story about any one person or group; this is about building a movement around an idea that may be the most powerful idea of our time. We invite you to join with us and thank you for your time.”
To learn more, see http://campbellcoalition.com/, and see the video “Money, Politics, and the Truth of Health” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjNi8MFqQoY.

FACEBOOK.COM is a free social network that gives us a terrific opportunity to connect with others for mutual support and inspiration. It’s a wonderful way to get to know others and their friends real quickly, and to find out about their musical tastes, favorite books, movies, activities, quotes, etc. Earthsave Baltimore director Don Robertson posts helpful information on earth friendly food choices each day, and would be happy to add you to his list of friends. He’s especially happy when you forward his info to your friends. Don’s FB page is at facebook.com/earthsaverdon.

EARTHSAVE MEMBERSHIP is a great way for you to contribute to our important educational mission. All members may receive a free 12-issue subscription to Vegetarian Times magazine and Earthsave’s national bi-monthly newsletter. Folks who attend meetings may check out books from our well stocked EarthSave Library, they may place literature on our networking tables, may make a brief announcement to the group, and receive discounted attendance fees to most Earthsave events. You may join our group online at http://www.earthsave.org/, or you can send a tax-deductible check for $35, or $50 for family membership, or $25 for student or senior, to EarthSave at 517 Talbott Ave. Lutherville MD, 21093. Thanks for your kind support!

PLEASE REMEMBER to be the peace that you wish to manifest. Be well!

EarthSave … May all be fed, may all be healed, and may all be loved.

Baltimore Chapter events http://earthsavebaltimore.org/ Call us at 410-252-3043, or email us at Baltimore@earthsave.org