From that experience, I was in.  I proceeded to create a facebook group in December 2006 called “Fight Global Warming!  Eat Less Meat! (or none at all)“.  Last count: 4412 members.

Since Facebook has phased out the old groups structure, I created a new page with the same name.  You can check it out here:  https://www.facebook.com/climatediet

It’s worth watching just to see his knife, his explanation for cutting tofu, the head banging and to know what “steams of Satan” is referring to.

Serious inspiration for Meatfree Mondays.

Of all the greenhouse gasses attributed to agriculture, the most important is methane. Globally, livestock produces 80 million tons of methane annually, about 28% of global methane emissions. As a gas twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2) over a hundred years, it is primarily passed from livestock through belching, an average of five hundred liters each day², due to its enteric fermentation digestive process and daily diet. While the atmosphere is currently 18% methane³, compared to 72% CO2, reducing methane in our atmosphere will have a greater cooling impact on our atmosphere than reducing the same amount of CO2, since methane is a gas seventy-two times more potent than CO2 over twenty years.

Dr. Kirk Smith⁴, from the University of California Berkeley, said: “If you want to make an impact on climate in the next 20 years, the place to do it is with the shorter-lived greenhouse gases, most important of which is methane. Of the emissions in the next 20 years, the CO2 in this year’s emissions will only be 40% of the total warming. The other 60% or more will be from the shorter-lived gases, most important of which is methane.

Since methane’s impact on our atmosphere will be extremely significant, civil society and government must take immediate action to create a strategy to reduce methane emissions. According to Dr. Archer⁵, a hydrate reservoir in Eastern Siberia containing 1.5 trillion tons of methane could be naturally released due to global warming: “The hydrate reservoir is so large, that if 10% of the methane were released to the atmosphere within a few years, it would have an impact on the Earth’s radiation budget equivalent to a factor of 10 increase in CO2.”

Methane levels can be immediately reduced through the development of technologies for farmers to capture, monitor and reduce methane emitted from livestock. There is significant progress in New Zealand, where in April 2010, all livestock will be outfitted with manure catchers and gas masks to harvest up to 80% of methane emitted, thanks to generous grants⁶. A New Zealand study has suggested methane output could be reduced by up to 50 percent through changes to livestock feed⁷ More significantly, the New Zealand legislature voted to include methane in its emissions trading scheme. However, methane emissions are not legislated to enter the scheme until January 2015, due to difficulties in measuring and monitoring agricultural emissions⁸, according to an independent regulatory impact assessment.

Years of research from farmers and scientists have already led to some decrease in livestock emissions. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization,“greenhouse gas emissions per liter of milk of African milk producers (cattle) is 6-7 times higher than from intensive dairy systems in the US or the EU”⁹ Recent improvements have also allowed US farmers to save on energy, through the recovery of biogas from liquid waste, and carbon sequestration from degraded lands. Through the increased transfer of research and technology, US or EU farmers can significantly lower dangerously high methane levels while also help farmers around the world save on energy costs and offset emissions.

However, to stop methane at it’s source, civil society and government must assess its choice of a daily diet. Assuming current consumption levels are maintained, and with global population set to rise to 9.1 billion by 2050, annual global meat production is projected to double from 229 million tons in 2000 to 465 million tons in 2050¹⁰. The impact of doubling in livestock production could be disastrous. It would result in a surge of greenhouse gasses, and could be a catalyst for releasing the 1.5 trillion tons of methane stored in Eastern Siberia, and naturally stored methane elsewhere. Campaigns such as the “Meat Free Monday campaign” led by Paul McCartney, encourages vegetarian meals and pledges backed by celebrities, to give up meat every Monday. According to research from the documentary “Meat the Truth¹¹”, if every American (300 million) gave up meat once a week, this would have the same effect on reducing greenhouse gases as saving ninety million plane tickets from New York to Los Angeles. Baltimore City Public schools has increased access to vegetarian options by having “Meatless Mondays” for their 82,000 students, despite opposition from meat industry lobbyists. In Taiwan, at least 86% of primary and secondary schools provide vegetarian options¹². Healthcare Without Harm, a coalition of 500 hospitals, healthcare professionals, and environmental groups, has reduced meat purchasing by 28 %.

The US government has a significant role to play in increasing access to meatless food options, though it is less explicit. While the new US House majority and recent disbandment of the US House Committee on Climate Change indicates that little action on the federal level will be taken towards climate change, there actually might be direct reform, though not explicitly, through agriculture. The 2012 farm bill might be the first farm bill in decades to reform farm subsidies; $10 to $30 billion dollars is paid to farmers each year. Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation shows ¾ of subsidy money, goes to 10% of recipients, encouraging larger farms to grow and buy out smaller farms¹³. By reducing subsidies, the costs of meat production increase as well, opening the way for greater consumption of meatless food options.

The increasingly imminent dangers of a spike in methane levels, and the strong evidence and research confirming the link between animal agriculture and the climate, requires that individuals, businesses, schools, farmers, scientists, the media and governments act swiftly, and fully explore every option available to lower methane. Ultimately, animal agriculture production will be determined by our everyday diets. Without changing out diets, farmers will continue to produce ever-increasing quantities of animal products. However, without an adequate fair farm or agriculture bill, farmers might not grow more vegetables or products not derived from animals when such products do not earn a profit. Without the initiative of businesses and schools to provide vegetarian meal options, individuals may not ever make the choice to consume less meat products. Civil society and government, must collaborate in order to create a space and culture where eating less meat is recognized as necessary not only for our health, but humanity’s long term survival on this planet. g

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 9,000 times in 2010. That’s about 22 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 5 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 32 posts.

The busiest day of the year was January 6th with 122 views. The most popular post that day was UN: Meat is a Leading Cause of Global Warming.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, slashingtongue.com, blogs.mtroyal.ca, twitter.com, and google.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for price of meat, meat price, meat statistics, cow farts causing global warming, and the price of meat.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

UN: Meat is a Leading Cause of Global Warming February 2009

The Cattle Industry is Destroying the Amazon Rainforest February 2009
5 comments

Cow Farts, Burps and Global Warming: No Laughing Matter March 2009
6 comments

10 WTF Statistics on Meat and Global Warming February 2009
9 comments

Americans Contribute the Most to Meat’s Impact on Global Warming (Duh) April 2009
3 comments

European Union and United Nations calls for a global shift to a vegan diet to survive hunger, poverty and climate change.  Again, going vegan is no easy task.  I’m not vegan myself.  But the signs are there.

However, I’ve been busy

One of my employers – since January, has been Nature’s Express.  A vegan fastfood restaurant.  Pretty cool eh?

While I can’t say I can now easily cook-up a hearty vegan meal for all my friends, I have been encouraged to cook more for myself, and have learned a few ways to add more excitement to my meals.

For example, there is a vegan cheese called DAIYA which is absolutely amazing.  You must try it.  More and more groceries are offering it.

Making a sandwich or burger with a range of sauces (try a cilantro pesto, spicy chipotle, homemade ketchups) – helps keep food interesting.  There are tons of recipes online.  Vegan mayo is also amazing.

Video:  http://bit.ly/ceDmgz

“In observance of World Water Day, PETA Germany placed this aqueous installation on the sidewalk of Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz to remind people that it takes 4,000 liters of water to produce one steak, while it only takes 1,100 liters to grow a vegan enough food for a whole day. Read more here:  http://bit.ly/cHxEqT

Video:  http://bit.ly/9sk4N5

I will focus future blog posts on ideas, strategies on transitioning to a more plant-based / vegetarian diet.  I believe that is what we all need to hear.

We can debate, discuss, analyze this topic to death – but I think we have all the proof we need.

If you already are vegetarian or vegan, or transitioning to a more plant-based diet what is important for those who want to eat less meat/dairy , to consider?

I find that the best way to start eating more vegetarian food, is to simply be around people who share the same concerns and values about the health of people and of this planet.

Cook.  Share creative ways to cook veggies and make soups and quick vegetarian lunch ideas.  Start with one meal a day that is completely vegetarian.   Discuss your concerns.  Tell other people of your progress.  Spread  your enthusiasm to your friends and family.  Wow them with an amazing dish for Thanksgiving, a potluck or Christmas.  Talk about the issues.  Heathcare, self-care.  Climate change and the impact of the livestock industry.  We have all the proof we need…

MP Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice President of the European Union decided to go vegetarian because of the impact of meat production on global warming. In December, he invited Paul McCartney to speak at the EU, along with the Chair of the Intergov. Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri.

EP President Jerzy Buzek urged everyone “to act globally to face global challenges, but not to ignore what we do at home,” when opening the “Less meat=less heat” hearing on 3 December. The idea of one meat-free day a week was highlighted as a way for an individual to make a difference to global warming. “It is very doable,” said Sir Paul McCartney, the protagonist behind the campaign.

Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN’s global climate change panel (IPCC), also publicy backed the Meat Free Monday campaign in front of the European Parliament in Brussels.

More…

Listen to Paul McCartney’s speech

Support Meat Free Monday on Facebook and Twitter!

In a recent ABC News Interview, Al Gore was asked about Glen Beck’s insistence for him to become vegetarian, if he truly wanted to fight global warming.

Gore’s response:  ”I’m not a vegetarian, but I have cut back sharply on the meat that I eat,” he said. “It’s absolutely correct that the growing meat intensity of diets around the world is one of the issues connected to this global crisis – not only because of the CO2 involved, but also because of the water consumed in the process.”

Glen Beck has invited PETA on his show numerous times, in an attempt to embarrass Gore and climate change activists at their own game.

Here is Glen Beck with PETA President Ingrid Newkirk last week:

Thankfully most people don’t see the world in the black & white goggles which Beck wears.  Anyone can make a significant difference in their carbon footprint with just a small reduction in their diet.  The first step and acknowledgement is most important.  Whether someone becomes vegetarian or vegan is a whole other challenge and process.  Fortunately there are plenty of organizations and online resources/recipes to help you get started!

Read the article by Ecorazzi

The organizations include:  Humane Society of the United States, Association of Irritated Residents, Center on Race Poverty and the Environment, Clean Air Task Force, Dairy Education Alliance, El Comité para el Bienestar de Earlimart, Environmental Integrity Project, Friends of the Earth and Waterkeeper Alliance.

The 69-page petition provides detailed scientific and legal information about the significant emissions of methane and nitrous oxide—two greenhouse gases—as well as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia from factory farms, and how all of these pollutants have been shown to have negative effects on human health and welfare, including adverse effects on climate and the environment in the United States.

Read more…

Quotes:

“Unregulated air pollution from massive factory farms has a devastating impact on human health and the environment,” says Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president and chief counsel for Animal Protection Litigation and Research at The HSUS. “The EPA should hold these big agribusiness corporations accountable for the enormous harm they are inflicting on local communities, independent family farmers, and the environment.”

“Our lungs and the future of our planet are not animal factory subsidies,” said Tom Fratz, president of the Association of Irritated Residents and a resident of the San Joaquin Valley, an air basin in California with more than 2.6 million dairy cows. “President Obama promised us during the election that he would protect rural residents from this pollution and we expect EPA to keep that promise.”

“Hog lots and other factory farms aren’t just stinky, they’re also destabilizing our climate,” said Kate McMahon of Friends of the Earth. “The EPA has a legal obligation to protect the public by cracking down on this economic and public health threat – a threat that has yet to be addressed by climate legislation pending in Congress.”

“The people who live in the communities devastated by unregulated air pollution from animal factories deserve protection” said Charlie Tebbutt of the Western Environmental Law Center and co-chair of the Dairy Education Alliance. “Implementing this petition will get animal factories into the Clean Air Act process and give communities better opportunities to protect themselves.”

“Through global warming and deposition, the toxic emissions from industrial animal operations have profoundly impacted our water resources” said Hannah Connor of Waterkeeper Alliance. “By actively regulating the emissions from this industry, EPA will be taking a positive step towards protecting and enhancing not only the quality of our Nation’s air resources, but also the quality of our Nation’s water resources, and the public health and welfare of our communities.”

A great multilingual, international initiative to raise awareness of the impact of livestock and meat production on the environment, global warming and world hunger.  Please sign the Global “Meat Free” Petition!  Help establish a national “meat free” day in your country!

From the site:

You might be asking yourself, why do we have to petition governments to declare a “Meat Free” day? That’s simple. Let’s look at Ghent, Belgium for example. Government officials in Ghent have shown leadership and recognized the importance of promoting vegetarianism as a solution to addressing climate change and have thus declared a “veggie” only day – every week; clearly their stance is raising awareness and promoting the many benefits that a plant based diet has on the environment – not to mention on human health.

Facebook group:  ”Meat Free” Days – Vote & Set a Global Governmental Trend - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=109725730676&ref=ts

http://twitter.com/MFMpetition

Tomorrow Obama will have an online town hall on healthcare, and will give responses to the most popular videos.  We can make Obama talk about the role of animal product consumption on our health.

Let’s address the causes, not just the symptoms.  And let’s address global warming, the environment, resource scarcity and hunger while we’re at it ….

Find this video blogger on

www.myspace.com/leronr
www.green2cool.org/profile/Vegan4Life
www.youtube.com/leronr
www.twitter.com/leronr

Paul McCartney recently used his starpower to launch a “Meat Free Monday” campaign in the UK.  Seems like its really been catching fire in the news, and on blogs.  It’s facebook page - Meat Free Mondays , just broke 2,000 followers, and it’s wall is regularly updated.  Seems like a great place to find other like-minded supporters and related content.  Please support it!

According to Food for Change:  In the US the Meatless Monday idea has been around for a while, it’s always been about health in the past, but they’ve just updated their website and the focus seems to have shifted – now the aims are to reduce Americans’ meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.

Here’s some great concluding insight:

….Friends of the Earth speedily sent out a press release this week to say they “welcomed the Meat Free Mondays initiative… but are urging the Government to change the way meat and dairy are produced to tackle the damaging environmental and social impacts of intensive production”. There is a place for Government lobbying, but how can we ask the Government to act before we can show we really care about this? Changing our consumer behaviour is about creating change by changing demand, but also about proving our committment to the Government, so they will change their policies too.

The US has a more efficient livestock production system. According to the 2006 US EPA report, US agriculture causes less than 6% of US greenhouse gases, while livestock causes only 2.58% of US GHG. The UN says 18% of *global* GHG is due to livestock. We should resume consumption patterns and keep the industry competitive; otherwise we’d be importing more meat from less GHG efficient livestock production systems, and cause MORE global warming.

The argument exploits very misleading and incomplete statistics and rests on some flawed assumptions. In the final analysis, what matters is the total VOLUME of American consumption & GHG production, and factoring in livestock’s land and land-use.

Below are some facts which point to how the US livestock industry is definitely a major contributor to global warming.

1. The US consumes FAR more meat / animal products than most of the world.

So much for American efficiency. The world’s leading consumers of meat and animal products share the biggest responsibility for continuing to make the global livestock industry grow! As long as the meat industry continues to be supported by a growing culture of high volume meat eaters, the industry will be able to expand its reach globally.

Dr. Barry Popkin, author of “The World is Fat”, agrees

What’s more, the developing world seems to be falling in step, Popkin says. In India, meat and dairy intake more than doubled between 2000 and 2005. In 2006, the average diet of 67% of the Chinese population comprised at least 10% meat and dairy products, up from about 39% of the population in 1989. “We truly did this to the globe — changed the way the world eats,” says Popkin.

2. The US produces FAR more GHG than most of the world.

The U.S., with a population of about 300 million (5% of the world), produces about 18% (2009 US EPA) of GLOBAL greenhouse gases.

Consider the image below which portrays the CO2 responsibility PER CAPITA by country between 1950-2000.

Not surprisingly, most of the US and “Western countries” are the highest emitters. See more “List of countries by greenhouse gases in 2000″

Even though China as a whole produces more CO2 as a country (since recently), their per capita emissions figures are STILL 1/3 – 1/4 of the US population (China recently officially surpassed the US in producing GHG, but China has 4 times the population (China has 1.3 billion people, US has 300 million people)).

It’s a huge difference. So what does this tell us about the EPA’s estimates on livestocks GHG impact?

We can predict that X% of US GHG per capita is far greater than X% of China’s GHG per capita.

Basically 2.58% of US GHG is much more than 2.58% of China GHG (or most other countries).

We know this because on average, one American is emitting as much GHG as four Chinese. In addition, one American consumes as much meat as 2-3 Chinese citizens (again, the average meat consumption per Chinese is 52 kg, compared to Americans at 125 kg – 2005 FAO)

3. The US EPA report does not include land-use (deforestation, desertification) and other criteria used in the UN FAO report.

As I explain in a previous post, the EPA report excludes the whole GLOBAL livestock commodity chain including fuel combustion, agricultural CO2 fluxes and land-use changes (such as deforestation), while the UN report includes these factors (as its a global organization, and land-use is probably difficult to quanity on a country level).

According to the UN’s Livestock’s Long Shadow report, land-use is the primary reason why livestock’s share of global GHG is so high:

“(livestock) accounts for nine percent of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, most of it due to expansion of pastures and arable land for feed crops.

The livestock sector is by far the single largest anthropogenic user of land. Grazing occupies 26 percent of the Earth’s terrestrial surface, while feed crop production requires about a third of all arable land. Expansion of grazing land for livestock is a key factor in deforestation, especially in Latin America: some 70 percent of previously forested land in the Amazon is used as pasture, and feed crops cover a large part of the reminder.

Consider the GHG volume of land use compared to livestock’s other GHG sources:

Land use and land use change: 2.5 Giga tonnes CO2 (#1) equivalent; including forest and other natural vegetation replaced by pasture and feed crop in the Neotropics (CO2) and carbon release from soils such as pasture and arable land dedicated to feed production (CO2)
– Feed Production (except carbon released from soil): 0.4 Giga tonnes CO2 equivalent, including fossil fuel used in manufacturing chemical fertilizer for feed crops (CO2) and chemical fertilizer application on feedcrops and leguminous feed crop (N2O, NH3)
– Animal production: 1.9 Giga tonnes CO2 equivalent, including enteric fermentation from ruminants (CH4) and on-farm fossil fuel use (CO2)
– Manure Management: 2.2 Giga tonnes CO2 equivalent, mainly through manure storage, application and deposition (CH4, N2O, NH3)
– Processing and international transport: 0.03 Giga tonnes CO2 equivalent

From these figures we know that the U.S EPA omitted a huge cause of GHG from the livestock industry.

In conclusion

We know that…

1. US meat consumption per capita is higher than most of the world’s.
2. The US produces way too much GHG per capita (5% of world population produces about 18% of GHG)
3. The US EPA report does not factor in the #1 cause of CO2 emissions from livestock: land and land-use (2.5 Giga tonnes).

The US livestock industry’s share of the GLOBAL livestock industry’s greenhouse gases is much higher than the industry (whose prime consumers are Westerners) is willing to admit. It’s hard to calculate an exact figure, but we know the leading consumers and producers of meat also support the growth of a global livestock industry, which contributes most of its GHG through land and land-use.

Check out their music video:  Save The Human! Don’t Eat The Planet. 

Mission:  Save the Human! is a campaign aimed at raising public awareness about the link between our diets and the health of our planet.

Concept:  Save the Human! is a graphic & visual campaign that seeks to inspire people to shift their lifestyles towards a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle that treads gently on the Earth.  Using the mediums of eco-fashion, graphics, design & multimedia to awaken peoples’ humanness and compassion and to inform the public of some emerging alarming facts.

The recent NY Times article titled “Meat & Climate: The Debate Continues” (which I refuse to link to) cites a press release from the CCF (a.k.a a front group for the restaurant, alcohol and tobacco industries) which used an EPA figure estimating that only 6% of US greenhouse gases are caused by agriculture production, including meat. They used this figure to argue that there is no significant connection between meat and global warming. The EPA figure stands in stark contrast to the 2006 UN FAO report (Livestock’s Longshadow) which attributes 18% of global greenhouse gases to livestock production.  Considering how much meat Americans consume, I find it hard to believe that the US produces far less GHG relative to other countries.

If you read the first paragraph of the study, you would learn that the EPA figure omits the emissions from CO2 and land-use changes.  In contrast, the 2006 UN FAO study includes CO2, as well as methane and other greenhouse gases as a result of the entire livestock production process.

EPA on Agriculture Emissions in 2006:

“Agricultural activities contribute directly to emissions of greenhouse gases through a variety of processes. This chapter provides an assessment of non-carbon-dioxide emissions from the following source categories: enteric fermentation in domestic livestock, livestock manure management, rice cultivation, agricultural soil management, and field burning of agricultural residues (see Figure 6-1). Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and removals from agriculture-related land-use activities, such as conversion of grassland to cultivated land, are presented in the Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry chapter. CO2 emissions from on-farm energy use are accounted for in the Energy chapter.”

Livestock’s Longshadow:

…Scientists usually tie their estimates of the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming to sources such as land use changes, agriculture (including livestock) and transportation. The authors of Livestock’s long shadow took a different approach, aggregating emissions throughout the livestock commodity chain – from feed production (which includes chemical fertilizer production, deforestation for pasture and feed crops, and pasture degradation), through animal production (including enteric fermentation and nitrous oxide emissions from manure) to the carbon dioxide emitted during processing and transportation of animal products.

Why the EPA chose to ignore the impact of CO2 and US land-use changes, is a puzzle to address.  As the UN report shows, land-use is a major reason why GHG from livestock is high.  When one looks at the example of deforestation of the Amazon (80% of which is attributed to livestock), it’s not hard to see why global land-use, and the whole livestock commodity chain should be a concern.

Another commenter of the Times article adds “CCF had to go as far as misrepresenting a Bush era EPA report, that were often lower bounds or distortions of staff reports.”

Food for Change

Food for Change promotes food choices that are sustainable, ethical and environmentally responsible.

This blog from the UK has a unique focus on animal agriculture on the environment and was founded a year ago by Sophie Pritchard.  Learn about her motivations, ideas and more about the impact of livestock on global warming, the environment and health in her recent interview on Green Girls Global.  Then check out her other posts!

I became frustrated that environmental organisations continued to turn a blind eye to the environmental impact of livestock, particularly when both environmental and humanitarian organisations strongly and publicly oppose biofuels because of their environmental and social impacts when I knew that they caused only a fraction of the problems that the livestock industry does. I asked all these organisations about why they focused on biofuels, considering their impacts are the same as meat, but lower in scale. They all told me that the issue with biofuels was that they were making matters worse, whereas the devastation caused by livestock is long-standing. That didn’t seem like a good enough reason to ignore the issue to me.

PB&J Campaign

The PB&J Campaign is working to combat environmental destruction by reducing the amount of animal products people eat.

I really like how they emphasize that even a small reduction in the consumption of animal products generates significant results.

Check out the PB&J Pledge that will calculate the impact of your meals on greenhouse gas emissions, water and land based on whether or not you consume animal products.   The methodology is derived from sound scientific studies.

PB&J has a long-running blog (since April 2008) with MANY interesting posts on the impact of meat on global warming.

Graph on climate impact of meat consumption

Veg Climate Alliance

Veg Climate Alliance, a new international alliance of vegetarian, environmental and animal rights activists and organizations, stresses that the best thing a person can do to stop global warming and its catastrophic consequences is to switch to a plant-based diet.

Mission Statement

Veg Climate Alliance exists to slow global warming by helping people access the most needed information:

a global shift to vegetarianism is necessary to avoid rapidly approaching catastrophic climatic conditions and other environmental threats.

To accomplish this awareness, we will:

• Seek the support, advice and partnership of key groups and individuals;
• Jointly release media statements and resolutions;
• Jointly lobby governments and international groups, including the UN, to specifically promote the veg diet as a means to combat climate change.

In the same aim we will also provide a central information and communication hub connecting all concerned groups/organizations/communities/individuals.

It’s awesome to see an organization setup to help bring together all of the advocates and supporters of this subject to share ideas and to lobby governmental groups to promote a veg diet.  I hope to be a part of it.  See their blog, veg events listings and their forum!