Vegetarian Summerfest - Thursday Evening

Colleen Holland and Joseph Connelly of VegNews are inducted into the Vegetarian Hall of Fame.
© Doris Lin 2009, licensed to About.com

What an evening! During the plenary session, Victoria Moran spoke about "Victoria's Victorious Bailout Plan." Subtitled, "6 Simple Steps to Living Exquisitely - Even Now," it was an inspiring talk about thinking positively and appreciating the little things in life, as well as the important things.

Next, Colleen Holland and Joseph Connelly, founders of VegNews magazine, were inducted into the Vegetarian Hall of Fame. Connelly got choked up as he thanked Holland for making everything she touches "beautiful." VegNews is now available in a tree-free, digital format.

Howard Lyman, a.k.a. the "Mad Cowboy," was as entertaining and eloquent as ever, and told the story of how he testified about mad cow disease at the McLibel trial, and also how he came to be a guest on the infamous Oprah Winfrey show that got himself and Winfrey sued by the Texas Cattlemen. Lyman warned about mad cow disease in humans often being diagnosed as Alzheimer's disease, and the dangers of feeding roadkill and euthanized cats and dogs to farmed animals.

In a talk titled, "Dairy Products - the New 'Red Meat'?" dietician George Eisman spoke about the cruelty of the dairy industry, and also gave a thorough debunking of the dairy industry's claim that cow's milk is healthy and necessary for humans. Not only is milk unnecessary, but it has been linked to breast cancer and prostate cancer, and causes the body to lose calcium because of the high protein content. The naturally occurring hormones in milk are also a health risk, since they are supposed to turn a 40-pound calf into a 1,000 pound cow in one year. And while some might argue that eating meat or fish was a natural part of the ancient human diet, drinking the breast milk of another species is highly unnatural. So while some people say, "I don't eat as much red meat as I used to," Eisman wishes more people would say, "I don't drink as much milk as I used to."

The evening concluded with a musical performance by Amanda Rogers an indie/blues/pop singer/songwriter. I really enjoyed Rogers' music, which reminds me of Jewel's breathy sincerity, but with more upbeat, catchy melodies.

Looking forward to tomorrow's programs!

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