Vegetarian Summerfest is sponsored by the North American Vegetarian Society (www.navs-online.org) and was launched back in 1975 with the World Vegetarian Congress in Orono, Maine. I was there. In those days, in the world at large, veganism was considered strange and vegetarians ate too much cheese. People confused “yoga” and “yogurt” and both were suspect. The only soy milk was what you made out of beans, or from a powder you could get mail-order from somebody in Ohio.

There was no animal rights movement, at least not by that name, and it was pre-PeTA. Those of us who wore makeup had to either order Beauty Without Cruelty (www.beautywithoutcruelty.com) products from England, or try to make blush and lip gloss out of Crisco and food coloring.  Non-leather shoes were either canvas Keds, those cloth Mary Janes from a place we still called “Red China,” or cheap plastic models that were like little sweat lodges for the feet. But we were committed to living with as much compassion as we could muster, and it really didn’t seem that difficult.

Here’s the gist: With all respect and understanding toward people being where they are and needing to change to the degree they’re willing and to the extent they can, animal agriculture is rapidly become unsustainable, both practically or spiritually. An FAO report in 2006 (http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20772&Cr=global&Cr1=environment) cited raising cattle as contributing more to climate change than all motor vehicles combined. It is impossible to feed a hungry on an American-style, meat-centered diet. 

The health status of vegans and near-vegans routinely shows this as the most effective dietary strategy for eliminating a high percentage of the coronary disease, cancer, diabetes that plague the Western world. This has been, and continues to be, shown in research such as The China Study (www.thechinastudy.com), the largest epidemiological study in nutrition ever conducted, and in ongoing research looking at Seventh Day Adventists (the perfect group to study: church members lead similar lives — none smoke or drink, for example — but only about half are vegetarian). 

In addition, more and more people have awakened to see that animals are not unfeeling machines but rather intelligent individuals with needs, concerns, and value. We’re starting to understand what Mahavira (www.ivu.org/history/east/mahavira.html), the Jain saint, stated around 500 BC: “To every creature, his own life is very dear.”

This is an idea whose time is coming. I feel blessed to be alive now when eating a plant-based diet is an accepted alternative. And I hope to be alive when it tips the scale as the majority choice.