John Robbins is not "the patron saint of vegetarianism" -- as someone suggested. Vegetarianism has existed for 1000's of years before JR was born.

The main beneficiaries of the proposed McDonalds settlement, The North American Vegetarian Society, and the American Vegan Society, have been in existence long before EarthSave, which is not even a vegetarian group, primarily, but some kind of an environmental mindset group, or ecology mindset group, with "trying to be vegetarian" being one of its "tenets." It is involved in far more than vegetarianism. The American Vegan Society has been in existence since 1960, and the North American Vegetarian Society was in existence before JR published Diet for a New America in 197x.

Further, despite the fact that there have been claims that non-vegetarian groups should not benefit, I don't think the purpose of distributing the funds is to benefit only vegetarian groups, rather, I think it was intended to benefit vegetarians, and also other groups who were hurt by McDonald's beef-in-the-potatoes deception -- such as Kosher Jews who do not eat flesh and dairy at the same time -- and need to know where the beef is, to do this; and Mohammadans and Jews who don't eat beef, unless the animal is killed according to their specifications, and need to know where the non-Halal and non-Kosher beef is.

By the way, i read Diet for a New America by John Robbins, shortly after it was published, and there wasn't much in it that hadn't already been covered, in the periodicals and books published by both the American Vegan Society, and the North American Vegetarian Society.

When Diet for a New America was published, soilman had already been a vegan for several years.

"Further, despite the fact that there have been claims that non-vegetarian groups should not benefit, I don't think the purpose of distributing the funds is to benefit only vegetarian groups, rather, I think it was intended to benefit vegetarians, and also other groups who were hurt by McDonald's beef-in-the-potatoes deception -- such as Kosher Jews who do not eat flesh and dairy at the same time -- and need to know where the beef is, to do this; and Mohammadans and Jews who don't eat beef, unless the animal is killed according to their specifications, and need to know where the non-Halal and non-Kosher beef is."

You are mistaken. I sent an email to Mr. Bharti asking about this very thing and he sent me a link to the settlement so I could read it. If you read the settlement agreement, the money allotted to vegetarians ($6 million) is separate from these other groups you mention. They are to benefit separately from the other $4million. The terms specifically say the money allotted to vegetarians must be vegetarian organizations dedicated to vegetarianism.

What don't you like about EarthSave? They seem to do a lot of animal-rights and vegetarian stuff in our area (Chicago).

Kpickell writes:
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What don't you like about EarthSave? They seem to do a lot of animal-rights and vegetarian stuff in our area (Chicago).
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It don't dislike EarthSave. I'm just not interested.

I have an interest in joining with other vegans or vegetarians for personal support of each other and self-interest activities -- such as sharing recipes, meeting friends or business contacts, supporting young people in their choice to buck the mainstream and be vegan or vegetarian -- things like that. I'm not so interested in being an animal welfare activist or an environmental activist, which clearly appears to be a large part of what EarthSave is all about. Nor do I have an interest in adopting the EarthSave Unified Mindset, which seems to say things like, for example: if you are a vegetarian you almost undoubtedly also prefer organicly grown food. I prefer to grow my food scientificaly. Or you almost undoubtedly must be anti-firearms. Or whatever. They seem to have a whole mindset regarding things that they think are related, which I personally think just aren't necessarily related. Or you must be an anti-pesticide activist. Personally I believe in using pesticides. But my local chapter has frequent educational presentation on the dangers of pesticides, as if vegetarianism, organic gardening, and not killing mosquitos with pesticides, go hand and hand.

oh okay, I thought maybe it was something bad I didn't know about. Yeah they do often support organic foods. But they're probably the main source of support for vegetarians in our area and the most active animal rights group here.