Home | Back to Program Schedule
Newcomer
Orientation I - Fri. 9:00am
Introduction
to animal rights activism, the movement, and the AR2008 Conference
Presenters: Camp,
Enoch, Meier, Prescott, Stram
Handouts: Why Vegan?, Guide
to Cruelty-Free Eating,
and A Meaningful Life
- Hello, I am Jon Camp, Director of Outreach for
Vegan Outreach. The vast majority of my work consists
of driving around the US leafleting colleges on behalf
of Vegan Outreach’s Adopt a College leafleting
program. I am about to start my fifth year of doing this
full-time and so far, so good. Taking part in activism
has led to a meaningful and rewarding existence for me
and I can’t
think of a cause more important than animal rights. The
success of our movement absolutely hinges on more and
more individuals taking part in this work. It is wonderful
to see so many new faces.
- Vegan Outreach has a pretty
simple function. We print and distribute booklets (hold
up booklets). Since 1994, we have distributed over 8
million of these. We hand these out at locations where
there is likely to be a receptive audience – colleges,
concerts attended by youth, political rallies, etc. It
is pretty much every day that we are hearing from someone
who has gone vegetarian or vegan as a result of receiving
a VO booklet. This work is not just for college students;
it’s for those
of all ages.
- For those new to veganism, we detail why
someone would choose this diet in our Why Vegan booklet
and we give some nutritional considerations for vegans
in our Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating.
- We at Vegan Outreach
see veganism as merely a tool to reduce suffering. It
is not a religion, nor a dogma, but rather a means of
boycotting cruelty and bringing about a kinder world
with less suffering.
- In that light, there are two ways
applying a vegan diet to our everyday lifestyle – the
going-to-great-lengths-to-avoid-every-minuscule-animal-ingredient
approach and the “don’t sweat the small stuff” approach.
VO focuses on the latter. We avoid all the obvious animal
products but don’t fret over minuscule ingredients.
The consequences of our actions are what matter, not
our purity.
- The author Erik Marcus has said that if we
go vegan, we can save thousands of animals in our lifetime.
If we become a vegan activist, we can save millions of
animals in our lifetime. Put another way, the average
American consumes about 35 land animals each year. Each time
we get out to leaflet, we’re looking at the potential
for a few new vegetarians and vegans. This is a fantastic
way to multiply the good that we can do through our veganism.
- To
get involved in this work, all you have to do is request
some booklets from us, go to an area high in foot traffic
and start asking individuals if they’d
like a booklet. Most people are going to either take
a booklet or say “no thanks.” It is painless
and fun and you will undoubtedly move many closer to
vegetarianism/veganism.
- Activism can often seem a bit
daunting. We’re
working against a system of oppression that has been
going on for eons. But social change happens. In the last
150 years, we’ve seen the abolition of slavery, much
broader rights for children, women’s suffrage,
etc. I have no doubt that we’re going to look upon
animals much differently 150 years from now and a great
deal of this will have to do with the work we’re
all doing. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that “The
arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards
justice.” Our
actions can truly bend the arc more closer towards justice.
Whatever I can do to help you get involved in this work,
please let me know.