A group of four vegetarians and vegans that met at a Sydney V Star breakfast and the Walk Against Warming got to talking about ways we could make small changes in our lives to improve our commitment to sustainable living. The next thing we knew, VegPledge/VegOut was born!

Conceived by Donna Frith as a way to join in the 350.org global work party on 10/10/10, Donna was soon joined by Nikki Durr, Bob Ratnarajah, and myself. VegPledge/VegOut has a simple idea: “empowering individuals to make one of the most significant personal contributions a person can make to the green cause—making sustainable food choices.”

To make change feel achievable, we’re starting with a two-week challenge from 27 September to 10 October to make some small but significant changes in your food consumption habits that will reduce your carbon footprint. This can be anything from using reusable coffee cups and water bottles, to reducing use of a car to go shopping, to bigger steps such as growing your own herbs or vegetables. There are fifteen suggestions on the VegPledge.org web site that you are encouraged to choose from and share your pledges with the world, but of course you are welcome to invent your own pledges as well.

The best part, however, comes at the end of the two-week challenge: on 10/10/10, the date 350.org is holding their global work party, we are holding the VegOut at Centennial Park in Sydney. VegOut will be a huge picnic, with blankets arranged in the shape of the number 350 in solidarity with the groups working to make a difference around the world. You can order VegPack lunch boxes made by Sydney restaurants and caterers with a dedication to sustainability on vegpledge.org prior to the event, or you can bring your own vegetarian or vegan food, preferably to share!

We hope that  many pledgers will choose to push themselves to try things that might seem difficult for them, but we also hope that some will decide to continue their commitment after the two weeks are over. The important thing is to choose pledges that are meaningful to you. I’ve pledged to spend the two weeks cooking all of my own meals with organic vegetables purchased at farmers’ markets and groceries bought from bulk food stores. This won’t be easy, considering how often I opt for cheap takeaway, but I think I will feel pretty fulfilled at the end of the two weeks!

If you’re interested in getting more involved, we do need your help! A picnic this big will need a lot of blankets, and we are trying to collect as many as we can in advance so we can be prepared to set up the big 350 on the day of the event. If you can donate a picnic blanket for the day, please get in touch with us using the contact form on vegpledge.org. We will also need some help handing out the VegPacks on the day of, so if you’re willing to chip in, that would be lovely!

Most of all, though, we want to get the word out: not just to Sydney, and not just to Australia, but to everyone, everywhere that is interested in making the world a greener place. So, please, go to VegPledge.org, make and share your pledges, and tell all of your friends! We’ll see you at the VegOut!

P.S. If you’re not in Sydney, we hope you will consider organising your own VegOut picnic, big or small, on 10/10/10 or whenever you can. If you do, let us know and we’ll put the information up on the site.

(Editor’s Note: Tim doesn’t write a lot for vegaroo but when he does he goes full-on kick-arse editorial style. I also recommend this post from his personal blog: If Trees Could Scream. Please note, though, that the opinions expressed here may not necessarily represent all vegaroo writers.)

There are so many things wrong with “Vegans and the Quest for Purity”, Harold Fromm’s misinformed screed against veganism—or, rather, against the fictional ideology he believes veganism to be—that it’s hard to know where to begin.

I’ll start with these two: Fromm completely misrepresents what veganism is about, and while attempting to tear down the straw-man he built, he defends a callous, selfish personal ethic apparently without realising that every one of his arguments could just as well justify brutality towards other people.

Attacks on vegans are nothing new, of course, but Fromm seems to believe he’s made an insight that has escaped not only every vegan on the planet, but all of our previous critics. “The unspoken concept behind the debate over vegans is ‘biocentrism.’” OK, sounds interesting. What is it? Let’s consult the interwebs:

Biocentrism states that nature does not exist simply to be used or consumed by humans, but that humans are simply one species amongst many^[3], and that because we are part of an ecosystem, any actions which negatively affect the living systems of which we are a part, adversely affect us as well^[3][4], whether or not we maintain a biocentric worldview^[3].

It sounds pretty reasonable to me, and it sounds like Mr Fromm wouldn’t disagree:

My own diet is very high in plants and low in meat, and my carbon footprint is very small indeed, but mainly out of concern for my own health and the planet that keeps us alive. Beyond that, I’m an admirer of J.M. Coetzee, Michael Pollan, and Singer, and I well approve of their revulsion at the brutal treatment of animals raised for our consumption. I think vegetarianism is admirable. I would recommend it.

Great! So what’s the problem?

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Peace Harmony’s website boasts that it is “one of the kindest eating places in Sydney”. I’m pretty new here, so I cannot vouch for the authenticity of their claim, but it is definitely one of the tastiest eating places I’ve tried out so far.

The cuisine is mostly Thai, with some Vietnamese, Malaysian, and other Southeast Asian flavours thrown in. Everything that Peace Harmony serves is totally free of any animal products. They also avoid onion, garlic, shallots and chives, “to promote peace”. I’m not totally sure what they mean by that, but I’m guessing that it’s their form of protest against offensive breath¹. You don’t miss them, though, their food is wonderfully flavourful due to their generous use of spices, lemongrass, coconut milk, and fresh veggies.

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