Members of Sydney’s LGBT or animal rights communities may recall the controversey in 2010 when Animal Liberation NSW was asked not to participate in the city’s annual Mardi Gras parade, after years of participation. The reason: not being gay enough.

Animal Lib in the 2007 Mardi Gras parade: Not gay enough

It’s pretty ridiculous when two groups fighting for social justice can’t see their overlapping goals and find ways to support each other. But alas, the decision was made. This year, journalist Katrina Fox formed a new group: Queer Animal Liberation NSW and its members will be rocking their float with pride!

Though a good sized group has been assembled so far (including yours truly), they’re still calling for more participants. Here’s what you need to know:

• Mardi Gras takes place Saturday 5 March from 5pm to 11pm
• Anyone can participate – queer or straight, male or female, or any shade of grey in betwee
• If you’d like to participate there are also 2 work nights happening 23 and 24 Feb to work on building costumes, etc.
• Participants are also being asked to give $12 each to cover production costs
• This year’s theme is ‘We as queers agree, set the chickens free’. The aim is to highlight the plight of battery hens. All I know is, I better hear some “cock” based puns.
• If you want to take part, please email Linda Stoner at lynda@animal-lib.org.au

We’ve been promoting and organising  fundraising events here at vegaroo for the last six months, and now I’m happy to embark on our next phase: taking action. Sydney is a fairly vegan-friendly city in terms of dining out, but it could always stand to improve. Basically my goal is to make veganism as accessible and appealing as possible, and having more vegan-friendly restaurants is one step towards that goal.

We are piloting a Restaurant Outreach Campaign. For this trial we’ve chosen a restaurant, Govinda’s in Darlinghurst, which is already vegetarian, but disappointingly lacking in vegan options. I love writing positive restaurant reviews of vegan-friendly place, but I’m yet review Govinda’s because it’s hard to write much about $20 bread and soup.

I’ve emailed Govinda’s personally to inquire as to whether they could offer more vegan choices, what the barriers are, what the incentives would be, etc. As I’ve not yet heard back, I’m hoping that by adding more voices, we can show that there is a strong vegan community in Sydney and it would be worth it to them, to go all vegan – or at least offer more cruelty-free options.

Here’s how you can help:

By clicking the button above you can sign an email to Govinda’s asking them to add vegan options to their menu. Please feel free to add your own comments, as that always gets a better response. You could try highlighting the health benefits to veganism, pointing out the ways that eating dairy harms cows, and the Hindu arguments for veganism or just simply offer them more business.

We want Govinda’s and other restaurants to know that this is not about trying to force change upon them, but rather we want to work with them towards developing vegan menu options that will be good for both their ethics and their business.

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.

Hi Bits and Bobs! Long time, no see! I’ll skip the pleasantries and excuses and just dive into it. Here’s what’s going on in the vegan world!

OzHarvest is a wonderful non-profit organisation with a new campaign called Feed Sydney that aims to provide over 250,000 meals to the city’s less fortunate. Read more about the initiative and how you can get involved!

And in other “awesome things you can do in the name of charity” news… Cupcake Day is coming! It’s like getting sponsored for a walk-a-thon only less getting fit and more eating delicious baked goods! And it benefits the RSPCA so lots of good karma abounds. It doesn’t require the cupcakes be vegan, but duh, if you love animals you shouldn’t bake with things that come out of them.

Have you guys seen the preview for Aduki Press’ Australian Veg Food Guide? It looks awesome! Pre-orders are coming soon. Well done, Aduki!

I heard a rumour that Radical Grocery in Victoria was robbed! Can anyone confirm this? I haven’t been able to find any news about it. Details much appreciated!

Umm… this raw vegan retreat in Queensland sounds like it was flipping awesome. Why do I always find out about these things after they’ve happened? I count on you, dear readers to send us hot tips! What else is coming up that vegaroo should know about?

Ok, all you sustainable foodies out there who are still eating milk and dairy. I know you won’t listen to goddamn hippies like me when we tell you to cut that crap out, but oh maybe you’ve heard of a little global organisation called the United Nations? They’ve called for a “global shift towards a vegan diet.” Yup, they actually use the “v-word” and everything. Pardon me while I do my “told you so” dance.

And now I am off to dive into Yum Cha! Because it’s my Birthday Weekend!!! I’m heading out to play country girl in Berrima at Zen Oasis on Saturday and checking out Bodhi in the Park on Sunday. I suggest you find something as awesome as Yum Cha to distract from this miserable weather. Have a good one!

Hey, did you know we are in the midst of the Fair Trade Fortnight? It’s true. Why would I lie about that? They’ve got “Big Swap” events happening all over Australia and New Zealand, plus other events you can find on our calendar, which I’ve been told will have veg-friendly food. Sweet!

It’s a pretty exciting time of year for vegans. What else could I be talking about, but the start of avocado season! Did you know you can join an Avo Club? Go join it! And then go make me this green tea noodle with avocado sauce recipe! Om nom nom…

Please vote “Yes” in this poll on banning jump-racing, spurred by another tragic case of a horse needing to be put down. Seriously, who are these a**holes voting “No.” I’m going to throw a saddle on their children and ride them around until their limbs break! Even The 7PM Project brought some coverage to it this week – weigh in in their forums.

The Sydney Morning Herald has an interesting article on the chef at veg-friendly Japanese restaurant Wafu in Surry Hills, who apparently runs a pretty tight “clean plates club.” Anyone experienced her wrath? I went once and the food was great, so I had no troubles. Brown rice sushi is awesome!

What’s the deal with Perth getting all these awesome events lately? Is there a vegan revolution happening there? This Environmental and Animal Issues Forum sounds like something I’d be all up on. What do people from Perth call themselves? Perthians? Perth-people? Perthlings??? Perthlings: who wants to go to this and report on it here?

Canberra’s getting in on the awesome event action with the RSPCA-sponsored Million Paws Walk on May 16! Bring your furry friend! Or they invite the dogless to show up to gawk at other people’s dogs. So you don’t have to sit in the park on dog meet-up days and watch jealously and creepily from a bench… uh, not that I’ve ever done that the first Sunday of every month or anything.

It is getting cold!! Do you need some cute new winter gloves? Cate from Aduki Press made these and they’re adorbs!

Bundle up, make yourself some awesome vegan soup, and enjoy a great weekend, everyone!

Visit www.wvd.org.au for more information.

Often, World Vegan Day in Perth passes with a mere picnic, where mostly just vegans attend. It’s nice, and it’s vegan; but it isn’t exactly worldly.

We’ve talked about it for years, but this year, Animal Rights Advocates is finally holding a World Vegan Day event! We will be holding a Cruelty Free Festival the weekend prior to World Vegan Day (30 or 31 October). There will hopefully be a movie screening at Northbridge piazza, stalls, food, a wealth of literature and lots of people who are either vegan already or curious about veganism and animal rights.

So where do you come in? Well, we need your help to organise this! We’d really like someone who is willing to oversee the organisation of the whole thing (i.e. keep a list of tasks, who is responsible for those tasks, and hold people accountable), but if you don’t have all that time to devote, fear not. We could use help with any number of things, from making cupcakes to arranging the venue, planning the entertainment, helping out with media and running things on the day.

If you want to know more, please email me at sarah [at] ara.org.au. You can also visit our website to learn more about ARA and contact us to get involved with the Cruelty Free Festival or any one of our events and campaigns.

In Australian pounds 250,000 unwanted cats and dogs are euthanised each year.

Death Row Pets is an organisation that wants the killing of companion animals to end. The main issue is that people impulse buy companion animals from pet shops that have received the animals from puppy mills and backyard breeders who are breeding to excess without any regard for animal welfare.

Having worked at a vet clinic for 10 years I have seen too many cases of people deciding their pet isn’t right for them after a year or even after a few months. People who impulse purchase don’t consider the costs of caring for an animal. They complain about the costs of food or medical care forgetting they had no problem spending $2000 to purchase their purebred or faux-purebred eg. moodles, cavoodles or any other popular cross breed. Often purebreds suffer from hereditary diseases, disorders and behavioural problems that have been caused by inbreeding. Breeders know this but continue to breed from their dogs.

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