Hey friends! You KNOW I love the drank, so I’m very excited about the Better Booze Fest this coming Saturday! The run down:

The 1st annual Better Booze Festival comes to New York City on September 20, 2014 at Center548 located at 548 W. 22nd St. Attendees will enjoy two floors of tastings from a variety of brewery, winery, and liquor company brands, a selection of delectable food vendors, as well as speakers, classes, activities and entertainment throughout each session. What makes it better? All beer, wine, and liquor at the event is 100{ae720e0b436026f867bfa0c31185c2252a138f27e85f5f152ec5acc1c10a8cc9} vegetarian and vegan!

Sounds nice? Sounds nice! You can see a list of the vendors here but our favorite, Champs, will be there serving food along with Great Performances. I don’t know them but I love trying new vegan caterers! Foster Dogs NYC is on the vendors list too so I’m hoping I get to pet some cute pups! Booze and cute pups are my two favorite things!

Tickets WILL NOT be available at the door so you have to buy them here. And just because we love you guys, enter this code to get $45 admission: DrinkBetter

Ok, hope to see you there!

Picture from the premier, from Splice Photography’s FB. 

Last month, I went to the Cowspiracy NYC premier. I was not prepared to be so moved! I went into the theater like, “OMG I’m tired and work is annoying and now I have to see a documentary and learn shiz” and I left like, “OMG I’M SO GLAD I’M VEGAN HOW CAN WE MAKE THE WORLD VEGAN?!”

The movie starts as a first-person journey to sustainability for Kip Andersen. He’s a self-proclaimed environmentalist, but it’s not until some serious digging that Kip discovers the devastating impact of the meat and dairy industries on the environment. As someone who turns to organizations like Greenpeace and Surfrider for info and guidance, Kip wonders why they have almost no information on the number one cause of environmental destruction (i.e. meat and dairy). He goes to speak to these organizations and films interviews (sometimes secretly). The interviews are nothing short of hilarisad (my own word, you can use it). By the middle of the movie, we have what shapes up to be a very real conspiracy. I know, sounds melodramatic, but watch the movie. There is no more appropriate word than conspiracy. The groups that are supposed to be helping the environment are spitting out more crap than a factory farm. Really, it’s bonkers. 

This guy was my fave. 

At the beginning of the movie, I was a little put off by the numbers the filmmakers cite, as I know they are all hotly contended. But then it occurred to me, no matter who’s numbers you pick, meat and dairy is still the number one threat to the environment! We can debate the specific numbers all day but no matter where you net out, it’s bad. Here’s a great example from a Beef Magazine article: Why Ranchers Should Care About The Documentary “Cowspiracy”: 

Of course, Cowspiracy just appears to be regurgitating the common myths the beef industry has worked hard to correct over the years. For example, the Cowspiracy website claims it takes 660 gals. of water to make one hamburger, or the equivalent of 2 months’ worth of showers.

However, according to Facts About Beef, “In reality, it takes 441 gals. of water to produce 1 lb. of boneless beef…” 

Well! A mere 441 gallons. So there’s my point: no matter who’s numbers you use, it’s bad. 

Oh one thing I should warn you about, while the movie is not very gruesome, there is one slaughter scene. But you know it’s about to happen so you can close your eyes, as I did. Because the main focus is environment and not animal welfare, the disturbing images are of effed up forests and whatnot, not abused animals. So if you close your eyes for the one part, you should mostly be ok. EXCEPT you may be SO ANGRY that this shiz is going down!

One of the filmmakers, Kip Andersen, at the after party with Noah Gittell and Dania DePas of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Photo by Splice Photography. 

I also attended the after party, organized by vegan media maven Nell Alk. Suite ThreeOhSix was kind enough to host and eats were supplied by Dr. Cow, juicers Pitanga, The Vegan Vine, Dun-Well Doughnuts, and Pipsnacks.

And here is my goodie bag in all its splendor! 

Featuring: candles from Produce Candles, body lotion from Bulldog Skincare, honey sticks from Bee Free Honee, chocolate bars from Brooklyn Dark, white chocolate medallions from Obsessive Confection Disorder, soap bars and bath bombs from LUSH, protein bars from 22 Days Nutrition, lip balm from Hurraw, and coupons for free products from Beyond Meat and Gardein. 

Plus everything came in eco totes from Minnesota-based brand Relan. They make their bags with recycled billboards! How cool will I look at the farmers market this weekend?! Spoiler: SO COOL!

Basically, the party was the perfect chaser to the movie. Back to the film: I encourage everyone to see it and organize a viewing in your area if you can! 

Here’s how you can see the film yourself:

-For DVD and digital download pre-sale options, visit the Cowspiracy site.
-For information on how to organize—or attend—a screening in your own community, visit the Tugg site.
-Watch for Cowspiracy on Netflix and iTunes this fall.

And follow them on FB for updates and great graphics like this one (my new favorite image):

As you may have heard, the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition won free ad space on BART for the third year in a row! Congrats, you guys! In part thanks to many of our readers voting I’m sure. Well, the ads have launched! And they are already getting some nice coverage. 

This year, I actually helped with the ad concepting and copy a bit. FFAC wanted to target dairy, including an ad taking aim at the role of dairy in the CA drought. They were inspired by this Mother Jones post showing just how much water goes into various dairy products. The shower idea came because, like us vegans continue to lament, it’s ridiculous how the water conservation agenda focuses so much attention on things like turning the water off when you brush your teeth or watering your lawn at dawn but they neglect to inform people about the impact of meat and dairy on the water supply. Meanwhile, avoiding those products would make a HUGE impact in water conservation. Not that the other suggestions aren’t good, but they are so minor compared to resource-suck that is animal agriculture.

Here’s the other ad, a gentle alert to the fact that dairy cows have to have babies to produce milk—and those babies aren’t hanging out with mom if people are drinking the milk. It doesn’t go all the way to the veal industry relationship but just connecting the dots for people about mammals…milk…babies…is important. I have conversations all the time with non-vegans who are completely unaware that dairy cows don’t just constantly produce milk without being impregnated. Actually, if we’re being honest, I didn’t really know that before I started looking into veganism. I mean if you think about it, it’s like duh, but we are just so distanced from food sources that people don’t even think about the logistics of it all. 

However! It’s not all doom and gloom in this post! FFAC wanted me to inform you that they are holding a little Instagram contest for the ads and the prizes are SO EXCITING! There’s a contest for each ad. It doesn’t appear that you need to post an actual photo of the ad in the station, but just the ad itself. You do HAVE to follow @ffacoalition‘s IG account though. More details:

Drought Ad: From now until September 19th, post the Drought ad on your Instagram account, tag @ffacoalition and hashtag it with #ffaconbart, and you could win a three-month subscription to either the Vegan Cuts Beauty Box OR the Vegan Cuts Snack Box! Winner’s choice!

Calf Ad: Starting September 21st and ending October 5th, post a pic of the calf ad on your IG account, again tagging @ffacoalition and hashtagging #ffaconbart. For this one, you could win a $50.00 gift certificate to Vegan Essentials! That’s ONLY my FAVORITE store EVER. 

The super official rules are here but that’s the basic need-to-know. Nice prizes, right?!

Has anyone seen the ads irl? TAKE A PICTURE FOR ME! I want to see it “in situ” as us ad folk say. I’ll be your best friend!

Big news from food giant Unilever this week, with the company announcing that it opposes the practice of grinding male chicks at egg industry hatcheries and will work to eliminate it.

Also big news from Dunkin’ Donuts, which is adding almond milk to its stores nationwide!

California’s landmark Prop 2 is coming into effect in just a few months. Some egg producers are going cage-free while others aren’t. Civil Eats has the story on what’s happening so far. And more info from HSUS at our site on the topic.

And speaking of California and eggs, San Francisco-based Hampton Creek made headlines this week by picking up a big name in the technology investing world. Read more about it in the NY Times.

Finally, in one of the more entertaining meat industry attacks on HSUS, this week one industry writer penned a column comparing us to the dreaded General Grievous of Star Wars infamy. 🙂

Paul Shapiro
Vice President, Farm Animal Protection
The Humane Society of the United States
Follow at http://twitter.com/pshapiro  

P.S. Video of the week: Summer’s almost over! Don’t you wish you were doing what this dog is?

P.P.S. Are you on Twitter? Did you know that for free you can “donate” your account to help occasionally get the word out about important farm animal protection efforts? I’d be grateful if you would—here’s the link!

The Dodo posted about this forever a while ago and just how cute is it? Here’s a hint: SO FREAKING CUTE. The choreography gets really elaborate around :43. 

This lil’ ele is a resident at the Elephant Nature Park, a sanctuary in Northern Thailand.