ARCO's Abolitionists - A Vegan Forum

My group in Environmental Science & Policy just got assigned Sri Lanka as an assignment, to write up possibilities for a post-petroleum society there. I'm trying to see if I can sneak in a plug for veganism in there. Much less fuel required! Much less land degradation! That sort of thing. So I am getting this right - that at some point long long ago there was a non-violent principle that was applied to food, but that in the recent past, it fell by the wayside? Perhaps as part of Westernization? I'm wondering if I can use that somewhere in my part of the assignment, which is "environmental history."

panthera wrote:My group in Environmental Science & Policy just got assigned Sri Lanka as an assignment, to write up possibilities for a post-petroleum society there. I'm trying to see if I can sneak in a plug for veganism in there. Much less fuel required! Much less land degradation! That sort of thing. So I am getting this right - that at some point long long ago there was a non-violent principle that was applied to food, but that in the recent past, it fell by the wayside? Perhaps as part of Westernization? I'm wondering if I can use that somewhere in my part of the assignment, which is "environmental history."

Panthera, no doubt the West has had a hugh impact on "developing nations", Sri Lanka being one of them. When I lived there in 1978 to 1980, I clearly noticed a schism beginning between the Sinhala adolescents and their parents and grandparents. There was much talk about how the environment was becoming degraded, and how traditional Buddhist values were going with it. Even some elderly monks were leaving the monastaries for seclusion in the forests because the Protestant Church was having too much of an impact on the thinking of younger lay Buddhists and those entering the monastaries. Long story on this, but this corruption appears on lankaweb (news from Sri Lanka). The situation has become far worse since I left.

There are some noteworthy things to read at the Sri Lanka Vegetarian Society website @ http://www.infolanka.com/org/slvs Click "articles" in the left-hand column, and see especially the "Vegetarian Movement in Sri Lanka". There was a time in Sri Lanka's history where if you took the life of a non-human animal you simply had no social status whatsoever. But the country was colonialised so many times and Theravada Buddhist values were displaced for Western Christian ones. What is termed "unethical conversions" amounts to missionaries paying the poor to denouce Buddhist values and join their church. I did witness this with my own eyes on two occasions. Nevertheless, meat eating is on the rise, and the traditional vegan and vegetarian diet is on the decline. SLVS wants to put a halt to this.

Also, I'd love to hear about the Environmental Science & Policy group. I've missed-out on that one.

Faunus

Thanks Faunus, I did check lankaweb after you mentioned it in one of the posts above. The group I mentioned is my major in school (I've returned to school after 20yrs to get my Bachelor's). You'd think an environmental science department would promote veganism or at least vegetarianism, but my department is part of the Agriculture College at a school with a huge Animal Science program. I'm doing what I can. Thanks for the links, will report as I learn more.