On a Petition That Worked and Property Rights

If you are a member of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, you probably know (via Good Medicine, their magazine) that just south of me, in Broward County, Ashley Capps, a 10th grader at Everglades High School, circulated a petition that was signed by 100 of her classmates to persuade the administration to offer more vegetarian and vegan options.

At the request of a Broward County school board member, PCRM nutritionists helped the district’s food service department  . . . . [and] PCRM president Neal Barnard, M.D., visited each school to speak to parents and administrators about the healthfulness of vegetarian options (13).

The article also notes that according to a recent Harris Interactive Poll, the number of vegetarian teenagers has tripled in the last 10 years.

If you want to work toward more options in your district’s schools, PCRM’s Healthy School Lunches campaign will help you with the process. I continue to support PCRM because they have few issues, and they tackle them well. They want people to go vegan because it’s healthy. They want animals out of labs (largely) because it’s bad science and there are alternatives. They’re organized, professional and rational (i.e., not hysterical) in the way they present their messages, they have free, helpful material for all of their campaigns, and they always provide quick, as well as not-so-quick actions you can take.

With regard to property rights, on the New York Bird Club discussion board, marilyn asked:

I wanted to know since animals are on the law books (from my understanding as propert)-who is in charge of changing such a law so that cruelty to animals is not taken so lightly with not much punishment. The laws need to say that animals are sentient creatures and that cruelty is a felony with many years jail time. Anyone have information for me. thanks.

You don’t have to be a member to chime in, so if you’re inclined, go for it!