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A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 


Hiding the Truth – 25 April 2007
By Mary T. Hoffman

In the May/June 2007 issue of the magazine VegNews there is an excellent article titled “Can Vegetarianism Save the Planet?” by Jolia Sidona Allen, a college professor.

Among other things, this article quotes Robbins, author of Diet for a New America as saying: “One year the Sierra Club devoted an entire issue of their monthly magazine to diet and the environment and didn’t even mention the role of meat.” Robbins is also quoted concerning a conversation he had with Greenpeace board members who said to him: “We completely agree with you, but we don’t want to take on this issue because we would risk alienating our donors.” When Robbins replied, “Your donors look to you to lead them, to take on the issues that really matter,” they told him that their hands were tied.

Many years ago when I was just beginning to learn about the environment and vegetarianism, I joined Greenpeace and the Sierra Club. However, it wasn’t long before I realized that large organizations, such as these two, compromise where they shouldn’t. This amounts to hiding the truth which, in my opinion, is the same as lying; so I stopped donating to them.

But it isn’t only organizations who “hide the truth” from the public; individuals who wield a lot of influence do the same thing. For instance, Al Gore avoids telling the truth about the destruction to the environment wreaked by the huge, world-wide, factory farm industries.

In the United States alone, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 80 percent of the agricultural land is used to grow crops for animals, while animals raised for food consume 90 percent of the soy crop, 80 percent of the corn, and 70 percent of the grain.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO), the methane produced by animal agriculture has 23 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. But do you hear this reported in the media? They would rather talk about changing light bulbs or joke about cutting down on the amount of toilet paper used! After all, they dare not offend the companies who buy commercial time.

Yet, hiding the truth will have negative repercussions on everyone living on this planet; unfortunately, the liars won’t be the only ones to suffer the consequences.  

Go on to: The Father of Lies – 26 April 2007
Return to: Intolerance in the Churches – 24 April 2007
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