Making A Difference in Your Community : Spreading the Word About Vegetarianism
Vic Forsythe is worried about food allergies, factory farming, genetically altered foods, bovine growth hormones, food irradiation and global warming.
As president of the nonprofit Vegetarian Society, an organization with 1,000 members nationwide and about 200 in the San Fernando Valley, he is looking for help in spreading the word that vegetarian diets are a good way of dealing with many of the ills of the modern world.
Specifically, the society is seekingvolunteers to help set up slide show presentations, public forums, video house parties and to man information tables at fairs, festivals and malls.
Vegetarianism, says the 43-year-old from North Hills, not only holds the key to improving individual health, but can also make a dent in world hunger and even save the earth from global warming.
“The meat industry,” he says, “is destroying the environment and using up the resources of the planet.” Forsythe echoes the warnings of scientists who believe that the destruction of tropical rain forests to make way for cattle-grazing rangelands will have catastrophic ecological effects.
“Deforestation is upsetting the climactic balance and providing the headlines of today, which are flood and drought,” Forsythe rails. “We will continue to see more floods and droughts for the sake of a few burgers . . . or a few billion burgers.”
The answer, he says, is substituting things such as soy products, fruits and vegetables for meats, which take about 10 times as much energy and water to produce than vegetables.
“We believe that soy foods will provide a greater amount of employment and dramatically lower food costs,” Forsythe says. He asks why people should feed wheat and soy to cows and then eat the animals when they could just as well eat the grains and beans themselves.
“We’re just eliminating the middle man,” he jokes.
But what about the taste of a juicy burger or steak?
“Basically anything you can make from meat, you can make from soy protein,” says Forsythe, who became a vegetarian 18 years ago after his doctor suggested that it might alleviate the symptoms of his peptic ulcer. He says it’s just a matter of altering tastes a bit for the sake of a diet that’s healthier for both people and the planet.
For those not ready to trade a rack of ribs for a seaweed-flavored tofu cutlet, Forsythe says the Vegetarian Society, founded in 1948 by the late Hollywood chiropractor Dr. Pietro Rotundi, is ready, willing and able to feed the curiosity of anyone interested in knowing more about meatless diets.
Volunteer help, he says, will go a long way toward getting the word out.
“We cannot pay someone to call up the different groups--churches, hospitals and colleges--to offer to send a speaker,” Forsythe explains. “We need volunteers to help us do that and organize events to share information with members of the community.”
The Vegetarian Society also has a singles group to help members meet.
For more information, call the Volunteer Center of San Fernando Valley at (818) 908-5066.
The newly formed Santa Clarita Valley chapter of Amnesty International ((805) 254-6388) seeks volunteers interested in campaigning for human rights in Southern California and elsewhere. The group’s next scheduled meeting is Saturday at 25837 Olivas Park Road in Santa Clarita at 4 p.m.
The nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation of Los Angeles County ((213) 382-7337) seeks volunteer therapists to lead free support groups in the San Fernando Valley for people with epilepsy and their families. The foundation will provide volunteers with orientation and educational materials.
The March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation will hold a meeting Wednesday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Summerfield Suites Hotel in Chatsworth for anyone interested in volunteering with the organization. For more information, call Kim Kardinal at (818) 953-3937.
Getting Involved is a weekly listing of volunteering opportunities. Please address prospective listings to Getting Involved, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, 91311. Or fax them to (818) 772-3338.
