Thursday April 25, 2024 
Glendora Vegetarian Club
This pandemic has fundamentally altered modern society. Fittingly so, as it was caused by humans’ most fundamental mistake: The confining and exploitation of animals.
Animals crowded in cages are a known breeding ground for disease. Dr. Michael Greger, author of How To Survive a Pandemic, said of emerging viral diseases that 100% are tied to caged animals.
But this year we started to learn about external costs — how our actions have effects we’re responsible for, even if we can’t see them. And as more people understand our connectedness, more are trying vegan products and learning about vegan values.
Transitioning our society toward vegan living is worth it even if just to lower the risk of more pandemics. But other benefits abound: The lower carbon footprint of vegan foods would fight climate change. We’d have strong antibiotics for humans rather than deploying two-thirds of them on confined animals.
But there’s more: Without manure contamination, water would be cleaner — and more abundant, since animals require so much more than plant foods. The air would also be cleaner. Food-borne illness caused by livestock feces would end. So would the heartless exploitation of slaughterhouse workers, which caught the public’s attention this year. Famously, Tyson plant managers actually wagered on which employees would get sick next.
Human health would likely improve as processed meats, a known carcinogen, disappear from adults’ and childrens’ plates. Increased fruit and vegetable consumption would lower cholesterol and risk for heart attack in people of all ages.
Lastly, the lives of animals would no longer be stolen. Animals could live free and so could we.
But to start that transition means facing the tragedy of animal confinement instead of closing our eyes and denying it. Let’s be honest. In a very real sense, animal captivity is the elephant in the room.
East Greenbush Fire Company Pizza Night
EAST GREENBUSH – Welcome New Year of 2021 and with it new hope. We have pizza night on January 9th, 2021 – curbside pickup only with credit card or checks as payment at this time. East Greenbush Fire Co #3 – 68 Phillips Road, East Greenbush. Time 4:30 – 7:30 – phone ahead your order starting at 2 PM. Phone 518-477-6503. All the pizza toppings, with salads, signature chicken wings and mozzarella sticks. Thank you from the EGFC.