Farewell dinner with PETA2 (Feb 19 @ 7pm)
Let’s see off our new friends from PETA2 with style by joining them at Decent Pizza on Thursday. Come chill out with them, get tips on being veg/vegan and find out what their lives are like on the road. They’re fun people.

General Meeting on Feb. 23
Next Tuesday (at 7pm), we will have our February general meeting in the Women’s Center. VERDE has a lot going on in March (a nutrition workshop and Meatout Day to name a few), come find out how you get can get involved/spread the word.

Veg/Vegan Nutrition Workshop on March 2
We will be hosting a workshop on veg/vegan nutrition workshop on. FSU’s registered dietitian is doing a presentation just for us. Find out how to eat right on a veg or vegan diet at 7:30pm in SLC 101D. More details at the general meeting.

This documentary examines how the practice of subsidizing corn crops has effectively incorporated the plant into almost everything we eat. Hope to see you there!

Liberation (by PETA2) aims to challenge the way people look at cruelty towards animals by examining the similarity of that treatment to past cruelty that has been inflicted on humans. The exhibit will be on Landis Green from Feb. 15 to Feb. 18.

If you didn’t get a chance to check out our site last week, here are pictures of the exhibit at several other schools:

http://blog.peta2.com/2009/10/liberation_comes_to_brown_univ.html
http://blog.peta2.com/2009/11/the_peta2_college_campaigns_di.html
http://blog.peta2.com/2009/11/college_update.html

Due Process for Allegedly Dangerous Dogs
• FSU’s Animal Law Society will be bringing Animal Law adjunct professor, Marcy LaHart, to the FSU College of Law to speak about issues regarding Florida’s regulation and treatment of dogs deemed dangerous by the state. LaHart will be speaking on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 12:30pm in the FSU College of Law, Rm 103.

Radical Rush Tabling
• VERDE needs volunteers to table at the spring edition of Radical Rush (tabling fair for progressive groups at FSU/in Tallahassee). The progressive tabling fair will take place next Monday, Feb. 1 from 11am to 4pm on the Union Green, so if you have even a half hour to get the word out about the group it would be helpful. To volunteer e-mail fsuverde@gmail.com or respond to this message.

VERDE’s First Discussion Night
• VERDE wants your input on the schedule of our soon-to start discussion nights. At out first meeting of the semester, VERDE decided to begin holding nights dedicated to in-depth discussion of specific interests and concerns among local veg/vegans. Now, we need to decide when to have our first discussion (tentatively it’s planned for the week of Feb. 8), the following survey has been created for this purpose.
-See survey here (the survey will close on Friday night): http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HBFZ56V

Possible New Meeting Date
• We had several new faces at our meeting last week, so our meeting date will reevaluated through another survey.
-See survey here (this will close next Monday night): http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HPXX3XV

Vegan Cooking Classes
•It was announced that VERDE will be hosting a vegan cooking class with CPE and ESP in February. Further information will be given shortly.

Meatout Day
•There was a discussion about forming a committee for the Meatout Day dinner party event that VERDE will be hosting (with ESP) on March 20.
-So far, several people from VERDE and ESP have expressed interest in helping to plan the event but the first committee meeting has yet to be decided upon.
-Anyone who is interested in being part of the Meatout Day committee should e-mail fsuverde@gmail.com to be put in contact with appropriate people.

Discussion Nights
•It was decided that VERDE would begin holding monthly night get-togethers specifically for discussing issues of importance to vegetarian and vegan students.
-These discussions will replace the former second meeting of the month (we will no longer have biweekly general meetings).
-These discussion would serve as support and education forum for VERDE’s members, they will also introduce other interested parties to our group and help them better understand veg/vegan lifestyles.
-The first discussion night will likely take place in mid- Feb
-These discussion will be advertised similarly to general meetings, there will be Facebook event pages
•Suggested topics for our first discussion night were:
-Veg/vegan nutrition
-Environmental impact of being veg/vegan
-Relationship between sustainability and a veg/vegan lifestyle

Go to the movies with VERDE
•It was decided that VERDE would begin organizing group outings to attend local screenings of films that are of veg/vegan interest.
-These movie trips will be to screenings that are being hosted by other local organizations.
-These trips will serve as a way to support local groups that share our values while also getting to know other members in a social environment.
-These trips will be announced mainly on our Facebook and website
-We will try to head over to the screening together (walk, bike, carpool)
•Suggested nights for “Go to the Movies with VERDE”:
-Feb. 24, ESP’s (potluck and) screening of “The Botany of Desire”
-Sometime in Feb., Free Radicals’ screening of “King Corn”

Volunteering at the Animal Service Center
•There was a discussion about joining the Animal Law Society in volunteering at the Tallahassee Animal Service Center.
-The Animal Law Society usually goes to the Animal Service Center on the first Saturday of each month to help out with the animals (cleaning up, taking dogs for walks, etc)
-They have invited VERDE to join them on their next trip to the Animal Service Center, which is tentatively Feb. 13 at 9am.
-If anyone is interested in going to volunteer on Feb. 13, please e-mail fsuverde@gmail.com with the title line “Animal Center”.
•Also, if you are interested in Animal Law (protection and due process for animals) and you would like to find out more about the Animal Law Society, visit this page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=156422203962&ref=search&sid=630418410.1840903579..1

Recipe Collection
•There was a discussion about starting an online veg/vegan recipe collection for our potluck and general reference (also possibly for a future zine)
-A discussion topic for these recipes will be opened on our Facebook but recipes can also be e-mailed to fsuverde@gmail.com

Promotion Help
•It was announced that VERDE needs help advertising our activities
-A few people volunteered to help with flyering and chalking
-It would be ideal to split up areas (on and off-campus) and have people have were advertising VERDE activities in specific areas.
-If there’s a certain area that you can cover advertising for or you want to help with flyering and chalking, please e-mail fsuverde@gmail.com with the title line “Promos”

T-shirts
•There was a discussion about silk screening our own VERDE t-shirts
-More information on this coming soon

FSU Dining Options
•There was a discussion about possibly trying to resume campaigning for better veg/vegan options on campus
-We discussed drafting a new petition to show student support for these options.
-We discussed possibly working with the Heritage Party (they are currently trying to set up a meeting with FSU’s Aramark representative) on a campaign for better veg/vegan options.

The Women’s Center is hosting a lecture on food and nutrients. Professor Carla Reed, teacher of Religious Ethics and Food, will be speaking about the role of food and diet in our society. This lecture will take place next Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 7pm in SSB 214

Check out the event page here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=431870615053&index=1

Also, while the semester is coming to a close we still have one meeting left, our November 30th meeting. At that meeting, it would probably be good idea to do some brainstorming for Spring 2009.
Some things we are definitely doing next semester include:
- A vegan cooking class (we will be teaming up with ESP for this)
- More volunteer projects (hopefully, at some animal shelters)
- Several fundraisers

We have also been presented with several other activity/event opportunities, such as:
- “Liberation,”  a peta2 exhibit that is visiting universities around the country. The exhibit challenges social norms by presenting cruelty inflicted on animals alongside cruelty inflicted upon humans in the past. Several panels illustrate how formerly acceptable practices towards oppressed populations relate to currently accepted practices towards animals.

Tentatively, they would be looking to visit FSU between March 15 – March 19 (2010).

To see what the exhibit looks like check the following article from Brown University: http://www.facebook.com/l/8c8d8;www.browndailyherald.com/animal-rights-activists-take-to-the-main-green-1.1931547 as well as this one from peta2′s blog: http://www.facebook.com/l/8c8d8;blog.peta2.com/2009/10/liberation_comes_to_brown_univ.html

- “Seeing Through the Fence”, a documentary by Eleni Vlachos that explores the role of food in modern society and our (lack of) connection with the sources (and animals) from which our food originates. The films looks at global concerns such as the environment and sustainability of modern agriculture while also asking the question: ‘What prevents ethical principles from being advanced into action?’

Vlachos is also interested in doing a Q&A after screening.

Tentatively, Vlachos is looking to visit FSU during February 4 – 5 (2010).

You can visit the website for the documentary here: http://www.facebook.com/l/8c8d8;www.porchlifeproductions.com

Share your thoughts on these works and whether or not you would like to see them presented at FSU/in Tallahassee. Try to send a response before Thanksgiving because the two opportunities are time sensitive.

If you have any other suggestions about events or activities that VERDE should hold next semester, send those in as well. We will include all of those suggestions in our discussion at the November 30th meeting.

On Wednesday, November 18th, VERDE along with the Environmental Service Program and the Free Radicals Infoshop is hosting a screening of Food, Inc. The critically acclaimed documentary examines the environmental and economical cost of America’s food production through industrialized farms.

The screening will be preceded by a vegetarian/vegan potluck (at 6:30pm), so bring your favorite dish and some dining ware. The movie will start at 7pm.

You can RSVP on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170090291073 .