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St. Cloud State University
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PETA speaker to bring discussion
By Geoff Higgins
Published:
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Animal rights and veganism will be the topic of discussion Tuesday at SCSU.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is bringing speaker Gary Yourofsky to SCSU while he is in Minnesota this week to speak at different schools across the state.
"I heard that he was going to be in Minnesota giving speeches so I knew that I wanted him to come here (to SCSU)," said Ayoko Mochizuki, a member of the Campus Green Party.
Yourofsky has spoken on behalf of PETA to thousands of students in more than 200 schools around the U.S.
He will be speaking twice on Tuesday; his first lecture will be 12:30-1:45 p.m. and his second speech is scheduled for 3:30-4:45 p.m. Both presentations will take place in the Atwood Little Theatre.
Mochizuki said that the Campus Green Party has arranged for two educational videos to be shown during the time between Yourofsky's lectures. The first video is titled, "Animals in the Service of the Military." The second video that Mochizuki has chosen to feature is called "Lethal Medicine." Both are about 30 minutes in length.
Yourofsky has a speaking style that his supporters call "thought provoking."
He has been known to use inspiring stories, indisputable facts and quotes from great thinkers to get his listeners thinking about cruelty towards animals. Other techniques that Yourofsky uses in his speeches is the use of documentaries that show graphic footage from fur farms, laboratories and factory farms. His goal is to encourage people to be kind to animals.
He is also a strong advocate of veganism, a lifestyle where there is no use of any product that comes from animals. This includes clothing materials and food products.
There are several clubs and organizations that are sponsoring this event including the Earth Action Coalition (EAC). The EAC is not sponsoring Yourofsky because he is a vegan, but the group does agree with Yourofsky on all of his ideas about conservation.
"Earth Action Coalition is an organization at SCSU that puts the Earth first," said member Kari Block. "We seek to teach students how to respect, realize and sustain this beautiful place we all live in, and if we don't the Earth as we know it will disappear."
Block said that the EAC is not to be confused with PETA because each group has different philosophies. Members of the EAC do believe in the consumption of animals -- in moderation. The ultimate goal of the EAC is to help conserve and take care of the planet Earth. Many animals pollute the Earth and better management of the animals is what the EAC is striving to accomplish.
"PETA and the EAC are not the same organization but have similar feelings about animals and the environment," Block said. "EAC is not strictly a vegetarian organization but one that watches what we consume in this meaning. Moderation should be practiced when eating resource intensive meat. Raising animals for food requires more than half the water used in the United States and is a bigger polluter of our water and topsoil."
Yourofsky holds a B.A. in journalism from Oakland University and a radio/broadcasting degree from Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts.
Good communication skills are in Yourofsky's background and both Campus Greens and EAC encourage students to show up to this event to gain some important knowledge.
"Students need to understand that they are not separate from the environment but a part of it," Block said. "It is time to recognize and respect the rights of other species to exist and thrive alongside humans. We need to try new and more sustainable ways to live on the planet because these changes will benefit all of us.
"Thus, what we do to the environment we do to ourselves."
