IDA - Bay Area Events

IDA EVENTS
1. Gopher Gardening at Ocean Beach This Saturday
2. IDA's Undercover TV Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

OTHER BAY AREA EVENTS TO HELP ANIMALS
1. Attend Effective Advocacy for Animals Workshop in San Francisco This Sunday
2. Help the Wild Parrots - Urge SF Supervisors to Protect Landmark Trees
3. Compassionate Cooks' January Cooking Class: "Healthy Resolutions - High Flavor, Low Calorie"


IDA EVENTS

1. Gopher Gardening at Ocean Beach This Saturday

Join the San Francisco Wildlife Protection Project, an effort by the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department to create a wildlife "sanctuary" along the Great Highway. By landscaping the area according to the Parks Department's specifications, volunteers create a habitat for native gophers and prevent them from being trapped and killed. This is an ongoing monthly effort, and usually takes place on the first Saturday of each month.

What: Gopher Gardening
When: Saturday, January 7th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Where: Corner of the Great Highway and Wawona Street, San Francisco, at the small brick Recreation and Park maintenance building. Click http://tinyurl.com/4hnh2 for directions to this event.

For more information, please contact Karen Steele at (415) 388-9641, ext. 217 or karen [at] idausa.org .


2. IDA's Undercover TV Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

It was one year ago on January 1st, 2005, that IDA President and founder Dr. Elliot M. Katz first proposed his idea for a new television show called Undercover TV (UTV) that would expose the abuse of animals taking place behind the scenes of factory farms, fur ranches, research laboratories and other industrial dungeons to viewers across the nation. Looking back over the last year, UTV has been amazingly successful in this goal, and continues to grow and evolve as more people tune in. Here are some of UTV's key accomplishments to date:

- UTV now shows weekly in 67 cities around the country, and airs intermittently in even more places. As UTV's network of volunteer distributors continues to expand, our message spreads ever more widely across the public airwaves to new communities. Millions of viewers from coast to coast can already watch UTV, making it the most viewer-accessible animal rights television program in history.

- UTV's Producer, Gabe Quash, recently finished editing the 29th episode, featuring footage from the award-winning Tribe of Heart documentary "The Witness." Be sure to catch this eye-opening installment when it airs in your community!

- UTV has been widely recognized as one of today's most innovative and effective animal advocacy campaigns. The show has been written about in several publications, most recently in the October issue of Satya magazine ( http://www.satyamag.com/oct05/thomas.html ). Last month, a blogger on a popular animal rights list wrote, "Recently I came across...Undercover TV, an initiative that really impressed me...It's such a simple and brilliant idea, I wondered why no one had thought of it before." In addition, the latest issue of VegNews magazine ( http://www.vegnews.com ) features UTV's host - bodybuilder and IDA Vegan Spokesperson Kenneth Williams - on the cover.

With all that UTV has done to bring animal abuse into the public eye in 2005, IDA looks forward to achieving even greater success with the show in the coming year. A website redesign is currently in the works, and we hope to have episodes available for download from the Internet very soon. Stay tuned to IDA for more UTV news in 2006, and visit http://www.undercovertv.org to learn more!

What You Can Do:

- UTV airs regularly in the Bay Area communities of San Francisco, Berkeley, Pacifica, Walnut Creek, Petaluma, Palo Alto, Davis, Sacramento, and Marin, Contra Costa and Napa Counties. Visit http://www.idausa.org/undercover_tv.html for channels and times, and check out an upcoming episode.

- If UTV does not yet air on the public access station in your community, volunteer for UTV's distribution network. As a resident of any city, you can submit episodes of UTV to your local public access station simply by dropping off a box of tapes every few weeks. Contact undercover [at] idausa.org for more information.

- UTV is seeking undercover and investigative video footage to show on the air. If you have video footage that exposes violence against animals, please email undercover [at] idausa.org or send a copy to our main office (131 Camino Alto, Mill Valley, CA 94941). Please specify if you would like to remain anonymous.


OTHER BAY AREA EVENTS TO HELP ANIMALS

1. Attend "Effective Advocacy for Animals" Workshop in San Francisco This Sunday

This Sunday, Bay Area Vegetarians (BAV) will present an interactive workshop session entitled "Effective Advocacy for Animals: Activist Skills and Activist Rights." This informative discussion will be led by local activists and is geared towards the Bay Area animal advocacy community. Whether you're new to activism and want to learn how to get involved, you need to recharge your batteries and come up with different strategies for current campaigns, or you want to share your knowledge as a seasoned activist with others, this workshop is for you.

As part of this workshop, experienced local activists will share their favorite techniques and helpful tips for effective outreach through leafleting, tabling and letter writing. Activists' legal rights under California law will also be addressed to ensure you feel confident when speaking out publicly on behalf of animals. Presenters will include:

- Suzanne Haws, who has handed out over 20,000 anti-factory-farming leaflets as part of Vegan Outreach's Adopt-A-College program.

- Nora Kramer, who does humane education presentations at local schools with the Empathy Project, works with CHOICE (Citizens for Healthy Options In Children's Education), and runs the Bay Area Animal Rights Network (BAARN) list.

- Tammy Lee, BAV's President/co-founder and list owner, who will share her favorite strategies for successful tabling.

- Thea Langsam, an attorney at a public interest firm in San Francisco, who will talk about her experience challenging colleges that have tried to illegally to bar volunteers from leafleting. She will also discuss the letter writing parties she regularly holds.

Delicious vegan refreshments prepared by chef and animal rights activist Alex Bury will also be offered free of charge.

What: Effective Advocacy for Animals: Activist Skills and Activist Rights
When: Sunday, January 8th, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Where: Cellspace, 2050 Bryant Street (between 18th & 19th Streets), San Francisco (click http://tinyurl.com/cz5yv for directions)

Walk-ins are welcome, but space is limited, so please RSVP if you are planning to attend this event at http://www.evite.com/sfbaveg [at] yahoo.com/cl_jan2006. If you have questions, please write to Tammy Lee at http://www.bayareaveg.org/rsvp.htm?id=1081 . After the program, participants are welcome to join the group for dinner at a vegan restaurant.

This workshop is offered as part of BAV's Compassionate Living program, which explores issues related to vegetarianism and living compassionately. BAV hosts Compassionate Living events on the second Sunday of every month in San Francisco. Visit http://www.bayareaveg.org/cl.htm for the schedule of upcoming events.


2. Help the Wild Parrots - Urge SF Supervisors to Protect Landmark Trees

About a month ago, IDA reported that absentee landowner John Cowen had cut down the third of five cypress trees comprising a key part of the wild parrots' habitat near the Greenwich Steps in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. At the time, Cowen was planning to cut down the two remaining cypresses, despite pleas from many neighbors and City officials. Such a loss could sever the flock's connection with caretaker Mark Bittner, subject of the acclaimed documentary "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill." Bittner has spent the last decade studying, feeding, caring for and protecting the flock of over 200 birds, but would probably be unable to continue doing so without the trees, which serve as a secure perch from which the parrots can watch for hawks before swooping down to feed from his hand.

By responding to IDA's Action Alert and contacting San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and other City officials, IDA members have played a major role in preserving the remaining cypress trees. Supervisor Bevan Dufty said he received more emails on this issue than on any other since he's been in office, and more than 2,300 caring people signed IDA's petition to preserve the parrots' habitat. Thanks in large measure to the efforts of animal advocates, the Director of City Greening in the Mayor's Office is now facilitating negotiations between the landowners and the Northeast San Francisco Conservancy (a nonprofit land trust which would prune the existing cypresses and plant new ones). Negotiations are ongoing, and everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that an agreement to maintain and eventually replace the trees can be worked out soon.

Furthermore, the proposed landmark tree legislation, which will help preserve San Francisco's natural habitat for all wildlife, was approved by the City Operations & Neighborhood Services Committee. It is now scheduled for the first of several procedural votes by the entire Board of Supervisors, and has a good chance of passing if people continue to voice stalwart support for it. Please help protect San Francisco's natural beauty for the benefit of the animals and people who call the City home by telling the San Francisco Supervisors to pass the strongest possible landmark tree legislation.

What You Can Do:

1) Click http://ga0.org/campaign/SFLandmarkTrees to urge the San Francisco Supervisors to pass the strongest possible landmark tree legislation. To maximize your influence, also contact these City officials by postal mail, phone, fax or personal email. If you are a San Francisco resident, be sure to let your district's Supervisor know that you are a voting constituent. Visit http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_index.asp?id=7271 to get contact information for all Supervisors, and go to http://gispubweb.sfgov.org/website/nuviewer/monsmap.asp?bhiw=999&bhih=591 to find out which Supervisor represents your district.

2) If you haven't done so already, please click http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/793701901?ltl=1136406047 to sign IDA's petition to protect the wild parrots' habitat on Telegraph Hill.

3) Visit http://www.pelicanmedia.org/wildparrots.html to learn more about the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill. Click http://www.pelicanmedia.org/store.htm to purchase the film on DVD or VHS, and to buy Mark Bittner's New York Times best-selling book of the same name.


3 Compassionate Cooks' January Cooking Class: "Healthy Resolutions - High Flavor, Low Calorie"

Join Compassionate Cooks for their first vegan cooking class of the New Year, "Healthy Resolutions - High Flavor, Low Calorie." Though healthful vegetarian diets are naturally lower in calories and higher in fiber than meat- and dairy-based diets, Compassionate Cooks' upcoming class will focus on those delicious dishes that are exceptionally low in fat and calories but high in flavor. On the menu for January's class are Polenta Casserole with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, Sensational Sweet and Sour Tempeh, Gorgeous Garlic & Greens Soup, Quick Bean Burritos and Fantastic Fruit Crumble.

What: Compassionate Cooks' January Cooking Class: "Healthy Resolutions - High Flavor, Low Calorie"
When: Saturday, January 14th, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Where: The First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. (at Castro), Oakland (click http://www.uuoakland.org/directions.htm for directions)

Be sure to register in advance by Thursday, January 12th either online at http://www.compassionatecooks.com/reg.htm or by calling (510) 531-COOK. You can also mail a check to Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, P.O. Box 18512, Oakland, CA 94619. The $45 cost of the class includes instruction, food samples, copies of recipes and much more.