Erik
"Let's Get Rid of Animal Agriculture"

Male
42 years old
Santa Cruz, California
United States



Last Login: 11/19/2008
Mood: rockin Mood Image
View My: Pics | Videos

   Contacting Erik



    Erik's Interests
GeneralApart from animal protection work, my main interests are reading, vegan cooking, listening to music, snowboarding, and watching movies. If you're as into vegan cooking as I am, you'll probably enjoy these great recipes:

MusicBoston, Graham Parker, Thin Lizzy, Jackson Browne and Cat Stevens are some of my faves.
MoviesAnything either incredibly smart or breathtakingly stupid: The Godfather, Goodfellas, Life is Beautiful, As Good as it Gets, Beavis and Butthead Do America, Borat.
TelevisionGiants football every Sunday. Olbermann excerpts on MSNBC. Also a big fan of the HBO Series: Oz, Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and The Wire.
BooksMeat Market, Anthony Trollope, David Foster Wallace, Jane Austen.
HeroesWinston Churchill, Henry Spira

     Erik's Details
Status:Single
Here for:Networking, Friends
Orientation:Straight
Hometown:Santa Cruz, CA
Body type:5' 10"
Ethnicity:White / Caucasian
Religion:Atheist
Zodiac Sign:Scorpio
Smoke / Drink:No / Yes
Children:I don't want kids
Education:Grad / professional school
Occupation:Writer, Speaker, Publisher

   Erik's Schools
Columbia U Teachers College
New York, NY
Graduated: 1991
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Master's Degree
Major: Teaching Secondary School English
 

1990 to 1991
Staples High School
Westport, CT
Graduated: N/A
Student status: Alumni
Clubs: Safe Rides!
 

1982 to 1985

   Erik's Networking
Publishing - Writer - Non-fiction
Animal agriculture and vegetarianism.



Erik is indexing his next book. Hope to have it out by Thanksgiving.

Erik's Latest Blog Entry  [Subscribe to this Blog]

Clary Shirky and Dr. Fuhrman  (view more)

Vegan.com Top 10 Recipes, 2008  (view more)

Bonus VegTalk Podcast: Paul Shapiro on California and Colorado  (view more)

Vegan.com Relaunched  (view more)

Paul Shapiro on Chino Slaughterhouse and Humane California  (view more)

[View All Blog Entries]

   Erik's Blurbs
About me:
I work seven days a week on efforts related to animal protection and promoting vegetarianism. I publish Vegan.com, which features my daily blog, and my weekly podcast. Please check out the site:


I'm also the author of two books: Meat Market-Animals, Ethics, and Money (2005), and Vegan-The New Ethics of Eating (1998, 2001).

I do a regular podcast on Vegan.com that provides news, recipes, and commentary. My main activist focus relates to "dismantlement" -- a branch of the animal protection movement specifically devoted to stripping animal agriculture of its key assets. Dismantlement is the theme of Part II of Meat Market.

An important part of my work relates to helping vegetarian activists hone their rhetoric in order to become more persuasive. Towards that end, I advocate the "commodity-cruelty argument." This argument is described at length in Meat Market but can be boiled down to just a few sentences. Specifically, animal products tend to be almost pure commodities. As such, only the lowest cost producers can stay in business. It turns out that the main way to bring down the costs related to raising poultry and livestock is to resort to overcrowding the animals and subjecting them to inadequate care. So what we have in the United States is an industry that systematically brutalizes nearly every single one of the ten billion farmed animals it raises each year. And on top of that, the industry consistently lies about the cruelties it inflicts upon all these animals.

I'm devoted to helping people learn to advocate effectively for farmed animals, and inspiring them to take up a variety of activist efforts. If you'd like to find out more about my work, please check out my podcast on Vegan.com.

Who I'd like to meet:
That's really easy. I want to meet people who are disgusted by cruelty and who want to work to make the world a more compassionate place. Above all, I would like to meet people with the ambition to make a big difference: how would you like to keep a million animals out of the slaughterhouse?

   Erik's Friend Space (Top 12)
Erik has 2075 friends.
 VegNews Magazine 


 Vegan Outreach 


 Mercy For Animals 


 Vote YES for Farm Animals 


 Michelle 


 Compassion Over Killing 


 Dreena Burton 


 WegmansCruelty.com 


 The Humane Society of the United States 


 Compassionate Action for Animals 


 TVA 


 Josh 





Erik's Friends Comments
Displaying 50 of 444 comments  ( View All | Add Comment )
Veggies not FLESH





Nov 8 2008 1:43 AM

Really cool! Thanks for getting back to me! I will be on the lookout for the new book - what is the name? I'm going to begin reading "Slaughterhouse" next......the more I read these books and watch videos, I just want to become a full-time activist! I'm adopting a turkey for Thanksgiving from Farm Sanctuary too! So cute!!
Veggies not FLESH





Nov 7 2008 3:11 AM

Erik,

I just got done reading Vegan, the New Ethics of Eating and I have to say it was truly wonderful and such an eye opener! I became vegan for the animals, but it's great to know that it does help on other levels as well. Really want to try your cashew cheese though! Thanks for writing such a wonderful book!!

Peace & love,
Michelle
BROOKE HALEY BRUCE





Nov 7 2008 1:30 AM

hey thanks!
ill def. give vegan. com a look!
thanks for the add its great knowing there is other vegans
cause where i live i say im a vegan to people & they just look at me haha they have no idea what it means
ttyl cya ~brooke haley bruce~
vegan-shani





Nov 6 2008 12:00 AM

yay for Prop 2!!!!
Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary





Oct 22 2008 7:53 PM

Thanks for adding Tower Hill Stables to your friends Erik.

Meet Marylin who was living at a petting farm in Dorest. She had lived there for 8 years and had been used to breed cute piglets so that the visitors could say "oh look at the piglets" etc - every one of her 88 babies were taken away from her as soon as they were a few months old and sent for slaughter.



Please support if you can.
phoebe





Oct 12 2008 12:40 AM

Hey Erik,

http://www. ecorazzi. com/2008/10/07/announing-the-veg-blog-round-up-news-from-around-web/

Sure you know already but vegan. com was mentioned in the above link!

My next Amazon purchase will be thru vegan. com!

Jerry Garcia Later,

The last vegan in Tahoe
=)
Stephanie's Organic Bakery





Oct 9 2008 10:27 PM

Erik, we are so proud of your lifetime dedication to the animals. Come to San Diego and try our vegan cupcakes and pizza!
Thanks, Stephanie's Organic Bakery
helter skelter


Is Online


Sep 24 2008 5:01 AM

Thank you for Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating.... it changed me so much. I did a project on what career I would chose besides the one you want to pursue and I chose to be a vegan activist.

:)
LaLa! Je Le Veux Tout





Sep 16 2008 11:49 AM

Awe okay. Well I hope to see you soon. Make sure it's not all work and you do have some play. Don't want you getting stressed out and such.
LaLa! Je Le Veux Tout





Sep 16 2008 2:33 AM

Are you coming to the Boston Vegetarian Fest this year? I would love to see you there again!
vegan-shani





Sep 9 2008 4:16 AM

ERIK!!!
I am so sorry I missed you tonight! I wanted to finally meet you, was talking to my volunteers and boom, you were gone =(
I hope to run into you soon, perhaps at the celebration party when prop 2 passes =)
You looked great though haha!!

**hugs**
shani
Johnny Utah





Aug 22 2008 8:43 PM

Just wanted to say I read The Meat Market and it changed my life forever.

Thank you!

Zelan Nothing
Lincoln City, Oregon
Vegan Eating Out





Aug 6 2008 6:55 AM

Thanks for the add!



http://www. veganeatingout. com
Baba Roots 100% Natural Energy Drink Official Site





Jul 23 2008 8:54 AM

Love your page Erik--thanks for the support...stop by any time...
Love all animals





Jul 22 2008 8:15 PM

Thanks for the add! Keep up the great work!!!
Angela Kneale 煮る、 天死 です.





Jul 19 2008 2:39 AM

Long time no see!
I adopted a pig because I was reminded of you. Hazel! Going to do my best to make sure she has a home... Hi It's July
♫♪ Michelle ♪♫





Jul 12 2008 2:59 AM




Myspace Comments
Thanks for all that you do! Hope you have a wonderful weekend :)
Peace, Michelle
Kindness of Strangers VIP only friends





Jul 11 2008 1:08 AM

Thank you for all you do!
Madeleine Bistro





Jul 9 2008 11:31 PM

Thanks for the add Erik!
Vote YES for Farm Animals





Jul 9 2008 6:09 PM

..The Humane Society of the United States
Join us on Facebook | Get web badges

..
Susannah





Jun 29 2008 11:11 PM

Christina





Jul 9 2008 5:41 AM

Thanks Erik! I love to see what's on my Vegan. com widget everyday.
You are such an awesome person doing amazing things for our animal friends and our environment!
CHRIS!!!





Jun 5 2008 9:30 PM

Frankly.... Im suprized..! I assumed that the increase in sales as a result of the gluttony encoraged my Ms. Paula Dean would MORE than make up for any drop in profit. My Bad! (Time to try to blame the vegans for driving up corn prices!) Also that Center for Consumer Freedom piece is so lame I am beyond words. Especially for thier attack on the PCRM.
HELLO THEY ARE PHYSICIANS U ARE NOT - YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO CRITIQUE THEM!!!
Flight of the Vegan





Jun 3 2008 11:54 AM

Love the vegan challenge idea!!!
Education for the Advancement of Animal Rights





Jun 2 2008 7:03 PM

You are an inspiration to everyone who cares about animals and the environment. Thank you for everything!

Peace,
-Will
Greer Coltrane





May 26 2008 5:26 AM

You are amazing! YAY vegans!
Jane Littledeer





May 24 2008 5:06 AM

Thank you Erik!! My 2 and a half year old grand daughter is Vegan! She even tells everyone she meets..."MEAT IS MURDER" !! You would be so proud of her! Have an awesome weekend! PhotobucketPhotobucket
♥Da♥Bella♥Don♥proud supporter of President Obama!!





May 19 2008 1:20 PM

Hey, Eric! I'm stopping by to thank you for accepting my request! I've visited your website (vegan. com)plenty of times and learned a whole when I first decided to go vegan. Afterwards, I tried the fruitarian thing (did not work out for me)but veganism is the perfect lifestyle or me and my children.

Thanks again,
ChazzREG PIC
BIG





May 16 2008 3:40 AM

Thanks for the add erik! Your Book "Vegan" is still the catalyst to my choice to make the change to a cruelty free lifestyle! Keep up the good work.
Vote YES for Farm Animals





May 14 2008 11:28 PM

Thanks for your support!

www.humanecalifornia.org
SnowStormO





May 2 2008 9:02 PM

Thanks for the add, and of course for all of the work that you do!
Wendy♥Bird





Apr 23 2008 9:51 AM

I love your page!!

Thanks so much for being my friend!!

Peace and Love, Wendy
Mulina





Apr 21 2008 7:31 PM

Photobucket

Greetings Erik! Thank you for using your talent to help expose the cruel and environmentally damaging practice of factory farming.

Earthy blessings to you,
Mulina
The Menthol Mormon Legionnaire





Apr 16 2008 5:31 AM

Mr. Marcus- i wanted to tell you how much i appreciate the constant updates on your website. Picking up where "tastes better" left off!

Awhile ago, we exchanged emails concerning stopping by my co-op (other avenues) if you visit San Francisco.
Hope to see you there sometime!
Dawn of the Dead





Apr 9 2008 8:18 PM

Thanks for the post on vegan. com about homemade peppermint patties! Those look delicious and recently my boyfriend and I have been trying to come up with new ideas for treats to cover in chocolate.
KC