Former cattle rancher and nationally recognized sustainable agriculture advocate Howard F. Lyman will speak on Eating With a Conscience -- How it Affects Your Health, The Environment and the Animals on November 1, 1996, at 7:00 P.M., at the Durham Friends Meeting House, 408 Alexander Avenue, near the Duke University Hospital in Durham. Following Mr. Lyman's speech, audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions, and then to meet Mr. Lyman at a brief reception catered by Wellspring Grocery.

Many of you probably know Mr. Lyman from his recent visit to The Oprah Winfrey Show or from his work with The Humane Society of the United States' (HSUS) "Eating With a Conscience" campaign. He is a fourth-generation family farmer who, after nearly 40 years of raising everything from beef cattle to barley using increasingly modern "intensive" methods, came to the conclusion that "chemically based agricultural production methods today are unsustainable, and therefore ecologically disastrous".

Following a devastating illness in 1979, Mr. Lyman decided that he would dedicate the rest of his life to "doing what I believed to be right -- no matter what changes that necessitated." He sold most of his farm, and became an advocate for family farmers, first in his home state of Montana, and then on Capitol Hill. He ran for Congress in 1982 (losing by a very narrow margin) and, in 1992, became Executive Director of the International Beyond Beef Campaign. Most recently, as Director of the HSUS "Eating With A Conscience" campaign, he has spoken on more than a thousand radio stations, hundreds of television stations, and to groups ranging from small audiences to assemblies of more than twenty-five thousand. His message is always the same: "If there is to be a bright future for our children and grandchildren, it will come from consumer support of producers who work in concert with nature -- organically, sustainably and humanely".

Once when Mr. Lyman was giving a presentation, David Merken, producer of the television show, "The Simpsons", stormed out because he thought the speech contained a lot of misinformation. When he verified all of the facts in the library the next day, he called Mr. Lyman to apologize and asked him to present to the "Simpsons" writing staff. Based on this, the staff crafted an episode in which Lisa Simpson became a vegetarian; Mr. Merken recently won an award for this episode.

We owe this tremendous opportunity to the Wayne County Vegetarian Society in Goldsboro (thanks, David and Jean!), who are sponsoring Mr. Lyman's visit to North Carolina, and who have graciously offered to let us borrow him for an evening in the Triangle. All that we need now is the committed effort of TVS members to make this event a rousing success. Mr. Lyman's talks attract, on average, around 75 people...if we do this right, we should be able to generate a great deal of positive publicity for TVS, as well as promote the important message of humane and sustainable food practices to people from all walks of life throughout the Triangle. Please take a moment to read the "Call To Action" below, and contact me or Dilip if you can help in any way.

Call to Action
Publicity: We need a lot of help to try to get the word out. We have press releases and some press contacts, but if you know of someone who can help make sure our information is seen by the right people at area newspapers, radio stations and TV stations, please let us know. We want to make the best use of Mr. Lyman's time (it's a real privilege for us to be hosting him!), so are also looking for reporters who might be interested in interviewing him before the event.

Flyers, program: We need someone to put together flyers, as well as energetic people to distribute them throughout the Triangle. We also need help putting together the program for the evening and to work that night - setting up, staffing a TVS informational table, and helping with the reception and cleanup.

November 1 is right around the corner, and we're organizing this with very little lead time. Please help in whatever way you can -- Audrey or Dilip would love to hear from you!