Animal lovers and environmental activists will come together in the Thornden Park Amphitheatre Sunday to celebrate living environmentally responsible and cruelty-free lifestyles. Titled Vegvest 2008, the event features live music, vegetarian food and speeches about animal rights.

Hosted by the student animal liberation group Syracuse Animal Rights Organization, Vegfest will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

‘We’ve got a ton of speakers and musicians, a ton of vegetarian vendors (and) a bunch of cool non-profit groups,’ said Caroline Savage, junior international relations major and SARO member.

Bands will include Akuma Roots, 27, Jared Paul, Hello, Halebopp! and Revision, a pop rock group from Ithaca, N.Y., that travels in vegetable oil-powered vehicles.

‘They’re not the Britney Spears of our age,’ Savage said. ‘They all live or recommend environmentally sustainable lifestyles and also happen to be very talented.’

Speakers for the event include: Gene Bauer, the founder of Farm Sanctuary, a vegan farm animal rescue organization; Erica Meier, the executive director of a nonprofit animal advocacy group called Compassion Over Killing; and Colleen Higgins, an activist for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

‘We’re celebrating the fact that Syracuse is ahead of other cities as far as vegetarian options go,’ said Amber Coon, a freshman at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Savage said she believes Syracuse can ‘rebuild itself as a green city,’ and that Vegfest celebrates that potential.

She added that the push to go green represents a transformation in the area, which, according to Onondaga Lake Partnership, is still recovering from the large amounts of waste and sewage dumped into Onondaga Lake during Syracuse’s industrial prime.

‘There’s a real revolution in Syracuse,’ Savage said. ‘We’ve got this culture of people who are interested in green living. If we can just show other folks it’s easy to live a vegetarian life, we can rebuild a city that’s greener and more sustainable.’

SARO members said Vegfest would be a community event suitable for families and students.

‘The social events really allow you to connect with other like-minded people on campus,’ Coon said.

In the five years since its creation in 2003, SARO has been fighting animal cruelty and working for a greener lifestyle to spark a change in post-industrial Syracuse. It has combined its efforts with several local and national campaigns, from Syracuse to Antarctica.

In early 2004, the group successfully removed Georgios Furs out of the Carousel Center through a petition signed by 300 people. And in 2005, SARO members traveled to Antarctica to fight illegal whaling with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Coon said SARO is not just a group about animal cruelty and going green, but it deals with other types of oppressions in society as well.

‘We talk about how animal issues are connected with other forms of oppression,’ Coon said. ‘We’ve done events dealing with anti-hunger and anti-racists and participated in all these other groups because oppressions are connected. We need to work on all ends of those.’

This year, the group plans to publicize its views on oppressions and environmental friendliness through events such as vegan potlucks, protests, a trip to Farm Sanctuary and a vegan ice cream social.

Any students interested in joining SARO can get involved by going to the group’s meeting Monday at 6 p.m. in Hall of Languages, Room 421.

Times for both the speakers and bands are yet to be determined, but the list can be found online at vegfest.syracuseanimalrights.com.

mcboren@syr.edu

Published on September 3, 2008 at 12:00 pm