FAQs
• What is VegNet.net?
• How does VegNet.net define “vegetarian”?
• What is a vegetarian community?
• Who manages VegNet.net?
• What are the VegNet.net intentions?
• I like the idea of an umbrella organization linking vegetarian communities. How can I help get that going?
What is VegNet.net? VegNet.net is like an organic community garden - it's always growing and changing, and there's plenty of composting, mulching, planting and harvesting for any one of us who participates.
It started out as a website where people interested in finding vegetarian or vegan communities can more easily do so, and where groups struggling to found veg/an communities might find moral support and helpful ideas. But as you see from the Intentions (the last but one question below), VegNet.net is open to evolving in a variety of ways, given the inputs and enthusiasm of fellow veg/an communitarians.
Our questions for you are:
- As a veg/an group member or communitarian, would you like to be linked with other community-minded veg/ans, some of them living in veg/an communities - via VegNet e-letters, listserv, forums?
- How would these VegNet functions differ from the ones already offered by FIC (www.ic.org, the Fellowship for Intentional Community), www.cohousing.org and other similar community websites? We don't want to duplicate what is done so well by FIC et al. So let us know how VegNet could be different and helpful for you as a veg/an.
- Do you, your group or community have needs that VegNet.net might help you meet? Do you have announcements, festivals, open-house gatherings that you would like to share with a wider audience?
- Do you have skills and time you would be willing to share with VegNet.net?
How does VegNet.net define “vegetarian”? We quite like the following definition, which is based on something from the Qur'an, actually: Vegetarians are people and animals who eat what grows "in" the earth, rather than what lives "on" the earth. (See Qur'an 2:168-169.) So as vegetarians, we eat vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, lentils, herbs, etc. (“what grows in the earth”), and we do not eat humans, animals, fish, birds, insects, reptiles and their eggs – because they, like us, “live on the earth”.
What is a veg/an community? Veg/an is short for vegan and/or vegetarian. A veg/an community is a group of people living intentionally in a community whose dietstyle is vegetarian or vegan.
You’ll find a wide variety of veg/an dietstyles in the veg/an communities and at the common house meals. We’ve defined most of the varieties in the list below – and you can read exact descriptions of the communities you are interested in by clicking on the community links on the VegNet Communities page.
• Vegan: no animal products of any kind in food (no honey or milk products, no meat, fish or eggs). Vegans traditionally are careful to avoid animal products not only in food but also in clothing, shoes, bedding, cosmetics, etc. (no wool, silk, leather, fur, down/feathers; no animal products in compost; no animal testing). On this website we use the term vegan to describe food choices only.
• Raw vegan: as in vegan, but no cooked food.
• Lacto-vegetarian: allow dairy products and honey.
• Lacto-ovo-vegetarian: allow eggs, dairy products and honey.
• Primarily vegetarian: mostly lacto-ovo-vegetarian but also eat or allow meat and fish. Some “primarily vegetarian” omnivorous communities serve purely vegan community meals.
• Alcohol, “drugs”, tobacco, weapons: Veg/an communities may prohibit the use of some or all of these, as noted in the Community descriptions.
Who manages VegNet.net? VegNet.net is run by a team of veg/an volunteers from different states in the US – three of them associated with ASLVVC (which is on the Primarily Vegan Communities list). The Intentions spell out what VegNet.net is about – basically service, working together for the good of all concerned. Please contact VegNet.net if you’d like to help!
What are theVegNet.net intentions? The core of VegNet.net is service: working together, sharing, supporting, for the benefit of ourselves and others.
VegNet.net began as a way to meet what we feel are two basic needs:
To have an easily accessible listing of veg/an communities in North America and different countries around the world so that people who would like to visit, work in or live in a vegan or vegetarian community can more easily find what they are looking for.
With the kind assistance of the FIC (www.ic.org), one-click lists of veg/an communities are now available on the VegNet Communities page. Ta-da!
The more veg/an groups and communities that register their existence (forming or functioning) at ic.org, the more complete the VegNet list will automatically become. Your help is needed with this - please encourage any groups you know about to register at the Fellowship for Intentional Communities (www.ic.org ). Since "intentional" communities includes every kind - cohousing, ecovillage, egalitarian, you name it - registering at the FIC Directory creates a fantastic resource for all of us.
The other primary need we see is for veg/an groups striving to form veg/an communities to have a way to make known their intentions so that interested veg/ans can join them; also for such groups to find out about the availability of land for the development of veg/an communities.
VegNet.net attempts to address this need in a variety of ways:
- On the VegAds page we list any land we hear about that is available for developing veg/an communities
- On the Communities page any group can register their veg/an intentional "community" and make their presence known by joining the growing list of veg/an communities, both existing and forming
- Anybody - individual, small group, community - can place a free annoucement on the VegAds page about veg/an community, to reach potentially interested veg/ans
- And VegNet.net is always open to suggestions, so let us know any other ways VegNet.net can help you find and found veg/an communities!
Other VegNet.net intentions
As the VegNet team expands with volunteer help and we get feedback and inputs from veg/an communitarians, we plan to prioritize the following intentions and work together towards manifesting them:
- To be a resource of information (links, books, ideas) for veg/an communitarians and pioneers of vegetarian communities. [See the RESOURCES and LINKS pages, April 07, and the ECO-DEVELOPMENT page, May 07]
- To develop a system of subdomains so that veg/an communities are able to set up a website free - with VegNet help, if needed. This may be of particular interest to low-budget Forming Communities.
- To acknowledge the work that has already been done and is on-going in veg/an communities, through positive exposure in webspace, online communications and articles, [TRIATHLON AWARDS page, 6/07] and to support positive collaboration and teamwork among communities as a way to go further in serving ourselves and others.
- To be a link between widespread veg/an communitarians – via the website and such additional online activities as an e-newsletter, chat room, periodic teleconference call, listserv; also via hard-copy publications: newsletters, booklets, books, magazines. [The VEG ADS page, May 07]
Long-term possibilities
- To collate and provide the press with a package of positive and informative articles (written by veg/an communitarians or perceptive journalists) and photos that can be used as background research or as the basis for articles, books or other media focus on veg/ans in community.
- To act as a catalyst for various endeavours and activities, including annual get-togethers or conferences of veg/an communitarians, for discussions, seminars, sharing, encouragement and fun.
- To provide a forum for identifying common areas of need (e.g., low-cost organic food, low-cost non-toxic housing, low-cost land, and getting low- and no-interest loans) and use the combined group power of intentional communities to brainstorm and implement practical and beneficial solutions.
I like the idea of an umbrella organization linking veg/an communitarians. How can I help get that going? Thanks for your interest and your willingness to participate. The first step might be to think about the pros and cons of having an umbrella organization... Like, Do we really need one? !
- Is it counterproductive to the work of existing community networks (like FIC, GEN, Coho, FEC) to have a veg/an umbrella organization?
- Shouldn't we put our energy into supporting, improving and expanding the work of FIC, GEN, Coho, FEC, rather than creating a separate or subsidiary veg/an network?
- What would a veg/an umbrella organization do that FIC, GEN, Coho, FEC don't already do?
If you are still undaunted and feel a veg/an network would serve veg/an communitarians and the several hundred veg/an communities that are in the formation stage, then:
- How to start it, where and who?
- Do you have time to contribute?
- Is VegNet a viable beginning for such an organization?
There's a stimulating article by Jonathan Dawson of Global Ecovillage Network (www.gen.org) in the Winter 2006 issue of Communities, the FIC magazine. Jonathan challenges us to think larger than our own community - to develop an identify with an extended family of other communitarians and intentional communities. http://communities.ic.org/back_issues/
Here are three points Jonathan Dawson highlights:
- The need for ecovillages to identify themselves as belonging and of service to something larger than themselves alone
- The creation of alliances with partners with whom they can work bioregionally
- Developing ties specifically of economic mutuality
We are constrained by a lack of resources and partners from taking on many of the noble community- and planet-serving activities that we could undertake.... Partnership and alliances define the way forward. - Jonathan Dawson, Global Ecovillage Network