Dear Dave,

Thanks for the invitation to your meetings. I don't think I've ever
had an email read and replied to by committee before : )

I'd be interested in hearing what the goals are for the group. Is it
mainly to try to educate about and encourage vegetarianism? Is it to
draw attention to animal rights issues?

The reason that my husband, Rob, and I became vegetarians was because
of animal rights issues. I was very focused on the animal rights
aspects early on, but over the years, I've become more focused on
environmental issues. I have to be diplomatic and careful about what I
say among my meat-eating environmentalist friends, but I don't think
it's logical to be an environmentalist and eat meat, since meat
production has such adverse effects upon the environment. I'm not very
knowledgeable about how meat farming is done in the UK, so it may be
less destructive to the environment than the big factory farms in the
U.S. I have lots to learn.

I'm looking forward to learning more about each of you. We're trying
to house-hunt in Shropshire, but we're not making a lot of progress at
this point. If any of you have any suggestions for that, I'd be
grateful. We're really looking forward to finding a place and getting
settled in.

rella