More on EarthSave Seattle and Robert Cohen
by Jeff Nelson

February 19, 2002 -- EarthSave member Sue Aberle sent a letter to me yesterday claiming that I had one fact wrong in my article which details the many lies and abuses of Robert Cohen. She asserted that, in fact, ES Seattle had canceled Rob Cohen due to pressure from dairy sponsors of Taste of Health.

Today Robert Cohen published Sue Aberle's letter on his yahoogroups list claiming vindication that maybe one of the lies he told was actually the truth (it wasn't, as you will see when you read on).

I tried to write back to Sue Aberle last night, but both my emails bounced back with an "Access denied" message, so I was unable to communicate with her before she told Mr. Cohen to publish it.

In any event, for those who would like to know why Robert Cohen was canceled from speaking at Seattle's 2001 Taste of Health, I am publishing below an email from the person who actually made the decision, Stewart Rose, explaining what happened. As you will see, Robert Cohen was never actually booked to speak at Taste, but had offered to speak there for free, and he wasn't "canceled" but his offer was turned down. You'll also see that none of the sponsors of Taste of Health were even aware that Mr. Cohen had offered to speak at the event; hence Mr. Cohen's and Ms. Aberle's claims that there was "pressure" put on EarthSave from outside forces to cancel Mr. Cohen are completely imagined.

Here is Mr. Rose's email to me explaining the situation:

Subject: Robert Cohen
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 08:07:00 -0800
From: "Stewart Rose"
To: "Jeff Nelson"

Dear Jeff,

While Amanda was Chair of Earth Save Seattle, I was Chair of Taste of Health. It was my decision to turn down Robert Cohen's offer to speak at the Health Care Conference that was to be part of Taste Of Health and at the public part of the event. Here is my reasoning as best as I can remember it. I was very concerned about his calling milk "deadly poison". While I am a vegan and have been for years, I felt that this characterization of milk was irresponsible. I personally felt that while milk is not as healthy and not as compassionate as soy milk, calling it "deadly poison" is inaccurate.

But, my decision went beyond my personal thoughts. I considered Robert Cohen's position as being inconsistent with my understanding of what I thought the tone and philosophy of Earth Save as a whole was all about. An additional factor was that I felt that it was unrealistic to have manufacturers and retailers in the market while having a speaker in the next room who would characterize their non Taste Of Health products that they manufacture and sell as "deadly poison". Another reason was that in my experience most people will become vegetarian before becoming vegan or may never get further than vegetarian. I did not wish their first step in the right direction as being characterized by "deadly poison". I also did not want all the public attending being told that they had poisoned their children, for instance, because they had given them milk.

While Mr. Cohen's statements would be his own, the public is often very wary of the whole veg message and I did not want people going around saying that they went to Earth Save's Taste of Health and was told that milk was deadly poison and then by implication accuse these people of poisoning their children, for instance. I was also concerned that all of the rest of what we were trying to say would be discredited by advocating what I regarded as an irresponsible position. The public would reject the notion that milk was deadly poison because to the average person deadly poison is something one swallows and is dead in a very short time and they would quickly point out that they were all still alive. Having determined that that statement was untrue they might then question everything else we said. I was worried about credibility in general. While Robert Cohen is entitled to say what he wants, Earth Save Seattle is not obliged to provide a forum for it at our expense both in terms of money (there were a lot of costs involved even if someone was willing to speak for free) and credibility.

Sue Aberle, who at the time, was taking an increasingly radical raw food vegan tone with a particular anti dairy agenda and who was a supporter of Robert Cohen, argued very bitterly with me on the Robert Cohen issue. I did explain my position to her and the reasons behind it fully at least 3 times that I can remember. I stuck to my decision because what I thought Earth Save was supposed to be all about was different than the orientation and philosophy that Robert Cohen was taking.

In your essay on Robert Cohen, you wrote:

> "He told me that he'd learned ES Seattle had caved in to pressure
> from sponsors with dairy ties to prevent him from speaking. He said
> the EarthSave Seattle leadership was very cowardly for not standing
> up for him, and for valuing dairy money rather than having Mr. Cohen
> there to speak the "truth.""

My reasons for turning down Robert Cohen's offer are plainly stated above. I was never pressured by the dairy industry into taking the position that I did in any way. In fact, none of my sponsors even knew that Robert Cohen had offered to speak and there was no discussion of Robert Cohen with them at all. I won't grace any accusation of "taking dairy money" with a response. Please note that I ran the largest market and sponsorship in Earth Save history twice and that they were both very nearly vegan. The only thing that wasn't vegan that I can remember was the small amount of casein in the soy "cheese" and that both events were particularly strong in dairy alternatives.

I hope this supplies you with the information you need. I have no knowledge of any of the other issues that you raise in your article regarding John Robbins or anyone else. As far as I am concerned, having met John Robbins twice, it would sadden me if anyone spoke to him badly. Interestingly, the last time John Robbins spoke for Earth Save when I was a board member, he spoke almost as much about personal integrity and how to treat others in difficult situations as about food and he told a specific story to illustrate this. I remember sitting next to Rabbi Jay Heyman at the time who told me that John Robbins was right on target and I agree. It is my hope that more people will learn from John Robbins the importance of personal integrity.

Stewart Rose

Click here for a further clarification of the above from Stewart Rose

Mr. Cohen's email on his list today is replete with false statements, such as claiming I've called him a "sexual predator" which I never have. He has been canceled from many EarthSave speaking events due to his threats to Jeff Osman, office manager of EarthSave International in Santa Cruz. Mr. Cohen called and ranted to Mr. Osman that he would make it his "goal" to "destroy EarthSave" and that he intended to "sue EarthSave." This, in addition to Mr. Cohen's attempts to draw in and damage EarthSave over issues relating to Stephen Walsh and completely unrelated to EarthSave -- are what led the Executive Committee of ESI to issue a warning about Cohen to the chapters. Also, Mr. Cohen's appalling treatment of numerous EarthSave members and chapter leaders and of EarthSave founder John Robbins was key in the decision to alert the chapters about his instability.

I want to comment on a couple of points Mr. Cohen made in his rant today. He said:

If you've heard or read some of the vile slander, please
consider that just a few months ago I was invited by
this same individual to be one of five key speakers at
a weekend conference that drew 10,000 people.

This is yet another example of Mr. Cohen's misleading his audience. Mr. Cohen and his wife called me multiple times to beg me to be permitted to speak at the VegSource eVent. We reluctantly gave in and permitted him to be last at the event Various speakers requested that they not be scheduled near him as they did not want any association with him. In fact, we broke for an extra half hour between the last speaker before Mr. Cohen. We did not include Cohen on any of the fliers or posters publicizing the event. Mr. Cohen spoke before an audience of about 250 people, not 10,000 as he tries to mislead.

On Sunday, the following day, John Robbins and Howard Lyman spoke at WorldFest, an event where there were 10,000 people. Mr. Cohen did not speak at the big event; this organizers of that event did not want Cohen speaking at WorldFest as they found him offensive.

Mr. Cohen continues:

I was in pretty good company on that day. The other four
speakers were Howard Lyman, the Mad Cowboy, who
was sued along with Oprah by America's cattlemen,
T. Colin Campbell, America's most respected nutritionist,
John McDougall, one of the finest physicians in the
vegetarian movement, and John Robbins, author of
the best selling book, Diet for a New America.

Most of the above people have expressed deep reservations to me very recently about Mr. Cohen. Some have made it quite clear that they do not wish to be associated with him and will not be attending any future events where he is speaking.

If the statements contained within this man's vile personal
attack were true, I would never have been invited to appear
with four of the best known heros of the vegetarian
movement.

Again, Mr. Cohen was not invited, just as he was not "invited" to have a discussion board on VegSource, though that didn't stop him from telling people he was.

It is not fun being the main dish at a
feeding frenzy. It is not fun being the target of a
lynch mob having just one deranged goal.

The only goal is one Mr. Cohen doesn't seem to appreciate -- to tell the truth -- which we've done and will continue to do.

A few EarthSave Board members have resigned as a result
of this one man's venom.

Untrue. Mr. Cohen's persistent pleas to be permitted to join the EarthSave board were repeatedly denied. His request to head an EarthSave chapter was similarly denied. This looks like a case of sour grapes. I know he wishes he were as privy to board matters as he pretends to be.

Many members of EarthSave have
written to me, threatening to quit the organization
as a result of the injustices I have suffered. I urge
you not to quit. I urge you to support your local
chapter.

This is interesting coming from the person who told the Executive Director of EarthSave Louisville and the Office Manager of EarthSave International in the past two weeks that he planned to make it his "goal" to "destroy EarthSave." I am unaware of any EarthSave members who have quit or threatened to quit because of my telling the truth about Robert Cohen. In fact, it's quite the contrary. Many members have written expressing relief.

There is an interesting Jeckyl/Hyde Cohen/Gandhi thing that goes on here: one moment Mr. Cohen is frothing and threatening and abusive and belligerent, another he's trying to make nice.

I urge you to demand that EarthSave return
to the principles upon which it was founded, for if
it does, it will become an organization that can
impact the world for the better.

It is because we are being true to the principles upon which EarthSave was founded that we so soundly reject Robert Cohen and what he represents.

Jeff Nelson