Celebrating Earth Day and VegWeek 2013! Make a Pledge!

It's that time again! Celebrate Earth Day and VegWeek 2013 with a revamped KMIV post from last year.

Today, Monday, April 22nd is our 43rd anniversary of Earth Day, a day observed to celebrate this amazing planet on which we live by doing "green" acts of good to positively benefit our Earth. Over 1 billion people all over the world actively celebrated this year's Earth Day, as shared by the Earth Day Network, with pledges ranging from planting gardens to "unplugging" for the day, from recycling to limiting water usage.

Within the past couple of years, the United Nations has been outspoken on the one greatest contributor to our global climate/environment issue: the consumption of animal products. Some recent articles, here and here, detail the latest environmental statistics. With the meat and dairy industries' blatant over-usage of earth's precious resources (water and fossil fuels specifically), with the devastation of rainforests to clear space for animal agriculture, with unnecessary pollution, runoff, waste and excess climate-changing gases produced from factory farms (and other smaller animal-based industries), our planet - and therefore, all life on it - is suffering tremendously. While all of the pledges listed above are valuable in their own ways, there is one specific choice that can make the most difference: adopt a compassionate, healthful, Earth-friendly vegan diet. And here's why!

A 2011 study conducted by the Vegetarian Resource Group showed that 2.5% of the US population - that's about 8 million people - consume vegan diets, double the amount from 2009. And along with this "market for vegan food," there's been a distinct decrease in the amount of meat, dairy, and eggs consumed, as noted in Nil Zacharius' HuffPo article.

We still have a long way to go though, and that's why we're reaching out to you to help make a difference this year - which will end up making a difference for all years to come.

This week is VegWeek! Running from today, Monday, April 22nd through Sunday, April 28th, this week is all about making those compassionate, healthful, Earth-friendly choices to benefit all life on our planet along with our Earth herself! What can you do? So many things!

1) Do you eat omnivorously? Not sure what to do? Start simple and try one day of plant-based meals. Just one day. It's amazing what even one day can do to benefit the TriVegta™ (health, animals, environment)...

Yeah, still proud of my invented TriVegta™.

The late Oreo at Animal Acres. (Photo © Cameron O'Steen)

2) Are you bold? Do you want to make a difference? Take a 7-day Veg Pledge (and maybe win some cool prizes from Compassion Over Killing)!

3) Vegetarian? Go Vegan one day! Or even better: the whole week!

4) Vegan? Encourage at least one friend, family member, coworker to try any of options #1-3!

5) Human being? Well, if you are (I think that means every one of you), then please share this blog post to help spread the word about the greatest choice to save our world!