Bet you didn’t know there was a World Vegetarian Week! Well there is and it’s here. World Vegetarian Week is the annual celebration of meat-free meals, and for those that already are vegetarian, you can carry on as normal, however for all you meat-lovers out there, this week you can celebrate by taking a pledge to be “Veg for 7 days.” In fact, you can start over by heading to your local Johnny Rockets, who has teamed up with PETA to offer a free Streamliner(with a purchase of any sandwich, starter and drink), the original meatless Boca burger with grilled onions, fresh lettuce, ripe tomato, pickle and mustard. VegCooking has the Streamliner coupon to prove it.

PETA also offers a free “Vegetarian Starter Kit,” a guide to going vegetarian and also two-week meal plans. If you sign the pledge to become veg, you’ll receive an email with tips on the best places to eat out, recipes and snacks.

Now more than ever, vegetarianism should be a lifestyle many might consider taking up, as we’re bombarded with news reports not only on beef recalls, but on the cruel treatments animals receive on factory farms, including the horrible conditions they’re in. Just recently, 143 million pounds of beef were recalled from a Chino slaughterhouse ( who has been accused of inhumane practices), making it the biggest recall in U.S Department of Agriculture history.

The chicken you’ll be having for dinner might be deemed “all natural,” but chances are, it lead a less than natural life before it ended up on your plate. What’s more, a recent United Nations report entitled Livestock’s Long Shadow details that eating meat is “one of the most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at ever scale from local to global.” Eating meat causes almost 40 percent more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks and planes in the world combined.

Here are some great links to check out:

• The Carbon Footprint of a Cheeseburger - “The greenhouse gas emissions arising every year from the production and consumption of cheeseburgers is roughly the amount emitted by 6.5 million to 19.6 millions SUVS.”

• The Virtual Water in All Things - Pork: 1440 litres of water for one steak.

• Eating for Peace - A talk by the Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh on Mindful Consumption.

• The Meatrix - “Take the blue pill and stay here in the fantasy, take the red pill and I’ll show you the truth.”

• Meat.org -The website the meat industry doesn’t want you to see.

For an eye opening and compelling documentary on the animal industry and how humans depend on animals for profit, check out Earthlings. Happy Vegging!

Photo by broken.soul via Flickr

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