Our friends at Compassion Over Killing are promoting US VEGWEEK. Their campaign page explains the reasons:

Kicking off near Earth Day, US VegWeek encourages people to explore the many benefits of vegetarian eating by taking the 7-Day VegPledge. Be healthy, save the environment, protect farmed animals, and eat a ton of tasty food!

Food for Life Global fully supports this noble and innovative idea to help encourage people to get away from eating meat for at least one week for all the right reasons. And there are plenty of them, for example, US VEGWEEK is celebrated during the same week as Earth Day to highlight the positive impact a plant-based diet has on the environment. According to the US Dietary Advisory Committee’s 2015 report, a diet higher in plant-based foods and lower in animal-based foods is “more health promoting and is associated with lesser environmental impact than is the current average US diet,” explained Congresswoman Gabbard.

“As a lifelong vegetarian, I am proud to support US VegWeek and encourage others to take the 7-Day VegPledge. Centering your diet around plant-based foods also has a positive impact on our environment and improving public health,” she said.

Congresswoman Gabbard is a practicing Vaisnava, a spiritual culture built on compassion for all animals, especially cows. The tradition promotes spiritual equality for all beings, as does Food for Life Global.

Why is this a good thing?

Taking a pledge to avoid meat and dairy for one week will have a tremendous impact on your life, what to speak of the live’s of animals and the planet.

It has been well documented how much damage is caused to the environment by the factory farming of animals. Indeed, the livestock business is among the most damaging sectors to the earth’s increasingly scarce water resources, contributing among other things to water pollution from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and the pesticides used to spray feed crops. And yet, with many parts of the world experiencing water shortages, reducing the consumption of meat and dairy is rarely considered as part of the solution. Take, for example, the current water shortages in California. The government is proposing all kinds of innovative ways to save water, including shorter showers, and yet, a plant-based diet is never talked about. Why? Could it be that the meat and dairy industry have too much control of the messaging to the public?

But, putting aside the environmental benefits of abstaining from meat and dairy, what about the benefits to your moral and spiritual health? This is something that can only be measured by your own personal experience. Taking the Veg week pledge could be exactly what you need to break through your mental and spiritual barriers. You see, although the human body has adapted over the centuries to be omnivorous, and there is compelling evidence to support just about any kind of diet, one thing that is often not spoken about is that a plant-based diet is less violent, more morally consistent and, therefore, healthier for your spiritual development.

Animals have consciousness and social bonds that are far more developed than plants, so subsisting on a plant-based diet is far less violent. At Food for Life Global, we believe the moral imperative of subsisting on a plant-based diet far outweighs any other reason for abstaining from meat and dairy. Trying a plant-based diet out for one week is a moral vote for the animals and the environment, but more so for your own spiritual health. Just do it.