EATING FOR PEACE VEG-A-THON LAUNCHES NATIONALLY

21 Days of Vegetarian Eating Yields Donations to United Nations Children’s Fund...


WHAT People who have never before been vegetarians agree not to eat meat for 21 days (the time it takes to break most habits)Sponsors pledge $5 or more – to be donated to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for humanitarian relief to children in war torn countries. For 21 days worth of vegetarian meal ideas go to recipes.

WHEN Veg-a-Thon starts June 1, 2004.

WHERE Nationally – vegetarian and environmental organizations are urged to join this effort across the country.

WHO Sponsored by Eating For Peace, a not-for-profit organization based in San Francisco.

THE PROBLEM Every day, 40,000 children die of malnutrition. The US meat industry consumes enough grain and soybeans to feed more than five times the US population. More than half the water used in the US goes to livestock. Livestock operations produce 130 times the waste of the entire human population. One acre of pasture produces 165 pounds of beef – OR 20,000 pounds of potatoes. Rain forests are being destroyed to provide pasture for cattle – an acre of trees disappears every eight seconds.


THE SOLUTION If Americans reduced their meat consumption by just 10%, 12 million tons of grain would be available – enough to feed the 60 million people who starve to death annually. Each new vegetarian can save an acre of trees per year.

PERSONAL HEALTH Vegetarians suffer less heart disease, hypertension, obesity, and diabetes, various cancers, diverticular disease, bowel disorder, gall stones, kidney stones and osteoporosis. Cancer rates for vegetarians are 25 to 50 percent below population averages, even after adjusting for smoking, body mass index, and socio-economic status.

CALL TO ACTION To sign up for the Veg-a-Thon, contact Phillip Crawford, Executive Director of Eating for Peace, at 1135 Hyde Street, Suite 6, San Francisco 94109 (phone: 415-902-2392), or register at Eating for Peace

Eating for Peace connects diet choices with an easy way to raise funds for children living in countries ravaged by war. The organization educates people in the world’s richest countries about the benefits of a vegetarian diet for protecting the environment, ending world hunger, and promoting human health.