April 20-26, 2015 marks US Veg Week with a bold platform to promote learning about vegetarian and vegan living while raising awareness of the benefits.   Those who take the pledge will receive recipes, coupons, news and maybe even swag for recruiting.  To those new to veggie life, dozens of partnering companies participate by providing support like incentives, meal ideas, and more.  Participation is as simple as taking the VegPledge.

Whether choosing veg life for ethical, environmental, or health reasons, US Veg Week provides resources and tools for support.  Kicking off near Earth Day, one of the goals of Veg Week is to highlight the environmental benefits of plant-based eating.  According to a 2015 USDA report, the “major findings regarding sustainable diets were that a diet higher in plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, and lower in calories and animal-based foods is more health promoting and is associated with less environmental impact than is the current U.S. diet.”  The report suggests that reduced meat consumption has notable advantages for health and sustainability, which confirms the value of efforts like the global Meatless Monday, Choose Veg, and other tools.

Every meal is a choice, and changing habits at the dining room table offers a simple way to make meaningful change.  For ethical and religious vegetarians, the health benefits may be less motivational than the intrinsic value of environmental sustainability and harm reduction, but wherever the starting point, the benefits are evident.  Some domestic animal advocates make the connection easily, after finding out that animals used for food (like pigs, cows, and chickens) are  often as sociable and emotionally complex as the furry friends they care for at home.  Whether reducing or eliminating meat, resources like free “Vegetarian Starter Kits,” news about Veg Fests, and learning about humane choices for farm animals can be helpful for those making an effort to reduce meat consumption during Veg Week  – and beyond.

“The hardest part of returning to a truly healthy environment may be changing the current totally unsustainable heavy-meat-eating culture … But we must try. We must make a start, one by one.” ~ Jane Goodall, Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating

Who’s in?  Join the movement and take the pledge for US Veg Week!