Whether your political views are liberal or conservative, and even if you’ve already voted or are too young to vote, each one of us has an important choice to make today: what to eat.

Compassion Over Killing staff, interns, and volunteers celebrated Vegetarian Awareness Month all October long by distributing thousands of pieces of pro-vegetarian literature at the many fall festivals held across the East Coast.

The dairy industry has consistently shown its lack of regard for animal
welfare and the environment. And COK uncovered information exposing how the
dairy industry milked its own consumers
by illegally jacking up prices.

Late last year, we announced that based on our initial research and development, a class-action lawsuit was filed against major players in the dairy industry
– including the National Milk Producers Federation, Dairy Farmers of America,
and Land O’Lakes – alleging a massive price-fixing scheme that resulted
in over $9.5 billion in unfairly and illegally obtained profits.

No matter how you slice it, meat, which is laden with cholesterol and
saturated fat, has been shown to contribute to a number of common
ailments, such as heart disease. Alarmingly, however, a new report suggests that regardless of your food choices, simply living near a factory farm may contribute to poor health.

There are so many reasons to choose vegan foods—more than nine billion, in fact. Sadly, that’s how many birds, pigs, and cows are killed each year for food in the U.S. (and billions more aquatic animals suffer the same fate).

That’s why, for World Vegan Day (Nov. 1) — and World Vegan Month (Nov.), we’re sharing nine ways to celebrate the compassionate choices we can make to defend these animals who are every bit as smart, social, and sentient as the cats and dogs with whom we share our homes:

Earlier this month, the Judge’s Bench Pub, a local favorite in historic Ellicott City, Md., hosted a benefit for Compassion Over Killing –  100% of the proceeds from its special vegan menu were generously donated to help us help animals.

It’s Food Day! Organized by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food Day is a nationwide celebration
and movement to improve our country’s food policies as they relate to health and
nutrition, hunger, farm worker justice and animal welfare. Fortunately, we have the power to make a difference in all of these areas right now, simply by leaving animals off our plates. Here’s how: