Every year on Valentine’s Day, we’re inclined to buy candies, cards, flowers, and stuffed animals to show our loved ones, friends, and family just how much we care. Why not, however, go beyond these small displays of affection and make choices that truly have a positive impact for animals, for your health, and the environment? It’s as simple as choosing to leave animals off our plate this Valentine’s Day.
Forget Friday—Meatless Monday is our favorite day of the week. Especially now that the entire City of Angels is celebrating its FIRST Meatless Monday, after the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a “Meatless
Monday” resolution!
Compassion Over
Killing worked closely with council members to develop this initiative, and we applaud them for encouraging residents to choose meat-free foods at least once a week as a way to help protect their health, the environment, and animals.
A growing number of people from coast to coast are choosing vegetarian
foods as a way to protect their health, the planet, and animals—and
restaurants everywhere are catching on. Including in Texas!
While Austin may be known as Longhorn
country, it’s also home to dozens of eclectic cafes and popular
restaurants offering enticing veg-friendly menus to the hungry masses. In fact, the city has become a hot spot for healthy and compassionate fare.
The past two weekends, Compassion Over Killing has been invited to talk with hundreds of bright and politically-minded students from all over the U.S. who gather in the DC-area for regional conferences with the Junior Statesmen of America.
These students are eager to learn and engage in dialogue on a number of issues, so COK’s team of volunteers and staff came prepared with a wealth of information highlighting the negative impacts of factory farming and the many benefits of vegetarian eating. We even invited them to watch a four-minute video revealing the miseries forced upon animals raised for food.
Boxed chocolates are a Valentine’s Day cliché, and unfortunately for our animal friends, one that typically contains cow’s milk. That’s why Compassion Over Killing volunteers in Los Angeles gathered in bustling downtown Culver City to serve up scrumptious, cruelty-free chocolates—and to show that dairy isn’t necessary to make a treat that will satisfy your sweet tooth and dazzle your sweetheart.
We recently told you that our friends at Something Healthy restaurant in Los Angeles collaborated with us to create a COK-inspired “Compassion Club,” with 10% of proceeds benefiting our campaigns for animals. Well, within a few short weeks, this new all-vegan protein-packed sandwich jumped to the top of the café’s best-seller list and it’s now permanently added to the menu!
Last month, we told you about the unfortunate return of so-called “ag gag” bills in several states; these are bills which aim to criminalize whistleblowing exposés of the cruel realities of factory farming. In other words, agribusiness interests are trying to shut down undercover investigations in an effort to prevent Americans from finding out what really goes on behind the closed doors of the meat, milk, and egg industries.
For two days straight, COK’s booth at the popular NBC4 Health & Fitness Expo was non-stop busy with people eager to give vegetarian eating a try. Many said they’ve already started to reduce their meat consumption and others asked us how to get started. Their comments confirm what the US Dept. of Agriculture states in a recent report: Americans are eating less and less meatAttendees were voracious for more information on vegetarian eating, and our stellar team of over a dozen volunteers shared personal stories, meal ideas, tips, free food samples, video clips of factory farming, and of course lots of printed materials.
In 2011, we announced that after working with Compassion Over Killing (COK), the Canadian-based quick-service sandwich chain, Pita Pit, added a new vegan black bean patty to its menus in over 100 locations throughout the US. We also successfully worked with the UK-based Quorn, the world’s number one brand of meat-free alternatives, to launch its first-ever, all-vegan product.