Happy Earth Day!

What's the best way to go green? The answer - without a doubt - is to go vegan. Think I'm biased? Okay. But it's still true. Here are some startling facts:

• Human population of the U.S. - 270,000,000
• Number of humans that could be fed by the grain fed to livestock - 1,300,000,000
• Animal agriculture contributes more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than all the cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined
• Seven football fields' worth of land is bulldozed every minute to create more room for farmed animals
• Of all the agricultural land in the U.S. 80% is used to raise animals for food and to grow the grain needed to feed them
• One pig raised for food consumes 21 gallons of water per day
• One dairy cow consumes up to 50 gallons of water per day
• It takes 2,400 gallons of water to produce one pound of cow flesh
• It takes 25 gallons of water to produce one pound of wheat
• More than half the water used in the U.S. goes to raising animals for food
• Production of excrement by total U.S. population: 12,000 pounds per second
• Production of excrement by total U.S. livestock: 250,000 pounds per second - without a sewage system
• As of 2006 there was a "dead zone" the size of half of the state of Maryland in the Gulf of Mexico. No plant or sea animals exist there due to the high nitrogen levels caused by waste runoff from factory farms. The runoff seeps into nearby waterways which almost always lead to the Mississippi River, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

These are just a few of the startling facts about factory farming. But you can make a difference! The Smithsonian Institute reported that if every American replaced one meal containing chicken with one containing vegetarian foods every week, it would be the same as removing over half a million cars off the road. So how about Meatless Mondays? Do you think you can go meatless for just one day of the week, every week? Try it! Do it for the animals, the Earth and for you!