Local activist Leslie Armstrong drew this fabulous cartoon for the Asheville Citizen-Times!

Bizarro cartoonist asks, Are Humans Natural Carnivores?

http://www.bizarro.com

Asheville Vegan Takes Weight Lifting Prize!

Yes, that's our own Joe Walsh pumping the iron that would win him the IBP strict curl competition for his weight class in the open (all ages) category. We don't have a shot of him bench pressing his way to victory, but he did that too. He did us proud at the, drug tested, event by sporting a farm sanctuary t-shirt during the competition and a VEGAN t-shirt (not to mention that vegan ink!) as he picked up his "hardware" (i.e. trophies). Way to represent, Joe!

Everyday is Earth Day

Spring is a time when many of us turn our attention to the natural world in which we live. We start planting gardens; we go hiking through National Forests; and we gear up for the annual Earth Day celebrations. But most of us understand that you can't stop global climate change one day out of the year. You can't stop massive extinction rates by listening to a few speeches one sunny afternoon. And mountaintop removal isn't going to end because you biked to work for the first time since the last car-free friday... last year. That's why many of us take action every day to help protect the world which provides us with so much. For many of us vegans and vegetarians, our dietary choices are an extention of our dedication to a healthy planet.

ABC News recently reported that " your personal impact on global warming may be influenced as much by what you eat as by what you drive," citing a recent study from the University of Chicago. The study concludes that a meat-free diet is the most energy efficient, requiring fewer fossil fuels in the process from production to consumption.

An article from Steve Boyan, a retired professor from the University of Maryland, pointed out that by not eating animal products we accomplish the following feats everyday:

• save massive amounts of water - 3,000 to 5,000 gallons of water for every pound of beef you avoid
• avoid polluting our streams and rivers better than any other single recycling effort you do
• avoid the destruction of topsoil
• avoid the destruction of tropical forest
• avoid the production of carbon dioxide. (Your average car produces 3 kg/day of CO2. To clear rainforest to produce beef for one hamburger produces 75 kg of CO2. Eating one pound of hamburger does the same damage as driving your car for more than three weeks)
• reduce the amount of methane gas produced. (I imagine the next bumper sticker: stop farts, don’t eat beef)
• reduce the destruction of wildlife habitat
• help to save endangered species

Going vegan or vegetarian isn't all that you can do to help protect this planet, but it is one of the largest steps that you can take towards a healthier world. To find out how your ecological footprint measures up, take the Earth Day Footprint Quiz . For more information about animal-free diets and the environment, check out our page on environmental reasons to go veg.