Hey everyone! If anyone is attending the Earth Day celebration in Lawrence, KS on April 19, my husband and I will be there handing out Vegan Outreach info! The booth is mainly going to be geared towards the environmental impact of meat-based diets, and why a vegetarian (or vegan!) diet is better for the earth in general.

I'm really excited, it will be my first time leafleting. So if you are there, come by and say hi!

Well, my registration for a table has been submitted. VO is really quick on getting pamphlets shipped to you!

One question I did have - does anyone have any ideas for family-friendly activities that relate to vegetarianism/the environment?

So far, I think we will be showing "The Meatrix," if I can get a downloaded copy of it, and we are going to have some coloring pages for the kids - some pictures of animals, fruits/vegetables, and one of the "vegan food pyramid." That food pyramid one, we will probably also hand out to the adults as well, just so they get the information about what exactly vegetarians and vegans DO eat.

But if anyone has any ideas on how to demonstrate exactly how the environment and meat eating are connected, I'd appreciate it. The idea I did have was to have a bunch of paper squares that form the amount of land required for a meat-eater to eat, and compare that to how much land is required for a vegetarian or vegan to eat. That shows the direct relationship of how much land is used ...

Any ideas are welcome!

I think the squares are an excellent idea. You could also do something similar for different statistics, like: Amount of rainforest used for cattle, amount clearcut yearly for more cattle, amount of methane gas cows create versus human population (160 times more last I heard.)

I know PETA is an ugly word for a lot of people, and if you don't want it adorning your table that is understandable. They do, however, provide a lot of support for tablers. Check out peta2, they have free kits they will send you in the mail.

Some books that may help as well: Mad Cowboy by Howard Lyman, Diet for a Small Planet.

Mostly I'm posting here for morale! Sometimes I feel like my girlfriend and I are the only vegetarians here in Wichita!

Thanks for replying! It's pretty lonely out here, and I am hoping that Lawrence is liberal enough to see the connection. It's pretty easy to switch to a reusable water bottle for the environment, but a lot of people don't understand the connection between eating meat and the environment.

I am planning on having a copy of Diet for a Small Planet and Diet for a New America on the table for people to flip through as well - Mad Cowboy is a good idea! I will look into the PETA info. Some of their stuff is pretty subtle, so I'll look into that. I definitely don't want people to get a "militant" vibe - I want people to see HAPPY vegans!

I will try and get some information together for you!

Off the top of my head, I know some approximate figures like:

The crops used to produce beef could feed 800 million people.
50% of the worlds rainforests have been cleared (don't know what % of that is for beef though)
It's something like 45 gallons of water to produce a pound of edible grain, and 6000 gallons to produce a pound of edible beef (this is definitely not the correct figure but I know it's close)
The energy used to: Raise livestock->Transport Livestock->Slaughter Livestock->Freeze Livestock->Create Meat packaging->Package Meat->Transport Meat->Transport Waste->Process Waste is astounding. Practically everything in a vegan diet can be composted. Practically everything in a vegan diet can be grown within your community or surrounding area.

According to the UN report, it gets even worse when we include the vast quantities of land needed to give us our steak and pork chops. Animal agriculture takes up an incredible 70% of all agricultural land, and 30% of the total land surface of the planet. As a result, farmed animals are probably the biggest cause of slashing and burning the world's forests. Today, 70% of former Amazon rainforest is used for pastureland, and feed crops cover much of the remainder.

Yikes. This is from this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/vegetarian-is-the-new-pri_b_39014.html

I'll keep searching! Maybe I can make a day trip with my gf and visit your table!

Thanks for the article link, that will be really helpful. That's definitely the type of information I am looking for.

That would be great if you could come out for it! There are some great veg-friendly restaurants in Lawrence too, and of course my husband and I want to eat at all of them, so we may be having 4 or 5 meals a day. :p