Animal Awareness Days
On this day and during the month of October, vegetarians worldwide raise awareness and promote a vegetarian lifestyle.
World Vegetarian Day was started in 1977 by the North American Vegetarian Society and became endorsed by the International Vegetarian Union the following year.
This day was created to promote the compassion and joy associated with a vegetarian lifestyle. It is also used to inform others of the vegetarian lifestyle's benefits for both humans and animals.
World Vegetarian Day falls on October first of every year. It also kicks off Vegetarian Awareness Month which ends on the first of November.
There are a variety of ways in which World Vegetarian Day is celebrated. While you can find festivals and other events to attend, many people celebrate Vegetarian Day by doing the following
The World Vegetarian Day website has many ideas for other things that you can do to celebrate the day, as well as a huge array of outreach materials to help you spread the message.
There are tons of benefits of World Vegetarian Day for both humans and animals. These benefits include:
Being a vegetarian means living off a diet excluding animal meat and seafood. However, there are several variations of vegetarianism. For example, some people may choose to be pescatarian, meaning the only animals they eat are fish.
Vegetarians can enjoy a wide variety of foods, including fruits, vegetables, tofu, nuts, pasta, beans, grains, desserts, and even animal products such as honey, milk, and cheese.
Depending on where you are in the world, the idea of meatless meals could feel daunting. However, there are many meals you can enjoy that do not include animal meat.
People become vegetarians for many reasons. However, the most common reasons include animal welfare, enhancing their overall health, and certain religious beliefs.
Whilst vegetarians exclude animal meat from their diets, vegans differ by excluding all animal products. Vegetarians typically still include dairy foods in their diets, such as milk, cheese, and cream, whereas vegans will consume plant-based alternatives instead.
Those who follow a vegan lifestyle may even exclude using all animal products, such as wearing clothing made from animals like wool, leather, and silk.
Consuming a plant-based vegetarian diet will provide the nutrients and vitamins needed to sustain a healthy and active lifestyle. Reducing your intake of animal-based proteins and switching to plant-based foods will improve your own health and the health and well-being of your community.
The real challenge is to change the perception of farmed animals globally. Every farmed animal is an individual with the ability to feel emotions, and the factory farming industry causes billions of animals to suffer every year.
In addition to the suffering of 80 billion land animals annually, factory farming has catastrophic impacts on the world. Habitat loss due to animal agriculture is the single largest threat to the world's biodiversity, with 80% of global land use being used for animal agriculture.
The more we exploit and consume animals, the more we will damage our planet.
Infographic: Why we need to stop treating pigs like dirt
Blog
Our food system is now coming under the spotlight in the race to find solutions to climate change. Governments must stop overlooking the rapidly escalating toll that factory farming is taking on our planet.
Sentience
Have you ever considered the pain and suffering that pigs go through? Take a moment to meet a sow, living in a factory farm environment.
Food systems
Factory farming is a global problem, that requires a global solution. A moratorium on factory farms is urgently needed to safeguard animals, our climate, health and the environment.