DC VegFest

Tara and I at the DC VegFest with the Carrot.

Last weekend, on September 11, my friend Tara and I headed to GWU for the DC VegFest, an annual festival celebrating vegetarianism.

Neither of us had been before, so it was a really great experience.  We bought delicious falafel from Amsterdam Falafelshop, located in Adams Morgan, and vegan cupcakes from Sticky Fingers Bakery, located in Columbia Heights.  (Yes, the cupcakes were delicious - just ask the winner of Cupcake Wars, a vegan chef!  We got strawberry and cookies-and-creme cupcakes, FYI.  Both delicious!)

We also had samples from Gardein, a company that makes vegetarian meats, and some protein shakes from Vegan Bodybuilding (no lie!).

So why am I writing about this on a blog about environmental issues?  It's been suggested that the meat industry as it exists today in the United States is a major contribution to carbon emissions - according to the Environmental Defense, if every American skipped a meal of chicken a week for a vegetarian substitute, the carbon dioxide savings would be equivalent to taking more than 500,000 cars off the road.

You can save tons of carbon emissions (literally) by reducing your meat consumption - meat is a much more greenhouse-gas intensive product than vegetables are (due to the emission of methane and the huge amounts of corn required to feed the animals, not to mention the emissions due to transportation).