On the eve of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' United Nations address requesting that his embattled country be given permission to join the world body, PETA members joined the throngs of people gathered outside the U.N. to spread the message that we can each keep our own bodies free of violence with a vegan diet. 

With people all around them screaming and fighting and the police doing their best to keep the peace, our nun, rabbi, and monk calmly showed that one thing people of all races, religions, and creeds can agree on is that we can all reject violence three times a day, 365 days a year, every time we sit down to eat. (After all, the Bible, the Torah, the Dharma, the Qur'an, and other religious texts condemn cruelty to animals.) Our peaceful trio even got a thumbs-up from Robert Kennedy Jr.

Want to start working for peace? Start in your kitchen: Take PETA's Pledge to Be Vegan for 30 Days. 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Will some of the most politically powerful women in the world go vegan?

cidse / CC

Following a recent UN report that finds that women—particularly those in poor countries who make up the majority of agricultural workers and don't have other job options—are going to be most impacted by climate change, PETA has fired off letters to Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Condoleezza Rice, and Madeleine Albright asking them to adopt a vegan diet and speak out about the environmental hazards of eating meat. PETA Germany is asking Chancellor Angela Merkel to do the same.

Raising animals for meat and dairy products produces more climate-altering gasses than all the cars, trucks, ships, and planes combined. By leaving animals off their plates, these powerful women would demonstrate their commitment to helping hundreds of millions of women—who live on a dollar a day or less—weather climate change. Climate change isn't good for anyone (unless you really like poison ivy), and switching to a vegan diet is a great way to help the environment, animals, and women everywhere.

Written by Heather Drennan