With the seal slaughter just a few weeks away, PETA has brought in our buxom bombshell, launched our pietition, and delivered a sweet message to the masses. Now we'd like to celebrate what you have done to try saving thousands of baby seals. That's why we're giving away our "Save the Seals" T-shirt and water bottle to three lucky winners:

 

 

Ready to sport this compassionate gear? After you've signed our Facebook petition, tell us how you've stepped up to raise awareness of the plight of seals. The three readers with the seal-saving achievements that rouse us the most will each get a T-shirt and a water bottle.

Enter by posting your one-of-a-kind stories of kindness in the comments section. The contest ends on March 17, 2010, and we'll pick the winners on March 19, 2010. Be sure to read our privacy policy and terms and conditions, as you're agreeing to both by commenting. Good luck!

Written by Logan Scherer

Three-time NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas is proof that one man can double-team fur industry cruelty. First, he bared it all in his "Ink, Not Mink" ad, and today he hosted PETA's fur-coat giveaway in Washington, D.C., where donated coats were handed out to the homeless:

 

 

Only those who can't afford to buy coats to keep them warm have any excuse to wear fur. Do you have any skins that you'd like to shed from your wardrobe? Donate them to PETA, and your old fashion faux pas could help a person in need or become bedding for an orphaned animal.

Written by Logan Scherer

Two things we at PETA never pass up: vegan ice cream and opportunities to educate others about the benefits of a vegetarian diet. (I call it giving them a "vegucation.")

Pro-life Catholic students and faculty at Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., are in a tizzy about President Obama's scheduled commencement address on Sunday. So, of course, we're erecting two pro-vegetarian billboards this weekend at Notre Dame to remind both sides of the abortion debate that a diet free of slaughtered animals makes sense for everyone.

 

One person can enjoy better health and save 100 lives each year simply by going vegetarian.

Choose compassion over cruelty to animals and improved health over heart diseaseand cancer—go vegetarian!

 

Written by Karin Bennett

When we heard that an elementary school in Windsor, Connecticut, was holding a yard sale to raise funds to spruce up its dilapidated playground, we saw a perfect opportunity pitch in—by paying to place our ads reading, "Tot teetering on obesity? Go Veg!" on the school's seesaws.

 

 

Our letter to the principal points out that kids who munch on chicken nuggets, fish sea kitten sticks, and pepperoni pizza face myriad health problems, including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. For fat kids, our ad can turn recess, all too often a time of ridicule, into a chance to learn about how they can slim down and save their animal friends at the same time.

It's a no-brainer, really. When our paid ads are placed on playgrounds, everyone wins—schools, kids, and animals!

Written by Karin Bennett

 

lh5.ggpht / CC

… Wait a minute, what am I saying? We love to say "We told you so." And this time, what we've been telling you for years is finally making headlines. Here's the truth—drumroll, please—meat, as it turns out, is bad for you.

Specifically, meat increases your chances of dying prematurely.

That's right, we weren't just making it up. Research has, once again, linked the consumption of meat with heart disease and certain types of cancer—and this time, it's more conclusive than ever. As The Washington Post explains, a new case study has just been published—the first large examination of the relationship between eating meat and overall risk of early death—and guess what it found?

"The bottom line is we found an association between red meat and processed meat and an increased risk of mortality," concluded the leader of the study, Rashmi Sinha of the National Cancer Institute.

Women in the study who ate the most red meat were 36 percent more likely to prematurely die of any cause than those who ate less (or none), and they were 50 percent more likely to die of heart disease! Maybe it's just me, but those kinds of odds would definitely shock me into seriously reconsidering my meaty habits. Men who ate the most red meat didn't do much better—they were 31 percent more likely to die prematurely of any cause.

Amusingly, the only defense that the American Meat Institute could muster was that meat products "provide a sense of satisfaction and fullness that can help with weight control." So don't worry about the cancer and heart disease, say the meat guys, because filling your stomach with disease-linked animal flesh makes you full, and that keeps the weight off! Um, nice try, fellas.

Nope, I'm not buying the meat guys' argument—and something tells me a lot of other people won't be, either. This could end up as a real victory for our arteries—and for animals.

Written by Amanda Schinke

lovecarrots / CC

Recent news of the untimely passing of Tim Russert has struck a chord with a lot of people now questioning their own health. Doctors confirmed that the 58-year-old Meet the Press moderator died of a heart attack—a cause of death all too common in our country. Heart disease is actually one of the top three killers that our country faces, alongside cancer and strokes. And heart disease is commonly a symptom of poor diets, so it's a serious matter that should make everyone think twice about the foods they're choosing to put in their bodies.

Remember all those times your mother wouldn't let you leave the dinner table before finishing your vegetables? Well, she was on to something. We're not talking about the latest scientific discovery here—just the facts that have been around for a long time.

A vegetarian diet can have a profound impact on the health of the human body. Filling your stomach with plant-based foods instead of animal products eliminates the unhealthy saturated fat and cholesterol that come from consuming animals and animal byproducts, not to mention all the steroids pumped into the animals for unnatural rapid growth results.

We've received so many questions about heart health since Russert's tragic death that we sent off a letter to the editor highlighting just how beneficial a vegetarian diet can be—even reducing the risk of developing heart disease by 50 percent.

Go on over to the VegCooking Blog to find some truly delicious recipes that will make both your tummy and your heart happy. Homemade vegan shepherd's pie, anyone?

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky