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2013 SESSION

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13100152D
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 567 Offered January 9, 2013 Prefiled December 15, 2012 Designating the last full week in April, in 2013 and in each succeeding year, as VegWeek in Virginia. ---------- Patron-- Hope ---------- Referred to Committee on Rules ----------

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth is committed to preserving the natural environment for future generations, and specifically, according to Governor McDonnell’s Executive Order No. 19 (2010), “natural resources are so central to our quality of life, that their conservation, preservation and protection are required by the Constitution of Virginia”; and

WHEREAS, the United Nations recognizes that livestock is one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems and that current meat production methods cause nearly half of all stream and river pollution; and

WHEREAS, recent studies and reports have demonstrated that an individual’s carbon footprint can be lowered simply by reducing the amount of animal-based foods eaten in one’s diet; and

WHEREAS, plant-based foods have been shown to require fewer resources and cause less pollution; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth is committed to resource conservation, and producing a totally vegetarian diet uses 3,700 less gallons of water a day than a meat-based diet, and more than one-third of all the fossil fuels produced in the United States are used to raise animals for food; and

WHEREAS, the American Dietetic Association recognizes that a vegetarian diet decreases the risk of various ailments, including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and various cancers; and

WHEREAS, a growing number of people are reducing meat consumption to help prevent animal cruelty; and

WHEREAS, the nonprofit organization Compassion Over Killing is celebrating VegWeek 2013 as a way to highlight the many benefits of choosing vegetarian foods—for health, the planet, and animals; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly designate the last full week in April, in 2013 and in each succeeding year, as VegWeek in Virginia; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates post the designation of this week on the General Assembly’s website.