Join DUG for the second annual GreenShoots, an evening event celebrating urban agriculture, gardening, and community! This year’s GreenShoots will feature screenings of our brief documentary, A Garden in Every Neighborhood, which highlights the impact of community gardens on health. We’ll be celebrating at Root Down in Denver’s Highlands neighborhood. Details:

What: GreenShoots2

When: June 22nd from 7:30 – 10:00pm

Film Screen Times: 8:15pm and 9:15pm

Where: Root Down, 1600 W 33rd Avenue, Denver

How much: Your $20 ticket includes both screenings, appetizers, a drink ticket, and a chance to get to know others with a passion for gardening and urban agriculture.

Facebook Event

via Denver Urban Gardens

VegFest Colorado will be Saturday, July 2nd at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. Plants & Animals Denver will have a booth there, so be sure to stop by and say hi. But you really want to be there for all the amazing food samples and guest speakers (including Colleen Patrick Goudreau and Howard Lyman). It’s only 10 bucks. And you can even help out with the fest if you want- they need volunteers and there is a meeting this weekend… Read the rest of this entry →

I’m sitting on my break at work as I write this, and I’ve got that antsy feeling. That urge to do more- to do good. As frustrating as it is to have this feeling while trapped at my day job, it is one my favorite feelings to have. It feels good to have that fight in you. And it also feels good because I have an outlet to express my desire to create change: this group we have here, Plants & Animals Denver. P&A was born from these types of mid-day inspirations. Maybe you have similar moments at your job- times when a news story or coworker pisses you off, and you just wish there was something you could do to make things better- for the environment, for animals, for our own misguided culture. I get it. It can be tough sitting at a desk grinding out a living while wishing there was something more you could do. Lucky for you, P&A is your outlet too. We want you to channel that passion into action. If you’ve got a good idea to promote veganism, help animals, or protest injustice, we’ve got your back. Want to help, but don’t know how? We have stuff planned for you to volunteer for: carrotmobs, bake sales, feed-ins, leafleting, demos, Chomp… Step by step, bit by bit, we can make things happen in Denver, if we get together. I’ve seen the power we can have when just a few of us fight for a cause or team up for an an event, It’s exciting, empowering, inspiring, satisfying, and fucking addictive.

Read the rest of this entry →

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s pro-veg billboards! Yes, that’s right, the group Mercy For Animals has decided to once again bring their simple and effective vegetarian billboards to the mile high city.

That’s one of the few billboards that have been up in Denver for the last week. They each present folks passing by with a thought-provoking visual display and encourage people to visit their website ChooseVeg.com, which is an amazing resource for anyone you know who may debating or struggling to make the switch to a healthy, cruelty free diet.

Tonight! Our 4th bake sale in 8 days. This one benefits Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support. There will be all kinds of cupcakes, cookies, brownies, and more from Chomp chefs and P&A volunteers.

We’ll be set up along the north wall of Fancy Tiger on the corner of Broadway & Ellsworth (1 S. Broadway, Denver) from 5pm to 9:30pm (or until we run out!). So, if you’re planning on seeing John Vanderslice at The Hi-Dive or Zeke at 3 Kings, or just need some dessert after having chickpea sliders at Sputnik, stop by our table so you can take home some scrumptious vegan goodies. Prices will be reasonable (we might even give you a free sample), but feel free to donate more to support a worthy cause helping animals in Japan.

Facebook event here.

Meet Wayne tonight!

What a great week this is turning out to be. Watercourse raised money for Sea Shepherd again, the head of HSUS is in Colorado, vegan bake sales are in full swing, and there’s even a mini-conference on animal rights today. Here’s the rundown…

Tuesday, April 26th

• Politics of Animal Rights and Wrongs - a conference about honoring non-human animals. 10am-6pm at Auraria campus. Presented by Auraria Students for the Humane Treatment of Animals (ASHTA as we like to call ‘em), the event will feature screeenings of From Farm to Fridge and Behind the Mask, and speakers Larry Weiss, Bonnie Mandell-Rice, and Dara Lovitz. There will also be free vegan food and tables representing area animal advocacy organizations. It will mainly take place in the Roger Braun Lounge of the Tivoli.
• Wayne Pacelle Book Signing at Tattered Cover - The president and CEO of the Humane Societey of the United States will be speaking about his new book The Bond, and signing copies at the LoDo Tattered Cover bookstore. A few of us had a chance to see him speak earlier this year. Let me tell you, you do not want to miss a chance to be in the same room as this guy. 7:30 pm (but probably get there early). He’ll also be in Boulder earlier in the day (1pm at the Humane Society of the Boulder Valley).

Wednesday, April 27th

• Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale Boulder - Presented by P&A, and benefitting Colorado’s Wild Animal Sanctuary. We’ll have all kinds of delicious morsels ready for you at 11th & Pearl, from 10am-12:30pm.
• Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale Denver – 5pm-10pm at Broadway & Ellsworth – That’s right- 2 bake sales in one day. This one is benefitting Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support. Come find our table and take home some treats, or stop by for a mid-show snack if you’re going to the Hi-Dive or Three Kings that night.

I hope you can make it to some (or all) of these great animal advocacy events. And stay tuned for more. We’ll soon be announcing a new carrotmob, and rolling out the official May Chomp announcement.

The Plants & Animals team will be at Red Rocks today to spread the word about eating green. Looking for something to do today? Come join us at the Windstar Colorado Connection Earth Day Celebration 2011. The event is free and open to the public (10am-4pm). We’ll have a “pay-per-view” station set up; anybody who wants to watch a 4-minute video about the environmental benefits of a plant-based diet, and take a 1-minute survey, will walk away with a dollar. Thanks to VegFund for making this (and our wildly successful bake sales this week) possible. The festival will be at the Red Rocks Park Visitors Center.

Plants & Animals Denver presents this week: Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale at Auraria Campus.

Wednesday 4/20 (you might be hungry?) and Thursday 4/21 outside the Tivoli for the campus’ Spring Fling fest. Featuring vegan baked goods by Chomp cooks, Beet Box, volunteer animal lovers, and local pro bakers. Here’s the best part: everybody gets a goodie for FREE!

We’re using this more as an opportunity for people to try some delicious vegan baked goods, and to do some outreach. But we’ll still be accepting donations, for those of you feeling generous. All proceeds will benefit Peaceful Prairie Animal Sanctuary. Cupcakes, cookies, brownies, and surprises await you.

Any questions? contact:   tigerlily387 (at) gmail (dot) com

In Denver Friday and Saturday

Rise Against, the Chicago punk band of vegetarian activists, will be playing 2 sold-out shows at the Fillmore this weekend (Friday 4/15 and Saturday 4/16), and Plants & Animals Denver will be tabling there.  We’re super-excited to have this outreach opportunity. It will be a good chance to get some literature into folks’ hands.

Will you be at either show? Come find our table and we’ll give you some of our new custom egg stickers that came in just today! And if you want, you can even help us leaflet after the show. Rise Against is a political band with passion for positive change. Hopefully that means there will be a lot of fans who may be receptive to our message. If you are interested in helping us hand out literature, get in touch with me (Mark) or Josh.

Can’t come to the show, but still want to help? If you want to meet us outside the Fillmore when the show lets out to leaflet, that works too. Also, we have lots of other volunteer opportunities this month, including 4 vegan bake sales, and 2 Earth Day outreach events. Come to our volunteer meeting tomorrow (Thursday 4/14, 7:30-8:30pm) at Fluid Coffee (19th & Pennsylvania) if you want to get involved with Plants & Animals Denver.

I was recently interviewed by Jill Harrigan of the Denver Vegetarian Examiner. It has some good background info about Chomp and P&A, so check it out…

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So, you’ve heard your vegetarian friends talking about the monthly Chomp event that takes place in Denver, but you’ve never been. This coming week is the perfect time to show up, since it’s Chomp’s 1st birthday celebration! To get an idea of what you’ll be in for, I interviewed one of the organizers – Mark Hagelberg.

Jill Harrigan: Hey there! Thanks for talking to us about the Chomp event that is taking place next Wednesday, April 6th at 7pm. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Mark Hagelberg: I help organize Chomp each month along with Josh Labure and Donald Reinhard. Basically, I try to make sure our cooks get everything they need, and then I run around for two days trying to get all the logistical stuff ready for the event.

JH: Chomp is a monthly community dinner that is 100% vegan friendly. It was created by the nonprofit organization Plants & Animals. That said, I think it’s important for readers to understand what Plants & Animals is all about. Can you give us some insight?

MH: Plants & Animals Denver is a grassroots nonprofit advocacy group that is essentially trying to help build the vegan scene in Denver. We are all volunteers who want to share our love for the plant-based lifestyle by hosting community events like Chomp and movie screenings. It all comes down to helping animals by promoting veganism. And we try to do that through business outreach and targeted campaigns.

Read the rest of the interview at The Denver Vegetarian Examiner…

And Jill Harrigan also recently interviewed Bonnie, one of P&A’s blogger/volunteers!