Soul Vegetarian Restaurant
205 E. 75th St.
Chicago, IL

For Immediate Release

Contact: Zarakyah B. Ahmadiel
Tel: (773) 331-6793
Office: (773) 224-0104
E-Mail: zarakyah1 (at) hotmail.com

THE SOUL VEGETARIAN RESORATION GREEN PROJECT/EARTH HOUR ON THE SOUTH SIDE

SOUL VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT PARTICIPATES IN EARTH HOUR AND ANNOUNCES ITS SWITCH TO LOCALLY GROWN, GREEN ORGANIC PRODUCE!

Soul Vegetarian Restaurant, the largest and oldest vegan/vegetarian restaurant in the world, is changing to locally grown, green organic produce. Utilizing the global event of Earth Hour to mark this historical change, Soul Vegetarian will become the first vegan/vegetarian restaurant to go organic in the City of Chicago further establishing its legacy as the standard bearer in health and social responsibility.

Already renowned for providing 25 years of service to the community, Soul Vegetarian will now make history by responding to the recent oil, energy, and environmental crisis by elevating its service by introducing locally grown, green organic produce. As climate change (global warming) has become increasingly alarming, a recent UN environmental report definitely stated, “raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined” (UN FAO report, 11/29/06).

Furthermore, the world’s agriculture system is petroleum based worsening our addiction to oil and our collusion in its related social, economic, and environmental problems. It takes approximately 3,000 miles for any piece of produce to travel from the ground to our plates, after using 10 calories of oil to produce just 1 calorie of food.

Therefore, the use of locally grown, green organic produce (grown without petroleum based fertilizers or insecticides) directly addresses and aids in the dire over consumption of oil. In the United States alone, more than 400 gallons of oil products are expended annually to feed each American (as of data provided in 1994). We, at Soul Vegetarian Restaurant, are committed to being responsible for our world and, in changing our produce practices, making our community and customers activists as well.

This, the Soul Vegetarian Restoration Green Project, will be sponsored by the R.B.G. Eco-Cultural Action Organization, the E-WALES consortium, and Goodness Greenness in order to keep Soul Vegetarian’s cost down and accessible to the community that it serves. The project will include a awareness and educational campaign in the restaurant and the community, enlightening the people on environmental consciousness and responsibility.

In honor of Earth Hour, Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 7:30, we will officially announce this historical evolution in community service. The press conference will be directly followed by a candlelight dinner, as we turn off our lights in keeping with Earth Hour, and offer live entertainment and a presentation on environmental consciousness. Also, from 4-7 pm at IIT, we will present a special screening of the award winning documentary “Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash”. Sunday, March 30th, from 4-7 we will also be screening the environmental documentary “What a Way to Go: Life at The End of Empire” at The Chicago State University Library.