March 20th is the first day of spring -- symbol of renewal and birth. It is also the day of the Great American Meatout.

Beginning on March 1, thousands of consumer, environmental and animal protection advocates on college campuses throughout the United States are asking their fellow students to "kick the meat habit" on March 20th, at least for the day, and to explore a less violent, more wholesome diet.

The campaign is headlined by prominent Americans, including Doris Day, Casey Kasem, Ally Sheedy, River Phoenix, Cesar Chavez, Harvey and Marilyn Diamond and Cleveland Amory.

Our dietary habits are formulated and manipulated from our earliest childhood by the meat, dairy and other food industries through promotion of the "Basic Four Food Groups" to the nations' schoolchildren and through slick advertising campaigns featuring entertainment and sports figures.

However, the production and consumption of animals under today's "factory farming" practices have devastating impacts on consumer health, on world food supplies, on our natural resources, on animal welfare, and ultimately, on planetary survival.

American college students must have the benefit of a contrasting point of view to make an informed allocation of their food dollars. This is what the Great American Meatout is all about.

We look to the Great American Meatout as a modest impetus for a major evolution in America's dietary habits. An evolution that will save millions of Americans from suffering, disability and death by chronic diseases induced by a meat -- and fat-laden diet.

An evolution that will protect hundreds of millions of Third World people from starvation for lack of the foodstuffs that we feed to animals. An evolution that will end the extermination of wildlife, clearcutting of forests and depletion of topsoil and fresh water supplies by intensive animal agriculture practices.

An evolution that will spare billions of animals from unconscionable abuse on U.S. "factory farms."