Vegetarian Star

Photo: Phil Cavali

“If I was just another vegetarian, tree hugging, biology graduate asking people to give up meat and stop using plastic bags, I don’t know how many people would be listening to me. But because I drive a race car, I have an ability to reach a new audience of people that most environmentalists are probably not talking to.”

–Leilani Munter, (from Savings) race car driver who’s publicly spoken out about environmental and vegetarian issues, and often incorporates green themes into her racing, such as placing recycled bins at the track and selling t-shirts made with recycled materials.

Leilani recently took the time to record a PSA on the oil spill in the Gulf Coast. Sure hope her influence helps prevent a catastrophe like this again.

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Race car driver Leilani Munter has recorded a PSA for Athletes Go Green on the effects of food on the planet as a way to raise environmental awareness.

Eco friendly racing is not an oxymoron when you’re Leilani, who encourages fans to get involved by putting recycling bins at the track, selling clothing made from plastic bottles and recruiting sponsors to display their green messages during race time.

Now she’s hoping NASCAR and IndyCar fans will skip the barbeque after the next big race.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize that more greenhouse gas emissions go into our atmosphere from raising animals for food than all of the planes, trains, ships, automobiles, SUVs and all other forms of transporation combined,” Leilani says in the video. “Raising animals produces methane, which is 21x more heat trapping than CO2. So if you want to do something good for the environment that’s easy to do, cut back on your meat intake.”

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Photo: Phil Cavali

Sporting News magazine is featuring one of NASCAR’s 50 Most Beautiful People, Leilani Munter.

Leilani is famous for her motto, “Never underestimate a vegetarian hippie chick with a racecar.”

Leilani set a goal to make what some would call one of the most environmentally unfriendly sports green.

Her goal is to power her racecar to speeds at 200mph with biofuel and take those dangerous curves on the track with recycled tires.

She’s placed recycling bins at the track and frequently speaks out about the benefits a vegetarian diet has on the environment.

She also maintains a blog containing earth friendly ideas and education.

Oh,  yeah, there’s also her racing history.

From Sporting News:

“Munter has been racing since 2001 and last year became the fourth woman in history to race in the then-Indy Pro Series, the development league of Indy-Car. Prior to running in the then-Indy Pro Series, she spent six years in stock car racing, earning 19 top-10 finishes and nine top-five finishes in 39 starts. In 2004, Munter also set the record at Texas Motor Speedway for the highest finish for a female driver at the 1.5-mile speedway with a fourth-place showing.”

Did you know she’s also a master at battling the chocolate war?

During an interview, Vegetarian Star learned she never craves sweets.

Now you really have a reason to be jealous.

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Photo: Phil Cavali

Think being vegetarian is only easy if you live in NYC or Cali?

Ha!

Leilani Munter proves that wrong, as she and her husband reside in North Carolina and have no problem finding good grub.

From TheGoodLifer:

Now, you are a devoted vegetarian living in Cornelius, North Carolina. How do you make that work? I imagine many post-race dinners and such are held in some not so veg-friendly establishments?

“We cook a lot at home but I have actually found that pretty much any restaurant you go to these days has something vegetarian on their menu. In the rare event where there is not a vegetarian meal on the menu, if you ask the chef, they will usually whip up something amazing. I think the chef’s enjoy it too because they get to be creative.”

You didn’t think a self professed “vegetarian  hippie chick” would let a little geography get her down, did you?

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Leilani Munter.

The self described “vegetarian hippie chick” Leilani Munter has made it to the top 10 finals in the Project Green Search, “Green It Girl” contest as a result of fans voting online.

The winner will be crowned next month in Los Angeles and will be the next “Green It Girl,” serving as a green “Miss America” that will promote environmental issues, animal and human rights.

Leilani is a race car driver, who not only advocates a vegetarian diet to protect the environment, but implements eco friendly initiatives at the race track, such as encouraging fans to leave their plastic bottles at the track that are later used to make t-shirts.

Good luck Leilani!

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Leilani Munter, professional race car driver, environmentalist and vegetarian is competing in the Project Green Search.

Voting takes place today October 12 through October 16.

The top 10 finalists go to Los Angeles November 2-8 to compete to be the next green “it girl” to advocate environment, animal welfare, fair trade and human rights.

An excerpt from Leilani’s essay at Projectgreensearch.com:

“Last year ESPN Magazine has described me as “an oxymoron: a tree hugging race car driver.” Before I was a race car driver, I was a biology graduate from the University of California in San Diego, and I am really just your typical recycling, composting, treehugging vegetarian hippie chick that just happens to drive race cars. I am an uncommon messenger in the environmental world I know, but Earl Bakken made some sense of it for me when he said…”

“By all reckoning, the bumblebee is aerodynamically unsound and shouldn’t be able to fly. Yet, the little bee gets those wings going like a turbo-jet and flies to every plant its chubby little body can land on to collect all the nectar it can hold. Bumblebees are the most persistent creatures. They don’t know they can’t fly, so they just keep buzzing around.”

Vote for Leilani and read her entire essay at projectgreensearch.com.

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Race car driver Leilani Munter spoke to pressdog.com on her top three tips to live a greener life.

Leilani’s one of those environmentalists that knows you can’t have a green planet covered with red meat, so she cites reducing your animal protein consumption as a way to improve the planet.

“Cut back on your meat intake. Grazing animals produce methane which is 21 times more heat trapping than CO2. In fact, a UN study found that 40 percent more global warming emissions come from raising animals we eat than all the world’s cars, SUVs, planes, trains, ships and all other forms of transportation. If you need another reason to cut back on meat, how about world hunger?”

“If Americans alone reduced their meat consumption by just 10%, it would free up enough land to grow 12 million tons of grain – enough to save the six million children under the age of 5 that die every year as a result of hunger. One acre of land can produce 165 pounds of beef OR 20,000 pounds of potatoes. And it takes 23 gallons of water to produce a pound of tomatoes. By comparison, it takes 5,214 gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef. Meat is super wasteful. I know not everyone reading this is going to become vegetarian, but just cutting back on your meat intake can make a big difference. Maybe just give up meat for one day each week. Small steps multiplied by many can make a big difference.”

“P.S. It’s also a great way to lose weight!”

It helps to stop using plastic bags.

“We throw away between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags every year worldwide and only 1% of them are being recycled.”

Here’s another “bright” idea:

“Change your light bulbs for energy efficient bulbs and unplug your electronics when you are not using them. Cost estimates for wasted electricity ranges from $1 billion – $3.5 billion per year.”

Leilani adds a bonus:

“Can I say four instead of 3? Thanks. Recycle! It’s super easy to do and there’s no excuse to not do it.”

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Photo: Phil Cavali

Last month Leilani Munter Tweeted about grabbing some vegan grub at California Vegan Restaurant in L.A.

The NASCAR and IndyCar driver who calls herself a “vegetarian hippie chick” is an active environmentalist, so it’s no wonder she knows the best thing for the planet is to go meatless.

California Vegan has been hooking folks up in the LA region since 2003.

It has several menus, including lunch and dinner, that give the vegan eatery bragging rights with offerings such as California soy chicken, the Pepper Steak “Burger,” and Thai curries featuring all colors of the rainbow-red, yellow, and green.

You don’t hear much about celebrities dropping by California Vegan as you do with other LA vegan eateries like Real Food Daily.

Maybe now that Leilani’s giving it some press, it will become the next hotspot for the vegetarian celebrities to hang.

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