The following is a guest post from peta2's Marta.

Can a group of 11- to 14-year-olds from San Diego get people to eat less meat? The Sandy LEGO Beachbots can! The Beachbots build LEGO robots for competitions (where they sometimes give out vegan pizza), and they've also launched an initiative called Kids Keep the Earth Cool to persuade people to eat less meat by showing them the connection between animal agriculture and climate change.

We're really impressed with what they're doing and had to learn more. Check out what Brennan (one of the Beachbots) had to say:

How did the Sandy LEGO Beachbots come about, and what do you guys do?
We do First LEGO League, which is an international LEGO robotics competition. FLL involves building and programming a LEGO robot to do certain missions. These missions are based around a certain theme, and the teams competing also have to do a project on this theme and present a presentation to the judges. We have been doing this for six years now, with various team members.

Tell us about your robot design and how you incorporate veganism.
Our robot design itself isn't really related to vegetarianism—that is our solution to this year's project! The theme this year is climate change. Some of our team members (including me) were already vegetarians, so we decided to do our project on how vegetarianism relates to global warming.

How long have you been vegetarian? Do you have a favorite vegetarian recipe?
My sisters and I have been vegetarians since birth—our mom, the coach, is also a vegetarian. A favorite recipe? I don't know—there are tons of great recipes out there. One of my favorites is the vegetarian lasagne my mom makes.

Do you have a recommendation for people who are not quite ready to make the full transition to vegetarianism yet?
If you aren't ready to completely give up meat, reducing your meat consumption still has a huge effect! If you reduce your meat consumption by only six meatless days a month, it has the same affect as switching from a sedan to a hybrid vehicle.

Are there any other animal rights issues that are important to you?
I personally am opposed to the use of animals … in any way [that] harms them. There are much better ways to do things that do not involve hurting or killing the other inhabitants of this Earth!

Isn't Brennan awesome? Check out the Web site that he and the other Sandy LEGO Beachbots made—www.kidskeeptheearthcool.org.

We love what the Beachbots are doing so much that we're giving them a Compassionate Kids Award. As the Beachbots say, "Eating a bean burrito instead of meat helps save the world!"

Posted by Marta Holmberg

heraldinteractive / CC

Quick: Who wins the cheese, the mouse or the mob boss? Answer: No one wins. In this unusual game of cat and mouse, the cheese is clearly the villain. Just ask reputed Boston Mafia godfather Carmen "The Cheeseman" DiNunzio, who, according to the Boston Herald, has been locked in his home under house arrest since May for his part in an alleged bribe.

It's clear that this "big cheese"—who earned his name after his local cheese shop and who weighs in at a whopping 400 lbs.—has done his time gorging on gouda and snacking on Swiss. Following a request from his doctor, the court will now allow DiNunzio to leave his home for two hours each day so that he can hit the gym and lose the pounds that are putting extra strain on his already bad heart and diabetes.

His doctor recently told the court, "I need him to have at least 30 minutes a day of sustained aerobic exercise. The best exercise he can do is sustained walking allowing for both arm and leg exercise."

OK, I'm confused. Wouldn't a reputed Wise Guy who is under house arrest for allegedly receiving money most likely be able to afford a mail-order Bowflex?

Well, regardless, we say: Hey, Big D! Drop that cheese! And listen up to our little business proposition. Yes, we sent "The Cheeseman" his very own delicious nondairy cheese pizza from Boston's own T.J. Scallywaggle's—recently voted one of the top 10 vegan-friendly pizzerias in the U.S.! We'd tell him to go there, but you know, he's a shut-in.

We suggest that Mr. DiNunzio try stocking his cupboards full of nondairy treats that aren't full of artery-clogging fat and cholesterol, like their dairy counterparts, if he really wants to whack those unhealthy pounds. He certainly has the time to cook up some tomato sauce for that spaghetti, a side of broccoli with garlic, and some pure vegetable minestrone. He will be getting those recipes and a copy of our "Vegetarian Starter Kit." You know, for some leisurely reading?

Posted by Jennifer Cierlitsky

Philip Workman, who was killed this morning in Tennessee

This story is just steeped in tragedy, but there's a bit of a bright spot in it, which bears directly on our work and involves a generous PETA member. Last night, just hours before his execution by lethal injection, a Tennessee inmate named Philip Workman made an unusual request for his last meal: A vegetarian pizza to be delivered to a homeless person in Nashville. In an attack of what I can only describe as bureaucratic stinginess, the Tennessee prison charged with ending Mr. Workman's life denied his request, claiming that their "final meal" regulations didn't allow for charitable donations. Though he didn't live to hear the news that his request was eventually carried out, the good news is that it was—and tenfold—thanks to a PETA donor who was impressed by his act of charity, which explicitly sought to help humans without harming animals. As Ingrid Newkirk says,

"Workman's act was selfless, and kindness to all living beings is a virtue. PETA will be ordering not one but ten veggie pizzas to be delivered today to the closest homeless shelter to Riverbend."

Nothing like a few veggie pizzas to give a sad story a happy ending.