Fight Climate Change With Diet Change: Vegan Message at Climate Strikes
Along with hundreds of thousands of Australians across the country, PETA joined the Global Climate Strike on Friday, 20 September, to raise awareness of the climate crisis, encourage the government to take action, and share with everyone a simple way to make an environmental statement every day: go vegan.
We know better than anyone that without protests, there is no progress – but there’s no need to wait for a special date to commit to saving the planet.
If you truly want to combat climate change, you can start today by removing meat, eggs, and dairy from your shopping list.
Why You Can’t Be a Meat-Eating Environmentalist
Each year, humans kill 60 billion land animals for food – that’s almost 7 million every hour. All these animals produce massive amounts of waste, which releases powerful greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. Animal agriculture is the single largest source of both methane and nitrous-oxide emissions – greenhouses gases that are, respectively, 25 and 300 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.
A person who follows a vegan lifestyle produces the equivalent of 50% less carbon dioxide than a meat-eater, and only a fraction of the oil, water, and land resources are needed for their food. That’s why the United Nations has stated that a global shift towards plant-based eating is essential to combat the worst effects of climate change and research from the University of Oxford has found that going vegan is “the single biggest way” to reduce our environmental impact.
If Not You, Then Who?
The inspiration for the strike – 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg – believes we should all be doing everything we can do to reduce our environmental impact, including adopting a vegan lifestyle. In an interview, she explained that she persuaded some of her family to go vegan by stressing that their refusal to make the easy switch was stealing her generation’s future.
As individuals, we can make a big difference with our choices. It’s not enough to sit around and wait for others – politicians and corporations – to act to save our planet.
Are youready to take action to fight climate change? Order our FREE Vegan Starter Kit now: