Xavier Rudd Shows His Vegetarian Spirit
Iconic singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and animal defender Xavier Rudd has teamed up with PETA for a new ad to show his veggie pride and encourage his fans to live and let live by going vegetarian.
Hot on the heels of releasing his new album, Spirit Bird, Xavier sat down with PETA US for an exclusive interview and musical performance during which he explained why he won’t even consider eating meat.
“My biggest problem with society now is the mass production and no one even considering all those lives that are being factory farmed for human greed”, he says, adding, “I don’t need to eat meat. I can exist very healthily without it”.
As Xavier’s ad points out, all living beings deserve to be free. But most animals raised and killed by the meat industry never get to run, fly, explore, choose their mate, raise their young or even feel the warmth of the sun on their backs. Instead, they are crammed by the hundreds or thousands inside dark sheds, filthy feedlots or tiny cages until they are killed. During 2011, Australia slaughtered more than 7 million cattle, almost 700,000 calves, nearly 5 million sheep and 18 million lambs, more than 4.5 million pigs and almost 550 million chickens.
Raising animals for food also takes a heavy toll on the environment – another issue that is close to Xavier’s heart. Australian animal agriculture is responsible for more than 30 per cent of the country’s greenhouse-gas emissions, and the billions of pounds of manure that factory farms produce each day pollute rivers, lakes and drinking water.
Fortunately, like Xavier, we can make a world of difference for animals, the Earth and our own health simply by filling our plates with delicious vegetarian foods. As Xavier says, “We live in a lucky, lucky society, where we can eat beautiful, healthy, sustainable veggies, to keep us going forever”.
Ready to see why Xavier and so many others are proud to be vegetarian? Go vegan today!
Posted by Claire Fryer
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