Sir Paul McCartney says ditching meat for just one day a week is equivalent to not driving your car for a month
SIR PAUL McCARTNEY launched his campaign Meat Free Monday in 2009 to urge people to eat more plant-based meals.
Here he explains why changing your diet for even just one day a week can make a big difference...
Our beautiful planet Earth has become home to millions of species of plants and animals including us humans.
We’ve learnt to harness the power and the bounty of the planet, but with our great success as a species comes enormous responsibility to preserve the delicate balance to which we owe our existence.
We’ve heard it all before: Our way of life is destroying the planet. Fossil fuels used for transport and industry are to blame.
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That’s true, but what we often don’t hear about is animal agriculture, which results in vast amounts of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere.
It requires increasingly unsustainable levels of precious resources, including land, water and energy.
Animal agriculture is a major contributor towards global environmental degradation and climate change. And it’s not just livestock-rearing that’s a problem. Industrialised fishing destroys marine ecosystems as miles of nets sweep up anything in their path.
It’s time to ask ourselves the question: What can we as individuals do to help?
Well, there’s a simple but significant way to help the planet and its inhabitants and it starts with just one day a week.
One day without eating animal products can have a huge impact in helping maintain that delicate balance that sustains us all.
An area of rainforest the size of 100 football pitches is cut down every hour to create room for grazing cattle.
'WORLD OF DIFFERENCE'
A third of all cereal crops and more than 95 per cent of soy is turned into feed for animals.
It can take 2,350 litres of fresh water — that’s 30 bath tubs — to produce just one beefburger.
If you give up meat for one day a week for a year it reduces your carbon footprint by the same equivalent amount as not driving your car for a month.
THE 7 PLEDGES
1. Eat more plants
2. Cut your food waste
3. Turn down your heating
4. Insulate your home
5. Switch to green energy
6. Repair and re-use things
7. Drive an electric car
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So try Meat Free Monday. I believe we can all play our part. Just try a day, just one day a week.
It can make a world of difference.
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It’s compassionate to animals, it’s good for your health and it’s damn good for the planet. So pledge to eat less meat.
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