PETA calls on India International Film Awards to go vegetarian at green-themed event
Group Reminds IIFA That Raising Animals for Food Is the Leading Cause of Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
-- This morning, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India sent a letter to the India International Film Awards and its grand ambassador, Amitabh Bachchan, urging the organisation to ban meat from its annual ceremony in Macau, China, next month and to initiate a discussion about meat's impact on the environment. PETA made the request after learning that the event will have a "go-green" theme. In the letter, PETA points out that abstaining from meat is the best thing that people can do to lessen their carbon footprint, and because Amitabh is a long-time vegetarian, PETA hopes that he will honour the request.
A UN report titled Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options concluded that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, ships and planes in the world combined. The scientific report goes on to point out that the meat industry is "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global". Factory farming is a leading cause of land degradation and water pollution around the world.
During a recent appearance in London, Dr Rajendra Pachauri – chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and co-winner, with Al Gore, of a Nobel Peace Prize – told The Observer, "I want to highlight the fact that among options for mitigating climate change, changing diets is something one should consider". He added, "[I]f we're honest, less meat is also good for the health, and would also at the same time reduce emissions of greenhouse gases".
Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tonnes of methane – a potent greenhouse gas – each year.
"The science is conclusive: you can't go green without also going vegetarian", says PETA India Chief Functionary Anuradha Sawhney. "Kicking the meat habit is the best thing that anyone can do for animals, their health and the Earth."
PETA's letter to the IIFA and Amitabh Bachchan is available upon request. For more information, please visit www.PETAIndia.com.