CHENNAI: Some members of parliament (MP) from across party lines have pledged to eat vegan on World Environment Day, June 5, forgoing meat, dairy, and other animal-derived foods.
The participating MPs are Maneka Gandhi, MP from Pilibhit; Shafiqur Rahman Barq, MP from Sambhal; Bellana Chandra Sekhar, MP from Vizianagaram; Ajay Bhatt, MP from Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar; Anuradha Chinta, MP from Amalapuram; Sunita Duggal, MP from Sirsa; Vijay Hansdak, MP from Rajmahal; and Kaushal Kishore, MP from Mohan Lalganj.
“I’m delighted to join PETA India’s green initiative by eating vegan on World Environment Day.
Just by eating more plants over animal-derived foods, we can fight climate change and other environmental effects with simple diet change,” says MP Anuradha Chinta.
“These lawmakers didn’t hesitate to step up and show people that we can save animals’ lives, reduce water use, and slash greenhouse-gas emissions simply by choosing vegan foods,” says PETA India Vegan Outreach coordinator Dr Kiran Ahuja.
“PETA India encourages everyone to follow their lead and be a vegan force of nature against climate change on World Environment Day and every day.” Animal agriculture – the industrialised breeding, rearing, use and slaughter of animals for human consumption – is a leading cause of pollution, habitat destruction, and species extinction.
It also uses one-third of the world’s freshwater resources and, by some estimates, creates more greenhouse-gas emissions than all of the world’s transportation systems combined.
A study in the journal ‘Nature’ found that greenhouse-gas emissions from food systems would be reduced by half if the world turned to a mainly plant-based diet.
Researchers at the University of Oxford found that every person who goes vegan lowers their carbon footprint by up to 73% and saves nearly 200 animals per year.
In April, a dozen British MPs went vegan for Earth Day after hearing from PETA UK.