By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare Earth Day, on Thursday, a meat-free day to reduce India’s carbon footprint.
The organisation has written to the prime minister urging him to declare the day meat-free not not only this year but for every year, PETA India’s senior campaigns coordinator Nikunj Sharma told IANS.
“Because the meat industry is responsible for environmental degradation on so many levels, you can’t be a meat-eating environmentalist,” he said.
“With India being one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gasses, there’s no better way to honour the Earth than for Indians to adopt a diet that protects the planet, its animal inhabitants and human health – and that means going vegan,” he said.
Citing a UN report in the letter, PETA said raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gasses than all the cars, trucks, ships, trains and planes in the world combined.
“The UN has also stated that raising animals for food is one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global,” Sharma said.