WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY:Meat is melting the planet: Mercy for Animals
2 min read
Raipur (Team Newsbuddy): Raipur next to a melting globe, activists dressed in full-black costumes costumes held a giant fork and knife and placards reading “Meat is Melting the Planet: Choose Vegan” in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, ahead of World Environment Day. The demonstration aimed to highlight meat production and consumption as leading causes of climate change.
“With rising sea levels, intensified storms, floods, and melting Himalayas, India faces the worst effects of climate change,” said Kushal Samaddar from Mercy For Animals. “Raising animals for meat and dairy is a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions, and adopting a vegan diet is the single most effective way to reduce your carbon footprint.”
Food systems contribute at least one-third of global greenhouse emissions, with industrial animal agriculture alone responsible for 20%. India’s livestock industry, with 303 million cattle, including cows and buffaloes, is the nation’s top contributor to planet-warming methane emissions. Methane can trap over 80 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide in the short term. India is the world’s third-largest methane emitter, with livestock accounting for about 48% of its methane emissions.
As India continues to grow, balancing economic development with environmental stewardship will be crucial in mitigating the impacts of climate change, making the need to transition to plant-based diets ever more urgent.
About Mercy For Animals
Mercy For Animals is a leading international nonprofit working to end industrial animal agriculture by constructing a just and sustainable food system. Active in Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico, and the United States, the organization has conducted over 100 investigations of factory farms and slaughterhouses, influenced over 500 corporate policies, and helped pass historic legislation to ban cages for farmed animals. 2024 marks Mercy For Animals 25th year of groundbreaking campaigns and programs.
