Body-Painted Pair Resembling Planet Earth Will Call For Vegan Meals Ahead of Earth Day 

For Immediate Release:

20 April 2023

Contact: 

Radhika Suryavanshi; [email protected]  

Sanskriti Bansore; [email protected] 

Pune – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India volunteers – a man and a woman painted blue and green to resemble the Earth – will take to the streets of Pune to remind passers-by that raising animals for food is one of the biggest sources of pollution and the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to the climate catastrophe. The duo, bearing signs that read, “Save the Earth – Try Vegan!” will encourage anyone eager to protect the environment to choose delicious vegan meals. 

When: Friday, 21 April, 11 am sharp  

Where: Across the street from Wadeshwar, 1229/A Fergusson College Road, between BMCC and Kakasheb Limaye roads, Pune, Maharashtra 411004.

“Raising animals for food is a leading cause of environmental degradation, as it requires massive amounts of land, food, energy, and water while emitting enormous quantities of greenhouse gases,” says PETA India Campaigns Manager Radhika Suryavanshi. “PETA India is urging people to help save the Earth from the worst effects of the climate catastrophe by going vegan.” 

Meat, egg, and dairy production are leading causes of pollution and the resulting ocean dead zones, habitat destruction from land use, and species extinction. Animal agriculture 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. Researchers at the University of Oxford found that each person who goes vegan lowers their food-related carbon footprint by up to 73%, making it the single biggest way to reduce one’s negative impact on the planet. 

Going vegan also directly benefits human health. COVID-19 is largely believed to have first infected humans through a live-animal market. Similarly, SARS, swine flu, bird flu, and other diseases have stemmed or spread to humans from confining and killing animals for food. And according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegans are at reduced risk of dangerous health conditions, including heart disease, type-2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity.  

Vegan eating also helps animals. As PETA India reveals in its video exposé “Glass Walls”, chickens used for eggs are confined to cages so small they can’t even spread a wing. Cows and buffaloes are crammed into vehicles in such large numbers that their bones often break before they’re dragged off to the slaughterhouse, and pigs are stabbed in the heart as they scream. On the decks of fishing boats, fish suffocate or are cut open while they’re still alive. Newborn male chicks are ground up, burned, or buried alive in the egg industry since they can’t lay eggs, and male calves in the dairy industry are commonly abandoned, left to starve, or killed since they can’t produce milk. 

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview – offers a free vegan starter kit on its website. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. 

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