The Hindu : New Delhi News : PETA seeks Big B’s stamp on going green

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Tuesday, Dec 02, 2008
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PETA seeks Big B’s stamp on going green

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has appealed to Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan to serve only vegetarian food during the live Earth Event being hosted by him in the country.

In a letter, PETA has told the lanky actor that selling meat at a concert to benefit the environment would be like “selling cigarettes at a cancer charity fund-raiser”.

Congratulating Mr. Bachchan on bringing the Live Earth concert to India, PETA chief functionary Anuradha Sawhney said that during a recent appearance in London, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and co-winner of a Nobel Peace Prize along with Live Earth co-founder Al Gore had highlighted that among the options available for mitigating the climate change, changing diets was something one should consider. “If we are honest, less meat is also good for the health and would also at the same time reduce emissions of greenhouse gases,” she added.

“On behalf of PETA India, we respectfully ask you to kindly ensure that no meat is sold at the event. By doing so, you will send a strong message that people can save the planet simply by changing their dietary habits. We also hope that you will take the opportunity to talk about the benefits of a vegetarian diet during the event, thereby educating the millions of people watching worldwide.”

Ms. Sawhney further told Mr. Bachchan that studies had revealed Mumbai alone could suffer up to 48 billion dollars in economic losses because of projected submergence caused by global warming.

“Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tonnes of methane a year. About 85 per cent of this methane is produced in the digestive processes of livestock, and the collective effect on the environment of the hundreds of millions of livestock worldwide releasing methane is enormous,” she added.

Ms. Sawhney pointed out that the best way to slow global warming was to reduce or eliminate our consumption of animal products. “By going vegetarian, we can help eliminate one of the major sources of methane emissions -- the greenhouse gas that is responsible for almost half of the global warming impacting the planet today,” she added.

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