Activists Announce International Day of Action on Earth Day
WORLDWIDE, April 3, 2023 /Vwire/ — On Earth Day, Saturday, April 22nd, thousands of vegan activists in over 30 cities in more than 18 countries around the world will join forces to march, rally, and hold outreach events to raise awareness and demand governments end subsidies for animal agriculture and embrace the Plant Based Treaty that has already been endorsed by the city of Los Angeles and Edinburgh Scotland. Activists are calling for a global shift to a plant-based food system on Earth Day to combat the climate and environmental crisis we are facing.
This international day of action will take place in New York City, Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, London, Amsterdam, Porto Portugal, Mexico City, Toronto, Zurich Switzerland, Lagos Nigeria, and other major cities worldwide. Stops will be made at local government buildings to show elected officials that urgent policy changes are needed to address our current food system’s negative environmental and climate impacts.
What people are saying about the Vegan Earth Day March:
Sarina Farb, Co-Founder and organizer of the International Vegan Earth Day March says “As long as policymakers continue to ignore the harm that animal agriculture causes to the planet and the individuals living on it, there will be no effective environmental and climate solutions. It is imperative that we all take personal action and demand immediate systemic changes to create a vegan paradigm shift and plant-based food system that normalizes non-violence, sustainable, and collective liberation for all sentient beings.”
“It’s time governments start listening to their constituents and stop using our tax dollars to support, subsidize, and bailout animal agriculture, a leading cause of our current climate crisis. Time is running out and we must come together to demand a global shift before it’s too late! Have your voice heard at the Vegan Earth Day March!” Says Chelsea V Davis Co-Founder and the other half of the International Vegan Earth Day March organizing team.
Other endorsers and supporters of the march include Renee King Sonnen of the Rancher Advocacy Program, and former 4th generation Cattle Rancher and “Mad Cowboy” Howard Lyman who says “The Vegan Earth Day March is long overdue and we need to get off our duffin and support it”.
Sailesh Rao an advisor to the Vegan Earth Day March and Executive Director of Climate Healers says “The Vegan Earth Day March is a long overdue step towards the societal transformation we need for these ecologically troubled times.
Background:
The International Vegan Earth Day March is a grassroots day of action to bring awareness to animal agriculture’s role in causing our current climate and ecological crisis and empower individuals to create personal, institutional, and governmental change.
Our demands:
- Individuals that can, must adopt a vegan lifestyle to immediately boycott the harmful and oppressive meat and dairy industry
- Governments and elected officials must immediately end all subsidies and bailouts for the meat and dairy industry to level the playing field for plant-based foods
- Environmental groups, governments, and NGOs must endorse the Plant Based Treaty (https://plantbasedtreaty.org/) and take immediate action to support the creation of a regenerative plant-based veganic food system.
The International Vegan Earth Day March comes at a pivotal time. The U.S. Senate is in the early stages of writing the 2023 Farm Bill which will determine food, nutrition, and agriculture funding priorities and subsidies for the next five years. The U.S. Farm Bill’s policies have historically negatively impacted local markets and economies both domestically and internationally. They have also been repeatedly criticized by world-renowned nutritionists, scientists, and environmental activists for supporting and promoting the production of the most unsustainable and unhealthy foods. In 2019, only 4% of federal farm support dollars went to the production of fruits and vegetables, while 30% went to meat, dairy, egg, and livestock feed production. (1)
A new study published in the Journal Nature Climate Change in March 2023 found that continuing current global meat-heavy dietary trends will result in temperatures reaching a 2-degree Celsius warming by 2100. This is well past the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit that the Paris Climate Agreement warned was necessary to stay under to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. (2)
According to the 6th assessment IPCC report published in April 2022, a global shift towards a plant-based diet can reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the food and agriculture sector by up to 90%. (3)
The Vegan Earth Day March is a collaborative grassroots campaign led by Born Vegan and Veggies Do It Better in partnership with the Animal Save Movement, Plant Based Treaty, Climate Healers, and UnchainedTV global streaming network.
Find a march here: https://www.veganearthdaymarch.org/find-a-march