A vegetarian since 1975, ex-Beatle and living legend Sir Paul McCartney has for over 40 years dedicated himself to the plight of animal rights and welfare, advocating the work of PETA, the Humane Society of the United States, and the World Society for the Protection of Animals in that time. In 2009, with his daughters Mary and Stella, he launched the not-for-profit Meat Free Monday campaign, which serves to protect the environment by raising awareness of the effect animal agriculture has on the planet, and how by reducing our meat intake, we can directly affect climate change.
Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference next week, the McCartneys have produced a hard-hitting short film that highlights the part that animal agriculture plays in global warming.
Narrated by and starring Paul, the film, which is directed by Baptiste Rouget-Luchaire, also features Mary and Stella alongside actors Woody Harrelson and Emma Stone, who reinforce its powerful message to conserve precious natural resources.
“Animal agriculture results in vast amounts of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere,” Paul states in the film. “It requires increasingly unsustainable levels of precious resources including land, water and energy. It is a major contributor towards global environmental degradation and climate change. And it’s not just livestock rearing that’s a problem: industrialised fishing destroys marine ecosystems as miles of nets sweep up anything in their path.”
One Day A Week is the McCartneys’ plea to reduce this unreversable damage by renouncing meat products for 24 hours, as the first step to improving our world is through improving our diets.
Watch the film here:
For more information on Meat Free Monday, check out their website.
