HOT! Campaign Overview
Viva! launched its national HOT! campaign to help save the environment at Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park on November 19 2007. Its central theme is that the most effective action individuals can take to reduce global warming and other environmental catastrophes is to change their diet - move away from meat, dairy and other animal products and move towards a plant-based diet.
Launching the HOT! campaign was Heather Mills, a patron of Viva!, who also features in two leaflets and two billboard ads. One concentrates on meat-eaters' role in causing global warming and carries the headline: "Hey Meaty, you're making me so hot!" Another is aimed at people - and organisations - who call themselves environmentalists but still eat meat, fish and dairy. It has the headline: "You haven't got a leg to stand on!"
The statistics underlining this campaign are drawn from the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation 2006 report, Livestock's Long Shadow, and Viva!'s own report, Diet of Disaster. They establish that livestock are the second biggest cause of greenhouse gases at 18 per cent - compared to 13.5 per cent from all the world's different modes of transport combined. They are the major cause of both species extinctions and the felling of tropical forests - 70 per cent of the cleared Amazon is used for grazing and the other 30 per cent for growing animal fodder, with Europe as the biggest importer.
"The startling truth is that animals farmed for meat and dairy are now one of the greatest threats to the planet" says Heather Mills. "They are at the heart of almost all the world's environmental catastrophes. Viva! has been saying this for years and now the UN has confirmed it with a report so detailed that it can't be ignored - except by government. It remains silent and continues to pour huge subsidies into meat and dairy farming."
55 billion animals were slaughtered worldwide last year. Most were factory farmed. Their demand for food is at the heart of all the world’s biggest environmental problems.
“Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale. The impact is so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency.” United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation
Wild plants and animals are disappearing – up to 1000 times faster than normal because the forests and wild areas where they live have been cleared for animal farming.
18 per cent of greenhouse gases are produced by livestock farming – more than all the world’s planes, boats, cars and trains combined. If we don’t act soon global warming will become unstoppable.
About two-thirds of the nitrous oxide and ammonia that cause acid rain comes from manure.
Dry areas make up one-third of the world’s land and overgrazing is destroying 73 per of their ranges. They are turning to desert.
Fish stocks have been so devastated that 82 per cent are on the road to extinction.
Livestock are responsible for most pollution – animal waste, hormones, antibiotics, pesticides and chemicals. They are killing coral reefs and diseasing humans.
Livestock use up to 70 per cent of all agricultural land. Many times more people could be fed from the same land on a diet based on plant foods.
Seventy per cent of all cleared Amazon land is used for grazing cattle and most of the remaining 30 per cent for growing animal feed.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as E coli and deadly superbugs threaten our children’s future and we can largely thank intensive livestock farming.
Diet of Disaster
That’s the only way to describe eating meat, fish and dairy products and most scientists believe there’s little time left to prevent catastrophe.
That’s the bad news! The good news is – you don’t have to play a part in this rape of the planet. With one simple decision – today – you can slash your contribution to all these devastating environmental catastrophes. It couldn’t be easier.
Change your diet – change the world
Go vegan! You’ll be healthier and so will the planet.
Plus for an in-depth look at the issues read Viva!’s new, fully referenced on-line guide Diet of Disaster here.
Heather Mills, Viva! patron
“Fortunately, as individuals we don’t have to wait for anyone. You can end your involvement in this vandalism overnight and help to secure our children’s future. All you need do is change your diet – it’s that simple. Change your diet – change the world!”
Journalist and environmentalist
“It’s impossible to avoid the conclusion that the only sustainable and socially just option is for the inhabitants of the rich world to become, like most of the earth’s people, broadly vegan.”
Singer – New Young Pony Club
“If you’re finding the whole idea of how to save the world quite difficult then one of the first steps is to become a vegetarian. You’re going to make such a massive difference just doing that.”
Michael Mansfield QC
Barrister and Viva! patron
“The global meat and dairy industries have become almost untouchable. As individuals we have the power to stop their rape of the planet simply by changing our diet and refusing to buy their products.”