The McCartney Family, Joaquin Phoenix & Ela Gandhi Are Among Those Urging UN’s COP26 To Adopt The Plant Based Treaty To Avert A Climate Catastrophe

Mary, Paul and Stella McCartney © 2021 MPL Communications Ltd / Photographer: Lily Bertrand-Webb

Paul McCartney and his daughters Mary and Stella McCartney, actors Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara, and Mahatma Gandhi’s granddaughter, Ela Gandhi, are urging the UN’s COP26 to adopt the Plant Based Treaty to avert a climate catastrophe.

As previously reported by WAN, the icons join Moby, Peter Egan, and Jerome Flynn, as well as leading scientists and leaders in issuing a strong message to COP26 delegates today, urging them to adopt the Plant Based Treaty as a companion to the Paris Agreement.

“We believe in justice for animals, the environment, and people,” the McCartney family, who launched the Meat Free Monday campaign in 2009, said in a statement sent to WAN. “That’s why we support the Plant Based Treaty and urge individuals and governments to sign it.”

“I fully endorse the Plant Based Treaty. I believe that the indiscriminate breeding of animals for consumption is harmful both for health, as well as for the environment. The animal industry has also contributed to a large extent to the deterioration of the fertility of our soil and thus the environment. Large forests have had to make way for cattle farmers all over the world,” stated Ela Gandhi. “Gandhiji, in his bid to transform his modestly affluent lifestyle in 1904, was driven by three important considerations of which one was that a life worth living is that of the tiller of the soil and the handicrafts person. Living close to nature was part of his teachings. Plant Based Treaty is calling for just that and therefore I support it.”

Last week, the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland also wrote an open letter urging delegates to the Glasgow Climate Change conference to endorse veganism as an important approach to averting a climate catastrophe.

“Around the world, scientists, government representatives, faith leaders, and now, celebrity voices, are calling for a halt to the expansion of animal agriculture and deforestation, a shift to a plant-based food system, and reforestation and rewilding of land,” noted Anita Krajnc, Plant Based Treaty Global Campaign Coordinator. “Increasingly people are recognizing that meat, dairy, and egg consumption are driving carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions, the three major greenhouse gases. Now, we need COP26 delegates and other leaders to acknowledge it.”

“We are thrilled that the McCartneys and Ela Gandhi have joined with the Plant Based Treaty to call on COP26 leaders to tackle the cow in the room. Animal agriculture is a major polluter yet leaders have largely ignored it,” said Fleur Dawes, Communications Director for In Defense of Animals, which is partnered with the Plant Based Treaty. “It’s time to get tough on ranching to reverse the devastating polluting effect it has on our planet. We urge Secretary-General Guterres to remove dirty animal agriculture from our food systems.”

You can help all animals and our planet by choosing compassion on your plate and in your glass. #GoVeg