Meat-Free Monday: Go Veggie Once A Week and Help To Save The Planet

Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney are urging us to think of the enviroment once a week and stop eating meat. This is why...

We're usually told that a vegetarian diet is better for us - which it can be - but there are so many more reasons to have a Meat-Free Monday than just your waistline. Opting out of a meaty meal just one day a week has amazing enviromental benefits - in fact, cutting out meat one day a week is equally as effective at saving the planet as not using your car for a whole month every year.

This is why Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney, along with the support of their celebrity friends and a few of your favourite restaurants, are urging us all to go meat-free, just one day a week, to help cut CO2 emmissions in half. You might not realise it, but making this small change could do everything from lowering manmade greenhouse gases to reducing world hunger.

Meat-Free Monday aims to make a big impact on the UN Climate Summit, which takes place in New York on 22 September. MP, Greg Barker, former Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change and now climate advisor to David Cameron, says, 'Giving up meat one day a week is a symbolic gesture, but if enough of us do it, it will send a very powerful and loud message to world leaders.'

Paul McCartney adds, 'Going meat free one day a week is a simple way to contribute to a more sustainable future.'

Still not sold? These shocking statistics might sway you in favour of a more vegetarian-friendly lifestyle:

- One third of all land is used for livestock feed. This means areas of the Amazon that are the size of a football pitch are being cut down 100 times an hour to make way for new grazing ground for cattle.

- It takes 10 gallons of water to produce 5.3oz of potatoes. To produce a 5.3 oz beef burger, approximately 6,340 gallons of water is needed. This is the same amount we each use daily for food and hygiene.

- In a world where nearly one billion people are undernourished, a third of all cereal crops, and more than 90 per cent of soya, is turned into feed for farmed animals.

- 14 and a half per cent of global carbon emissions are related to live stock, which is only bred for us to consume.

- 60 billion animals are reared for meat globally. The majority spend their lives in small enclosures, unable to do what is natural and important to them – for example stretching out, building nests and nourishing their babies.

Want to make the change? Visit meatfreemondays.com for more information, to pledge your support and to find delicious vegetarian recipes, which help make Meat-Free Monday so much easier.

Tweet your support for this cause now at #mfmclimatepledge, or go to pledge.meatfreemondays.com and spread the word.