Paul McCartney Urges Fans to Embrace Meat Free Monday Pledge

Amagansett rock legend and longtime vegetarian Paul McCartney is asking his fans to stop eating meat on Mondays.

McCartney says in a video released on Friday to encourage people to visit pledge.meatfreemondays.com and sign the “Meat Free Monday” pledge as a way battle climate change. The idea and subsequent pledge results will be presented by Greg Barker, Energy and Climate Advisor to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, at the United Nations Climate Summit this Tuesday, September 23 in New York City.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is holding the Climate Summit—ahead of the crucial Paris Climate Treaty conference next year—in order to find “bold commitments and actions that will catalyse transformative change.”

“We are inviting people from all over the world to pledge their support online for a weekly meat free day such as Meat Free Monday,” Barker says on his Meat Free Monday site, which explains:

1. Meat production is responsible for 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, with some scientists saying the percentage is higher.

2. Skipping meat for one day a week can reduce your annual carbon footprint by as much as not driving your car for a whole month.

3. An area of Amazon rainforest the size of 100 football pitches [soccer fields] is cut down every hour to create room for grazing cattle.

“I need your help, please,” McCartney says. “We’ll send all these pledges to the politicians and then they’ll do something about it…”

McCartney was converted to vegetarianism by his late wife and great love, Linda McCartney, some four decades ago. She died of cancer in 1998, but McCartney keeps his commitment and supports Linda’s legacy by spreading her message to go meat-free.

To make the Meat Free Monday pledge and join this global campaign, visit pledge.meatfreemondays.com.

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