Yesterday, the Plant-Based Universities campaign published a letter to University Vice-Chancellors, Catering Managers, and Student Union Presidents calling on them to support the transition to 100% just and sustainable plant-based catering in universities [1].
The letter has been signed by a vast amount of professors and public figures, including Dr Joseph Poore of Oxford University, Chris Packham CBE, Etienne Stott MBE, the Deputy Leader of the Green Party (Zack Polanski,) and the Co-Executive Directors of Greenpeace, Will McCallum and Areeba Hamid.
Academics from nearly 100 global universities have shown their support for the campaign. This includes individuals from universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and St Andrews.
The Plant-Based Universities campaign has already achieved landmark wins in 7 UK universities [2].
Dale Vince OBE led plaudits for the Plant-Based Universities campaign yesterday alongside Dr Helen Czerski, an oceanographer at University College London and television presenter, and Chris Packham CBE. The Letter represents, what Plant-Based Universities claim, is “the largest ever academic call for a plant-based food system.”
Dale Vince OBE, Founder of Ecotricity said:
Animal farming is a major driver of the climate crisis, the single biggest cause of the global wildlife crisis and is simply economic madness. We have to feed far more good plant protein to animals than we get back out.” [3]
The open letter calls for universities to adopt 100% just and sustainable plant-based catering because of research linking animal farming and fishing to the climate and ecological crises. A recent Oxford University study suggested that a plant-based food system would have 75% less environmental impact than our current one [4].
Over 650 of the signatories are academics, with others including healthcare professionals and industry leaders.
Nathan McGovern, Co-Founder of the Plant-Based Universities campaign said:
“The response across academia in the past day has been incredible. We’ve seen countless professors and lecturers come out in support of 100% just and sustainable plant-based university catering.
We are thrilled with this, but will also make sure it doesn’t stop here. Plant-Based Universities campaigners are working in over 70 UK universities, and abroad, to push through this commonsense switch to help universities tackle the climate and ecological crises.”
The Plant-Based Universities campaign, an Animal Rising campaign, is a nationwide initiative of students who are pushing for their universities and student unions to adopt 100% plant-based catering [5]. The group claims that universities have an obligation to follow the scientific research that they produce, detailing the environmental impacts of animal farming and fishing. The campaign is active in over 50 institutions, with the group encouraging interested students to sign up to run local campaigns.
ENDS
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Notes To Editors:
[2] Plant-Based Universities have seen votes passed at Students Unions in Stirling, Cambridge, Birmingham, Queen Mary University of London, London Metropolitan, University College London, and Kent https://www.plantbaseduniversities.org/blog