Sharon Osbourne, Olivia Colman and others call for plant-based Earthshot Prize
Funding of £1 million would give people working to change diets the recognition and support they need, said Generation Vegan.
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Your support makes all the difference.Sharon Osbourne, Olivia Colman, Dame Emma Thompson and Chris Packham are among a group of celebrities that are calling for Prince William to include a plant-based diet category into the Earthshot Prize.
The prize fund awards £1 million to each of the winners of five categories, those that protect and restore nature, clean our air, revive our oceans, build a waste-free world and fix our climate.
A sixth category has been proposed by Generation Vegan and in an open letter sent to the Prince of Wales signed by more than a dozen actors, singers and green campaigners, the group has asked for the inclusion of a prize for those advancing a plant-based food system.
Agriculture is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions globally and a plant-based diet has been consistently shown in scientific studies to have a much lower carbon footprint than one that includes eating meat regularly.
Earthshot rewards people who are working to heal our planet so adding a plant-based category is a no-brainer
Cattle themselves produce methane while fertilisers are a significant source of nitrous oxide, both major greenhouse gases.
Livestock occupy 26% of the world’s ice-free land according to the UN, while more land is taken to grow their feed, meaning there is less space for trees to grow and absorb carbon from the atmosphere.
Expansion of cattle pastures has also been responsible for deforestation in some of the world’s most important forest ecosystems such as in the Brazilian Amazon.
Packham said: “Meat and dairy are having a huge and detrimental impact on our planet in terms of pollution, climate change, deforestation, and loss of wildlife.
“But when we eat plants, we reduce these impacts significantly. We need Earthshot to incentivise a plant-powered revolution!”
In its letter, Generation Vegan said producing food through animals is “inefficient, wasteful, dangerous and driving us towards climate catastrophe”.
They have offered to provide the £1 million prize fund if the category is included in the next round of awards, which will be announced in Singapore in November.
Our current food system is not only a cause of mass suffering to animals, it is also a threat to the future of our planet
Kensington Palace declined to comment on the letter.
Osbourne said: “Earthshot rewards people who are working to heal our planet so adding a plant-based category is a no-brainer.”
Generation Vegan said the people working to change diets and reduce demand for meat are not receiving enough recognition or support and the inclusion of this category would change that.
They said the planet cannot be fixed without changing the way we eat.
Actor James Moore said: “Our current food system is not only a cause of mass suffering to animals, it is also a threat to the future of our planet.
“That’s why it is so important that Earthshot introduces a sixth prize category and helps create a global plant-based food system.”