Group Wants to Get Residents off a Bankrupt Diet
For Immediate Release:
November 30, 2011
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Harrisburg, Pa -- PETA sent a letter today to Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson with a novel proposal: PETA will write the city a check if Thompson can persuade officials to place PETA's pro-vegan ad on the Harrisburg Resource Recovery Facility incinerator—the same incinerator that is blamed for getting the city into the financial meltdown it's currently experiencing. The ad shows a PETA Lettuce Lady provocatively posing in a lettuce bikini underneath the words "Meat Trashes the Planet. Go Vegan." PETA's point? That besides contributing to health problems ranging from heart attacks to diabetes and for causing animal suffering on a massive scale, raising animals for food is a leading cause of water pollution, land degradation, and greenhouse-gas emissions.
"The incinerator might have burned up more of Harrisburg's dollars than its trash, but our offer would provide the city with some much-needed cash and encourage residents to take a stand for a cleaner environment, better health, and compassion for animals," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Whether your town is in the black or in the red, it's always the perfect time to go 'green' by going vegan."
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
PETA's letter to Mayor Thompson follows.
November 30, 2011
The Honorable Linda D. Thompson
Mayor of Harrisburg, Pa.
Dear Mayor Thompson,
I am writing on behalf of PETA and our thousands of members and supporters across Pennsylvania with an offer to help a little with your city’s financial problems stemming from the Harrisburg Resource Recovery Facility. If you can convince officials to display our colorful, educational ad proclaiming, “Meat Trashes the Planet. Go Vegan. PETA,” on the incinerator (see this mock-up), we will gladly make a modest contribution to the city’s coffers. This win-win offer would help the city’s finances while advising residents that one of the best ways to help the environment—and improve their own long-term health—is to go vegan.
We all want to do our part for the planet, but many people simply aren’t aware that one of the best places to start is at the dinner table. According to the University of Chicago, going vegan is 50 percent more effective in combating climate change than switching from a regular car to a hybrid. And the United Nations has stated that raising animals for food is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.”
In addition to trashing the planet, eating animal products causes enormous animal suffering. In today’s industrialized meat and dairy industries, chickens and turkeys have their throats cut while they’re still conscious, fish are suffocated or cut open while they’re still alive, and calves are taken away from their loving mothers within hours of birth. Plus, Harrisburg residents who take heed of the advice in our ad would enjoy significant health benefits: According to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarians are less prone to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity than meat-eaters are.
Please contact me as soon as possible to discuss this offer further. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Lindsay Rajt
Associate Director of
Campaigns