Mayor Wu: Go Vegan to Slash Emissions and We’ll Feed You for 21 Days, Says PETA

For Immediate Release:
December 9, 2021

Contact:
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382

Mayor Michelle Wu—Boston’s first “climate mayor”—could have a helping of coconut bread pudding coming her way: Because she’s divesting the city of support for the fossil fuel industry, PETA is pointing out that she can do more. Animal agriculture is responsible for more than one-fifth of human-induced greenhouse-gas emissions, so PETA wants the mayor to take part in a three-week vegan challenge and will cater it. In a letter sent to Wu’s office today, PETA promises that if the mayor accepts the Earth- and animal-saving challenge, the group will provide her with 21 days of vegan vittles, including calzones, buffalo JackFruit chick’n sandwiches, and other fine fare from the best vegan eateries in Beantown.

“The United Nations agrees with PETA that there’s no such thing as a meat- and dairy-eating environmentalist, so it only makes sense for the ‘climate mayor’ to lead by example and go vegan,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is ready to provide the mayor with delicious, free vegan dishes, including butternut squash soup, soy cheese lasagna, and New York-style ‘cheese’ cake with apricot glaze.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

Note: PETA supports animal rights, opposes all forms of animal exploitation, and provides the public with information about those issues. The group does not directly or indirectly participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office or any political party.

PETA’s letter to Wu follows.

December 9, 2021

The Honorable Michelle Wu
Mayor of Boston

Dear Mayor Wu:

Greetings from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). We applaud your passion for climate justice and your commitment to making Boston a zero-emission city. To make it truly “green,” the single most important thing that you can do is to set an example for your constituents by going vegan. Will you take PETA’s 3-Week Vegan Challenge and urge Bostonians to join you?

The United Nations says 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.” Calling for carbon reductions and shifting to renewable energy while still eating meat, eggs, and dairy is like trying to put out a raging forest fire with a single-use plastic water bottle. It’s not enough by a long shot, and every animal-based meal actively harms the planet.

Going vegan makes an immediate difference: Every vegan saves 1,100 gallons of water, nearly 40 pounds of grain (fed mainly to animals raised for food), and 30 square feet of forested land each day. Going vegan also prevents nearly 200 animals every year from being treated like things rather than living beings with beating hearts.

When asked whether animal protection is a core value, you responded, “Yes. There must be no tolerance for cruelty to or mistreatment of animals.” You must know that behind every animal-derived product lies extreme cruelty, including mutilations such as debeaking, dehorning, and castration without painkillers. In slaughterhouses, animals’ throats are slit, often while they’re still conscious. Many remain alert while they’re plunged into the scalding-hot water of defeathering or hair-removal tanks and their bodies are skinned or hacked apart.

I hope you will lead by example on this critical issue and encourage residents of “The Athens of America” to take the most effective action that they can right now to fight the climate crisis. PETA’s 3-Week Vegan Challenge can show you how to make this healthy change, and we’d be happy to provide you and your staff with 21 days’ worth of vegan meals from the best eateries in Boston if you take us up on this challenge. Are you in?

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals