Crawley MP Henry Smith goes vegan for PETA Earth Day Campaign

“I’m meat-free because I know it’s the best way I can reduce my impact on the planet,” says Smith.

“This Earth Day, I’m trying vegan, and I hope everyone who cares about the environment will join me.”

Animal agriculture is the leading cause of ocean dead zones, species extinction, and habitat destruction – and, by some estimates, it creates more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the world’s transportation systems combined.

A study in the journal Nature found that greenhouse-gas emissions from animal agriculture would reduce by half if the world turned to a mainly plant-based diet.

Every person who goes vegan can lower their carbon footprint by up to 73 per cent and save nearly 200 animals per year.

“These lawmakers didn’t hesitate to step up and show people that we can spare animals’ lives, save water, and slash greenhouse-gas emissions simply by going vegan,” says PETA Senior Campaigns Manager Kate Werner.

“PETA encourages everyone to follow their lead and be a vegan force of nature against climate change on Earth Day and every day.”

The other participating MPs are Tracey Crouch, Dr Lisa Cameron, Luke Pollard, Sarah Champion, Helen Hayes, Tommy Sheppard, Emma Lewell-Buck, Caroline Lucas, Rachael Maskell, Caroline Dinenage, and Matthew Pennycook.

PETA is sending each of them a vegan snack basket – provided by The Vegan Kind online supermarket – a #VeganForEarthDay selfie sign, a vegan starter kit, and a PETA pin.

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.uk.