Vegan Billboard Backs British Farmers Amid North Devon Council Plan Backlash
5 August 2024
North Devon – Following an outcry from farmers regarding a proposal that North Devon Council implement plant-based catering and encourage a shift to horticulture and arable farming, PETA placed two billboards at a busy service station en route to North Devon to urge holidaymakers and passers-by to go vegan to support British farmers and protect the planet.
The billboards are located at Moto Bridgwater, Huntworth Business Park, M5 Junction 24, Bridgwater TA6 6TS. High-resolution images are available here. Credit: Moment Photography.
“Eating vegan supports British farmers,” says PETA Vice President of Corporate Projects Dawn Carr. “PETA’s billboard encourages locals and visitors alike to enjoy the nutritious and climate- and animal-friendly vegetables, herbs, grains, nuts, and fruits grown by farmers in North Devon.”
Animal agriculture is a leading cause of environmental destruction – it requires massive amounts of land, food, energy, and water and emits huge quantities of greenhouse gases – and the National Food Strategy highlighted that 85% of total agricultural land in the UK is used to grow food to feed farmed animals instead of humans. Researchers at the University of Oxford determined that as the global food system currently stands, it is impossible to meet the climate goal set out in the Paris Climate Agreement, even if all other sources of greenhouse gas emissions were to be eliminated, and sponsors of a report by the Agribusiness Task Force warned that the agricultural industry must accelerate its shift to sustainable practices or risk “destroying the planet”.
Many councils across the UK, including in Hythe, Lewisham, Oxford, and Oxfordshire, have already implemented plant-based catering to combat the climate emergency, and in 2023, Exeter City Council – situated in the capital of Devon – expanded the vegan options available at external council-run sites, including leisure centres, cafés, and restaurants.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview – released a video celebrating British farmers. Earlier this year, the group launched its campaign encouraging the government to help farmers switch to plant-based agriculture.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.
Contact:
Lucy Watson +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]
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