5000 sign petition urging Glastonbury Town Council to sign Plant Based Treaty

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Glastonbury headliner Paul McCartney calls on governments to sign the Plant Based Treaty in response to the climate emergency

August 11, 2022: Climate campaigners have launched a petition urging Glastonbury Town Council to endorse the Plant Based Treaty to help meet its pledge to be carbon neutral by 2030.

The petition – which has almost 5000 signatures, applauds the council’s efforts to cut waste and switch to renewable energy. It asks Glastonbury to ‘take the next step’ and endorse the Plant Based Treaty.

Last month, conservative-led Haywards Heath Town Council became the first town in Europe to endorse the Treaty. Green Councillor Dr Richard Nicholson said, “I’d encourage all Town, District, County and Metro councils to sign the Plant Based Treaty immediately.”

Matt Sparrey from Pyramid Vegan Cafe located at 15A High Street, Glastonbury said, “We urge Glastonbury Town Council to take action on plant-based solutions to the climate crisis and endorsing the Plant Based Treaty would be an important first step.”

Plant Based Treaty campaigner, Josephine Robinson who has been collecting signatures in Glastonbury says, “Record-breaking 40C temperatures are a dire warning that we must ramp up our efforts to tackle planet heating emissions from meat, dairy and eggs. Cuts to methane are our best hope of limiting temperature rises and animal farming accounts for a third of those emissions. Quite simply, we cannot beat the heat without a seismic shift towards plant-based diets.”

The petition has already caught the attention of Green Mayor Jon Cousins, who shared the petition on Twitter with a caption that read, “Interesting?”. 

Paul McCartney who headlined this year’s Glastonbury Festival said in a joint statement with Mary and Stella McCartney, “We believe in justice for animals, the environment and people. That’s why we support the Plant Based Treaty and urge individuals and governments to sign it.”

International recording artist Moby has also shown his support and said: “We face a climate catastrophe and especially a methane emergency. We can all make a difference. Fight climate change simply with diet change. So please join me and endorse and support the Plant Based Treaty.”

Background

The Plant Based Treaty is modelled on the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and inspired by treaties that have addressed threats such as ozone layer depletion. Since its launch in August 2021 the initiative has received support from 43,000 individual endorsers, 95 UK councillors, 5 Nobel laureates, IPCC scientists, more than 800 NGOs and community groups and 700 businesses, including Ecotricity, Linda McCartney Foods, Oceanic Preservation Society, Environmental Alliance Project, VIVA!, BOSH!, Animal Rebellion, and chapters of Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Extinction Rebellion.

The global movement asking towns and cities to endorse the Plant Based Treaty to help pressure national governments to negotiate a global treaty that will:

1. Halt the global expansion of deforestation attributed to animal agriculture.
2. Incentivise a plant-based food system.
3. Encourage public information campaigns about the benefits of plant-based foods.
4. Free up land to rewild and reforest the Earth.
5. Allow a just transition to more sustainable jobs, healthier people and a healthier planet.