Blog

Help get Los Angeles to endorse the Plant Based Treaty

September 10, 2022

First published on UNCHAINEDTV

URGE LOS ANGELES TO SIGN THE PLANT BASED TREATY!

LA is on the brink of history! It could become as the first large city in the United States to essentially endorse the Plant Based Treaty! A resolution to that effect has just been introduced to the Los Angeles city council.

Now, you can do your part by urging urging the Los Angeles City Council to vote yes on the resolution. It literally takes one minute to comment. The more comments they get, the more likely the resolution is to pass.

CLICK HERE TO COMMENT IN FAVOR OF THE PLANT BASED TREATY

It was LA City Councilman Paul Koretz, long known as a climate progressive and animal lover, who introduced the resolution that requests that the City of Los Angeles endorse the Plant Based Treaty!

If enough people comment, and it passes, this could pave the way for many other cities to follow suit. Remember, LA is where trends start.

This would encourage cities to take a plant based approach to food and food purchasing, making plant based choices a centerpiece of their greenhouse gas emissions policy.

The future of our planet literally depends on us transitioning away from animal agriculture, which is a leading contributor to climate change, as well as habitat destruction, wildlife extinction, human world hunger, human disease, drought, ocean dead zones and water pollution. Governments – local, state and federal – need to acknowledge this reality!

As of May 2022, more than 2,100 local governments and 39 countries had declared a climate emergency. Every November for the past 27 years, government representatives and scientists come together at the United Nations to seek ways to solve this crisis. The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change which entered into force in 2016, was adopted by 196 countries willing to make the necessary changes required to address the climate crisis. Subsequently, the Fossil Fuel Agreement and the Plant Based Treaty were created as two important global grassroots initiatives which offer solutions to meet the targets proposed by the Paris Agreement.

When discussing the climate crisis, one issue that is brought up time and time again is that women and children, and the world’s poorest people, will be affected disproportionately. Unfortunately, forest-dwelling animals, whose habitats were completely burned, farmed animals trapped in barns during floods or fires, and sea creatures who face extinction due to the warming of the ocean, are not counted among these disadvantaged groups.

Today’s world is dominated by speciesism, so it is unsurprising that non-human animals are not considered along with other disadvantaged groups. Non-human animals have just as much right to life as humans, yet sadly, many are not legally protected, or even recognized as individuals. When the devastating effect of the climate crisis is reflected in our lives as floods, fires, and storms, human losses are referred to as “lives” while non-human animals losses are often referred to as “property”.

What is the Plant Based Treaty?

The adoption of a Plant Based Treaty as a companion to the UNFCCC/Paris Agreement will put food systems at the heart of combating the climate crisis. The Treaty aims to halt the widespread degradation of critical ecosystems caused by animal agriculture, to promote a shift to healthier, sustainable plant based diets and to actively reverse damage done to planetary functions, ecosystem services and biodiversity.

The Plant Based Treaty has three core principles:

The 3 tenets of the Plant Based Treaty are: RELINQUISH, REDIRECT, RESTORE.

1. No land use change, ecosystem degradation or deforestation for animal agriculture.
2. An active transition away from animal-based food systems to plant-based systems.
3. Actively restoring key ecosystems, particularly restoring forests and re-wilding landscapes.

HERE IS THE EXACT WORDING OF THE RESOLUTION!

WHEREAS, any official position of the City of Los Angeles, with respect to legislation, rules, regulations or
policies proposed to or pending before a local, state, or federal governmental body or agency must have first
been adopted in the form of a Resolution by the City Council with the concurrence of the Mayor; and

WHEREAS, in the face of quickly-worsening global climate impacts, the City has been increasing its
efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors; and

WHEREAS, the rapid, strong, and sustained reduction in three greenhouse gasses, namely Carbon
Dioxide, Methane, and Nitrous Oxide, along with zero deforestation, is a climate imperative; and

WHEREAS, between 2014 and 2019 there has been faster growth of atmospheric concentrations of
methane; growth since 2007 is largely driven by emissions from fossil fuels and agriculture, with at least
30% of methane emissions attributed to animal agriculture; and

WHEREAS, scenarios modeled in the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6th
assessment suggest rapid cuts of 75% to methane are required to stay within 1.5C; and

WHEREAS, data derived from the IPCC 2014 5th assessment reveals animal agriculture emissions as
35% of energy production, a figure which excludes deforestation emissions attributed to the growing of
crops for farmed animals.

WHEREAS, the 2019 Land Use report by Ritchie, H. and Roser, M., calculated that 78% of farmland is
used to farm animals yet supplies just 18% of global calories and 37% of protein; and

WHEREAS, the City has committed to help mitigate the climate, ocean, and biodiversity crisis by addressing
the food system, including promoting the benefits of locally grown plant-based foods;

WHEREFORE… SIGN IT LOS ANGELES!

COMMENT NOW… PLEASE! CLICK HERE! TAKES A MINUTE

More from the blog