A patch of farmland burns.

Climate Week: What We Eat is Causing this Heat

Join our Climate Week events in NYC! 

Will you be in New York City from September 22-29, 2024?

Don't miss out on our fun Climate Week events throughout the city, and be sure to stop by your nearest Plantega location to celebrate. 

A sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich from Plantega.

Free Sample Giveaway

Stop by Yummy Hive Deli for free samples from Plantega on Wednesday, September 25, 2024 from 12pm to 1:30pm ET.

woman scrolling social media on her cell phone

Digital Challenge

Not going to be in NYC? You can still participate in Climate Week from anywhere by joining our digital challenge!

Animals Are Dying—And We Know the Culprit!

From koalas, jaguars and sloths to pigs, cows and chickens, all animals are threatened by one common enemy: factory farming.

The solution? Eat more plant-based foods!

Eat Plants. Save Animals. Stop Climate Change!

Jaguars, koalas, and even polar bears are victims of the same cruel system as cows, chickens, and pigs–industrial animal agriculture (also called “factory farming”). Factory farms not only cause untold suffering for the animals who are confined and slaughtered, they are also a leading cause of climate change, making the planet less habitable for animals worldwide.

Despite growing momentum to address climate change, industrial animal agriculture continues to be let off the hook. We cannot afford to keep giving factory farming a pass.

You can help by demanding more plant-based foods in grocery stores, restaurants, and cafeterias in your community.

A man lifts a plant-based burger to eat.
Factory farms from above.

Experts have warned that unless factory farming declines, we cannot achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and keep below the 1.5°C increase maximum.

  • Greenhouse gas emissions: GHG emissions from growing and processing crops to feed farmed animals represent 45% of global agricultural emissions. In the US, factory farms account for 13% of total methane emissions, a greenhouse gas with very high warming impact.
  • Food waste: More than a quarter of all animal products are discarded, a major source of food waste in landfills! Food waste accounts for 2% of US greenhouse gas emissions.

The climate impacts from the world’s five largest factory farming companies are responsible for emissions equivalent to 36.4 million cars on the road annually.

Destroying Forests and Grasslands to Feed Factory Farming

Animals like Xama the jaguar and Cecilia the anteater are losing their homes and families to feed factory farms.

In Brazil’s pristine ecosystems, fires are deliberately set, destroying precious habitats and the animals that once thrived there. Similarly, in the wilds of Queensland, Australia, trees that provide homes for koalas and other animals are bulldozed.

This destruction is driven by meat companies seeking more space and releases significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

Chickens crowded in a barn.

Creating and Spreading Virulent Disease

Factory farming and climate change are increasing the global risk of zoonotic diseases like bird flu. Industrial agriculture puts thousands of animals into overcrowded conditions, increasing the spread and severity of viruses and bacteria. Warmer temperatures, caused in part by factory farms, are expanding the range of harmful diseases.

Recent global outbreaks of bird flu have killed nearly 100 million US chickens since 2022 and have recently infected species across several continents, including Antarctic penguins, a Florida dolphin, and an Alaskan polar bear.  The World Health Organization labels bird flu a global zoonotic pandemic.

Draining and Polluting Our Freshwater Resources

Climate change is negatively affecting the quantity and quality of freshwater resources that humans and animals rely on, and factory farming is one of the largest consumers and polluters of freshwater in the US. The Midwest cow industry is the primary cause of depleting levels of the Colorado River, a water resource that hundreds of species rely on to thrive.

Factory farming’s reliance on massive amounts of corn and soy comes with a toxic price. Each year nearly 250 million pounds of insecticides and herbicides are applied in the US just to the corn and soy grown for animal feed! These toxic chemicals poison aquatic species and the animals that consume them. Chemical fertilizers cause oxygen-depleted dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico, where few or no lifeforms can survive.

Polluted water drains into a body of water.

It's Clear: Eat Plants. Save Animals.
Stop Climate Change.

Reducing and/or eliminating meat consumption is urgently needed to protect animals, halt and reverse the climate crisis, and build a more sustainable and kind food system.

How You Can Help

A spread of plant-based foods.

Urge Legislatures to Support the PLANT ACT

The Peas, Legumes, and Nuts Today (PLANT) Act of 2023 is a groundbreaking piece of legislation aimed at bolstering farmers growing food crops in the United States. It would increase support for plant-based crop cultivation, a critical need if we are to shift away from factory farming.

People's arms holding forks and chopsticks of different plant foods.

Join the plant-based movement!

Protect animals and save our planet.

Plant-Powered Changemakers is a community of passionate individuals dedicated to creating a more compassionate and sustainable world through the power of plant-based foods. By making small changes in our own lives, we can have a ripple effect of positive change on the planet, on animals, and on our own communities.

A scorecard ranking top restaurant chains on their plant-based options (2024).

Demand Restaurants Create Menus that Protect the Planet

Our recent Moving the Menu report revealed that our nation’s top restaurants are not doing nearly enough. Chain restaurants are one of the US's largest sources of meat consumption. If these companies recognize the critical importance of meat reduction and integrate plant-based options into their menus, they could help alleviate immense suffering for humans and non-human animals alike.

How Companies Can Help

Set meat reduction targets

Companies committed to social responsibility in their supply chains must set timebound targets for reducing meat procurement. Achieving reductions in meat purchasing will better enable companies to meet emissions reduction, biodiversity protection, and other sustainability targets.

Meaningfully promote plant-based and other animal-free foods

Including plant-based foods on retail shelves and restaurant menus is a positive step, but transformational change requires food companies to actively promote these foods and their benefits to their customers through in-store and online deals, features, and offers.