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Print articleBilled as 'Everything you ever wanted to know about going, being or staying veggie ? or moving in that direction', The Incredible Veggie Show, organised by national animal campaign group Viva! (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals), comes to London on Saturday, June 30.
According to the recent UN report, livestock production is responsible for: more climate change gasses than all the motor vehicles in the world; 70 per cent of the Amazon deforestation; 64 per cent of all the acid rain-producing ammonia; and 15 out of the 24 vast global ecosystems that are in decline can blame livestock. The world's fresh water supplies are drying up, yet it takes just 140 litres of water to produce 1kg of onions but 9,680 litres to produce 1kg of beef.
Seventy per cent of all agricultural land in Britain is used to feed animals and rainforests are still being felled to graze hamburger cattle. However, if Britain went vegetarian, less than half the current farm land would be needed ? vegan, less than a quarter.
According to Viva!, drought and other natural disasters are often wrongly blamed as the cause of famine. Viva! claims that it is the West's addiction to meat and animal products that is one of the primary causes of starvation, poverty, pollution and insecurity around the world. The increasing demand on world food supplies to feed farmed animals will make the situation worse unless individuals act to change their diet.
Across the world, the poorest countries are being encouraged to grow cash crops such as animal fodder to earn foreign currency to meet their debt repayments ? at the expense of food for home consumption. It has resulted in the obscenity of children starving to death alongside lush crops destined for the West's animals. Most of this food is subsequently wasted as for every 10kg of vegetable protein fed to cattle, only 1kg is converted to meat.
Juliet Gellatley, Viva!'s director, said:
?Eating meat is not the only reason for world hunger and global warming but it is a major one and vegetarianism, by using less of the world's resources, is part of the remedy So come along to The Incredible Veggie Show and find out why every single person who goes veggie can really make a difference to the world around them.?
Everything you ever wanted to know about going, being or staying veggie or vegan will be on tap at The Incredible Veggie Show at Lawrence Hall and Conference Centre, Royal Horticultural Halls on Saturday, June 30, 2007, from 10am-5.30pm. The largest veggie event ever held in the UK, it follows the hugely successful debut at Wembley Conference Centre, which attracted over 5,000 people in 2005. Viva! patron Heather Mills will be at the show to give a cookery demonstration and to offer advice on healthy living.
Entry to The Incredible Veggie Show will be ?3 (under 16s free) which will include a whole range of delicious free food tastings from leading veggie food manufacturers and all the advice you could ever want on changing your diet or improving your health.
Viva! promises a fun day out for all the people who want to improve their health, save animals and protect the environment.
