Prince William was recently seen serving sustainable burgers with vegetables grown in India for the promotion of the Earthshot prize.
Three Oscar winners are among the celebrities who have written to Prince William and Earthshot Prize council members urging them to include a new category that rewards plant-based food innovators for their role in protecting the planet.
Animal agriculture is a leading cause of deforestation, habitat destruction, wildlife loss, species extinction, freshwater use, land use, climate breakdown, water pollution, and air pollution. Recognising the severity of the impact of this industry on the planet, Earthshot Prize council member Sir David Attenborough has already urged the public: “We must change our diet. The planet can’t support billions of meat-eaters.”
Currently, there are five Earthshot Prize categories: protect and restore nature; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a waste-free world, and; fix our climate. “Yet,” the letter says, “these five Earthshots fall short of what’s fundamentally necessary to preserve our planet. They neglect one challenge that we simply have to address. Without doing so, we can’t effectively fight climate change, restore nature, clean our air, revive our oceans, eliminate waste, or achieve our UN Sustainable Development Goals. That challenge is to: Advance a plant-based food system.”
The Earthshot Prize was founded by the UK’s Prince William in 2021 and awards £1 million to the winners of each environmental category. Previous winners have included Khyeti, a sustainable farming start-up from Hyderabad and Takachar, who was awarded the prize money for their biomass converter. Two more innovators from India were also finalists in 2021. But to date, Earthshot has overlooked the role of animal farming in the multiple environmental crises we face.
Dame Emma Thompson, Olivia Colman, and Mark Rylance have joined Sharon Osbourne, Annie Lennox, Alicia Silverstone, Benjamin Zephaniah, Deborah Meaden, Chris Packham, James Moore, Gemma Whelan, Edie Falco, and George Monbiot not only to urge Earthshot to include a new plant-based category for its awards, but to offer the £1 million prize fund for that category. The prize fund for the proposed ‘Advance a Plant-Based Food System’ category is to be donated by international NGO Generation Vegan.
Chris Packham said “Meat and dairy are having a huge and detrimental impact on our planet in terms of pollution, climate change, deforestation, and loss of wildlife. But when we eat plants, we reduce these impacts significantly. We need Earthshot to incentivise a plant-powered revolution!”
James Moore said ”Our current food system is not only a cause of mass suffering to animals, it is also a threat to the future of our planet. That’s why it is so important that Earthshot introduces a sixth prize category and helps create a global plant-based food system.”
Sharon Osbourne said “Earthshot rewards people who are working to heal our planet so adding a plant-based category is a no-brainer.”
Generation Vegan’s CEO Naomi Hallum said “We are big supporters of the Earthshot Prize, and at GenV we are working towards the exact same aims. However, there seems to be a blind spot when it comes to animal agriculture and its devastating impact on the earth, air, waters, and climate. That’s why we are asking the Earthshot Prize council to introduce this essential sixth prize fund category for 2024, and why we would be delighted to donate the £1 million prize fund to the winner.”
Actors Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee; Harry Potter; Good Luck to You, Leo Grande), Olivia Colman (The Crown; Broadchurch; The Favourite), Alicia Silverstone (Clueless; Batman & Robin; The Perpetrator), Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall; Dunkirk; Don’t Look Up), Edie Falco (The Sopranos; Nurse Jackie), Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones; Killing Eve), James Moore (Emmerdale); Justina Adorno (Grand Hotel; Roswell, New Mexico; Mayans MC); television personality and music manager, Sharon Osbourne; singer-songwriter Annie Lennox; business leader Deborah Meaden (Dragon’s Den); author, journalist, and environmental activist, George Monbiot; naturalist and TV presenter, Chris Packham; and poet and broadcaster Benjamin Zephaniah.
