The News Minute | September 23, 2014 | 8:15am IST
London : Singer Paul McCartney has asked his fans to refrain from eating meat Mondays to help the environment in a YouTube video posted in conjunction with the start of the UN Climate Summit in New York.
McCartney called on people to make a show of support via pledge.meatfreemondays.com, to reduce the alleged impact of cattle production on climate change.
"I need your help, all I want you to do is to just log in to pledge.meatfreemondays.com and pledge your support to the idea of meat-free Mondays. Please do it. We will send all these pledges to the politicians, and then they will do something about it," Efe quoted the former-Beatle as saying in the video.
McCartney is among a host of celebrities, including actors Kevin Spacey and Gwyneth Paltrow and British chef Jamie Oliver, who support the initiative.
The UN Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that the cattle industry is responsible for 14.5 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions, but several independent scientists have estimated even higher percentages.
More than 300,000 people turned out Sunday for a march in New York held as a prelude to the UN Climate Summit, which will be attended by heads of state and business leaders.
Pic Courtesy: By Fiona (originally posted to Flickr as Paul McCarteny) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
IANS/EFE