Join The Green Smoothie Challenge for Earth Month

Plant Based Treaty’s Green Smoothie Challenge for Earth Month has officially begun, and it’s not too late to join! Sign up today and get ready to learn about healthy recipes, mental health, planetary health, and advocacy. It’s time to save the Earth and make green smoothies!

Week One  |   Recipes and Health

Week one of the Green Smoothie Challenge is all about delicious, whole food, plant-based recipes for optimal health. This incredible nourishing green smoothie by Dr. Brooke Goldner is loaded with goodness, including one pound of power greens like kale and spinach making up 75% of the smoothie, flax or chia seeds for omega-3, water, and 25% fruit like delicious bananas, mangoes, or pineapple. Dr. Goldner whips up her smoothie masterpiece in this video below.

Dr. Goldner says, “when you put the right foods in your body, your body actually knows what to do to fix itself…everybody gets results…you’re getting hyper nourished and you’re going to get healthier.” She explains this smoothie helped reverse her own Lupus over 17 years ago and it also helps with autoimmune diseases, diabetes, and heart disease. If you know anyone with these health conditions, week one is the perfect opportunity to invite friends and family to join the Green Smoothie Challenge.

No blender? Make healthy cruciferous salads like these 21 salads by Forks Over Knives.

Week one includes improving fitness levels and boosting endorphins with exercise. Dr. Goldner is married to Thomas Tadlock, an award-winning trainer and best-selling author of Miracle Metabolism: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Quickly Lose Fat, Gain Muscle, and Heal at Any Age.

Tadlock says, “When you move, when you put resistance against your body, whether it’s with weights or if you’re doing some body weight exercises, or just going out for a hike, it’s so good for your body because getting your muscles to actually contract in your joints lubricates all of your joints, but it also signals the release of hormones in your body that can actually reverse aging, protect your heart, increase your lifespan, and increase your energy overnight.”

The arrival of spring is the perfect time to get outside for a nature hike or walk, a new sport, or join a gym or fitness class. If you need motivation, watch the first 20 minutes of this inspiring video with Dr. Goldner on Wellness Wednesday.

Week Two  |  Mental Health

Harvard Health Publishing suggests cutting out all processed foods and sugar for two to three weeks to see how you feel.

“Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate sleep and appetite, mediate moods, and inhibit pain. Since about 95% of your serotonin is produced in your gastrointestinal tract, and your gastrointestinal tract is lined with a hundred million nerve cells, or neurons, it makes sense that the inner workings of your digestive system don’t just help you digest food, but also guide your emotions. What’s more, the function of these neurons — and the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin — is highly influenced by the billions of “good” bacteria that make up your intestinal microbiome.”  

Omega-3 fatty acids are important for maintaining brain health and include flaxseeds and chia seeds included in the green smoothie recipe.  They can help reduce inflammation and have the potential to enhance mood and cognitive function.

For week two, you will be encouraged to read books on how to revolutionize your mental health, tell others what you are grateful for, and participate in a fun dance competition! Join Plant Based Treaty ambassadors for fun and energetic smoothie dances – shake up your smoothie, not the planet!

Week Three  |  Planetary Health

Week three also focuses on clean air and water and how to raise awareness in community groups. After all, trees are the lungs of the Earth.

Week Four  |  Advocacy

Get your green smoothie ready and learn how to incorporate healthy eating in your advocacy at schools, universities, and hospitals and register for a welcome call to join a Plant Based Treaty team.

April 22 is Earth Day, and you can help us turn Parliament green by writing to your city councillors and members of parliament and educating them about the planetary benefits of a plant-based food system. While you’re at it, ask them to advocate for green smoothies in the parliamentary canteen! You can also request your local library or community centre stock green smoothie flyers and feature a plant-based recipe book display to inspire others.

•   Plant Based Treaty’s 3Rs: Redirect, Relinquish, and Restore
•   Environmental 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
•   Green Smoothies 3Rs: Refresh, Revive, Restore!

By week four, you will be a green smoothie pro, so consider making one for a friend, coworker, teacher, or family member and share the green love. The challenge wraps up with smoothie glow-up photos and the opportunity to share video clips and testimonials with others from around the world. Cheers!

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6 Important Calls To Action From The Safe And Just Report – Part One

The Plant Based Treaty’s Safe And Just Report is a vegan donut economics approach to the food system and provides information, forward-thinking policies, and resources so we can safely live within our planetary boundaries. The report outlines 12 crucial calls to action, making it easy for individuals, communities, businesses, and policymakers to share information. Hopefully some of these ideas inspire you to speak out, raise awareness, and make a positive change for the earth, the creatures living here, and your health.

1. No land Use Change

In addition to being crucial to the Safe and Just report, no land use change is an important part of the Plant Based Treaty’s core principles. Demand two of the treaty is to relinquish and stop environmental issues from increasing. This means not changing over land for animal agriculture, and not building new animal farms, slaughterhouses, or aquaculture farms. The report explains that transitioning to a plant-based food system could not only halt deforestation but create opportunities to rewild three-quarters of agricultural land. One of the biggest issues threatening biodiversity is the expansion of animal agriculture, and of the 28,000 species evaluated to be threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List, agriculture is listed as a threat for 24,000 of them, the report explains. To avoid the extinction of large numbers of species and the destruction of our ecosystem, we must keep it intact and restore additional land.

2. Indigenous Protection

The constant demand for meat and dairy from animals is increasing agricultural expansion into old growth forests and causing destruction to our earth and land defenders.

“Although representing just 5 per cent of the world’s population, Indigenous Peoples safeguard 80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity and tragically succumbed to 36 percent of killings of land defenders. At least 1,390 killings of land defenders have taken place since the adoption of the Paris Agreement on 12 December 2015. In 2022, 10 killings were linked to agribusiness, more than any other sector.” – Safe and Just report

The Guardian states that in 2022, 177 people were killed defending our earth, with a fifth of this happening in the Amazon rainforest. “Murdered by organised crime groups and land invaders, environmental defenders were killed at a rate of one every other day in 2022, figures from the NGO Global Witness show. Colombia was the most deadly country, recording 60 murders.”

3. Ban Live Exports

The live export of animals refers to the transporting of animals, while they are still alive, to other countries for slaughter, breeding, and other forms of exploitation. Farmed animals like cows and sheep are forced to travel long distances while completely deprived of food, water, rest, bedding, and veterinary care. Many animals die during transport, and the surviving animals endure terrible lives until their cruel death. Evidence of cruelty to animals on live export ships by Animals Australia proves what is happening is illegal and must stop.

Exporting live animals is terrible for the environment and adds to the already high amounts of emissions associated with farming animals for food. As the report outlines, “the total emissions of the Australian live export industry was approximately 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 in 2009 alone, putting the industry among the top 40 emitters in Australia.”

PETA Australia reports, “Figures from the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources indicate that more than 2.5 million animals have died on live-export ships before reaching their destination…”

4. Food Security

“In 2022, global hunger affected between 691and 783 million people, an increase of 122 million from 2019 pre-pandemic levels.”

If the goal is to end world hunger, then continuing on the path of animal agriculture will not get us there. In fact, it’s enormously inefficient and actually jeopardizes food security and the UN

Sustainable Development Goals. “For every 100 calories fed to animals as cereals, just 17-30 calories enter the human food chain as meat.”

Half of the earth’s habitable land is being used for agriculture, and almost all of this is being used to raise animals for their milk and flesh. As Our World In Data explains, “If the world adopted a plant-based diet, we would reduce global agricultural land use from 4 billion to 1 billion hectares.”

The Safe and Just report suggests we move away from monoculture-based farming that degrades soil and implement a soil treaty that is restorative, regenerative, and sustainable to combat food security issues.

5. Education

Public education is key, and we can all help raise awareness about changes needed in food policy. When we educate others and help spread the word through communities, friends, and colleagues, political leaders are pressured to take action on critical issues to help the earth. The Plant Based Treaty constantly educates people about the climate emergency with information campaigns, workshops, seminars, reports, and demonstrations. They offer helpful campaign toolkits explaining how to lower your carbon footprint, write an elevator pitch or letter to the editor, and take the vegan pledge.

Some policymakers like New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams are spearheading public education and leading by example. Not only did Adams introduce Vegan Fridays to New York City, but he is also vocal about the importance of switching to a plant-based diet. The city launched a campaign called ‘Eat a Whole Lot More Plants’ with ads on television, radio, subways, digital channels, and using outdoor media in neighborhoods with health and socioeconomic inequities, all encouraging New Yorkers to eat more plant-based, whole foods.

6. Health

Many plant-based health professionals and endorsers of the Plant Based Treaty, including Dr. Michael Klaper and Dr. Neal Barnard, president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, recommended eating a whole foods, plant-based diet to reduce and help prevent diet-related chronic diseases.

“Switching to a plant-based food system would alleviate the global cascading crises of climate change, land-use change, human health, antibiotic resistance, and zoonotic disease.” – Safe and Just report

The biggest global users of antibiotics are farmed animals. They are used to prevent disease and infection from spreading among animals kept by the thousands in tiny, cramped, and filthy cages. A staggering 73 percent of antimicrobials sold globally in 2017 were for farmed animals, and this widespread use of antibiotics contributes to antibiotic resistance in humans.

Switching to eating more plant-based foods instead of animal products is better for everyone.

Stay tuned for six additional calls to action from the Plant Based Treaty’s vegan donut economics approach to the food system.

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Ten Plant Based Treaty Celebrity Endorsers Making A Difference

Celebrities around the world entertain us with their movies, music, dance, books, and stories. But what’s truly inspiring is when they encourage others to get involved and make the world a better place. These ten celebrities are forces to be reckoned with from all walks of life with one common theme. They have all endorsed the Plant Based Treaty and believe in putting food systems at the heart of combatting the climate crisis, and recognize we must stop the widespread degradation of critical ecosystems caused by animal agriculture.

1. Paul, Mary, & Stella McCartney

2. Rooney Mara

Vegan American actor and philanthropist Rooney Mara often shares plant-based recipes with fellow cast members in her movies. Mara’s passion for animals and the earth has led her to speak out against animal agriculture and the environmental damage caused by factory farming. She has spent time with rescued turkeys at Farm Sanctuary and supports their Adopt A Turkey Project. Mara co-founded HIRAETH, a women’s clothing and accessories brand crafted in Los Angeles, that never uses leather, fur, wool, or silk in any of their products.

3. Kip Andersen

Kip Andersen is the talented filmmaker, writer, and producer of Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, What the Health, Seaspiracy, and his latest endeavour, soon to be released Christspiracy. Anderson, an American living in San Francisco, is also the founder of A.U.M. Films and Media, a non-profit with a focus on creating films that support compassion and a balance for all life. When not showing the world that animal agriculture is the leading cause of environmental destruction, he can be found teaching yoga.

4. Kathy Freston

Kathy Freston is a passionate advocate for animals, human health, and the environment. She is a New York Times best-selling author of multiple books including Quantum Wellness: A Practical Guide To Health And Happiness, Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World, and her latest 72 Reasons to Be Vegan: Why Plant-Based. Why Now. Freston is a successful promoter of plant-based nutrition and appeared on The Ellen Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Good Morning America talking about all things vegan, when she’s not home with her adorable adopted mutt, Trixie.

5. Teejan Bai

Teejan Bai is a traditional performing artist and musician from India specializing in Indian folk songs. Born in a remote village of Ganiyari in Chhatisgarh to the Pardhi tribe, she was trained by her maternal grandfather in the art of Pandavani, a traditional narrative singing style. Having performed around the world, Bai is a talented performer and endorser of the Plant Based Treaty that will hopefully inspire others from her hometown to sign it.

6. Jane Velez Mitchell

Jane Velez Mitchell is a passionate television and social media journalist and former CNN host where she ran a weekly segment on animal issues. She is the founder of UnchainedTV, a free, global streaming television entertainment network producing content on plant-based lifestyles, animal rights, and climate change. UnchainedTV also streams hundreds of interesting documentaries, cooking shows, lifestyle shows, talk shows, and music videos, with the theme to benefit our planet and animals. Check out their vegan cooking show, New Day New Chef, for healthy plant-based recipes.

7. Jann Arden

Canadian singer-songwriter Jann Arden has released 15 albums with 19 top ten singles and won multiple awards including eight JUNO’s. She’s written six books, has a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, and been awarded the Order of Canada. When not captivating audiences with her music, Arden inspires others to take a stand for animal rights by advocating to end the live export of horses. She shares this issue with her fans via Horseshit.ca where she promotes justice for horses and encourages others to take a stand.

8. Miguel Rodarte

Miguel Rodarte is an admired Mexican actor and producer from Culiacan, Sinaloa. His successful film career includes The Tiger of Santa Julia, where IMBD writes he captured the hearts of Hispanic audiences and won an MTV Movie Award. He was also in the blockbuster film Saving Private Perez.

9. Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Phoenix, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and raised vegan, became an outspoken animal rights activist and encourages others around the world not to be silent when animals are suffering. He attended slaughterhouse vigils in Los Angeles with the Animal Save Movement and gave water to thirsty pigs. This talented actor starred in such movies as Walk The Line, Her, Gladiator, and Joker, where he won an Academy Award. But it was his acceptance speech that resonated with animal lovers around the world when he called out the dairy industry for animal cruelty to cows and the next day helped rescue a mother cow and her newborn calf with Farm Sanctuary.

10. Moby

Animal rights superstar Moby, who also happens to be an internationally acclaimed recording artist and talented author, is a dedicated vegan and regularly speaks up for animals and the earth. At COP26 he called for a shift to a plant-based food system and has requested world leaders endorse the Plant Based Treaty to avoid a climate catastrophe. Back on tour after a decade-long hiatus, Moby is giving his profits to animal rights charities.

“What makes the tour most exciting for me is that I won’t be paid anything. 100 per cent of my profits will go to European animal rights organisations.” – Vegan Food & Living

Join these 10 inspiring individuals and sign the Plant Based Treaty!

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Kickstart Spring With A Nourishing Green Smoothie By Dr. Brooke Goldner

Begin your New Year journey to optimal health with a hyper-nourishing green smoothie loaded with one pound of power greens, including kale, spinach, and chard. This invigorating recipe by Dr. Brooke Goldner is something she credits to helping fully reverse her own Lupus over 17 years ago.

Dr Brooke Goldner teaches how to make her hyper-nourishing green smoothies that have saved lives all over the world. It’s super simple and effective! Watch time: 12mins

We first introduced you to Dr. Goldner in our article Overcoming Lupus. Dr. Michael Klaper’s keynote address at the Canadian Plant-Based Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine Conference referenced Dr. Brooke Goldner, and he said, “She’s a physician who had severe lupus, she was having strokes and renal failure and she put it into remission with a whole food plant-based diet.”

Dr. Goldner’s YouTube Channel, Goodbye Lupus by Brooke Goldner, M.D. is a testament to her success, where she has helped thousands of people reverse autoimmune diseases like Lupus with a plant-based diet. She is the best-selling author of several books, including:

Her website explains how she saved not only her own life but also helped thousands of others around the world through education and a better understanding of nutrition. As a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with Honors for genetic research in Leukemia and Neurobiology, this board-certified medical doctor has been featured in multiple documentaries like Disease Reversal Hope, and Eating You Alive.

In her video with raw vegan content creator Gillian Berry, Dr. Goldner explains how it’s important to focus on nutrients that repair damage to cells. She says this smoothie helps with autoimmune diseases, diabetes, and heart disease because “when you put the right foods in your body, your body actually knows what to do to fix itself…everybody gets results…you’re getting hyper nourished and you’re going to get healthier.”

Green Smoothie Recipe

As Dr. Goldner smiles and loads an entire pound of power greens (454 grams) into the blender, she explains the smoothie should be about 75% greens, and you should firmly squish it down into the blender. She suggests mixing the kale in with spinach and chard, then adding the water or plant milk. She explains she uses omega-3 fatty acids such as chia or flax seeds so our cells can function optimally, repair damage, and create an anti-inflammatory immune system. She suggests fruit such as bananas, mangoes, or pineapple to taste. The end result is a beautiful shade of bright green and can be enjoyed throughout the day. The full smoothie recipe, in addition to others, is available at Smoothie Shred.

Dr. Goldner goes into more detail about the health benefits of her hyper-nourishing green smoothie in an interview with Fever Radio in West Yorkshire called Reversing Lupus And Other Inflammatory Diseases.

Dr Goldner explains a simple dietary approach, focussed on consumption of greens, to reversing and managing Lupus, Kidney disease and other inflammatory conditions.

In addition to helping her patients heal from various autoimmune diseases, Dr. Goldner explains this smoothie also works to improve kidney function and lower blood pressure, helps with diabetes, heart disease, and chronic fatigue, and lots of people can lower their thyroid medication as a result.

 “We have people reverse glaucoma, tumors that shrink, it’s really amazing”, she says.

She calls her method an “intentional overdose in nutrients” and what our bodies use to repair damage and optimize cellular function. She explains that a small cup of greens is not going to dramatically change your health. But when you jump right in and go for “16 ounces or 454 grams a day of cruciferous vegetables like kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, or other high nutrient vegetables like spinach, chard, those really will do the job because they have the highest dose of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, all those phytonutrients you need.”

Dr. Goldner says these nutrients stimulate cellular repair and metabolism, and it’s important to use these specific amounts in the smoothie, especially the greens, to help with disease reversal. 

On the flip side, Dr. Goldner explains that after eating a meal high in animal protein, you can see the damage immediately, and it’s stressful for our kidneys. She says research proves that high protein plant foods like tofu and soy do not damage the kidneys, so eating a whole foods plant-based diet is also hugely beneficial for your journey to good health. 

The bonus of eating a sustainable plant-based diet? It also helps us live safely within our planetary boundaries, reforest the earth, combat the climate crisis, and save millions of animals from animal farming.  Please endorse the Plant Based Treaty to help with both individual and policy change.

In addition to the many courses offered on Dr. Goldner’s website, she has free Wellness Wednesdays, where she goes live, offers advice, and answers questions. 

The Plant Based Treaty has a free plant-based starter guide with recipes, tips, and all the information you need about vegan sources of calcium, iron, and protein.

Don’t forget to sign the treaty if you haven’t already done so, and please consider helping us continue to implement plant-based solutions across the globe and halt the expansion of animal agriculture to avoid a climate catastrophe by donating today. ​​One generous donor has offered to match your donations, meaning for every $1 you donate, we receive $2. With your support, we can expand the Plant Based Treaty in 2025 and beyond.

Disclaimer: This blog should not replace medical advice from a physician and is for informational purposes only.

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From Global Advocacy To Menu Changes: Plant Based Treaty’s Goals For 2025

2024 was a very successful year for the Plant Based Treaty and you can read all about it in our Important Highlights blog. Moving into 2025, Plant Based Treaty has more exciting plans to help promote a shift towards a plant-based food system and enable us to live safely within our planetary boundaries. With an initiative rooted in local and global action, we have endorsements from over 225,000 individuals, including celebrities, athletes, and cultural leaders; 1,500 organizations; 2,000 businesses; and 34 cities in 10 countries. Keep reading to find out more about our goals for this year.

Increase Endorsements

We are already busy collecting new endorsements from groups, businesses, individuals, and cities to build bottom-up pressure for treaty adoption. There are several strategies to make this happen including organizing outreach events in the community such as climate strikes, launching new petitions to raise awareness, and leveraging digital media. Help us spread the word by asking your friends and family to sign the treaty so we can reach 300,000 individuals this year! If you want to help us save the planet in style, check out our catalogue of hoodies, hats, tote bags, and even adorable shirts for your companion dog or cat!

Menu Change, Not climate Change

Our ambitious goals include helping establishments shift to plant-based menus and defaults at restaurants, businesses, and places within the community, such as schools and hospitals. The expansion of the 100 Cafés Campaign in 2025, an initiative that launched last year to get 100 cafes in 100 towns and cities to increase plant-based options, will encourage restaurants around the world to normalize plant-based foods.

Expand City Campaigns

Our successful city campaigns will continue to advocate for cities to endorse the Plant Based Treaty and introduce plant-based action plans to support sustainable plant-based diets around the world. Local treaty teams are working hard to make this happen and gain new city endorsements to add to our growing list of almost three dozen cities.

City campaigns will be expanded in the UK, Germany, the USA, and South Africa, which will encourage individual councillors to endorse the treaty for a healthier and greener world. We plan to integrate plant-based strategies into local climate, biodiversity, and food poverty action plans using educational resources that will benefit everyone. We will partner with new cities, as we have previously with Brampton in Canada. After endorsing the treaty last year, the city of Brampton is now developing a plant-based food strategy that includes promoting veg week in the spring and exploring veg defaults for Brampton facilities and regional events. Thorough plant-based action plans are being developed to encourage other cities to join us and endorse, in the same way Edinburgh, Amsterdam, and West Hollywood in California have already done.

Global Advocacy

We will continue to position food systems at the center of global climate and biodiversity talks such as the Bonn Climate Conference and COP30 in Brazil. With the expansion of our team at global climate talks, we will reach a larger audience and inspire others around the world to take action for the earth. A strong presence at UN Climate, Biodiversity, and Sustainable Development conferences will enable us to recruit influential individuals in the world of academia to add to our growing roster of impressive supporters.

Our list already includes scientists Dr. Peter Carter and Dr. Alison Green; celebrities such as Moby and Alicia Silverstone; cultural leaders like Sir Paul McCartney and Dr. Jane Goodall; and Health Care individuals including Dr. Michael Klaper from Moving Medicine Forward, and Dr. T. Colin Campbell, PhD from Center for Nutrition Studies and Forks Over Knives. We are hopeful that 2025 will be the year we achieve the first country endorsement, and this will help to begin negotiations on drafting a Paris-aligned treaty as a Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Please consider supporting our work with a small regular gift so we can put power into Plant Based Treaty campaigns and programs worldwide. One generous donor has offered to match your donations, meaning for every $1 you donate, we receive $2. With your help, we can implement plant-based solutions across the globe, making a real difference for today, tomorrow and future generations. Donate today!

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Important Highlights From Plant Based Treaty in 2024

2024 was a very successful year for the Plant Based Treaty – keep reading to learn why!

In 2024, the Plant Based Treaty team made history! From 10 new cities endorsing the treaty to groundbreaking menu changes worldwide, we’ve been driving real climate action.

100 Cafés Campaign

2024 saw the launch of the ambitious 100 Cafés Campaign, an initiative to get 100 cafés in 100 towns and cities to increase plant-based options. Plant Based Treaty teams worked diligently to put hundreds of window clings up in participating businesses to normalise plant-based food, encourage people to try plant-based meals, and choose dairy-free milk in their coffee. 130 businesses endorsed the Plant Based Treaty in just two months at the end of 2024 thanks to the 100 Cafés Campaign! Teams from 26 countries and 85 cities participated and spread the vegan message to over 300 cafés!

The project was inspired by campaigner Hoshimi Sakai and the Plant Based Treaty Tbilisi team in Georgia when they launched a Plant-Based Earth Month program in March. Volunteers distributed vegan flyers to cafés, restaurants, bars, hotels, and kitchens across Tbilisi. They encouraged establishments to make their menus vegan and many businesses signed up and agreed to add vegan options for April.

The Plant Based Treaty was featured in a local newspaper, Georgia Today, for several weeks that helped the success of this pilot project and turned it into a greater global initiative. Campaign tool kits were available online and the marketing team ensured activists had access to printed materials like flyers, endorsement sign-up sheets, plant-based recipes, and default oat milk fact sheets to spread the message around the world.

City Campaign

10 cities endorsed the Plant Based Treaty in 2024, taking us to a total of 34. These cities along with almost a quarter million individuals, groups, and businesses support our call for a global Plant Based Treaty to be added to the Paris Agreement and for local implementation of plant-based food policy.

Mayor Chelsea Byers said, “I am proud to bring Veganuary to the City of West Hollywood! This action is a continuation of the City’s ambitious climate goals and ongoing support for animal rights and welfare. This month, our residents and businesses will come together to participate in this challenge to highlight the health, environmental, and ethical benefits of plant-based diets.”

In 2024, Amsterdam became the first EU capital to endorse the Plant Based Treaty in response to the climate emergency. With the goal of becoming a plant-based capital, the city is shifting its food consumption across the city to 60% plant-based protein by 2030.

The City of Amsterdam Council said, “The way we produce, distribute, process, and consume food has a significant impact on the health of people and animals and contributes to the climate crisis.”

Brampton Regional Councillor Navjit Kaur Brar said, “We have to acknowledge the importance of diverse food options to meet the dietary needs of Brampton’s residents, looking at not only personal preferences for plant-based foods and locally sourced foods, but also food sensitivities as well. Considering plant-based, locally sourced and sustainable food procurement options for city events, city facilities should be a key part of our city’s climate action plan.”

Other cities that endorsed the Plant Based Treaty in 2024 include:

• Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Rainbow Lake, Canada
• Tavira, Portugal
• Darebin, Australia
• Hoboken, USA
• Udaipur, India

Plant Based Treaty Playbooks

With four fantastic playbooks in 2024 (and more on the way for 2025!), we were able to educate city councils, state governments, international institutions, universities, colleges, schools, hospitals, prisons, senior homes, restaurants, and corporations to learn about best practices for a plant-based food transition.

Early Childhood Education

The playbook for Early Childhood Education is loaded with useful resources like webinars, scientific articles, menu examples, and sustainability reports that will benefit the 175 million children worldwide in ECE centers. With over half a billion meals and snacks served daily, that’s a lot of plant-based meals! The playbook encourages schools to adopt a Greener by Default stance that fulfills children’s dietary requirements.

Senior Care Homes

The Senior Care Homes playbook focuses on reducing food-related greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable dietary shifts for seniors. Senior Care Homes serve millions of meals daily and could play a huge role in combating climate change and improving the health of residents. In 2024, two senior homes in Uruguay incorporated vegan dinners and high-protein vegan snacks after meeting with the Plant Based Treaty team. While on site, our inspiring team conducted a hands-on cooking workshop preparing delicious and nutritious plant-based meals.

Sports & Athletics

Vegan athletes prove daily we don’t need animal products to build muscle, remain healthy, and compete professionally. The playbook for Sports & Athletics aims to normalize plant-based eating within sports and athletics and encourages athletes, teams, sports organizations, gyms, and educational institutions to transition to sustainable plant-based diets.

We also highlighted 5 Incredible Athletes Powered By Plants including vegan seven-time racing World Champion, Lewis Hamilton.

Universities & Colleges

Plant Based Treaty teams secured menu changes at “La Taula Verde” café at the University of Toronto. The café switched its original menu to a 100% plant-based menu for the month of January to coincide with Veganuary. The Universities & Colleges playbook explains how campuses can lead the way by transitioning to a plant-based food system and the benefits that will affect not only the health of students, but save millions of animals and our planet. In the UK’s Cardiff University, their sustainable food policy ensures half their menu items on campus are vegan and students enjoy healthy meals at Green Shoots Café, their first all vegan and veggie restaurant.

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The Amazon is on fire

This previous summer,  we witnessed one of South America’s worst wildfire seasons in history, with the Amazon having more than 50,000 fire outbreaks. In the first nine months of 2024, there were 22 million hectares of land burned across Brazil, which is nearly the size of the United Kingdom.

Most of these fires have been no accident but set intentionally to clear to make way for cattle, pastures, and soy. This is happening despite the fact that the ecosystem in the region is the most biodiverse on earth.

Esteban Acevedo lives in Colombia and is campaigning for Plant Based Treaty and Animal Save Movement. With a background in the financial sector, and today he is a dedicated activist for climate and animal justice, with a broad knowledge of the devastating situation and how alarming it is. Esteban describes how Colombia in recent years, has experienced increased deforestation and a big part of this is linked to fires. In the night, or when nobody sees, the forest is illegally burned, often to create pastures for cattle. Because when the forest is burned it is suddenly legal to use it to farm animals.

“The Amazon is far from the big cities, far from politicians and policymakers. Few give the problems enough attention, and the local community often relies on money from illegal acts and networks,” he says.

Banners being made for a protest action against Cargill

A new bill was recently suggested in The Colombian congress; that it should be mandatory to be able to track the origin of where the meat is produced. But the law never passed.

Targeting the meat industry

What we are seeing is how the international community, governments, and big companies are jeopardizing the most important region on earth for economic short term winnings. But in the long term the destruction comes with an extreme cost. The trees in the Amazon release 20 billion tones of water into the atmosphere per day, playing a critical role in global and regional carbon and water cycles. The Cerrado savanna in Brazil, is an area extremely rich and unique in biodiversity with a huge underground root system that stores a lot of carbon, covalent to a rainforest. It has deforestation rates three times higher than the Amazon. We are close to reaching a tipping point.

An example of deforestation to make way for grazing cows

Jordan McDonald is a Senior Associate at Mighty Earth, where she works at the hub of their global protein campaign. She emphasizes how animal agriculture, especially in the climate context, is not spoken about enough and is a crucial part of her work to highlight the need to shift towards more plant-based diets. Mighty Earth targets huge corporations like Cargill, Bunge, and JBS, some of the biggest meat companies in the world, to be held accountable for their complicity in the climate emergency.

“Big agriculture is wedded to its destructive practices. At Mighty Earth, we are aiming to transform industries by creating a ‘perfect storm’ of campaigns, investigations, communications and other tactics.  We need stronger regulations and legislation to hold the meat industry accountable. Many companies, like JBS for instance, are not well known and can often fly under the radar. We also need urgent action by large retailers, such as Carrefour and Tesco, to clean up their supply chains from deforestation and promote a more sustainable, plant-based food system,” Jordan says.

Between 2009 and 2023 there has been more than 550,000 hectares of deforestation in Brazil, linked to 36 slaughterhouses owned by JBS, Marfrig and Minerva – Brazil’s three largest meatpackers. Despite the devastation, Jordan can see steps in the right direction. Carrefour, one of the biggest French brands, and the biggest retailer in Brazil, recently cut 177 suppliers from their meat supplier chain linked to deforestation.

Chemical deforestation

Mighty Earth recently launched its latest investigation, War on Nature, declaring it a war against Nature, waged by the meat industry.

What is highlighted in the study is a new way of degrading and killing forests and other ecosystems to clear more and more land for animal agriculture. The Pantanal, one of the world’s largest wetlands and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is being targeted with toxic chemicals. In the report, Mighty Earth links meat packers JBS, Marfrig and Minerva to chemical destruction in Brazil, using a highly toxic “Compound 2,4-D”, also used in the Vietnam War.

“We found that JBS and other meatpackers were linked to a cattle rancher in Brazil, who sprayed a key compound of the deadly defoliant “Agent Orange”, used in the Vietnam War, to deliberately kill trees and deforest 81,200 hectares of Brazil’s Pantanal. It is a technique used to clear huge areas of land, as in the case of fires. But using chemicals makes them largely undetectable by the satellite monitoring systems. When you have chemical deforestation it kills the trees slowly, over time, making it harder for satellites to detect,” Jordan says.

Mighty Earth advocates for robust policies that protect the environment and local communities on a global scale. It was a huge disappointment when the European Union proposed a 12-month delay to the EU Deforestation Regulation. Jordan describes how big agriculture has been lobbying hard to resist change and maintain business as usual.

“We have seen companies wanting to reap the benefits of appearing to be “sustainable” but show no signs of moving away from their destructive business practices. Take JBS, the largest meat company in the world, which claimed it would be net zero by 2040. And it’s raising money on the back of these claims, in so-called “sustainability-linked” bonds. Meanwhile JBS’ methane emissions exceed the combined livestock emissions of France, Germany, Canada and New Zealand. We want companies to set ambitious targets that lead to urgent and meaningful action.”

Banks, investment and insurance companies are also facing increased scrutiny about their links to deforestation. Jordan emphasizes that they need to redirect finance away from destructive industries such as industrial meat and towards more sustainable investments.

“Today, big banks and financiers are funding a lot of these meat and soy companies, which are responsible for the destruction of the Amazon and Cerrado. Barclays for instance is the biggest backer of JBS – the world’s worst Amazon deforester. This flies in the face of Barclays own deforestation policies.”

A personal message to the Cargill family

An example of how companies operating in the Amazon can be targeted, is by the Stand.earth campaign Burning Legacy, engaging with the Cargill family. Mathew Jacobson is the Campaign Director at Stand.earth with longtime experience in highlighting the devastation Cargill has caused. He describes how big companies such as JBS and Cargill are providing financial incentives to set the fires for their own financial benefit. 80% of the soy planted in these areas goes to feed animals in industrial farming in Europe and China. 

In November this year, Mathew Jacobson travelled across the US, to different members of the Cargill family with a personal message.

“The posters are created by Indigenous people, the Munduruku, written in the ashes of forest that were gathered throughout South America from forest burned to make way for plantations. They call the family owners of Cargill to keep their commitment and end the destruction of the forest.”

Cargill has pledged that by the end of 2025, they will eliminate all deforestation and land conversion from their South American supply chain. “That is what we want them to do. We want them to ensure that they are not providing an incentive for people to burn forest down in order to grow soy. Unfortunately, Cargill has a long-standing reputation of not keeping their promises, so we are keeping the pressure on.”

The impact on the people living in the Amazon has been devastating, and the pressure on Indigenous land keeps increasing. People are burning the land and taking it over, and the Indigenous people don’t have the strength to resist the farmers who are coming in and displacing them from their lands.

“It is important to note that studies have shown that if they were to regenerate the existing land that has already been degraded, that there is already enough previously degraded land that they could be regenerating for agriculture instead of burning more forest down,” Mathew says.

The impact on the people living in the Amazon has been devastating, and the pressure on Indigenous land keeps increasing. People are burning the land and taking it over, and the Indigenous people don’t have the strength to resist the farmers who are coming in and displacing them from their lands.

Cargill is also a driving force behind the proposed construction of the Ferrogrão mega-railway, which would carve a destructive path through over 600 miles of the Amazon rainforest. Today 600 square miles a year are being cleared yearly just for soy, in Brazil.  

“People are dependent on the current system, and they don’t want to change. They are looking for ways to keep things the same without making the changes as they need to. But this is destroying the health of the global community. At one point or another, the changes have to be made, whether we like it or not,” Mathew says.

The solution is a plant-based food system

Despite the climate emergency we witness in the Amazon, hardly any major stakeholders are advocating for change. But solutions exist, and it is something Jordan McDonald is highlighting at Mighty Earth.

“First of all, we need to stop deforestation and ecosystem destruction. That’s where we focus a lot of our attention”, Jordan McDonald says. ”Next step is to restore and regenerate these areas that have been cleared already. Not only would that help restore the ecosystems and the wildlife in these ecosystems. We know that these also are huge carbon stores. It will have a double effect of storing carbon and help us resolve our climate crises.”

Shifting towards plant-based food is crucial, she emphasizes, and they are lobbying towards different stakeholders in this regard. 

“We really need to take urgent action now. We need to transform the food system, shifting towards a more sustainable, plant-based diet. It is the single biggest thing that people can do to reduce our climate impact. And we think there is a huge potential there. We are also trying to use retailers and food services to educate and help and drive consumers towards a plant-based diet.”

What is an opportunity is that methane emissions are the second largest source of food emissions.

“The biggest source is deforestation, and the second is methane emissions. Largely from cows. Today, we have 1.5 billion cows on earth, 900,000 slaughtered daily, which is hugely saddening. But this is also an opportunity to reduce emissions quickly and something we focus a lot on.”

Anne Casparsson is a writer and ethicist, who has worked with communication and journalism in different capacities, for more than twenty years. She writes about animal rights, veganism, sustainability, justice, and peace related issues. Anne is based in Stockholm where she lives with her family. She is a dedicated voice for the animals.

More from the blog

Overcoming Psoriasis: Plant Based Treaty’s Diet Change Series

A core mission of the Plant Based Treaty is to promote a shift towards a plant-based food system to enable us to live safely within our planetary boundaries. This reduces greenhouse gasses and climate change, and is kinder to animals. But a plant-based diet is also better for our health, especially when it’s a whole foods diet.

Follow along on our diet change series to learn how a plant-based diet can help improve symptoms for all nine diseases, and please consider funding us to support future projects.

Health issue: Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic proliferative and inflammatory condition of the skin.

Studies

•   Nutritional Therapy in Persons Suffering from Psoriasis by Jagoda Garbicz and others

 This study emphasises that patients should consume “large amounts of vegetables and fruits” and “avoid alcohol, animal fats, red meat, simple sugars, and highly processed food.”

•   Managing Psoriatic Arthritis With a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet: A Case Study by Marta Lewandowska and others

 This study followed a patient who adopted a whole food, plant-based diet including grains, pulses, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds.

The outcome and discussion following the study explained, “An exclusively plant-based diet is an attractive option for patients with various forms of arthritis given its anti-inflammatory properties, a consequence of the vast quantities of antioxidant compounds and phytonutrients and their ability to lower markers of inflammation such as CRP.”

Success Stories

One of the co-authors of the study above, Managing Psoriatic Arthritis With a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet: A Case Study is Kate Dunbar, a Plant-Based Health Professional in the UK and supporter of Plant Based Treaty. The interesting twist is that Dunbar healed her own psoriasis by adopting a whole-food plant-based diet. Thankful 2 Plants explains that when Dunbar became vegan it helped her psoriasis but not fully. It wasn’t until 2018 that she switched to a whole food, plant-based diet, like the one Forks Over Knives advocates for, that her psoriatic arthritis symptoms were gone.

Dunbar’s vegan diet initially included many processed foods, such as vegan sausages, oils, pastries, refined grains, limited beans, vegetables, and fruits, and no nuts or seeds. However, her health improved once she switched to a whole-food, plant-based diet, limited her processed foods, and ate whole grains, more pulses, nuts and seeds, and plenty of fruits and vegetables. The medical study reports that she runs 10km regularly and is never limited by her disease. Dunbar is also an ambassador for Running on Plants.

Becoming Vegan Was The Only Thing That Helped My Psoriasis was published in Women’s Health by Hanna Sillitoe from England and is another inspiring success story. She writes, “Since going vegan, I’ve learned so much more about the food industry, and I’ve become ethically committed to maintaining my diet.”

Some of her meals include her daily green juice, big veggie salads with avocado, vegetable stir fry with chickpeas and lentils, and healthy desserts with cashews, minus refined sugar and gluten.

Sillitoe is a health coach and the author of Radiant: Eat Your Way to Healthy Skin, which describes her 20-year struggle with severe psoriasis, eczema, and acne.

“When her doctor told her the only remaining treatment was chemotherapy, she started researching diet and skin, and ultimately changed her life, cutting out caffeine, alcohol, sugar, dairy and wheat, with dramatic results. Now free from all skin complaints, Hanna is sharing her methods. Beginning with a juice cleanse, Hanna’s plan then moves on to a range of delicious, skin-loving meals including Turmeric and Ginger Chia Pudding, Immunity Ramen, Beet Burgers and even Clean Tiramisu.”

Foods to eat

Eating a whole-food, plant-based diet has been proven time and again to lead to optimal health as fruits and vegetables are essential. Canada’s Food Guide recommends eating dark green veggies daily and suggests making half of your plate vegetables and fruits because they are an important part of healthy eating.

A chart of the whole-food, plant-based diet adopted by Kate Dunbar from the above study can be found here and a useful beginners guide by Forks Over Knives is a great reference. The Plant Based Treaty has a free plant-based starter guide to get you on your way to healthy plant-powered meals.

Chickpeas are loaded with healthy nutrients and can be cooked in a variety of delicious recipes!

Please consider funding us to support Plant Based Treaty teams working with restaurants on menu changes and city campaigners transforming institutions so that more cities take ambitious actions in 2025.

Disclaimer: This blog should not replace medical advice from a physician and is for informational purposes only.

More from the PBT Diet Change series