Organisers of the Live Earth concerts should not sell burgers or hot dogs at the high profile gigs, an animal rights group claimed today.
Peta said that selling meat at a concert for the environment would be like selling cigarettes at an anti-cancer fundraiser because of the amount of greenhouse gas emitted by the meat farming industry.
And Peta activists said that Wembley should take meat off the menu after a recent UN report found that the meat industry creates more greenhouse gases than all the cars, trucks, ships and planes in the world combined.
Wembley Stadium is set to host the London Live Earth on Saturday, and will see acts including Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Duran Duran, Damien Rice, James Blunt, Razorlight and the Pussycat Dolls perform to draw attention to global warming.
The concerts, championed by former US presidential candidate turned green campaigner Al Gore, will take place simultaneously across the globe, with a live audience of one million, and another two billion watching on TV or tuning in on the radio or internet.
However, Peta campaigner Yvonne Taylor said that it would be "hypocritical" if the damage caused by the industry was overlooked at the concert, and said that the group had written to the managing director of Wembley Stadium, Alex Horne, urging him not to sell meat at the event.
She said: "There's no such thing as a meat eating environmentalist.
"We're saying, it's all a very good cause and obviously we're very supportive, but one thing seems to have been missed, which is that even the UN say that the meat industry causes more greenhouse gases than all the cars, trucks, ships and planes in the world combined.
"It would be hypocritical to be serving meat at an event for the environment, and if you really cared about the environment, you wouldn't be eating meat in the first place.
"At most of these event they have burger stalls, so we've written to them asking them just to have vegetarian food there. You can get vegetarian versions of hot dogs and burgers. We're just drawing their attention to the UN report.
"Trying to ignore that is wrong, and the public need to know this fact."
In the letter, Peta campaigns coordinator Marie-Claire Macintosh wrote: "On behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Europe, I am writing to ask that you honour the spirit and goal of the Live Earth concert on 7 July by ensuring only vegetarian food will be sold at the event.
"A recent UN report has pointed out that the meat industry is 'one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global'.
"Researchers at the University of Chicago have determined that switching to a vegan diet is more effective in countering global warming than switching from a standard American car to a Toyota Prius.
"Selling meat at a concert to benefit the environment would be like selling cigarettes at an anti-cancer fundraiser. By only selling vegetarian foods, you will send a strong message that people need to change their dietary habits in order to save the planet while also introducing people to delicious new foods.
"You would be showing the world that you are committed to acting in an environmentally responsible way."
God help us if these people ever get their way. You can have my rib steak when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
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