More than 100 celebrities have joined a global campaign to help protect the planet and prevent future pandemics.

In an open letter, celebrities, politicians and business leaders are calling on people to change their diets to ‘protect our planet, its wild spaces and the health and wellbeing of all its inhabitants’.

Signatories include comedians Ricky Gervais and Sara Pascoe, musicians Paul McCartney and Bryan Adams, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, businesswoman Deborah Meaden of Dragon’s Den, and former Aussie cricket player Jason Gillespie.

The letter highlights the fact that animal agriculture contributes to 14.5 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. It also makes the link between farming conditions and previous pandemics, saying: ‘Pandemic experts warn that because of overcrowded, squalid conditions, factory farms – especially chicken farms – are breeding grounds for the next global pandemic.’

The campaign is spearheaded by the charity Veganuary, a global pledge to try going vegan for the month of January.

The letter has also been signed by TV presenter and environmentalist Chris Packham, who said:

Trashing the planet does none of us any good, as the coronavirus pandemic shows all too clearly. But we can emerge from this stronger and wiser, with a renewed commitment to protecting the environment, its inhabitants and our own futures.

The annual campaign has seen more than one million around the world take part, which the organisers say has resulted in 6.2 million litres of water saved, 3.4 million animals and more than 100,000 tonnes of CO².

More than 250,000 people have already officially signed-up to take part in Veganuary next month, marking the halfway point to the 500,000 target.

The full text of the letter and list of signatories can be viewed here: https://veganuary.com/letter/.

To sign up to Veganuary, visit: https://veganuary.com/try-vegan/.

Ricky Gervais at Comedy Central’s “Night of Too Many Stars” by djtomdog