PETA Offers Sexy Pro-Vegan Ad on Anchorage Garbage Trucks to Help Clean Up City

Group's Money Would Help One of America's Dirtiest Cities Ditch Its Muddy Reputation

For Immediate Release:
September 27, 2012

Contact:
Kaitlynn Kelly 202-483-7382  

Anchorage, Alaska -- Today, in response to the news that Anchorage was recently named one of the dirtiest cities in America by Travel + Leisure magazine, PETA sent a letter to Paul Alcantar, director of Anchorage's Solid Waste Services, offering to pay the city to place an ad on Anchorage's garbage trucks that touts the environmental benefits of going vegan. The ad would feature a sexy bikini-clad "Lettuce Lady" and read, "Meat Trashes the Planet. Go Vegan." PETA points out that in addition to causing immense animal suffering, raising animals for food is one of the top contributors to the most serious environmental problems.

"Our proposal is a win-win solution: Anchorage will be better able to keep clean, and people will be encouraged to adopt a healthy and humane vegan diet that won't pollute the environment," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "The meat and dairy industries are among the leading causes of environmental devastation, so the easiest way for Anchorage residents to clean up their act and the environment is to go vegan."

For more information, please visit PETA.org. 

PETA's letter to Paul Alcantar, director of Anchorage's Solid Waste Services, follows.

September 27, 2012

Paul Alcantar, Director
Solid Waste Services

Dear Mr. Alcantar,

I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 3 million members and supporters—including thousands across Alaska. Anchorage residents must be disappointed that, because of its litter problem, your fine city was recently named one of the dirtiest cities in the U.S. by Travel + Leisure magazine. We'd like to help by giving your department's budget a boost by paying to place an ad on your garbage trucks. Our ad features a sexy "Lettuce Lady" and reads, "Meat Trashes the Planet. Go Vegan. Free Starter Recipes: PETA.org."

Accepting our ad would help free up funds to add more recycling bins to public spaces or to increase the frequency of trash collection. In addition, every Anchorage resident who goes vegan after seeing the ad will make an enormous difference for the planet. The U.N. has declared that animal agriculture is "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global," including water and air pollution, and researchers at the University of Chicago concluded that switching from a standard American diet to a vegan diet is more effective in the fight against climate change than switching from a standard American car to a hybrid.

In addition to trashing the planet, the meat and dairy industries cause untold amounts of animal suffering. Chickens, fish, cows, and pigs feel pain and fear, just as the animals we share our homes with do, yet they are abused in ways that would be illegal if dogs or cats were the victims. Chickens and turkeys have their throats cut while still conscious, piglets have their tails and testicles cut off without being given any painkillers, and fish are left to suffocate on the decks of fishing boats or are cut open while still alive.

Getting PETA's awareness-raising ad placed on Anchorage's trash trucks is a win-win situation for the city, the planet, and animals. If you are agreeable, I'd like to set up a phone meeting with you and other decisionmakers in Anchorage who can make this happen. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President