PETA to White House Correspondents: You Can't Be 'Green' With a Steak on Your Plate

Group Reminds Dinner Attendees That Saving the Planet Starts With Leaving Animals off the Menu

For Immediate Release:
April 30, 2010

Contact:
David Perle  757-622-7382   

Washington, D.C. -- Accompanied by a "cow" holding a sign that reads, "Don't Eat MEat," PETA members will converge outside the Washington Hilton on Saturday as the White House Correspondents' Association dinner commences inside. Event organizers are billing the dinner as the group's most "eco-friendly" dinner to date, and although attendees are encouraged to carpool, use hybrid vehicles, and even purchase carbon offsets if they're traveling long distances, the menu is replete with meat and dairy products even though raising animals for food is a leading cause of greenhouse-gas emissions.

Where:  The Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C.
When:    Saturday, May 1, 6:30-8 p.m.

"Because meat is responsible for environmental degradation on so many levels, you can't be 'green' if you have a steak on your plate," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "There's no better way to protect the planet, its animal inhabitants, and human health than by going vegan."

According to Environmental Defense Fund, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and ate vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off U.S. roads. 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. PETA sent a letter to the association explaining that meat is not "green" and asking it to serve only vegan food at the affair. 
 
For more information, please visit PETA.org.