Supporters

“We are all looking for a way to make a contribution to the preservation of our planet. Having a Meat Free Monday is a great way to do your bit, while eating in a kinder and more conscious way.”

“Meat Free Monday for me is being aware of our planet, our health, how the food chain works and how to preserve all of the above. It's never a hardship to do our little bit to help.”

“Just see how easy it will be not to eat meat for one day a week. Just think how the world will benefit from fewer trees being cut to make way for grazing animals. Just imaging how many lives, both animal and human you will help to save: and join the fab Paul McCartney and millions more, including me, in making Monday a Meat Free day.”

Joanna Lumley is a successful English actress, former model and human rights activist who is best known for her support for the Gurkha Justice Campaign and Prospect Burma, a charity that offers grants to Burmese students. She is also an animal welfare activist and was awared an OBE in 1995.

“I love eating meat, but I love our planet even more, so I will join this campaign and stop eating meat at least one day a week.”

A flamboyant and competitive entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s with the setting up of Virgin Atlantic airways and Virgin music record label. He was knighted in 1999.

“The carbon and water footprints associated with producing beef are about 20 times larger than maize production. Eating less meat will help the environment.”

Sir David King is director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at the University of Oxford, president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and a senior scientist to UBS. He was the government's chief scientific adviser and head of the Government Office for Science from October 2000 to December 2007. In that time, he raised the profile of the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the new £1bn Energy Technologies Institute.

“I'm proud to support the Meat Free Monday campaign. I've been a vegetarian for 20 years and think this is a brilliant and simple way to turn people on to the idea, even as a once-a-week experiment, and promote good health and the environmental benefits of vegetarian life at the same time.”

Laura Bailey is one of Britain's leading models, the face of Jaguar and is married to movie producer Eric Fellner.

“I first went to the Arctic in 1982. Since that time there is a third less pack ice, which is a scary situation. I am happy to support any initiative that can help us slow down climate change.”

David Hempleman-Adams is the first man to have reached both the geographic and magnetic North and South poles, as well as climb the highest peaks in all seven continents. He has made seven arctic expeditions and in 2003 became the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an open wicker basket hot-air balloon.

“The fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that changes in lifestyle and behaviour patterns can contribute to climate-change mitigation across all sectors. Individuals can make a difference in this regard is by altering their diets through consuming less meat - say by giving up meat at least one day a week. Reducing meat consumption in this manner will make individuals healthier, as well as the planet.”

Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri is director-general of TERI (the Energy and Resources Institute) in New Delhi and chancellor of Teri University. He has served as IPCC chair since 2002

Watch a video message from Dr Pachauri

“Meat may be delicious, but the way cows, pigs, sheep and chickens are reared uses lots of fossil fuels and creates lots of CO2 - more than the car industry. Meat Free Monday is a great way to Go Easy on the Meat.”

Green Thing is a not-for-profit public service that inspires people to lead a greener life. With the help of brilliant videos and inspiring stories from creative people and community members around the world, Green Thing focuses on seven things you can do - and enjoy doing.

“I'm not a vegetarian but neither am I a big meat-eater. I am, however, the mother of a strapping 18-year-old son who at various times in his life has either loved or hated vegetable-based meals. So sometimes it takes all of my cooking skills to get it right for both of us.

“Fortunately many cultures from around the world use vegetables rather than meat as the basis for their diets and cuisine. So whipping up Mexican dishes such as enchiladas and tacos that use pulses instead of meat, or delicious stir-fries and curries using fresh veg and aromatic spices, or Mediterranean dishes - not just fail-safe pasta but flavourful risottos and rich, satisfying vegetable bakes - has kept the peace in our house. He still refuses to eat my favourite tomato and pumpkin bake, though! Oh well... more for me. I'm more veggie now than I was at my son's age - probably more than I was two years ago - and that has been a conscious progression on my part.

“For me, supporting Meat Free Monday has become a useful talking point for my son and me. It's given me a platform to talk, in a way that is relevant to our everyday life, about the facts that I encounter in my work on a daily basis. About the global food system, how it functions - or really fails to function - what sustainability means, and how all the choices we make, basic ones such as what we eat, have an impact somewhere down the line. It's been a way of introducing the importance of concepts such as 'local' and 'fresh' and 'seasonal'. Most important, in a world where we are all being told that humans shoulder the blame for our environmental problems, it's a really focused way of being part of the solution.”

Pat Thomas is an author and journalist in the field of environment and health. She has written several books for adults and children and was editor of Ecologist magazine until it ceased printing in June 2009.

“The Meat Free Monday campaign fits perfectly with Brookwood's Plant Matters environmental policy and our Eating for Life healthy eating programme. We are delighted to support MFM and the benefits the programme will deliver to schools, pupils and parents. As caterers to independant schools, we take the impact that our business has on our environment very seriously, and MFM will assist us in actively making a difference.”

Kate Martin is a managing partner at independent schools caterer the Brookwood Partnership

“We applaud the McCartney family's push for Meat Free Monday! Climate change, global poverty, increasing rates of obesity and poor animal welfare standards are all issues we can address right now. And reducing our meat intake or going vegetarian is the easiest and surest way of doing this.

“At the PETA foundation, we are introducing the Meat Free Monday concept into schools as a global citizenship project. Schools pledge to go meat-free every Monday at lunchtime and are provided with free cross-curricular lesson plans, as well as a Meat Free Monday calculator that adds up and displays the environmental benefit of going vegetarian for one day a week. The project will help youngsters better understand how the choices they make today will affect them, and future generations, tomorrow.”

Suzanne Barnard is charity manager for the PETA Foundation.

“Meat Free Monday is a wonderful idea. Food is an important tool in working to achieve sustainability at both local and global levels. The livestock industry is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the world's entire transport system, while a vegetarian diet is good for people, animals and the planet. The Vegetarian Society wholeheartedly supports any initiative that will help people to reduce the amount of meat that they eat.”

Annette Pinner is chief executive of the Vegetarian Society.

“Along with Meat Free Monday, we're spearheading a broad-based, grassroots movement that spans all borders and demographic groups. By cutting out meat once a week, we can improve our health, reduce our carbon footprint and lead the world in the race to reduce climate change.

“Going meatless once a week can help save resources such as fresh water and fossil fuel. And it may reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.”

Visit www.meatlessmonday.com