"We offer a million dollars to charity if Pope Francis makes a vegan Lent." This is the proposal that comes from Million Dollar Vegan, the organization no profit which proposes to activate a change on a global scale, bringing to light the damages that intensive farms cause to animals, to people and to our planet. Backed by celebrity like Paul McCartney, Brigitte Bardot, Moby or Massimo Wertmüller, now the campaign aims high, straight towards the Vatican.

Fight climate change with diet change (fight climate change with diet)

Conducted on 15 countries, the campaign of Million Dollar Vegan is expressed in a letter addressed to His Holiness published yesterday in Italy in the Corriere, signed by the spokesman Genesis Butler, The twelve year old animal rights activist and environmental protection famous for his early commitment (he chose to become completely vegan at six) and to be the youngest person ever to go on stage at TEDx. The campaign is based on strong information: scientists say we just have two years to stop the massive loss of biodiversity is 12 years to avoid catastrophic climate change. Million Dollar Vegan addresses the world's leaders and each of us to demand a decisive and rapid change to save the inevitable; an initiative that shares the same objectives as the free lifetime offer to become vegan by Beyoncé and Jay-Z.

Why Pope Francis?

The offer Million Dollar Vegan was made in respect for the commitment that Pope francesco has already shown in wanting to protect our planet and its inhabitants. In fact, in his Encyclical of 2015 Praised be ' the Pope expressed its deep concern about climate change, the wounds inflicted on the planet and the tyrannical use of animals. Through the words of Genesis Butler, the goal of the campaign is to make it aware of the main damage caused by intensive farming. The hope is that he can choose a vegan Lent and encourage the billion and two hundred million Catholics in the world to do the same thing. From the Ansa website, the declaration of Matthew Glover, CEO of Million Dollar Vegan: «Si treats a deliberately daring campaign. We are grateful to Pope Francis for discussing these issues and that is why we humbly ask him to try a vegan diet for Lent and to be an example of how each of us can align our principles of care and compassion with our own actions .

Why Vegan?

The official motivation of Million Dollar Vegan leaves no shadows: "Intensive livestock farming is one of the main causes of climate change, deforestation and loss of biodiversity. They pollute the soil, the water and the air, and waste so many resources that we could instead use to feed the growing human population, not to mention the suffering caused to the billions of animals bred. For the good of animals, of all human beings, of our future and of this planet, we are asking Pope Francis to take the lead in addressing these problems, choosing a vegan diet for Lent ". From the campaign's promotional video, Genesis Butler offers tangible reasons: "Every person who chooses a vegan Lent will save emissions equal to those of a flight between London and Berlin, and if every Catholic on the planet participates, it would be as if the Philippines did not produce CO2 for a whole year".

How to support the Million Dollar Vegan campaign?

As they have already done further 22 thousand people, simply sign the petition uploaded to Change.org to ask Pope francesco to try the vegan diet in Lent, which will start on March 6th and ends about six weeks later, before the Easter of Resurrection. Besides the signature and a message, you can also leave one donation of a minimum of two euros to contribute to the work of the association: a breakfast at the bar could well be worth the future of our planet. The association Million Dollar Vegan underlines how the campaign does not appeal only to Catholics or believers in general, but as "the single, most important action that each of us can do to help protect the planet". Moreover, on the site it is also possible to have specific clarifications and receive the e-mail directly Guide to becoming a vegan.

Who gets the million dollars and who will it go to?

The sum is donated by the US Blue Horizon International Foundation, charitable arm of the Blue Horizon Corporation, which invests in companies that produce food of plant origin with the aim of accelerating the removal of animals from the global food chain. Self Pope francesco if he were to accept the challenge, he himself will decide which charity (or more than one) to donate one million dollars.

Are there any answers from the Vatican?

Currently there is no reaction from the Holy See is Million Dollar Vegan has already said that, if Pope francesco should not accept the offer, they will turn to other world leaders. Meanwhile, the environmental battle from the commercial implications has called the dissent of the Consorzio Tutela Grana Padano in the words of the general director Stefano Berni"As a Christian, I was indignant, even shocked at this proposal to make the Pope become a commercial testimonial of vegan products, also establishing a value of this testimony".