Most Rewild events in the past were focused on companion animals and wildlife. We want to thank India Animal Fund, for bringing farmed animals into the mainstream animal welfare discussions at Rewild 2026 and nominating the Green Tuesday Initiative. Thanks to them, we could speak about farmed animals, bringing attention to a part of the movement that is often overlooked.

It was an important platform to highlight the role of farmed animals and share how farmed animals, wildlife, and climate change are deeply interconnected. 

The below was the speech by Richa, Mehta, Directors of Programs – Asia Pacific

डेयरी फ़ार्म में लगभग 100 के क़रीब भैंसें और गायें छोटी रस्सियों से बंधी हुई हैं. उनमें से कईओ को अभी-अभी जबरदस्ती गर्भवती किया गया है। कुछ के बछड़े हाल ही में हुए हैं, पर वे उनहे दूध नहीं पिला पाईं। दिन में कभी-कभी उनके पास बछड़े जैसा कुछ लाया जाता है, जिसकी खाल में  उनके बच्चे की बस हल्की-सी गंध बची है, पर समझ नहीं आता कि यह क्या है। रोज़ दर्द देने वाली इंजेक्शन्स लगाए  जाते हैं, जो लगने के बाद असह्य पीड़ा देती हैं और फिर दूध निकालने वाली मशीन लगा दी जाती है। फिर इंजेक्शन्स, दर्द और मशीन.

At a dairy farm, around 100 buffaloes and cows are tied with short ropes. Many of them have been forcibly impregnated. Some have recently given birth, but they were not allowed to feed their calves. At times during the day, something resembling a calf is brought near them, with only a faint scent of their own child’s skin, but they cannot understand what it is. Painful injections are administered daily, causing unbearable suffering, after which milking machines are attached. Then again injections, pain, and machines.
 
एक दिन उनमें से कुछ को छोटी गाड़ी में भरकर ले जाया जाता है, जीवन के आख़िरी, सबसे दर्दनाक पड़ाव पर। शायद तब वे सोचती होगी—चलो, रोज़-रोज़ मरने से तो यही ठीक है।

One day, some of them are loaded into a small vehicle and taken away—to the final and most painful stage of their lives. Perhaps at that moment, they think, at least this is better than dying a little every single day.
 
हमारा समाज—पिछली दो सदियों में—सामाजिक न्याय की लड़ाइयों से बहुत बदला है। इंसानों बल्कि पर्यावरण के लिए भी हमने नज़रिया और कानून बदले है। लेकिन आज भी तीसरा बड़ा पीड़ित वर्ग न्याय से वंचित है—*जानवर*। जिनसे उनका घर, दूध, बच्चे, अंडे, हड्डियाँ, चमड़ी, गरिमा, अस्तित्व और व्यक्तित्व तक छिन लिया जाता है।

Over the past two centuries, our society has evolved significantly through movements for social justice. We have changed our perspectives and laws for humans, and even for the environment. But even today, a third major group remains deprived of justice – animals. Their homes, milk, children, eggs, bones, skin, dignity, existence, and individuality are taken away from them.
 
 
ये फैक्ट्री जैसे farms इन जानवरों की दुर्दशा के अलावा *climate change, **groundwater* pollution, *antibiotic resistance, जूनोटिक बीमारियों और  biodiversity* के नाश का प्रमुख कारण है। गुजरात का बननी ग्रासलैंड isaka प्रमुख उदहारण है जहा ओवरग्रेजींग ke karan ग्रासलैंड सिकुड़ रही है और jangali जानवर कम हो rahe है । Par सबसे चिंताजनक यह है कि यह एक ऐसी संस्कृति बना रहा है जहाँ शोषण और क्रूरता को “सामान्य” मान लिया जाता है।

These factory-like farms not only cause immense suffering to animals but are also a major contributor to climate change, groundwater pollution, antibiotic resistance, zoonotic diseases, and the loss of biodiversity. The Banni grasslands in Gujarat are a key example, where overgrazing has led to shrinking grasslands and a decline in wildlife. Most concerning is that this system is normalizing a culture where exploitation and cruelty are seen as acceptable.
 
ग्रीन ट्यूसडे इनिशिएटिव का उद्देश्य एक ऐसी संस्कृति की नींव रखना है, जो अहिंसा और *coexistence* पर आधारित हो। अब तक हम ने 85 से ज़्यादा संस्थाओ के साथ काम करके ९९ लाख किलोग्राम से ज्यादा पशु उत्पाद का कंसम्पशन कम किया हैं।  हमने अब तक 3000 से ज़्यादा कॉलेजों के साथ मिलकर 3 लाख से अधिक लोगों को प्लांट-बेस्ड जीवन अपनाने के लिए प्रेरित किया है।

The Green Tuesday Initiative aims to build a culture rooted in ahimsa and coexistence. So far, we have worked with over 85 institutions to reduce the consumption of more than 9.9 million kilograms of animal products. We have also partnered with over 3,000 colleges, inspiring more than 300,000 people to adopt a plant-based lifestyle.
 
हर रोज़ लगभग 7 अरब जानवर केवल हमारे खाने की खपत पूरी करने के लिए मारे जाते हैं। जानवर डर, प्रेम और दर्द महसूस कर सकते हैं, हमारी तरह सपने भी देखते हैं, उनहे सिर्फ़ “नंबर” समझne wali सोच को बदलना हमारी ज़िम्मेदारी है

Every day, nearly 7 billion animals are killed to meet our food consumption. Animals can feel fear, love, and pain. They dream, just like we do. It is our responsibility to change the mindset that sees them merely as numbers.
 
मैं दिल से *अनीता डोंगरे जी, **giving pie*, **पराग अग्रवाल *, और यहाँ उपस्थित आप सभी का, उन जानवरों के अधिकारों के लिए साथ आने के  धन्यवाद देती हूँ. “Rewild’ कार्यक्रम के सहयोग से हम एक साल में और 30 लाख से ज़्यादा जानवरों को बचा पाएँगे.  इसका मतलब है कि हर एक मिनट में हम लगभग 6 जानवर। यानी mere 2.30 minute bolne tak me हम 20 se 25 जानवरों को bacha चुके hai।

I sincerely thank Anita Dongre ji, Giving Pie, Parag Agarwal, and all of you present here for coming together to support the rights of animals. With the support of the “Rewild” program, we will be able to save over 3 million more animals in the coming year. That means saving around 6 animals every minute. In fact, in just the 2.5 minutes I have been speaking, we have already saved around 20 to 25 animals.
 
 
धन्यवाद, कि आप यहाँ आए, और इतने महत्वपूर्ण विषय को समय देकर सुना। यदि आपके कुछ सवाल हों, तो कृपया बाद में मुझसे मिलकर इस मुद्दे के बारे में और बात कर सकते हैं।

Thank you for being here and for taking the time to listen to such an important issue. If you have any questions, I would be happy to speak with you afterwards.

The post Anita Dongre Foundation × Green Tuesday Initiative appeared first on Green Tuesday.

A total of 160 students from SRM IHM, Ekkatuthangal Campus, successfully prepared 2,025 plant-powered multigrain kathi rolls in record time—a world first. Building on this momentum, SRM is now expanding its partnership with the Green Tuesday Initiative by introducing weekly plant-based meals in the Kattankulathur campus hostels. This shift aims to reduce the campus’s environmental footprint while promoting healthier and more sustainable food choices for students.

SRM IHM first partnered with the Green Tuesday Initiative in April 2024 to reduce the use of high-carbon-footprint foods on campus. Since then, the institute has already made measurable progress. With the expansion of the plant-based menu to the Kattankulathur campus hostels, SRM is projected to reduce 12,63,740 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions, conserve 16.5 crore litres of water, and spare more than 19,000 animal lives annually. This is equivalent to driving around the Earth 259 times and the water consumption of the entire population of Salem, Tamil Nadu, for a day.

The event was inaugurated by Dr. D. Antony Ashok Kumar, Director of SRM IHM, and Mr. R. A. Nadesan, Director of SRM Group. Key contributors included Assistant Professors of Food Production Mr. Gopinath and Mr. Nithyanandan; Dr. Geetha Priya, Head of Department at the Vadapalani Campus; Ms. Bhuvaneswari; and Ms. J. Lalitha Shri, Vice Principal of SRM IHM, Kattankulathur Campus.

“Building on our commitment to vegan culinary education, we’re proud to take the next step with the Green Tuesday Initiative by serving plant-based meals every Tuesday in our hostels,” said Dr. Antony Ashok Kumar, Director of SRM IHM. “This extension brings our values from the classroom to the dining hall—allowing students to experience firsthand how plant-based eating supports both personal health and planetary well-being.”

SRM Institute of Hotel Management has also integrated plant-based culinary education into its curriculum. Over the past year, more than 900 hospitality students have been trained in sustainable cooking techniques, learning to work with plant-based proteins, legumes, grains, and dairy alternatives.

Bhavya Vatrapu, Senior Campaign Manager, Asia-Pacific at Vegan Outreach, added, “SRM Institute of Hotel Management has shown that hospitality education can be both industry-relevant and sustainability-focused. By extending the Green Tuesday Initiative to their hostels, they’re ensuring that students don’t just learn about sustainable food systems, they live them. This move strengthens their leadership in the shift toward climate-friendly campuses.”

More than 11,500 students at SRM University now have access to healthier and more sustainable plant-based meals in their hostel cafeterias. The Green Tuesday Initiative helps institutions reduce their environmental impact through simple dietary shifts, without any additional spending or operational burden.

Leading universities such as Lovely Professional University, Pondicherry University, ICE Institute of Hotel Management, and DY Patil University have also joined the initiative as part of the University Grants Commission’s ‘Green Campus’ movement.

To learn more or request a free consultation, visit www.greentuesday.org. 

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D.Y. Patil School of Hospitality and Tourism Studies is one of India’s leading institutes for hotel management and tourism. They partnered with the Green Tuesday Initiative in 2019, committing to serve more vegan food in the campus to reduce their environmental footprint. With this workshop, the institute took one step further in making their students future-ready to serve the growing number of vegan consumers.

Preparing for the plant-based future

The event started with a session on food and lifestyle choices by Dr. Zeeshan Ali, a health researcher and the India Program Specialist at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in Washington, D.C. He spoke about how plant-based nutrition can help prevent chronic diseases and showcased some case studies highlighting the benefits of a vegan diet for people and the planet. Students were eager to learn more about plant-based food and asked many questions about the health and environmental impact of food.

After the informative session, Chef Reishu Sharma, founder of Plan B Foods, conducted a special training workshop on plant-based cooking, in which the students learned how to make tasty and healthy vegan alternatives like almond ricotta cheese, vegan Chicken à la King, and Pasta ai Funghi.

Chef Reishu also shared his inspiring story about how he embraced plant-based food and his entrepreneurial journey. He is the winner of the prestigious Gourmand Award for his cookbook called From India with Love.

Green Tuesday Initiative and Food Sustainability

Green Tuesday Initiative is India’s leading food sustainability campaign that helps institutions fight climate change by enabling them to serve more sustainable plant-based food to their students. Since 2018, the campaign has partnered with over 45 educational institutes and corporations in India, including Pondicherry University, ZF, Tech Mahindra, Zostel, Lovely Professional University, and more, helping them serve more climate-friendly, plant-based food.

Three other premier hospitality institutes in India – Bharath Institute of Higher Education and Research, Empee Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, and Vels Institute of Science, Technology & Advanced Studies – have also partnered with the Green Tuesday Initiative in their campus to serve more vegan food to their students and introduce plant-based cooking to them. “By initiating a dialogue around sustainability with hospitality institutions, we hope to inspire these students to venture into the vibrant world of plant-based food that is better for our health, the animals, and our planet,” notes Sowndarya Ganesan, Campaigns Specialist, Vegan Outreach.

Pallavi Chaudhary, Director of D.Y. Patil School of Hospitality and Tourism Studies, also believes that hospitality students must adapt to the evolving food habits of the world. In her words, “Our students are the future of the culinary industry, and by embracing plant-based menus, we’re ensuring they graduate not only with exceptional culinary skills but also a deep understanding of their role in creating a greener and more compassionate industry. We need more future-ready chefs.”

According to IBEF, the plant-based food market in India is expected to develop at an 11.8% CAGR between 2021 and 2028. Exposure to plant-based food in hospitality institutions opens new doors to innovation and career opportunities. Students gain valuable insights into plant-based culinary practices, preparing them for a new-age culinary industry with sustainability as a major focus.

Green Tuesday Initiative plans to conduct more specialized workshops and capacity-building sessions with the students of these hospitality schools and hopes to introduce plant-based cooking in the culinary curriculum of leading institutions.

Also read: How fighting climate change with diet change can effectively reduce your environmental footprint.

The post Bringing Sustainability To The Food Industry Through Plant-based Cooking Workshops For Future Chefs appeared first on Green Tuesday.

“Tech Mahindra is always at the forefront of taking sustainability and environment-related initiatives. From hosting plastic-free events to organizing the most extensive plantation drives, Tech Mahindra has always encouraged and inspired us to make an impact and keep doing more. By implementing vegetarian Tuesdays, we are taking one step forward in reducing our food-related carbon footprint and creating awareness about the food choices of employees. Next year, we will work with the Green Tuesday team to implement this initiative in more campuses in other cities. Our team is also working to create a soulful, delicious alternative menu on Tuesdays.” – C V N Varma, Vice President – Corporate Services at Tech Mahindra.

What we eat is rapidly becoming an issue of global concern—multiple reports have identified meat and dairy as one of the leading causes of climate change. One such example is the recent report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which emphasized a shift towards plant-based diets as a significant opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Worldwide, meat and dairy production uses 83% of farmland and produces 60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Companies worldwide are seeing the urgency of fighting climate change through food choices. Tech Mahindra is leading the way to a sustainable future as a Green Tuesday partner and one of the first major IT companies to implement this program. India is the 5th most vulnerable country to climate change according to the 2020 Global Climate Index, and policies like this will create an impact. There is a growing awareness among organizations in this regard.

Tech Mahindra’s Hitech City campus has 15,000 employees, and once fully rolled out, this initiative will benefit approx. 200,000 employees working at Tech Mahindra offices at various India locations.
When companies like Tech Mahindra implement the Green Tuesday Initiative, it reflects their commitment to climate action, promotes a healthier future, and saves millions of lives.

If you are a company or an education institution and want to implement the Green Tuesday Initiative in your campus, please write to Sowndarya@greentuesday.org

The post Tech Mahindra Serves Plant-based Food on Tuesdays to Reduce Their Food-related Carbon Footprint appeared first on Green Tuesday.

The climate crisis is undoubtedly the biggest threat facing humankind right now, worsening every day. We are depleting our resources at an unprecedented rate and are on track for a 2.7-degree rise in global temperature by the end of the century.

But we are doing the right things, aren’t we? We’ve quit using plastic straws and polybags, we don’t litter, and we mostly shop from sustainable brands. We even take the bus sometimes. So why are things not getting better? What can we do that makes an immediate impact?

The answer lies in the question. We have to look at what we do that has an immediate impact, including what we eat. Food production has a substantial carbon footprint, especially considering that we now have more than 8 billion people on this planet, which is growing daily. Our demand for high-carbon-footprint food does not help this situation.

Food and GHG emissions:

A 2018 study found that animal food production produces 56-58% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions while providing just 18% of calories and 37% of protein. Another recent study reaffirmed these figures, finding that animal agriculture is responsible for 57% of agriculture-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Animal agriculture is also responsible for over 58% of global Nitrous Oxide emissions, a gas released that traps 298 times more heat than carbon dioxide. According to the BBC’s climate change food calculator, 1-2 servings of chicken contributes to 106 kgs of greenhouse gas emissions. In contrast, the same amount of beans contributes to 7 kgs, and peas contribute to 1.4 kgs of greenhouse emissions, respectively. The comparison shows how much greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by shifting to plant-based food products.

A Huge water footprint that we cannot afford:

A staggering 33% of the available drinking water is used for animal agriculture, leading to water shortages and depleting groundwater.

• Chicken: Raising one kilogram of chicken consumes 4,300 liters of water, primarily due to the water-intensive production of feed crops, highlighting the collective impact of large-scale production.
• Dairy: Producing a liter of milk demands around 320 liters of water beyond the damage caused to the water sources by animal waste.

Beyond depleting our essential and increasingly scarce resources, waste from factory farms and slaughterhouses poses a significant threat to freshwater sources. Manure, antibiotics, and hormones can contaminate rivers, lakes, and groundwater, making them unsafe for drinking, irrigation, and aquatic life. In India, where lack of water is a growing concern, this pollution further exacerbates the crisis. 

We are cutting down forests to raise livestock:

We raise more than 80 billion land animals for food every year. This requires a lot of land to keep them and grow their food. Over 70% of soy grown globally is fed to cattle raised for meat. Clearing forests to raise livestock accounts for over 40% of global deforestation. 83% of arable agricultural land is used for this industry. Reducing the demand for animal products leaves more land to grow food for humans, which addresses food security and world hunger issues.

Animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of deforestation. The environmental impact of animal agriculture, including through “sustainable” methods, is much higher than plant production. A 2018 University of Oxford study showed that even the lowest-impact animal food products cause more environmental damage than the highest-impact vegetable and cereal products.

The same study showed that if everybody stopped eating animal food products, worldwide farmland use could be reduced by 75%—an area equivalent to the size of the US, China, Australia, and the EU combined.

Fight Climate Change with Diet Change:

One of the easiest ways to reduce our carbon footprint is to change our food habits. But it only works if all of us take the first step. As climate-conscious individuals, we must:

• Reduce our demand for animal products: Lowering animal product consumption translates to decreased water and land usage for rearing animals, growing their feed, and managing their waste. It can also limit our GHG emissions by up to 75%.
• Sustainable Choices: Plant-based alternatives like lentils, beans, and tofu have significantly lower carbon footprints and generate less waste.

Switching to a plant-based diet might seem difficult, but with the right help, it is easier than ever. Individuals seeking to take action can find all the resources they need at www.10weekstovegan.in

Green Tuesday Initiative works with corporates and educational institutions to help them fight climate change with diet change by making small changes in the food they serve once a week. This includes introducing more plant-based dishes, raising awareness, and organizing engaging events about the impact of animal agriculture on the environment and our health.

Green Tuesday Initiative Aligns With 7 UN SDGs

Take action today

Climate change is a global problem that has risen from our individual choices. Slowly but surely, we can reverse the damage done to the environment by mending our ways, one meal at a time. If 8 billion people commit to saving our precious, fragile ecosystem, there is no doubt the victory will be ours!

“This is the summit of my generation’s responsibility. We are the last generation that can change things.
Unless we act now, the future is bleak.”
– Greta Thunberg, Climate Activist

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