Racing Champ: “Meat Eating, Emissions Must be Reduced”

Professional race car driver and vegan Leilani Münter recently penned an opinion piece for The Guardian, in which she argues that along with a need to reduce fossil-fuel emissions, special consideration to a reduction of meat consumption is also sorely needed in the fight to save the planet. Münter—named by Sports Illustrated as one of the top ten female race car drivers in the world—spoke to some of the lengths she and her racing team go to offset her carbon footprint, including driving an electric car, using 100-percent solar energy in her pit box, and adopting an acre of rainforest for every race she runs. “But as much as [these efforts are] making a difference,” she said, “I know my vegan diet has an even greater impact on the planet.” She details the recent preliminary draft changes to the United States dietary guidelines that encouraged people to eat less meat that were later cut thanks to intervention by meat and big agriculture lobbyists, lamenting the prioritization of private profits “ahead of the American people, the welfare of billions of animals—and the future of the planet.” Ultimately, Münter argued, bringing information into the hands of the American people is the best way to enact widespread change—something she feels she’s able to help do though her career as a race car driver. “I’m raising awareness on critical issues to that audience that isn’t otherwise engaged in discussions of climate change,” she said. “I hope Americans will not wait for the government to catch up and will educate themselves about their food and the impact it has on our planet.”