SPECIAL FEATURES:
Email
PETA wants Mars to be 100 percent vegan
Animal rights group implores SpaceX founder Elon Musk to make the diets of future colonists animal-free.
Thu, Jan 10 2013 at 4:25 PM
Related Topics:
Photo: Mars One
Doubling-down on a request made back in 2011, animal rights group PETA is once again urging future colonizers of Mars to adopt a purely vegan diet.
The group's latest appeal comes on the heels of a report that SpaceX founder Elon Musk may attempt a Mars landing as soon as 2018. Back in November, Musk outlined long-term plans that would send as many as 80,000 people to the planet for around $500,000 per ticket.
"At Mars, you can start a self-sustaining civilization and grow it into something really big," he said.
For PETA, the opportunity to start over means going forward without animal products.
"The opportunity to colonize Mars means a chance to make a fresh start, especially now that we’ve degraded our own planet by treating our fellow animals like disposable widgets, filled the air with pollution that will soon make the sky in 'Soylent Green' look clear, and populated the Earth with so many humans that the premise of 'Logan’s Run' starts to look practical," writes PETA. "We can get off on the right foot on our new biosphere by ensuring that SpaceX crafts traveling to Mars are stocked only with vegan food and that Mars’ colonists commit to enjoying an animal-free diet once they’ve arrived. Ensuring that Mars is a vegan planet (rather than importing animal products from Earth or creating factory farms on our new home) would protect animals from the horrors that they endure in the meat, egg, and dairy industries."
While PETA is well-known for aligning its causes with the headlines of the day, in this case a vegan Mars is likely to be the norm and not just some pipe dream. Meat just isn't sustainable or practical when it comes to space exploration. In a 2011 interview with Space.com, Musk supported the idea.
"I'm a big fan of free choice for any future Martian colony," he said. "That said, it is likely that early Mars colonists would have a mostly vegetable diet, because of the energy and space needed to raise farm animals."
Last summer, NASA announced that it was working on a mostly-vegan menu for astronauts' journey to Mars.
“That menu is favorable because it allows the astronauts to actually have live plants that are growing," said Maya Cooper, senior research scientist for Lockheed Martin. "You have optimum nutrient delivery with fresh fruits and vegetables, and it actually allows them to have freedom of choice when they’re actually cooking the menus because the food isn’t already pre-prepared into a particular recipe."
After showing off a prototype of a space-based greenhouse called VEGGIE in October, the agency also touted another advantage to growing vegetables.
“Based upon anecdotal evidence, crews report that having plants around was very comforting and helped them feel less out of touch with Earth,” Gioia Massa said. “You could also think of plants as pets. The crew just likes to nurture them.”
Related post on MNN: How to survive your first month as a vegetarian
The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.
You might also like:
Sign in with one of these accounts to add your comment.
EDITORS' PICKS
Advertisement
TODAY'S MOST POPULAR ON
- Watch: Sir David Attenborough deals with a band of cannibals the British way
- 13 natural remedies for the ant invasion
- What a grocery store without bees looks like
- Yurts: Everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask
- 10 false facts most people think are true
- 7 surprising things Pope Francis has done in his first 100 days
- 5 recipes for garlic scapes
- Amazing river map shows U.S. awash in waterways
- 11 ways to open a stuck jar lid
- 12 commands every dog should know
From our sponsor
NEWSLETTER
ABOUT Michael d'Estries
Pop-culture expert covers green celebrities, arts & culture.
Advertisement
You definitely get more from producing vegetable because they actually give more than they take.
Really wish MNN would stop covering anything and everything PETA. I'm all for supporting issues of animal welfare but PETA is a questionable org that relies on publicity stunts (see above), shock tactics, and celebrity skin to get the point across. They're the Ann Coulter of environmental orgs == shrill, abrasive, and the more attention you feed them, the stronger they grow. Ignore 'em and they'll go away.
Idunno if I'm ok with this.... what do Vegans taste like?
I have to agree that until we can come up with a way to efficiently transport meat that a plant based diet is the way to go, but not for any of the reasons PITA said. Just. Plain. Efficiency.
However, the very instant we get a 3D printer to make a steak, that vegan ideology crap will get jettisoned out the nearest airlock.
No question about it, produucing vegetables is more efficient than producing meat. That is the reason they will grow veggies. Not any moral reasons, nothing to do with the horrors of raising animals for food, etc. Efficiency.
And as soon as possible, genetically modified Earth plants will be released outside the greenhouses, and through natural selection, they will become Martian plants. Animals and hunting will follow.
PETA's version of the human diet is an eating disorder.
Look, it's true that Musk wants the original colony to be vegetarian for pragmatic reasons, and I'm not much of a meat-eater myself. But really, PETA has no place telling SpaceX and others how to colonize mars.
In short: PETA, get your own dang planet.
Dear PETA: Shut the hell up. Don't ruin Mars for us, PETA. Mars-raised pigs hold the potential to revitalize and rejuvenate mankind by providing much needed Martian Bacon. DON'T FARK THIS UP FOR US!
Pretty lazy of you Scotrick.
The article is true despite your assumption.
http://www.peta.org/mediacenter/news-releases/peta-to-spacex-chief--make...
This article is completely false. "PETA is once again urging future colonizers of Mars to adopt a purely vegan diet"
Where is your sources. PETS website has nothing.
Hey, look. Up there. Above your comment. What, is, that?!?
<p>
BAM!!! Refuted!