Lucknow Local Is PETA India’s 2021 Volunteer of the Year

In honour of International Volunteer Day (5 December), PETA India has named Lucknow equity investor Rohit Gurnani its 2021 Volunteer of the Year.

Gurnani first went vegan five years ago, and since then, he has worked alongside PETA India to oppose speciesism – the archaic idea that other animals are inferior to humans and ours to exploit at will. His actions have included local vegan outreach and participating in street theatre–style PETA India demonstrations to discourage meat-eating, leather-wearing, and keeping birds in cages.

Recognising the devastating role that meat, egg, and dairy production plays in the climate crisis, Gurnani has also worked with environmental groups to promote emissions-slashing vegan foods. A study in the journal Nature found that greenhouse-gas emissions from food systems would be reduced by more than half if the world turned to a mainly plant-based diet by 2050. Researchers at the University of Oxford found that every person who goes vegan lowers their carbon footprint from food by up to 73%, and each vegan spares nearly 200 animals per year.