Doctors Launch #EatPlantsNotPigs Campaign in N.C.

ASHEVILLE—A hard-hitting billboard and a full-page newspaper advertisement are targeting pollution from North Carolina’s massive hog farms. In the wake of the recent storm, at least 34 lagoons released hog waste into the surrounding areas, according to the Washington Post and other news outlets.

Sponsored by the Physicians Committee, a nonprofit with 12,000 doctor members including 317 in North Carolina, the billboard in Asheville is scheduled to go up the week of Oct. 15 and remain posted until Nov. 11. The illuminated billboard is 12 feet high and 48 feet long, and it confronts motorists travelling on Tunnel Road 500 feet east of Kenilworth Road. “Worried About Pollution from Hog Waste Lagoons?” the billboard asks. Motorists are advised to “#EatPlantsNotPigs!” and to visit www.EatPlantsNotPigs.com for recipes and tips for making the switch to healthful and tasty plant-based meals.

The billboard will be posted about one mile from the office of Asheville’s mayor, Esther E. Manheimer. The Physicians Committee has written to Mayor Manheimer commending her for her recent support of Asheville’s seven-day vegan challenge. As a next step, the group is now asking the mayor to introduce a resolution establishing Green Mondays, modeled on the resolution recently passed by the city of Berkeley, Calif. The mayor and Asheville City Council are encouraged to take the immediate step of providing plant-based meals at city-sponsored events and meetings.

A full page ad in the Mountain Xpress will appear Oct. 17 and, like the billboard, it will ask “Worried About Pollution from Hog Waste Lagoons?” Readers are advised to “#EatPlantsNotPigs!” and to go to  www.EatPlantsNotPigs.com for tips and recipes.

“Choosing a plant-based diet is one of the best things you can do for the planet,” says Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., director of nutrition education for Physicians Committee. “The recent storm-generated flooding and damage to hog waste lagoons serve as a reminder that switching to a plant-based diet can prevent pollution as well as benefit your health.”

Scientific studies show that plant-based meals can help people prevent and even reverse diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity.