Anita Krajnc—the global campaign coordinator of the Plant Based Treaty, which views itself as a companion to the Paris Agreement, described, on the Treaty website, as “a grassroots campaign designed to put food systems at the forefront of combating the climate crisis”—describes the key elements of both The Paris Agreement and The Fossil Fuel Treaty, the latter accord serving as a direct template for the Plant Based Treaty creators. 
Indeed, using those two documents as jumping off points, the team fashioning the Plant Based Treaty framed their document with an emphasis on renouncing animal agriculture and factory farming. Those industries, Krajnc explains, notoriously constitute the source of the three primary greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—that are already at high levels, and moving even higher at a rapid clip, directly responsible for the 
global warming that, if not slowed, ideally stopped, puts us on a path for a rise in the planet’s temperature from which we cannot recover. So, the Plant Based Treaty functions as an entreaty urging the embracing of plant-based diets on both the widest and most fundamental levels, to help mitigate the climate change crisis. Toward that end, Krajnc points out, she and her Plant Based Treaty colleagues sought to “create bottom-up pressure”—specifically seeking 10 million 
individuals endorsing the Treaty by 2023, alongside 1000 groups, 1000 businesses, and 50 cities. Ten days after the Plant Based Treaty launched, on Aug. 31—an international effort involving 100 cities in which activists began asking local governments to address climate change by endorsing the Plant Based Treaty—the first city in the world to sign on was …Boynton Beach, Florida, though Krajnc notes that Rosario, Argentina endorsed almost simultaneously. She discusses the Plant Based Treaty website, which is rich and textured, brimming with comprehensive details that shaped and informed the Treaty, information on the Treaty itself (including who has endorsed it), email actions that website visitors can undertake very simply, and more. (https://plantbasedtreaty.org, https://www.facebook.com/PlantBasedTreaty/, https://www.instagram.com/plantbasedtreaty/)
ALSO: I also spoke briefly with Chad Mize, the artist and designer 
who owns Mize Gallery in Saint Petersburg, FL, where he was preparing the gallery’s new exhibit, “Critters.” For this show, Mize explained, upwards of 70 artists were invited, through an open call, to submit a list of their top five critters, from which Mize typically selected their first or second choice, and then the artist created a new piece involving that assigned creature. There is no fauna duplication amongst the almost 70 pieces, and there’s a wide array of styles represented among the contributing artists, ranging, for example from Jspired Art’s Giraffe to Elena Ohlander’s Koi (both pictured here; courtesy: Mize Gallery). Mize said another artist, Melodoius Monster, delivered a piece that plays off both meanings of “sloth.” “Critters” had its opening Sept 17, and will be on view through mid-October. Mize Gallery is at 689 Dr. M.L.K. Jr., Street North, Unit C, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. Hours are Saturday, 10am-5pm, and Sunday, 10am-2pm. Mize noted that those who live elsewhere, or otherwise can’t make it to the gallery, can see “Critters” on the Gallery website: http://chadmize.com
COMEDY CORNER: Chris Porter’s “Vegan Date” (https://www.chrisportercomedy.com)
MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” instrumentals
NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: We didn’t play “Name That Animal Tune” today.
AUDIO ARCHIVE:
Part 1:
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Part 2:
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