By Julia Spragg, Greenpeace volunteer and activist.

I’ve always cared about the natural world. Fascination with nature is how many research scientists become motivated - including me.

As the damage we were doing to the planet became clearer, and especially as the realities of climate change crystallised, I started supporting Greenpeace, at first by donating - but I wanted to contribute more, so I joined a local volunteer group in Oxford and became an activist, participating in non-violent direct action with Greenpeace.

Over the last few months, Greenpeace volunteers across the UK have been asking Tesco to stop buying meat from companies linked to forest destruction in the Amazon.

Tesco sells more meat and uses more soya for animal feed than any other supermarket in the UK.

To address climate change we must stop the destruction of rainforests such as the Amazon - rainforests store huge amounts of carbon.

Oxford Mail: TESCO MEAT = DEFORESTATION stencils outside Tesco stores in (clockwise from top left) Kidlington, London Road Headington, Abingdon Road, Oxford, 2 stores in Abingdon and Summertown, Oxford.

Campaigns by Greenpeace and other organisations have managed to greatly reduce deforestation in Brazil.

But since President Bolsonaro’s election there, he has actively encouraged logging, burning and attacks on indigenous peoples, driven largely by industrial meat production, in areas vital to Brazil’s indigenous communities, to its wildlife and to us all, if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Greenpeace activists in Oxfordshire and around the UK have left posters on Tesco’s windows with photos of burning rainforests, photographed the jaguar from Greenpeace’s 'There’s a Monster in my Kitchen' video outside stores, to share on social media, and most recently, stencilled “TESCO MEAT = DEFORESTATION” outside store entrances.

Although UK food retailers, including Tesco, have long-standing commitments to remove deforestation from their supply chains, they are still buying meat from companies owned by notorious forest destroying JBS and reared on South American soya.

The future of the world’s forests and the stability of the climate depend on us eating less meat and dairy.

Social media makes it easier than ever to let company bosses know what we think about their products and how they source them.

Tesco can and must immediately drop all forest destroyers from their supply chains. Please join Greenpeace in calling on Tesco to halve the amount of meat and dairy they sell by 2025, replacing it with plant-based food.

We have a very active Greenpeace Group centred in Oxford, and Groups all across the country. One of the spin-offs of our current Covid situation is that Zoom meetings have made it easier to get together across Oxfordshire. So if you want to get more involved, now is the time. You can find out more at https://greenwire.greenpeace.org.uk.

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