Australia is burning. The bushfires have devastated the continent since September and continue to ravage the country at an alarming pace. Photos and videos of charred animals—unable to escape the overwhelming blazes—have gone viral.

It’s now estimated that nearly 1 billion animals have already died in the fires.

Humans, too, are dying and being displaced. Everything about Australia’s current fate seems apocalyptic in scale.

One inane tactic that officials have come up with to combat the problem includes shooting up to 10,000 thirsty camels from helicopters, just because they drink large amounts of water.

MORE THAN A BILLION ANIMALS HAVE ALREADY DIED, AND AUSTRALIAN OFFICIALS WANT TO ADD THOUSANDS MORE INDIVIDUALS TO THE DEATH TOLL—INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE JUST AS MUCH RESIDENTS OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA AS ITS HUMAN INHABITANTS AND WHO ARE JUST AS DESERVING OF MAKING IT OUT OF THE AUSTRALIAN FIRES ALIVE.

In the video below, a bystander recorded dozens upon dozens of dead, burned animals scattered along roads:

This Is Climate Change, and We Must Take Action Like Never Before

Many blame climate change for exacerbating the wildfires, which have burned more acres than recent Amazon rainforest and California fires combined. Around the world, prolonged heat and drought have extended seasonal wildfire periods.

All the while, the U.N. has stated that meat consumption must decrease by as much as 90% in order for us to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. To put it in perspective, the carbon emissions from all of the world’s planes, trucks, ships, and cars are equivalent to the emissions from animal agriculture!

We can (and must) fight climate change. By far, the easiest way is for people to stop eating animals and go vegan right now. It requires zero governmental initiative or promises from some giant corporation. It only involves choosing to leave animals out of the shopping cart on that trip you’re already making to the grocery store.

GOING VEGAN CAN HELP PREVENT ANIMALS FROM BEING BURNED ALIVE IN A WILDFIRE OR BEING SLIT ACROSS THE THROAT IN A SLAUGHTERHOUSE.

It’s estimated that, at a minimum, about 800,000 million animals have been killed in Australia’s fires. This is about the same number of land animals who are horrifically slaughtered every few days just so that people can eat their flesh.

No matter if it’s a kangaroo trapped in a barbed-wire fence after running from a scorching fire or cows screaming for their lives as they’re hoisted up by chains to bleed out from their wounds, every one of these animals feared for their lives and did all that they could to stay alive.

The Best Time to Go Vegan Was Yesterday—the Next-Best Time Is Right Now

Many of us feel relatively powerless when facing mass extinctions, rising sea levels, and record-breaking fire seasons, but we actually have a great deal of power to change things if we harness it.

This is exactly why being vegan isn’t some fad diet. It’s a revolutionary action. It’s us exclaiming, “We will not let this planet and countless sensitive animals die on our watch!”

Join the vegan movement today and ask everyone you know to do the same. The Earth itself depends on it.

https://www.peta.org/blog/australia-fires-vegan-climate-change/