Champion British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton has told his fans to go vegan as it is “the only way to save the planet.” This is despite his own penchant for private jet travel and making a living driving a car around in circles at an average 3 miles to the gallon.
His multi-million dollar personal car collection alone is also thought to include two Ferraris, a McLaren, a Pagani Zonda and several types of Mercedes.
Hamilton’s Mercedes team are sponsored by Petronas, a Malaysian oil and gas company, while he is known for globe-trotting to exotic holiday destinations and mixing with a-list celebrities on luxury yachts.
The 34-year-old, thought to be personally worth $500 million, is on the verge of winning a sixth Formula One world title and ahead of that achievement wrote Tuesday about his concerns for the environment in three posts on Instagram.
Hamilton outlined in the posts: “Go vegan, it is the only way to truly save our planet today. It can be done so quickly, all you have to do is put your mind to it.
“Honestly I feel like giving up on everything. Shut down completely. Why bother when the world is such a mess and people don’t seem to care. I’m going to take a moment away to gather my thoughts. Thank you to those of you who do give a damn about the world.”
The critics were quick to point out the unsustainability of his positon as his name trended on Twitter:
Cars, planes, yachts, motorcycles… Yeah chow down on your carrots there Lew. https://t.co/GYNkM5ErMI
Not every response was negative. Fellow Brit Damon Hill said Hamilton’s jet-setting lifestyle opened him up to deserved criticism – but has backed his environmental concerns.
The racing driver previously spoke about his own decision to go vegan two years ago. He told the BBC how he stopped eating red meat and was now “pescatarian for the majority of the year and now I’ve cut fish.” He continued:
“As the human race, what we are doing to the world… the pollution [in terms of emissions of global-warming gases] coming from the amount of cows that are being produced is incredible.
“They say it is more than what we produce with our flights and our cars, which is kind of crazy to think, the cruelty is horrible and I don’t necessarily want to support that and I want to live a healthier life.”