barefoot vegan sept_oct issue.pdf

Eating
for The
Earth
By Lee Watson
I believe that the environment is close to the majority of
peoples hearts and yet most folk are still unaware of the
ecological destruction that the meat industry creates
globally. This is a highly accessible and engaging message
and a key to promoting veganism to a larger audience.
Animal rights are essential from an ethical vegan's stand
point but the environment is a lot easier to talk about at a
dinner party! One third of the overall arable land on
earth is used to grow crops to be fed to cattle and not
humans and 70% of this land suffers from overgrazing. I
think most people would be concerned by this.
According to the UN Report entitled 'Livestocks Long
Shadow' industrialised agriculture contributes on a
'massive scale' to global warming, air pollution, land
degradation, energy use, deforestation and biodiversity
decline. With an ever increasing global population,
alternatives to fossil fuel consumption are being explored,
but we all have to eat right! Only a huge shift in our
collective eating habits and the way we grow and produce
food will avert a potential environmental disaster. Many
of the problems relating to environmental destruction
related to diet just seem too large to tackle or even
comprehend. It is important to know the basics and
focus on them; the livestock industry uses fossil fuels,
fertile top soil and water at unsustainable rates and we
are mismanaging, on a grand scale, the limited resources
we have been blessed with. We are sustaining ourselves
in the most unsustainable ways!
Meat consumption is expected to double by 2050.
Formerly predominately vegetarian countries like Indian
and China are experiencing a rise. Many countries are
reviewing the subsidies given to the livestock industry
and 'price distortion'; animals, grains, water, land etc are
turned into commodities with low value, which does not
reflect their true worth and scarcity. The meat and
dairy industry is hugely resource heavy. 8% of the
global fresh water supply is used and colossal areas of
thriving ecosystems are destroyed daily to accommodate
industrialised cattle farms (the size of which can be seen
from space!) 70% of land formerly forested in the
Amazon and 10% of the energy in the US is used in the
rearing of livestock. Of course, we are not regularly
confronted by the spectacle of this type of farming,
primarily because these farms are located in out of
town/ remote areas or developing countries with less
focused environmental laws, where labour and land is
generally cheaper. 80% of the growth in the livestock
sector comes from industrial production. As consumers
we have the opportunity, the power and responsibility
to put pressure on commercial and political institutions
to bring about positive environmental reforms.
There is a growing trend towards people eating less
meat and dairy in Britain, with a huge surge in the
popularity of veganism in the last five years.
>
95 | BarefootVegan