For those of us in the UK, we may wonder how buying a burger from a McDonald’s outlet halfway across the world from South America has anything to do with the deforestation taking place in the continent. Here’s how. 

McDonald’s buys most of their chicken from Cargill, an American global food corporation founded in 1865, now one of the largest privately held corporations in the United States. Cargill has evolved into a food-product empire and has enormous power, with a vast proportion of the world´s main agricultural commodities passing through its hands. 

There is no reason any British consumer tucking into a Chicken Burger or McChicken sandwich would ever know that an American company is involved in almost every step of their foods’ production. Or, more importantly, that areas of rainforest have been flattened in the process. 

In the early 2000s, deforestation rates in the Amazon were shocking. Following campaigns from environmental groups and retailers, companies like Cargill agreed not to buy soybeans grown in newly deforested areas of the Amazon in the 2006 landmark Amazon Soya Moratorium. This worked, and from 2004 to 2012  the clearing of trees in the Amazon fell by 84%. But of course, it didn’t work for long. Cargill and McDonald’s put profit before the planet, and simply found loopholes in the moratorium to ensure they could continue buying soya grown on deforested land. 

Companies like Cargill simply began buying from soya plantations in the Bolivian Amazon and the Brazilian Cerrado according to a Mighty Earth report. The cerrado is a crucial ecosystem containing 5% of the world’s plant and animal species. More than half of its native vegetation is already gone due to deforestation.  In addition, with the moratorium applying only to soya in particular, farmers have been able to sell their crops as deforestation-free as they continue to clear land for cattle, maize and other commodities. Consequently, deforestation has continued and reached an all time high last year.

Efforts to extend the soy moratorium to the Bolivian Amazon and Brazilian Cerrado have long been opposed, despite calls to do so by local NGOs, scientists and the Brazilian environment minister. Retailers have so far not used their leverage over Cargill to compel it to support a soy moratorium expansion. Being Cargill’s biggest customer in Europe, McDonald’s would have huge influence. The company however, would appear to care far more about soy reaching Cargill´s chicken processing plant here in the United Kingdom Hereford. Cargills’ Hereford site slaughters over a million birds per week, many of which will go on to be sold in McDonald’s branches across the United Kingdom.

Brazil is the biggest producer of soy consumed in the United Kingdom, and 70 percent of it is imported into the UK by Cargill, the vast majority of it to become animal feed. Only about two percent of the world’s soy crop is processed into plant-based alternatives such as meat alternatives, tofu and soy yoghurt . It is  mostly grown in Europe and does not drive deforestation.

With their poor track record on deforestation becoming increasingly obvious to consumers, McDonald’s announced a series of ‘’ambitious’’ sustainability initiatives in October 2021. The company explain on their website: ‘’We want to make sure the beef in our burgers contributes to a sustainable food system in which communities, animals and the planet thrive.’’ Animal Rebellion has a very different idea of a sustainable food system. In our eyes, flattening rainforests, slaughtering millions of animals, and selling a ludicrous quantity of largely unhealthy products is in no way sustainable. 

McDonald’s sells more than 75 hamburgers per second. Each year McDonald’s buys 1.9 billion tons of cow flesh to be used for patties in outlets across the world, producing more than 53m metric tonnes of greenhouse gases. The fast food giant stresses its burgers sold in the UK come from British and Irish farms, but have been accused of feeding animals with feed  coming from deforested areas in Latin America. Glenn Hurowitz, chief executive of Mighty Earth highlighted that ‘’everything we know about their suppliers suggests they’re still chock full of deforestation.”

Despite McDonald’s massive and ongoing role in the destruction of primary forests, it has gained several certification labels. For example, there is evidence that the Rainforest Alliance, who certifie McDonald’s coffee, uses child labour in their farms. In addition, the RSPCA has given its stamp of approval on McDonald’s chicken factories, instead of telling the truth and highlighting that captivity and death can never be aligned with good welfare standards. Instead of standing up for the animals, RSPCA complies with the big business. The labels on meat and dairy do little but confuse and greenwash. They are certified lies. 

McDonald’s recognises their own complicity in deforestation by stating on their own website:  ´´We’ve set an ambitious goal to eliminate deforestation from our global supply chain by 2030.´´ It is difficult to take this, and all of McDonald’s other sustainability targets seriously, as not only is the breeding of cows the largest driver of deforestation in the world, with beef potentially being the single most environmentally destructive food in existence. 

According to landmark environmental documentary Cowspiracy, cows are the world’s largest source of methane, which is up to 100 times more destructive to the climate than CO2. Cows around the world produce 150 billion gallons of this gas per day. Raising cows is incredibly resource draining with a staggering 2,500 gallons of water needed to produce just 1 pound of beef. This means that the production of one hamburger requires 660 gallons of water – the equivalent of the average person’s showers over a period of 2 months.

Raising cattle also requires a huge amount of land, which is why so many forests are being cleared to make room in the first place. According to the Cowspiracy, 1.5 acres of land can only produce 375 pounds of beef as opposed to 37,000 pounds of plant-based foods. Rearing livestock and their feed already occupies up to 45% of the earth’s ice-free land. With the demand for meat being so large, there is still not enough space to raise the animals to feed our appetite and more forests are having to be cleared. Where will this end, with the whole planet being deforested and devoted to meat production?

By selling huge quantities of these catastrophically polluting foods, at the expense of both animal and human kind, we believe McDonald’s to be running one of the most polluting and morally corrupt operations underway in our world today.  

Animal Rebellion calls on McDonald’s to stop this madness and transition to a fully plant-based menu by 2025. After all, this is the only hope the company has at meeting their climate goals. Climate experts who reviewed McDonald’s targets say: ´´The company is largely dodging the one bold step it must take to slash emissions: dramatically reducing the amount of beef it serves. Not moving boldly on their menus suggests motivations might not be to mitigate climate change but to manage investors.”

Gidon Eshel, an environmental and urban studies research professor at Bard College says: ´´The naked truth is McDonald’s is in a business that is fundamentally at odds with the Earth’s integrity. The culture of beef is not consistent with Earth’s wellbeing, and we have to choose: do you eat beef and let Earth incinerate, or do you forgo beef and give Earth a fighting chance?”. 

The answer is simple. McDonald’s must cease to sell products which cause deforestation and pollution and transition to a fully plant-based menu, now. The introduction of one or two plant-based products is, at this point, a drop in the ocean. We need a complete and thorough reinvention of the McDonald’s menu and we need it now. 

Join Animal Rebellions campaign No Love In It for McDonald’s to transition to a fully plant-based menu by 2025. Take a look at some of our previous actions here including the blockade of McDonald’s UK burger factory for 3 days, the overnight occupation of McDonald’s Leicester Square and sit-ins across the country. Please fill out our Volunteer Form to get involved with what we´re planning next! 

The post Amazon Deforestation for McDonald’s Profit first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

In fact, an entirely plant-based planet is not as far away as many may think. As more and more people become aware of the environmental footprint of animal products and the suffering involved in their production, plant-based diets are rapidly becoming more popular all around the globe. Earlier this year in January, a record half a million Brits signed up to Veganuary, a campaign which inspires people to eat vegan for January and throughout the rest of the year. It is projected that vegans and vegetarians will make up a quarter of the British population by 2025. 

That’s not all. In Latin America and the Caribbean 8% of the population identify as vegetarian or vegan and in Mexico  this figure is at a staggering 20%. In the United States, the number of Americans following plant-based diets has risen by nearly 9.6 million over the last 15 years, a 300% increase. It’s safe to say support for a plant-based food system is widespread and growing rapidly. We are well and truly on the way to a plant-based world, but how would a plant-based food system be beneficial to our planet?

It’s no secret that animal agriculture is one of the very largest polluters on Earth. An Oxford University report concluded that if the world were to follow plant based diets, food-related emissions would drop by 70% by 2050! Emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide would all plummet, giving us a much better chance at fighting off climate catastrophe and ensuring our survival on Earth. 

This drop in pollution would help us avoid extreme weather disasters, as the report highlights that a plant based food system could avoid climate-related damages of $1.5 trillion US dollars. In addition to a considerable drop in greenhouse gas emissions, a plant-based food system would help us to limit air pollution levels, water pollution and would be a chance for our forests, species and biodiversity to thrive again. With animal agriculture responsible for up to 91% of Amazon destruction, its replacement with a plant-based food system would see deforestation in the Amazon and around the world fall dramatically.

Via Pexel Felix Mittermeier

A plant-based food system would see an end to the eating of animals and their products for food. We would no longer raise and kill the billions of land and aquatic animals we currently consume. Slaughterhouses would cease to exist. Billions of animals would be spared a life in factory farms and premature deaths. A plant-based food system would undoubtedly make the world a fairer, and more just place for animals. 

Extending this compassion to marine life and halting seafood consumption and fishing would give marine populations the time they desperately need to recover. Our oceans absorb far more C02 than the Amazon rainforest, with about 93% stored in their waters. Not only do oceans absorb almost all of the Earth’s excess heat, but they provide up to 85% of the world’s oxygen. Intense industrial fishing and pollution are jeopardising this natural balance so much so that we could potentially see the extinction of all sea life.  A plant-based food system would be an important step to helping our oceans to heal. 

Not only would life under a plant based food system be revolutionary for the health of our planet, but for our own health too! Plant-based diets are healthy and sustainable for people at all stages of life, as they provide all necessary nutrition and do not contain many of the disease-causing properties found in animal products. Under a plant-based food system, people all around the world would undoubtedly lead longer and happier lives, and would potentially be free from many of the major diseases and conditions millions suffer from today.

In addition, a plant based food system would help ensure that everyone on Earth has access to nutritious, healthy food. On a plant-based planet, world hunger would practically cease to exist. Rearing animals for food consumption requires 83% of our total farmland, but produces only 18% of our caloric intake. Under this incredibly inefficient system we have billions of farm animals who are well or even over-fed, whilst the majority of the world’s population goes hungry.  

Via Pexel Johannes Plenio

Converting the land we use for animal farming and animal crops to growing plant foods for the population would virtually put an end to world hunger. With almost half the world’s land freed up, we would have the chance to use it for other purposes and would have more than enough space to rewild large parts of the planet, allowing once industrialised terrain to become teaming with life. 

A world with a plant-based food system would undoubtedly be a better place for people, animals and the planet itself. We need to start the transition to a plant-based food system and we need to do it now! We’ve seen how much better a world it could be, why not join us in fighting for it? Find a role which suits you here and help us get one step closer to a plant-based world! 

The post How a just and sustainable plant-based food system could change the world first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 26, will be kicking off in a week´s time, where world leaders will meet to discuss how they plan to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, an ambitious target which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said will require drastic action.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. The eyes of the world will be watching with many desperate to see real commitment and a sense of urgency from those with the most power to stop the breakdown of our climate. At this COP, many are especially eager to see world leaders discuss each and every driver of climate change as, bizarrely, a leading cause of global warming has been painfully absent during numerous climate change conferences over the last decade.

Governments all over the world have failed to acknowledge Animal Agriculture as a major cause of global warming and have failed to propose a transition to a sustainable, plant-based food system despite there being urgent need. Without this transition we have no chance of meeting the Paris Agreement targets, or any sort of target at all. Indeed, even if the burning of fossil fuels ceased this instant, the environmental damage of the animal farming industry would be enough to raise temperatures well above 1.5 degrees and jeopardize human life. 

Aside from being one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases on Earth, the animal agriculture industry is a leading cause of air pollution, water pollution, deforestation, species extinction, habitat loss and ocean dead-zones. Raising animals for food already occupies at least a third of the Earth’s surface and uses up to a third of our freshwater supply, making it one of the most resource-draining industries in existence. The high amounts of animal flesh consumed in our societies are resulting in the destruction of our planet, with extreme levels of land and air pollution and the ocean expected to be void of life in less than three decades. 

Yet the industry continues to thrive, almost entirely unchallenged, with the demand for meat expected to double by 2040, and animal agriculture emissions projected to increase by 80% by 2050.  Not only is this going on unchallenged, but, in fact, is encouraged and paid for all over the world through government subsidies. Globally, the vast majority of agriculture subsidies go to animal farms and farmers growing animal feed. 

In the UK, around 90% of the annual profit of famers who graze land mammals comes from agriculture subsidies. It’s a similar story in the US, where, in 2020, $50 billion was used to subsidise and bail out farmers, almost all of whom were meat, dairy milk and animal feed production firms. The reality is that our tax money is being used to drive down the prices of environmentally destructive food, which are precisely the ones which should have the highest price tag of all. 

Governments must stop propping up failing, environmentally damaging industries and begin to help those rearing animals to convert to a healthy and sustainable type of farming. Governments must acknowledge the undeniable truth that we cannot continue to eat how we currently eat and begin the transition to a just and sustainable plant based food system. 

But will they? Many are skeptical. COP26 has failed to confirm whether they will discuss the need to reduce intensive animal farming or the discussion of animal agriculture as a whole. They also have failed to answer queries on whether a plant based menu will be offered to conference attendees.

In addition, with less than two weeks to the summit, a UK government report from the Behavioural Insights Unit outlining the importance of plant based eating in the fight against climate change was swiftly deleted. The report showed what aspects of public behaviour need changing in order to hit climate targets. We can see that Governments have the knowledge they need to fight climate change but are simply not doing anything with it, notably because, “asking people to directly eat less meat and dairy is a major political challenge”, as stated in the report. This would seem to be an example of politicians choosing to value their political careers and popularity more than the greater good, but what the world desperately needs is governments who tell the truth and act with urgency to change the systems that are causing so much harm.

However, we do have some reason to be hopeful. A group of UK MPs are calling for an end to animal agriculture and showing support for the Plant Based Treaty. This treaty aims to halt the destruction caused by animal agriculture and promote a global shift to sustainable plant-based eating. In addition to support from numerous politicians around the globe, the treaty has so far been endorsed by 396 Organizations and 201 Businesses. 

Ahead of the conference, a group of celebrity plant-based advocates, including Joaquin Phoenix, Billie Elish and Alan Cumming have sent an urgent letter to Right Honorable Alok Sharma, the conference’s president, demanding that animal agriculture be on the agenda.

Environmental groups around the world will be watching closely to see if politicians use the precious time they have left to negotiate change and begin a transition away from animal agriculture to limit global warming. As weather patterns become more extreme and life on Earth becomes more about surviving, there may be few of these opportunities left. Until then, Animal Rebellion will continue to highlight the overwhelming role of animal agriculture in the climate crisis and the urgent need to transition to a plant based food system.

Together, we can work to ensure that governments tell the truth, act now and listen to the people. Join us to help encourage a shift to a just and sustainable plant based food system. Learn more about how to volunteer and which role might suit you!

The post Why Animal Agriculture must be on the COP 26 agenda first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

Animal Rebellion is standing in solidarity with UK Farmers against the new Agricultural Bill 2020.

You’re right, this is shocking. Why are we standing with the very farmers who keep the animal agricultural system going?

The Agricultural Bill 2020 is a HUGE step backward for our food system and food security.

What is the Agricultural Bill 2020?

• The Bill is replacing European Union (EU) Farming regulations and is setting new, lower standards for the future of British farming.
• The Bill allows cheaper, lower quality imports into the UK from countries like the US: including hormone-injected beef, chlorinated chicken and eggs. The meat allowed to be imported into the UK is currently illegal according to UK and EU legislation.

How does the Agricultural Bill 2020 impact a just and sustainable food system?

• The Bill threatens environmental sustainability. Intensive farming causes the destruction of soil, deforestation, annihilation of wildlife and poisons drinking water. Farmers can not manage the costs of pollution prevention, and serious pollution incidents are now reported weekly in the UK. Between 2010 and 2016, there were 5,300 instances of agricultural pollution cases, of which 536 were serious. The UK government announced a “climate emergency” in April 2019, yet the Bill is practically asking farmers to race towards the worst environmental practices.
• The Bill jeopardises animal welfare. It is unjust. Whilst animal welfare standards are low, with several undercover cameras having filmed poor standards and abuse; the Bill is forcing further negligence of the animals. Already, 70% of farm animals in the UK are kept in overcrowded, windowless factory farm buildings or cages. You can see how many animals are presently reared indoors here.
• The Bill compromises human health. Chlorinated chicken, eggs and hormone-injected cows will be the new standard. The chlorine is used to “clean off bacteria and other contaminants”. This is the equivalent of putting a plaster over an injury. It hides the problem. The conditions in which these animals are farmed are treacherous and infected with fecal matter and life-threatening germs, such as campylobacter and salmonella. The next virus threatening to cause a pandemic is already here.
• The Bill weakens economic sustainability for UK farmers. More and more small to medium-scale farmers have been forced into the dominant hands of large-scale intensive farmers. The Bill exacerbates this issue. Flooding the market with cheap, low quality food jeopardises British Farmers economically — a great position for large-scale factory farmers to increase their dominance in the industry. Inevitably, smaller farmers will get pushed out. Did you know in 2019 there were an estimated 800 American-style mega-farms in the UK? A 26% increase since 2011.

Farmers Vs Animal Justice

The Bill is driving farmers into economic strains, pushing them to commit environmental and cruelty crimes, and further create an unjust food system. The Government is not helping them to reverse environmental damage or shift agriculture towards fruit, vegetable, and protein crop production.

Whilst farmers and animal justice communities have long had a rocky relationship, this is an opportunity to build relationships. Farmers play a key role in our transition towards a just and sustainable plant-based food system. We need to work with them to address the animal and climate crisis.

Therefore, Animal Rebellion stands in solidarity with UK Farmers against the Agricultural Bill 2020 and to build relationships to move towards a just, sustainable plant-based food system.

The post Why Is Animal Rebellion Standing with UK Farmers first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

If you’re looking for inspiration and yearning to keep active in our fight against animal agriculture, then Animal Rebellion introduces to you Hope Bohanec.

Hope Bohanec has been actively protecting animals and the environment for over 25 years. She started her journey with Earth First! and has taken part in all types of actions.

Hope is the Executive Director of Compassionate Living, based in California. Compassionate Living is a non-profit, plant-based advocacy organisation which has a huge focus on removing misinformation caused by labels on food. As consumers become more aware of what animal farms are really like, the industry has offered several “‘alternatives” such as sustainable, organic, and free-range. However, these labels do more to de-sensitise humans from the facts about their food than it does for the better treatment of Earth and the animals. Compassionate Living aims to “support ethical and eco-friendly living by highlighting the abundance of plant-based options that heal our bodies, our planet, and our relationship to animals”.

Consumers are continuously opting for labels such as “cage-free” or “free-range”. So, in 2013, Hope Bohanec published a book called “The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat” which explores the true costs of these products to the environment and animals. Hope deconstructs how labels misinform consumers and raises animal, global-health and food choice awareness.

For nearly a decade, Hope has been working with United Poultry Concerns, an organisation which focuses entirely on “chickens, turkeys, ducks and domestic fowl”. Hope organises projects such as the International Respect for Chickens Day and does outreach, demonstrations and fundraisers. United Poultry Concerns reveals how poultry is exploited; providing information on how the use of these birds in science, food production, entertainment and education deteriorates the relationship between humans, non-human animals and the environment.

On Friday 22nd May, 19:00–20:00 BST, Hope Bohanec is joining Animal Rebellion to share her knowledge in an interview and Q&A session on Facebook Live.

Don’t forget to book your tickets on Eventbrite in advance, to participate in the question and answering session on Zoom! If you can not tune in live, the talk will be available either on the Animal Rebellion Facebook page or YouTube channel.

Find your inspiration with Hope

Compassionate Living

United Poultry Concerns

Hope’s Podcast: Hope for the Animals

The post Hope Bohanec: An Inspiration for Compassionate Living first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

Have you ever wondered what a plant-based world looks like? Have your eyes gleamed at the possibility, but a little voice called Doubt savagely trespassed your dream?

You’re not alone. After knowing the undeniable benefits of a plant-based food system, it’s difficult to ignore. However, the scale of this mission is intimidating and can often leave you feeling worse off. That’s why we are so excited to bring to you Geraldine Starke from Refarm’d who is bringing us one step closer to a plant-based world.

Geraldine dreamt of making an animal sanctuary but struggled with the fact that sanctuaries rely heavily on donations to operate and are tough to scale up i.e. helping more and more animals out of their life as commodities, becomes difficult. After considering all the factors required to build, operate and maintain sanctuaries she realised that dairy farms met all of these needs right where they were operating from! She began creating her dream into a reality by developing an end-to-end method for dairy farmers to transition to plant-based milks and convert their farms into sanctuaries. She created Refarm’d.

Why is her work important?

In the UK alone, dairy farming produces over 40 million litres of milk per day and is the largest in the agricultural sector: accounting for 16.85%. Small-medium scale dairy farms have been struggling economically and are increasingly falling into the hands of a few, larger farmers. The intensification of dairy has several impacts: environmental, social (animal welfare and human health), economical. Our current system means that dairy system changes in the European Union have been focused consistently on productivity: increasing efficiency and revenue. This comes at a large cost:

Environmental

• Between 2005 and 2015 there was an increase of 18 per cent (256 million tonnes) of CO₂ eq.
• As countries become wealthier, populations adopt more dairy into their diet, increasing the demand for dairy overall — there are at least 270 million dairy cows being farmed globally. Dairy farming contributes to greenhouse gases, soil degradation and wildlife loss and polluting of waterways.

Animal Welfare

• Science shows that cows are social beings, need space to exercise and experience trauma. Focuses on productivity ignore these facts and health is measured as the absence of disease and infirmity. Increasingly, dairy cows suffer from more mental and physical illness
• Smaller farmers are often left with no choice but to hand over their farm or cows to larger farms where their inevitable fates will be little social interaction, less space and lack of autonomy over their own bodies.

Livelihoods and Human Health

• Current trading systems undermine small scale production; falling milk prices and a constant need to increase the output of milk are pushing small and medium-sized farms out of business having a knock on effect in the community.
• Dairy farming can contribute to poor human health “through acute and chronic soil, air and water pollution as well as by increasing exposure to zoonotic diseases, pathogens and exacerbating the risk of anti-microbial resistance”.

It is clear, with the current and projected dairy farming methods, human health, animal welfare, environmental and social impacts are going to worsen. What Refarm’d aim to achieve is important.

How is it possible for a single woman to change the minds of not one, but several dairy farmers across Europe?

When we spoke to Geraldine in January, she briefly touched upon how she builds her relationships with farmers and helps them to transition. However, in order that the relationship is productive and long-standing, she needs to take into consideration the needs of the farmers.

She said,

“for farmers, they are proud of what they do — they feed the country — it’s their identity and that’s something Refarm’d take into account. Refarm’d will not be a globalised product. The farmer will get to have their own unique product. The farmers can decide their own prices. They take pride in the changes they are making- making it as carbon neutral as possible: renewable energy, planting trees, taking care of the animals in the long term etc.”

On 8th May at 18:00 BST Animal Rebellion is holding a Facebook Live Q&A to find out more. Animal Rebellion will explore her story and her work with current farmers, why several farmers across Europe are turning to plant-based milk, the social, environmental and economical benefits of her work and what people can do to enact change.

To support Geraldine you can “spread the message, spread the project”. Itgives her more opportunities which allow her to speak to more people and farmers. You can help her with anything you are passionate about: “people help me with the legal side, making a documentary or on the social media side”. She also needs people to fill out the market research form on her website so she can collect data on consumer demand. The more support and attention Refarm’d get, the more she can demonstrate that there is support and demand for this transition.

Website: https://en.refarmd.com/

Instagram: refarmd_official

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/refarmd/

The post Refarm’d: One Step Closer to a Plant-Based World first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

Walk through any British supermarket today and you will encounter a vast array of milks. It’s not just green, red, or blue top anymore. Aisles are overflowing with alternatives and people are buying them (a quarter of UK customers). These plant-based options have spilled into cafes and restaurants too. You may find them at your work canteen, at school, at conferences or on trains. Wherever there is tea, there is milk, and wherever there is milk, there is an alternative. With the demand for plant-based milk growing, the UK cannot get left behind. We must choose the right milk to invest in.

Although plant milks have been around for thousands of years (horchata and almond milk), the dairy industry has long enjoyed domination of the global market through mass industrialisation, vast subsidies, and powerful marketing schemes. In Britain, dairy has been part of our lives for generations: it is in our recipes, our traditions, and our stories. Milk flows through so many of our memories. And no wonder; we have been lapping it up since childhood.

It can be difficult to challenge an industry when it dominates our culture, especially when the product has been a source of comfort and shared heritage. But these comforts have depended on the mass exploitation of billions of animals. And now that its environmental impacts are being exposed, the prevalence of dairy no longer feels so reassuring. We cannot afford to live in the past when the future is under threat. We need to imagine and create a better food system that can support everyone.

There are approximately 278 million dairy cows in the world and more than 6 billion people drink their milk. In 2017, 909 million tons of milk was taken from these cows (along with their calves) and distributed to humans. At what cost? And what is the alternative?

Water

Animal agriculture is responsible for one quarter of the global water footprint, of which 19% is related to the dairy industry.

It takes 1050 litres of water to produce one litre of cow’s milk.

The Alternative is Oat Milk:

It takes 48 litres of water to produce one litre of oat milk.

Land

One person drinking a daily glass of cow’s milk uses 7,000 square feet of land each year.

The increasing usage of fertilisers and manure disposal issues can pollute soil and water, damaging ecosystems.

The Alternative is Oat Milk:

One glass of oat milk requires 10 times less land than a glass of cow’s milk.

According to Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, “oats provide quick, weed-suppressing biomass, take up excess soil nutrients and can improve the productivity of legumes when planted in mixtures.”

Greenhouse Gases (GHG)

Animal agriculture is responsible for at least 14.5% of total anthropogenic GHG emissions. This is more than the direct emissions produced by the entire transport sector.

Farming cow’s milk accounts for 20% of the animal farming sector’s emissions. These include methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N20) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Nitrous oxide is 298 times more potent than CO2.

1 litre of dairy milk produces 3kg of GHG emissions. This is almost three times more than any plant-based milk.

The Alternative is Oat Milk:

1 litre of oat milk produces 0.9kg of GHG emissions.

Invest in the best

When we consider the environment, all plant milks come out better than dairy. But oat milk is the ultimate alternative once you take into consideration land use, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Grow what you know

Having farmed arable land for 44 years, Gordon Rennie notes that Scotland is perfectly placed to produce its own oat milk and enjoy huge earnings. He states: “The trend away from animal to plant-based foods is unstoppable and it is only going to gain more momentum. This is good news for Scotland’s arable farmers. We have a vast new market to satisfy.”

Gordon is not the only one to notice this opportunity. Oatly is planning to open a factory here and their oat milk has already made a big splash. The Swedish brand’s UK turnover was £18 million in 2018, an 89% growth from the previous year.

Oats are the UK’s third-largest cereal crop. No other country in the world has had higher search interest in oat milk than the UK in the past 12 months. Vegan oat milk sales increased by 70% to £36 million in 2018.

The Brits are waking up to alternatives, farmers are waking up to opportunities. Refarm’d is helping farmerstransition to plant-based milk productions and convert their farms into sanctuaries. But we all need support from government and big industries. If the UK is going to benefit from this growth, companies like Arla must divest from dairy and invest in oats. In the words of Gordon Rennie, “the future is good, the future will be plant-based. We as farmers have a fantastic chance to take part”. Come on Arla. Wake up and smell the oat milk!

OCCUPY ARLA

On Saturday 7th March 2020, Animal Rebellion marched to Arla to shut down Europe’s largest dairy distributor. Read more about our past action here: https://rebellion.earth/event/occupy-arla/

On Tuesday 31st August 2021, amidst the Rebellion, Animal Rebellion is blockading Arla to demand them to go plant-based by 2025 in response to the climate and and animal crisis. Add your voice to our demand that Arla transition to a just and sustainable plant-based food system.

Follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day.

Most importantly, join us. For all those who produce milk and all those who drink it. For the animals, for the environment, for everyone. Occupy Arla.

The post Wherever There Is Milk, There Is An Alternative. Arla Must Choose Plant-Based Milk. first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

How is it possible that while there is increasing scientific knowledge and public concern about the catastrophic impact of factory farming on the earth, animals, and human beings, DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is not reducing, as it should be, but is in fact increasing subsidies for factory farms?

A joint investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigation discovered that factory farm operators were granted approximately £70 million of public money between in 2016 and 2017. The types of operations that received subsidies include: “Feedlot-style beef units, rearing thousands of cattle in outdoor yards; so-called megadairies, with herds of up to 1,800 cows; Intensive egg producers using cage housing systems; poultry megafarms and pig units which keep thousands of animals permanently indoors” and “livestock units that have been found guilty of pollution and animal health breaches.” A 2017 report showed that intensive farming of pigs and poultry had grown by 26% since 2011, and another report indicated that in 2018 over 1400 permits for intensive poultry operations had been issued.

The number of these ethically indefensible and environmentally catastrophic megafarming operations continues to rise. According to Compassion in World Farming, as of today 70% of animals raised and killed for food in the UK are confined in factory farms. In addition to the horrific treatment of the billions of animals entangled in its vast infernal apparatus, factory farming is destroying the UK countryside and tearing apart the small rural communities that are forced to live alongside these giant houses of suffering. Among other impositions, the noxious stink of suffering and killing permeates the air and is often so pungent that residents remain holed up indoors.

In supporting the expansion of factory farms through subsidies, DEFRA has clearly lost touch with reality. The knowledge of the immeasurable suffering these massive industrial farming operations entail, and the terrible havoc they are wreaking on the fragile, burning earth and in the emptied and bleached out seas, has shaken our civilization’s once seemingly unshakable sense of entitlement to kill and consume animals and the earth’s resources at will. This growing consciousness has led to many people to adopt a plant-based diet, or to dramatically reduce their consumption of meat, fish, eggs, and dairy.

However, while changes in individual consumption patterns are important, they are not the solution. As many reports suggest, while veganism is on the rise in the UK and US, among other places, so is global meat consumption. In fact, in part due to DEFRA’s irresponsibility, individuals are left to carry the burden of (and indeed pay for!) a system that has profit, not their wellbeing or the wellbeing of the planet in mind. Single mothers and fathers, low-income families, students, and others are left scrambling to square the circle of their moral concern for other animals and the earth in a society that offers up cruelty on a plate at a much lower cost than kindness.

In the recently debated (October 2019) Agriculture Bill 2019–20, DEFRA outlined a commitment to “Replace the current subsidy system, which simply pays farmers based on the total amount of land farmed, and instead reward them for the work they do to enhance the environment and produce high quality food in a more sustainable way.” While this is an encouraging statement, it is unclear what concrete changes will be undertaken. The dramatic rise of factory farms in recent years also undermines the credibility of DEFRA’s purported goal. Is DEFRA speaking out of both sides of its mouth, or are we really to believe that it will truly offer farmers incentives invest in environmentally friendly farm infrastructure?

Whatever the case, the bill does nothing to address the grave injustice against animals raised and killed for food products, or the deleterious impact on small-scale farming and the harm to rural communities that factory farming entails. Even if factory farms are fitted with “green” technologies, they will still use up enormous amounts of very finite resources, they will still be a blight on the landscape, they will still destroy local ecosystems, and they will very likely still rely on soy and corn monocrops imported from other continents to feed the animals languishing in misery within their confines. Indeed, the violence against animals that is intrinsic to animal farming is set to intensify and worsen in kind and degree as biotechnology becomes the go-to solution to increase efficiency on one hand, and decrease the environmental impact of intensive animal production, on the other.

As indicated above, the average individual is caught between what they know is right, and what is affordable and available to them in the supermarket aisles. Driven by conscience to do the right thing — and eat local, organic, plant-based products — but with an understandable sense of powerlessness and/or a lack of economic means — the majority of the public finds itself adapting to and ultimately accepting a system — large-scale intensive animal agriculture — that it knows and feels is fundamentally unconscionable and unsustainable. Thus, individuals and the public as a whole find themselves living a lie: literally consuming the untruth that we can continue with business-as-usual. At best, as concessions to our ethical concerns, we are offered a few tweaks here and there to the system, mostly in the form of slick (and illusory) technological fixes to ecological and welfare issues, but the system itself remains firmly in place, destructive as it is.

System change is absolutely essential if we are to make a dent in the climate crisis. Civilizational change is up next — we must finally tackle human supremacism head on, if we are to avoid total and irreversible moral, social, and environmental breakdown. DEFRA can take steps in this direction by: redirecting farm subsidies to small, sustainable, plant-based agricultural food production operations (which, if supported, could provide a wide range of affordable plant-based products to the public); assisting intensive animal farmers with a transition to plant-based farming; incentivizing new farmers to set up plant-based farms from the get-go; and actively educating the public on the benefits of plant-based foods.

In one hundred years, does DEFRA want to look back with horror and shame at the great historical crime it committed against billions of sentient animals, local communities, local and global ecosystems, and the planet? Or does it want to reflect proudly on the fact that it made the right choice to genuinely commit to a plant-based agricultural revolution?

No one wants to see more bleak barrack-like structures housing tens of thousands of animals in perpetual agony — babies, most of them — popping up in their beautiful rural communities. The grey ugliness of these spaces inside and out reflects the cold profit-driven worldview from which they have sprung, and the mechanical, clockwork cruelty against innocent creatures being perpetuated within. Rolling green hills, lush forests full to the brim with wise old trees and countless insect, animal, and bird species, and bubbling brooks teeming with fish swimming in freedom and joy are existentially unfit for megafarms, as are the gentle beasts confined therein, and as is the human spirit itself.

The post Intensive Animal Farming Operations Are Rapidly Expanding around the UK and DEFRA’s Farm Subsidies Are Largely to Blame first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

*Updated 15 November 2021*

As part of Animal Rebellion’s response to DEFRA’s National Food Strategy, Animal Rebellion has made ten core suggestions. The first is to incentivise a just and sustainable plant-based business model. In their (invited) consultation with DEFRA, Animal Rebellion points out that vegans and vegetarians are expected to make up a quarter of the population by 2025. They note that in response to the increasing demand for ethical plant-based alternatives to meat, fish, dairy, and other animal products, plant-based businesses have been on the rise. The popularity of Beyond Meat products (such as the Beyond Burger, made from pea protein, coconut oil, potato starch, and beetroot juice) and other plant-based alternatives to animal products is a clear indication that the UK public is ready for a change. While a social shift towards more compassionate consumer choices is clearly underway, major transformation in this direction can only take place if DEFRA actively incentivises plant-based businesses on a mass scale. Effective government incentives to activate a systemic transition towards the production and sale of plant-based consumer goods could include VAT tax cuts, start up cash, and favourable loans.

Heather Mills’ vision to develop a “Plant-Based Valley” — or a production hub for plant-based alternatives to animal flesh and other animal products — in the north of England is an excellent example of the type of business the UK government should be investing in if it is truly committed to sustainability and combatting climate change. Since the late 1990s, Mills has been developing tasty alternatives to popular meat products such as doner kebabs. From a small operation in a tiny production facility in Corby, Northamptonshire, Mills went on to open VBites cafe in Hove, West Sussex, and is now aiming to open three large plant-food factories around Newcastle with a staff of 400. What is particularly attractive about Mills’ approach is that she aims to appeal directly meat-eaters, in addition to vegans. By demonstrating to the former that it is possible to enjoy the taste of a doner kebab without harming and killing animals to get the same result, Mills’ products can help facilitate the transition from exploitative animal-based agricultural production to compassionate plant-based agricultural production.

Government incentives will also enable businesses like Mills’ to provide high quality, ethically sourced plant-based products at an affordable price. One of the main barriers to the mainstreaming of plant-based products is their comparably high cost. Many people, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged, find the cost, of say organic oat milk versus cow milk — the production of which involves terrible physical and psychological suffering for mother cows and their calves — prohibitively high and therefore opt for the cheaper product, even if their conscience objects. People should not have to choose between their conscience and their pocketbook. Wholesome healthy food, which has been produced without violence to humans, animals, or the earth, should be and can be made readily available to the entire UK population. The only barrier is remaining tied to an outdated and ruinous food production system. Once that obsolete model is abandoned and replaced with a clean, green, animal-earth-human friendly model, plant-based foods will fill marketplaces and tummies across the nation, and we will be healthier, in spirit and body, for it.

Animal Rebellion’s second, and related, demand is to shift subsidies away from animal agriculture and towards protein crop cultivation. Between 2016–17, subsidies of £70 million were paid to resource intensive, pollution-heavy factory farms. If subsidies were redirected to plant-based agriculture, the terrible environmental impact of factory farming, not to mention the unspeakable injustice against animals that it entails, would be dramatically reduced and ultimately eliminated.

With increasing public awareness about the climate catastrophe and the major role animal agriculture is playing in it, and with growing public concern about the horrendous treatment of animals in the agricultural industry, the time is ripe for system change. We cannot go on needlessly killing sentient animals on a massive, unprecedented scale to satisfy our palates and fill our pockets. To do so would be, frankly, criminal on a world-historical scale. The UK government owes it to the future generations — those who stand to suffer most from the mistakes of the past — to commit in principle and practice to a more just, more ethical, and more sustainable future. One essential means of achieving this goal is to redirect funding from cruel and environmentally destructive animal-product enterprises to businesses for which the wellbeing of the earth, animals, and human beings are integral, not counter, to their success.

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The post Incentivising Plant-Based Businesses: A Necessary Step Towards a Just and Sustainable Future first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

A Plant-Based World Would be a Kinder, Less Violent World

A plant-based world would be a much kinder and much less violent world. It would be a just world, and it would be a re-enchanted world, a world where cows would be cherished for their beauty, dignity, and grace, not violated and butchered for their milk and flesh, where pigs would be adored for their sweetness, playfulness, and curiosity, not mutilated and knifed, where hens would be treasured for their gentleness, integrity, and devotion, not twisted, torn, and broken in tiny cages for their eggs, where goats would be venerated for their majesty, cleverness, and mischievousness, not beaten and abused for their bodily fluids and their flesh.

Instead of enslaving billions of cows, pigs, chickens and other animals for human consumption, in a plant-based world we would open our hearts to our animal kin, see them as individuals, and enable them to live happy, flourishing lives in sanctuaries and interspecies communities.

In these safe and loving spaces, where exploitation, violence, and cruelty would be non-existent, a mother cow would give birth and nurture her baby in peace, without risk of it being cruelly snatched from her and in turn enslaved as a veal calf or future dairy cow. She would never be artificially inseminated. Her body would be hers and hers alone. And her babies would be hers and hers alone, too. Like her mother cow companions, sows would suckle and raise their young, take long mud baths, get tummy rubs from their human friends, and glory in the simple joys of living. Hens would be held in human arms as loved ones are held, not strung up by their shattered legs to be knifed.

By transforming our proverbial swords into ploughshares, we would begin to heal the festering wound our relationship of domination over other animals has inflicted in our collective psyche. We are a species made spiritually sick by the excesses and inherent injustices of our social and economic system. We too are in need of healing.

Let us not just imagine or fantasize about this better world, let’s start creating it now. Let us start the human project again — differently, peaceably, with multispecies flourishing as our goal, not human dominance.

A Plant-Based World Would Be a Colourful, Joyful, and Beautiful World

What a great contribution Smithfield Market could make to the transition to a more loving and compassionate world if it transformed itself from the biggest meat market in Europe, to the biggest fruit and vegetable market in Europe! Think of how glorious the market stalls would be to behold — so many vibrant colours dazzling the eyes and delicious scents filling the nostrils! And how lovely it would be to chat with farmers about their beautiful offerings! How nice it would be for workers, too, to take pride in bringing sustainably cultivated plant-based foods to market, instead of having to deal with the sad fact of killing innocent creatures as an unfortunate part of their (former) trade. The atmosphere of such a vibrant garden of delights would be joyous!

Blood and mutilated body parts are unsightly, not by coincidence, but because violence is ugly, ethically and aesthetically, as vegetarian geographer and writer, Elisée Reclus pointed out in his pamphlet “On Vegetarianism” (1901):

We aspire to the time when we shall not have to walk swiftly to shorten that hideous minute of passing the haunts of butchery with their rivulets of blood and rows of sharp hooks, whereon carcasses are hung up by blood-stained men, armed with horrible knives. We want some day to live in a city where we shall no longer see butchers’ shops full of dead bodies side by side with drapers’ or jewellers’, and facing a druggist’s, or hard by a window filled with choice fruits, or with beautiful books, engravings or statuettes, and works of art. We want an environment pleasant to the eye and in harmony with beauty.

What a fantastic thing Smithfield would do for the humans, animals, and the earth if it renounced the trade in animal products and offered up beautiful abundances of fresh fruits and vegetables for Londoners to feast their eyes and stomachs on!

In fact, Animal Rebellion is helping to bring this fantasy to fruition, no pun intended, on Monday, October 7th, when it plans to set up a beautiful plant-based market mock up in and around Smithfield Market! Be sure to head over there to behold the cornucopia of plant-based delights!

A Plant-Based World Would Be a Healthier World

A plant-based world would be a healthier world. Think of how much healthier human beings would be — physically and spiritually — if we dined on locally grown, pesticide-free fruits, vegetables, legumes, and cereals — instead of on animal products, the consumption of which is linked to a variety of serious health issues. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM.org) argues that a plant-based diet can promote brain health, prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s, reduce arthritis pain, reduce the risk of developing cancer, prevent, manage or reverse type 2 diabetes, promote the development and maintenance of strong bones without the risks associated with dairy consumption, reduce blood pressure, and prevent, manage, or reverse heart disease, among many other things. For all the fears people have about getting enough protein without meat, it turns out that with a global shift to a plant-based food system, protein would be more evenly and efficiently distributed around the world as well.

A Plant-Based World Would Be a More Sustainable World

A plant-based world would be a world where the air was clear and fresh, where fish and other marine animals teemed in the sea, and where land animals flourished in lush habitats rich in biodiversity. Parts of the 80% of agricultural land currently used for animal agriculture could be intelligently rewilded, with nature allowed to take its course and replenish itself (with some gentle human guidance so as to ensure the wellbeing of the sites’ current and future residents), while other parts of the reclaimed farmland could be used to grow organic fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based products.

Rainforests such as the Amazon would no longer be burned down to create grazing land for cattle or soy to feed the cattle, but would be preserved and protected for the human and nonhuman beings who call the lush forests home. Greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced dramatically (by at least 14.5%, the percentage of emissions animal agriculture is responsible for — more than the emissions of all other forms of transportation combined), while the atmosphere would be freed of 32,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, while methane gas produced by cows would be reduced by 150 gallons per day.

Waterways would no longer be subject to pollution by animal waste and other toxins and run-off from factory farms, while the 34–76 trillion gallons of water used by the global animal agriculture industry could be conserved. Ocean dead zones would slowly come back to life, mass extinctions due to habitat destruction in the name of animal agriculture would slow down and eventually come to a halt, while some endangered species would come back from the brink. The balance between human, domesticated, and wild animals would be restored. Currently 86% of land animals are humans or farmed animals (and the vast majority of those animals are living in conditions of unfathomable degradation and suffering).

Now Is the Time to Bring this Better World into Being!

Given the enormous social, health, and environmental benefits of replacing animal agriculture with sustainable plant-based agriculture why would any government not consider it of most urgent importance to begin the transition now? As young climate activist Greta Thunberg stated clear in her recent impassioned speech to global leaders at the UN, the failure on the part of governments to deal with the climate crisis is not least a result of their misguided commitment to economic growth instead of human and nonhuman wellbeing. The cost of national and global economic prosperity, much of which is fuelled by agribusiness, is the impoverishment of the planet and its inhabitants.

The only way to survive the calamity we are facing is to take the power back from government through peaceful means, to rewrite the list of priorities, with the flourishing of the earth and all the creatures that dwell within it at the very top, and to implement without further delay a transition to plant-based agriculture. That is why Animal Rebellion is going to be bringing its vision of a plant-based world to the public, to Smithfield Market, and to DEFRA on October 7th. Stay tuned! The world is about to change for the better!

The post What Would a Plant-Based World Be Like? first appeared on Animal Rebellion.