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! 

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It’s a pretty obvious no, and yet this is almost exactly what is happening right now. But it’s not just one community that is being affected, it’s the whole world and the system that’s causing this destruction hasn’t had just one year to prove that it works. It’s had centuries. Meat and dairy have been the dominant part of a Western diet for a long time now, with increasing industrialisation following WW2 giving us the food system we are used to today. Right now, animal farming contributes at least 18% of global emissions, 70% of agricultural emissions and up to 80% of global deforestation. Even with all this, these industries fail to be profitable, with £1.5 billion of government subsidies coming straight out of taxpayers pockets and into those of livestock farmers. This industry was entrusted with the job of feeding the world. It’s failing. So why is there so much resistance to building something new?

A Deceptively Simple Solution

In recent years it has felt like there has been a shift, with campaigns for reducing the amount of meat and dairy we consume becoming more common. With reports like the 2019 EAT Lancet report which called for a 90% reduction in meat and dairy consumption as well as documentaries such as Cowspiracy and Seaspiracy, the recognition that what we eat impacts the planet has gained mainstream acceptance. A 2021 poll of 2,095 UK adults run by the ‘Eating Better Alliance’ found that 21% of respondents were eating less meat than a year ago, with 38% doing so because of carbon emissions and 37% because of other environmental concerns. In the face of a changing industry, however, we have seen a new story being told by the meat industry,  that we can keep our current food system and focus on eating less meat, but better quality.

For many people, this was the ideal answer. The idea that they didn’t have to drastically change our lifestyle or eating habits but could also have a neutral, or even positive effect on the planet while doing so. Yet, when you dig a little bit deeper into what the industries are telling us, some holes start to form.

Is Less But Better Enough?

Before we answer this question, it helps to look at a completely different industry and investigate how it dealt with rising information that was saying their product may be causing harm: the tobacco industry. In the book Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway show how the big businesses behind cigarettes developed a playbook for dodging the science that showed that the product they were selling was killing people. This formula has gone on to be used to talk about everything from global warming to pesticides and, more recently, animal agriculture. The basic tactic is, cast doubt on the science through paid ‘experts’ and false claims and spark controversy to derail the conversation from what the harm that is being caused.  

It can be hard to believe but by looking at the industries’ own messaging we can quickly find examples of where meat, dairy and fishing are already doing this. And they all tell one story: that we can fix the problems of the industry by eating less and ‘better’ animal products.

They bring up food miles and promote buying locally sourced meat and dairy whenever questions around the climate impact of animal products are raised. While the idea of buying local in and of itself is a positive one, the reality is that transport is an extremely small part of food emissions, making up less than 10% and as low as 0.5% of GHG emissions when it comes to animal products’ contribution to emissions. So essentially, even if all animal products consumed were locally sourced, they would still be contributing far higher emissions than plant-based products. 

They say that switching to grass-fed systems for cows and sheep will be better for the environment than intensive farming and even plant-based options. If we look into this though, we find that the opposite is the case. Research shows grass-fed systems produce more emissions than intensive farming, while also using more land! On top of that, it would take a rainforest three-quarters of the size of South America to sequester the carbon produced by livestock.

Let’s not forget that every year in the UK approximately 2.6 million cattle, 10 million pigs, 14.5 million sheep and lambs, 80 million fish and 950 million birds are slaughtered for human consumption. It’s pretty clear that a food system where no one has to die is a better one. 

They say that there is no other option and that this food system is the only one that works. But we know that isn’t true.

A Plant-Based Food System

With more and more evidence showing us that we need to change what we eat to help the planet heal, it seems obvious that we need a big change and that it’s a change that can’t just be achieved through individuals making small shifts to their diet. The whole system is set up in a way that harms the planet. Luckily though, we have an alternative which would take destruction off the menu.

A study from Oxford University that looked into the viability of a plant-based food system showed that if we were to convert all the land currently used to graze animals to natural vegetation it would remove the equivalent of 15% of the world’s total GHG emissions. Only a small fraction of pasture land would be needed to grow food crops to replace the lost beef. Another report showed that if we were to shift to a plant-based food system, food-related emissions would drop by 70% by 2050, saving £440 billion in the process.

But it wouldn’t just mean less carbon and more wild spaces. A plant-based food system is a system of abundant and affordable food as plant-based food is not only better for the planet, it also takes far less land to produce and is rich in variety, culture and flavour. Although this world may feel far away, it is already happening. Organisations such as the UK-based Refarm’d are working with farmers to transition from a struggling dairy industry into sustainable and profitable oat milk farming while the Good Food Institute is supporting transitions to pulse farming.

Conclusion – Meat and Dairy is Bankrupt

With a plant-based food system we can feed the world, provide much needed green jobs and build a world where humans and animals alike are treated with respect and dignity and have access to an abundance of food and choice. Urgent change is needed but we have an alternative that is just and fair for everyone. All we need to do is work together and achieve it.

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The meat, dairy and fish industries are under threat so are desperately lashing out and it isn’t pretty. There is nowhere for those with vested interests to hide, given the science is now so clearly stacked against them. So they are going on the offensive. All 10 largest meat and dairy companies in the USA “have contributed to efforts to undermine climate-related policies” (Lazarus et al., 2021).

In an interview published on Boxing Day in The Guardian, a Spanish government minister, Alberto Garzón, in charge of consumer affairs, explained that factory farming is damaging the environment and leading to the export of poor-quality meat. Mild stuff and clearly factually correct. 

The backlash has been furious, from the meat industry and politicians, forcing the government to distance itself from his comments.

Fortunately, Garzón has stood his ground. In a subsequent radio interview he said: “I’m not saying anything new. I’m just relaying what scientists say. Everyone knows that the factory farming of meat causes pollution … and emits greenhouse gases.”

In the UK this month, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has launched a £1.5 million campaign featuring an inquisitive little girl ‘Nancy’ along with her grandad. Being broadcast on Channel 4, ITV and Sky as well as on-demand services, the new TV advert focuses on the supposed goodness within red meat and dairy. Poor ‘Nancy’.

The AHDB describes itself as “a statutory levy board, funded by farmers, growers and others in the supply chain to help the industry succeed in a rapidly changing world”.

“Survive” might be a more appropriate word than “succeed”. The rapidly changing world is what scares corporations that for so long have trashed the environment, contributed massively to the climate crisis and put out disinformation, while making huge profits and raking in massive taxpayer-funded subsidies. 

That misinformation is nowhere better epitomised than in the Red Tractor consumer logo for pork and pork products. It is not hard to understand the problem when you know that the “standard” behind this logo is from the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA). Talk about marking your own homework.

For mass misinformation under one roof, you can’t beat the industry’s WeEatBalanced website, with its sheen of respectability and faux concern for health and the environment. 

In fact, the weaknesses of the arguments shine through. For instance, in a piece entitled “What would happen if the world converted to veganism” there is basically nothing that can be said to counter all of the benefits of a plant-based diet. 

Here’s the first of five pathetic straws that are clutched at: “Livestock produce much more than just food, from medicines and cosmetics to glue and waterproofing agents, they are in a huge number of products. Consideration hasn’t been taken on the impact of these production processes or the impact of animal-free replacements.” 

Is that the best you can do?!

If the world switched to a plant-based system, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% – an area equivalent to the US, China, European Union and Australia combined – and still feed the world (Poore & Nemecek, 2018). This was according to a study, published in the journal Science, based on a huge dataset from almost 40,000 farms in 119 countries and covering 40 food products that represent 90% of all that is eaten. It assessed the full impact of these foods, from farm to fork, on land use, climate change emissions, freshwater use and water pollution (eutrophication) and air pollution (acidification). Oddly, this and the many other benefits, don’t feature on the website. 

The global meat industry leaves a trail of destruction all over the world, including climate change, deforestation, forest fires, human rights abuses, land grabs from indigenous people and traditional communities, increased risk of future pandemics like coronavirus, and damaging health.

Joseph Poore, at the University of Oxford, UK, who led the research, said: “A fully plant-based food system “is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use. It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car.” 

There are echoes within the industry fight-back of other sectors that have ended up on the wrong side of history – tobacco and fossil fuels. If the food industry bodies wanted to be useful, they would put all of their efforts into bringing about a fair transition that protects independent farmers and supports the urgent shift to plant-based models. 

Instead, they shout, rant, misinform, and spend millions on lobbying, websites and advertising, as the sun starts to set on them. As Mr Garzón found recently, those that speak out will be attacked but these are the wayward, flailing punches of industries that are down and on their way out. 

What you can do:

Join Animal Rebellion and help us call out the hypocrisy and lies as we have done time and time again in our actions against the likes of McDonald’s, Arla, Red Tractor and others. 

Make a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (in the UK, this is at https://www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html)

References:

Lazarus, O., McDermid, S. & Jacquet, J. The climate responsibilities of industrial meat and dairy producers. Climatic Change 165, 30 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03047-7

Nemecek. T and Poore. J, “Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers,” Science 360, issue 6392 (June 2018): 987-992. 

The post Industrial farming: Fighting for its survival first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

Activists, experts and a renowned human rights lawyer are in court today in London seeking an end to factory farming in the UK. Animal Rebellion stands with them and congratulates them on their unprecedented and urgent action.  

Today, Animal Rebellion is standing alongside Scrap Factory Farming as an unprecedented case against the UK government is heard at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. We are outside the court to show our support for this world’s first ever legal action to end factory farming.

The case has been brought by the Humane Being and is fronted by Dr Alice Brough and Humane Being co-founder, Jane Tredgett, represented by renowned human rights lawyer, Michael Mansfield QC. Their case includes over 1200 pages of content detailing the risks and dangers of factory farming. Dr Brough was a vet on UK pig farms. After seeing the unhygienic and stressful conditions for the animals and the appalling environmental damage done on-site, she quit to campaign for animal justice.

The case focuses on the threat to public health from factory farming, including antibiotic resistance and the significant risk of increasingly deadly zoonotic diseases such as bird or swine flu. 

Animal Rebellion recognises that dismantling factory farming is a key part of our demand for a fair and sustainable transition to a plant-based food system. We cannot address the climate crisis and achieve animal and climate justice without it. This is why we stand in solidarity.

Animal Rebellion spokesperson, Dan Kidby, says: 

“Removing the incredibly inhumane system of factory farming, that destroys the health of the planet and people, is an essential part of the move to a plant-based food system. We congratulate and support all of the volunteers and experts that have worked so hard to bring this urgent and unprecedented court case. Scrapping factory farming and ensuring a rapid, sustainable and just transition to a plant-based system has to happen if we are to reverse climate crisis.”

The Climate Impacts

The impact of animal farming on the planet is well understood.

At its most fundamental, we know that meat, fish and dairy industries, and the resources needed to support them, contribute 18-23% of all greenhouse gasses and are responsible for around 70% of all global agricultural emissions.

Scientists are clear: we don’t need these systems to feed the world. Meat, fish, eggs and dairy industries use around 83% of global farmland, but provide only 37% of our protein and 18% of our calories. Better use of this land could remove 8.1 billion metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per year.

Methane gas is one of the largest contributors to global warming and can trap up to 100 times more heat in the atmosphere than CO2 over a five-year period. Most methane comes from cows that are fed low-quality grains that their bodies cannot digest, causing high levels of indigestion and flatulence. 

Water pollution

The current system is so bad on so many fronts, including the health ones highlighted by this week’s action. 

The meat and dairy industries also drain the world’s water supplies. From watering the crops that farmed animals eat to providing them with drinking water, and cleaning away the filth from farms, lorries, and slaughterhouses, the meat, egg, and dairy industries put a serious strain on the world’s water supply.

It is a double whammy in that the sector also pollutes the world’s waterways and seas. For instance, a study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, highlighted a new class of agricultural pollutants in the form of veterinary medicines (antibiotics, vaccines and growth promoters), which move from farms through water to ecosystems and drinking-water sources. 

And only last week, alongside the decimation of fish populations and destruction of their habitats, the polluting effects of the fishing industry were exposed. Scottish fishermen were so incensed by what they see in the seas off Scotland that they went to a longstanding critic of their industry, Guardian journalist, George Monbiot. They exposed the deliberate and widescale disposing of nets and longlines at sea. This “ghost gear” drifting through the oceans presents a mortal threat to whales, dolphins, turtles and much of the rest of the life of the sea.  

Taking action

Monbiot concludes that, like the fictional US president in the recent movie, Don’t Look Up, here is yet another instance of the world’s governments, faced with ecological collapse, deciding to “sit tight and assess”.

The current failure of authorities to tackle the myriad issues from meat, dairy and fishing is why brave protestors have to step up, why court cases need to be brought, and why whistle-blowers need to be heard. 

The targets for curbing carbon emissions won’t be close to being met without a transition to a fair and sustainable plant-based system and, in parallel, so many other benefits would accrue. Our health would be better, the air would be cleaner, the planet’s water would be conserved and cleaner, and billions of creatures would avoid indescribable suffering. 

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Animal Rebellion is all about joining the dots between the climate emergency and the urgent need to transition to a plant-based future. We can’t have the first without the second. For many of us, this is obvious – the evidence is clear. However, why do so many organisations and people still fail to make the connection?

As well as being part of Animal Rebellion’s media team, I am a Green Party councillor on the Green/Alliance-led Hythe Town Council in Kent. We declared a climate and ecological emergency and then brought a motion to become a plant-based council. It was an obvious, logical next step. 

Many other councils, educational institutions, churches and other organisations have declared climate emergencies and set net zero carbon targets. But only a relatively small number (Oxfordshire County Council being a recent fine exception) have followed this by becoming plant-based.

Was there a better example of the disconnect than serving meat, fish and dairy at the COP26 Summit in Glasgow in November? While delegates from across the world discussed ways to meet carbon targets, a key part of the answer was staring up at them from their plates.

We read shocking facts: humans now account for about 36% of the biomass of all mammals; farmed animals, mostly cows and pigs, account for 60%; wild mammals for only 4%. The biomass of poultry is around three times larger than that of wild birds. Marine mammal biomass has decreased fivefold due to commercial whaling and other exploitative hunting practices.

Knowing this, how is it possible to just carry on regardless?

Story-telling is an important part of joining those dots. I had the honour last year of interviewing film-maker and self-declared “vegangelist”, Thomas Wade Jackson. His film, A Prayer for Compassion, poses one vital question: Why do so many religious and spiritual people not make the connection between their beliefs and a non-violent diet? He travels the US and beyond, asking this question to people of multiple faiths. 

Thomas told me: “They talk about we’re all connected, the passion and all this, but then when I saw they were still eating animals, it didn’t make sense to me.” Compassion for the planet and for people did not extend to other living creatures. We have been conditioned from birth, bombarded with messages, telling us what’s right and wrong, what’s desirable, what we should think, how we should behave; it is difficult to find our true voice, to see through the biases of our society. 

Story-telling is what A Prayer for Compassion does so powerfully, as have other films such as The Age of Stupid, Cowspiracy and Seaspiracy. It is what Animal Rebellion does with all of its actions, using a clear narrative, colour, music and images.   

Pressure has to be applied, there are too many entities with a vested interest in the status quo. As Mahatma Gandhi observed, Western civilization never looks for a cure for the problems, it looks for ways to make money out of the symptoms. 

On the up-side, more and more people are making the connection. The number of those acting for a plant-based system across the globe is increasing steeply. Veganuary is now a major movement. More generally, there is a growing understanding of the devastating impact of meat, fish and dairy.

Commercial companies have responded, with ever more plant-based product launches, although for the large incumbents this is typically alongside, not instead of, non-plant-based. 

There can be no sitting on the fence if we are to save the planet. It is why Animal Rebellion is calling for McDonald’s and its peers to become wholly plant-based by 2025. It is why we state you can’t have a climate-friendly dairy industry – it is a complete contradiction. 

Animal Rebellion and many others work tirelessly and bravely to join the dots. We can’t do otherwise – our whole future depends on it. 

Join us in 2022. Whatever your skills and time, there are always ways you can help! Fill out our interest form below or make contact via any social media. 

A Prayer for Compassion is available on streaming channels and is also available for community screenings, with potential grants available from plant-based funding organisation, VegFund – https://vegfund.org/

The post Joining the dots between the climate crisis and a plant-based food-system first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

This is the system that drives Amazon deforestation¹, contributes a staggering amount of greenhouse gas emissions², leaves 805 million of the world’s most vulnerable people hungry³, whilst simultaneously slaughtering trillions of animals needlessly each year⁴.

The oldest university in the English-speaking world, Oxford, has published several papers exploring and explaining the environmental benefits of transitioning to plant-based foods⁵. Besides this, dozens of British universities have declared a climate emergency, evidently these institutions are recognising the need for drastic change⁶. This gives them the responsibility to act on the emergency that they recognise.

Therefore it should come as no surprise that students from several universities including KCL, UCL, and Warwick are now pushing for change. With the demand for their university transition to serving a 100% plant-based menu throughout their cafes and restaurants by the start of the 2023/24 academic year.

Students are listening to the science that, very often, their own universities publish. They are holding their institutions accountable to their sustainability promises and commitments. By transitioning to just and sustainable plant-based food systems, universities will be securing a future, not only for their students, but for the rest of humanity, animals, and the planet.

Universities are already showing the transition is possible! KCL now has a fully plant-based Cafe whilst UCL’s daily hot food is at least 25% plant-based too⁷. The time has now come  to expand this to include the entirety of university’s menus. The answer is staring these powerful institutions in the face! By transitioning to 100% plant-based catering, universities will be helping break down an archaic and damaging food system and simultaneously be investing in one that is just and sustainable.

Plant-based universities are an unavoidable step on the road to human, animal, and climate justice. This is a fact that is evident to the ever-growing group of students pushing for the transition. Animal Rebellion is only too happy to empower and support groups of students on this mission.

If you’re a student and are excited or driven to make this change at your university, please contact us using the details, or fill out this form now!

1. De Sy. V, et al,”Land use patterns and related carbon losses following deforestation in South America,” Environmental Research Letters, vol. 10, no. 12 (2015.)
2. Jia. G, Shevliakova. E et al, “Chapter 2: Land-Climate Interactions” in UN Special Report: Climate Change and Land (2019.) https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/
3.  Cassidy. E.S, Foley. J. A, Gerber. J.S and West. P.C, “Redefining agricultural yields: from tonnes to people nourished per hectare,” Environmental Research Letters, vol. 8, no. 3 (2013.)
4. Zampa. M, “How Many Animals Are Killed For Food Every Day” (2018,) https://sentientmedia.org/how-many-animals-are-killed-for-food-every-day/
5.  Clark. M.A, Hill. J, Springmann. M, Tilman. D, “Multiple health and environmental impacts of foods,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116, no. 46 (2019.)
6.  Latter.  Briony, “Climate Emergency Declarations: What Do They Tell Us About Universities’ Response To Climate Change?,” https://pcancities.org.uk/climate-emergency-declarations-what-do-they-tell-us-about-universities-response-climate-change
7.  https://www.peta.org.uk/living/vegan-universities-uk/

The post Introducing Plant-Based Universities 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.

ANIMAL REBELLION CAMPAIGNERS SCALE DEFRA IN CLIMATE CHANGE PROTEST AHEAD OF COP26

• Animal Rebellion protestors have scaled the face of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) building amid calls for a plant-based future
• The climate and animal movement are demanding the UK government ‘defund meat’ by investing in plant-based alternatives instead, to mitigate climate change and reduce animal suffering
• They say the action is a clear message to world leaders attending COP26 later this month, urging them to step up if they hope to make real change 
• Link to photos

Animal Rebellion campaigners have scaled the front of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) building to demand an end to government subsidies for meat and dairy in a protest against climate change.

The protesters climbed the building in the early hours of this morning, unveiling a banner that reads “COP26: Invest in a Plant-Based Future”. Animal Rebellion says they intend to remain on the building, suspended in hammocks, until UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledges to cut all taxpayer support for animal agriculture and promises to urge all world leaders to do the same when they attend the COP26 summit later this week. 

Animal Rebellion spokesperson Nathan McGovern said: “The UK Government is simultaneously saying that it is a world leader in climate change whilst propping up the unsustainable and unprofitable meat and dairy industry, one that emits disproportionate amounts of greenhouse gases. This hypocrisy has to end – we need to defund meat and subsidise plant-based alternatives instead.”

The UK government spends at least £1.5 billion a year subsidising livestock farming, ten times the UK’s annual budget for planting trees (see Notes to Editors for calculations). Meanwhile, despite a global explosion in demand for planet-friendly alternative proteins, the UK has only committed £90m in research and development to this sector. 

As part of the campaign, Animal Rebellion is demanding the government subsidise plant-based foods instead, as recommended by the National Food Strategy, as a “positive action to protect the planet for future generations and end the unnecessary suffering of billions of animals every year.” 

The National Food Strategy, who conducted the first independent review of the UK food system in 75 years, advised the government to invest £1 billion into food system innovation, with £125 million set aside for innovation into alternative proteins to replace meat, dairy and eggs. 

The government-commissioned report tackles the nation’s meat consumption, stating: “Our current appetite for meat is unsustainable. Plant-based proteins produce 70 times less greenhouse gas emissions than an equivalent amount of beef, and use 150 times less land.”

The report also mentions the economic benefits of the alternative protein industry, claiming that up to 10,000 new jobs could be created in the UK by investing in this growing sector. It adds that, if we don’t act soon, we could lose out on “new green jobs” and become net importers of these products.

Finally, it addresses the myth that free-range, grass-fed and regenerative livestock is greener, stating: “The more intensively you rear some animals, the more carbon-efficient they tend to be.”

In the UK, livestock grazers are largely dependent on public subsidies with around 90% of their profits coming from taxpayers pockets. Experts believe that 85% of the UK’s total land footprint is associated with meat and dairy production. 

Notes to editors:

– The UK spends £3bn a year on farming subsidies of which at least half £1.5bn is spent on livestock. According to Greenpeace around half of European farming subsidies across Europe go to livestock farming. With 85% of the UK’s land footprint associated with meat and dairy the figure is actually likely to be much higher in the UK, but no precise figures exist.  

– The UK’s Net Zero Strategy published last week pledges £750m to be spent on the Nature for Climate Fund by 2025: this was first announced in the March 2020 budget. Across the five years 2020-25 that’s £150m per year on tree planting or roughly 1/10th of the annual budget for subsidising animal agriculture. 

To find out more about Animal Rebellion and start taking action for our planet, click here.

Email: pressoffice@animalrebellion.org

Animal Rebellion Web Page | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter 

Contacts:

• Nathan (on ground)
• Hazel (back office)
• Joel (back office)

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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.

1. What is the problem?

• Animal agriculture and fishing industries are major contributors to environmental problems.

Scientific evidence show that the animal farming and fishing contribute massively to the climatic and ecological emergencies (1, 2). Animal agriculture emits 18% of the world’s greenhouse gas (3). It also causes deforestation, since the Amazon rainforest is cut down for soy crops that will feed Western’s cows (1, 4, 5). Fishing has depleted numerous aquatic animal populations, with unprecedented decrease in the number of fish (6). Animal agriculture and fishing industries are major causes of ocean acidification, which disrupts corals and other aquatic animals (1). They also have a dramatic impact on water quality, with pesticides and tons of feces infiltrating into water supplies as well as the ocean and threatening the health of the organisms that depend on those ecosystems (1,7,8).

In a nutshell, the current food system is unfit and unsustainable (9).

• We can address the environmental emergency to give children a more hopeful future.

Children grow up in a climate crisis and many develop eco-anxiety (10). Being too young to take all possible actions, primary school pupils can feel powerless in the face of the emergency. Depression can grow quickly in this situation. Since animal proteins impact astonishingly the environment, children can feel the dissonance between the discourse at school to take individual steps to reduce our carbon footprint, and the animal products served daily at the canteen.

2. The solution is under our eyes

• Plant-based food systems are better for the environment

Systematic scientific reviews of the impact of dietary change suggest that a plant-based diet is the most sustainable nutrition to mitigate the ecological disaster (9, 11, 12, 13). Switching to a fully plant-based food system would reduce food’s land use by 76%, food’s greenhouse gas emissions, acidification and eutrophication by 49%, using 2010 as a reference year (4).

We now have scientific evidence that well-planned plant-based diets are nutritionally adequate (14, 15, 16, 17). We can grow well and get all essential nutrients from plants, except vitamin B12, which is easily supplemented (14, 16, 17); vitamin B12 is easily found in fortified food such as breakfast cereals, nutritional yeast and non-dairy milk.

It’s not a hard nut to crack that now is the time to switch to healthy and sustainable plant-based food systems (18).

• Plant-based school meals is the next step

Plant-based school meals are a low hanging fruit, ideal and needed to tackle climate change.

In England, an analysis of over 6000 meals in schools showed that over half the carbon emission and 38% of the water footprint are due to meat and fish (19). An analysis of school meals found that plant-based meals not only had the lowest environmental impact but also the highest energy value and best nutritional value (20). Serving low carbon plant-based meals has the potential to reduce the environmental footprint of the canteen by 46-60% (20). All plant-based milk are more environmentally friendly than cow milk (4). Besides, children with lactose allergies or intolerances will no longer be left with a different meal.

A transition to plant-based school meals will bear fruits for our environment. Taking collective action by providing pupils with plant-based food will show consistent commitment to help solve the climate emergency, making it easier for young people to adopt climate friendly practices from a young age.

3. We are already moving forward

Some are already adapting and moving forward with sustainable diets. In 2017, German environment minister paved the way to sustainable vegetarian meals within her organisation (21). Following the recognition that meat and fish are not necessary at any stages of life (14, 15, 16), some nurseries in the UK are also choosing to offer vegan or vegetarian meals (22). Meat-free mondays are very popular.

After declaring a climate emergency, Enfield council has stopped serving meat at its council events and Lewisham council has voted to provide exclusively plant-based options at theirs. Leeds City Council has decided to introduce more meat-free meal options in their 182 primary schools. In France, Lyon will serve all meals meat-free to its 29,000 children (23).

Growing legumes in the UK can provide nutritious and local plant-based proteins. Dishes from around the world use beans and peas can inspire the cooks. A couscous or a falafel with hummus are for instance easy and tasty additions to the school menu. We are lucky that in the recent years plant-based protein meals have increased in quality and diversity. Ever dreamed of nuggets made of sustainable pea protein that taste even better than the original meat ones? Yes, this is where we are. It’s a piece of cake, but it needs all of us.

With your help, we can achieve huge goals for animals, people, and the planet. Find out how you can be part of this incredible journey by learning more about the campaign here and there. Sign up here to find out how you can get involved and get support. You can also register your interest to get updates on the campaign.

References:

1. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2014). Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Edenhofer, O., R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, E. Farahani, S. Kadner, K. Seyboth, A. Adler, I. Baum, S. Brunner, P. Eickemeier, B. Kriemann, J. Savolainen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow, T. Zwickel and J.C. Minx (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. 

2. Myers, R. A., & Worm, B. (2003). Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities. Nature, 423(6937), 280.

3. Steinfeld, H., Gerber, P., Wassenaar, T. D., Castel, V., Rosales, M., Rosales, M., & de Haan, C. (2006). Livestock’s long shadow: environmental issues and options. Food & Agriculture Organisation.

4. Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), 987-992.

5. Margulis, Sergio. (2004). Causes of Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon. World Bank Working Paper;No. 22. Washington, DC: World Bank.

6. Hutchings, J. A., & Reynolds, J. D. (2004). Marine fish population collapses: consequences for recovery and extinction risk. BioScience, 54(4), 297-309. 

7. Vizzini, S., Martínez-Crego, B., Andolina, C., Massa-Gallucci, A., Connell, S. D., & Gambi, M. C. (2017). Ocean acidification as a driver of community simplification via the collapse of higher-order and rise of lower-order consumers. Scientific reports, 7(1), 1-10.

8. Cattano, C., Claudet, J., Domenici, P., & Milazzo, M. (2018). Living in a high CO2 world: a global meta‐analysis shows multiple trait‐mediated fish responses to ocean acidification. Ecological Monographs, 88(3), 320-335.

9. EAT-Lancet Commission (2019). Healthy Diets From Sustainable Food Systems summary report. 

10. Wu, J., Snell, G., & Samji, H. (2020). Climate anxiety in young people: a call to action. The Lancet Planetary Health, 4(10), e435-e436.

11. Hallström, E., Carlsson-Kanyama, A. & Börjesson, P. (2015). Environmental impact of dietary change: a systematic review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 91, 1-11. 

12. Springmann, Marco (2016). Going veggie would cut global food emissions by two thirds and save millions of lives – new study. The Conversation. Website browsed 19/01/21 https://theconversation.com/going-veggie-would-cut-global-food-emissions-by-two-thirds-and-save-millions-of-lives-new-study-56655 

13. J. Rogelj, D. Shindell, K. Jiang, S. Fifita, P. Forster, V. Ginzburg, C. Handa, H. Kheshgi, S. Kobayashi, E. Kriegler, L. Mundaca,R. Séférian, M. V. Vilariño, 2018, Mitigation pathways compatible with 1.5°C in the context of sustainable development. In: Global warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [V. Masson-Delmotte, P. Zhai, H. O. Pörtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P. R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J. B. R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M. I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, T. Waterfield (eds.)].

14. American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada. (2003). Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada: Vegetarian diets. American Dietetic Association reports. 

15. 2020 Diets for a Better Future – Rebooting and Reimagining Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems in the G20

16. Melina, V., Craig, W., & Levin, S. (2016). Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: vegetarian diets. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 116(12), 1970-1980.

17. Kenneally, S., Bristor, D., Newman, G., Desmond, A., Shah, M., Vano, L., Martinez-Biarge, M., Russell, L., Lewandowska, M., Kassam, S. (2020). The evidence supporting a plant-based diet for optimal health and prevention of chronic disease. Plant-Based Health Professionals UK.

18. Blake, L. (2014). People, Plate and Planet : The impact of dietary choices on health, greenhouse gas emissions and land use. Centre for Alternative Technology. Part of Zero Carbon Britain.

19. De Laurentiis, V., Hunt, D. V., & Rogers, C. D. (2017). Contribution of school meals to climate change and water use in England. Energy Procedia, 123, 204-211.

20. Batlle-Bayer, L., Bala, A., Aldaco, R., Vidal-Monés, B., Colomé, R., & Fullana-i-Palmer, P. (2021). An explorative assessment of environmental and nutritional benefits of introducing low-carbon meals to Barcelona schools. Science of The Total Environment, 756, 143879.

21. Mosbergen, Dominique (2017). German environment minister bans meat at official functions. The Huffington Post. Website browsed 30/01/21 https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/germany-meat-ban-environment-ministry_us_58ae1b24e4b01406012f962b?ec_carp=5200738518123961463 

22. Spanswick, Ellie (2017). Children enjoy meat free meals as more nurseries go vegetarian. Daynurseries. Website browsed 30/01/21 https://www.daynurseries.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1580875/children-eat-meat-free-as-the-number-of-vegetarian-nurseries-grows 

23. Delpont, Léa (2021). La mairie de lyon généralise le menu sans viande dans les cantines. Les échos. Viewed 21/02/21. https://www.lesechos.fr/pme-regions/auvergne-rhone-alpes/la-mairie-de-lyon-generalise-le-menu-sans-viande-dans-les-cantines-1291990

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