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.

So how have the stakeholders in our current, archaic, and destructive food system reacted? Supermarkets, restaurant chains, and producers alike have come up with a desperate lie: less but better. Telling us, the public, “less but better” ignores the simple fact that no meat, dairy, or fish is sustainable. Case in point: even the supposedly least sustainable plant-based milk is still more sustainable than the supposedly most sustainable dairy one!

The need to go beyond the less but better agenda is glaring. So why is it that less but better exists? Simply put, it is the death throe of a losing industry. It echoes the sheer fantasy of the tobacco industry in decline that “falsely marketed and promoted low-tar and light cigarettes as less harmful” than regular cigarettes to keep people smoking and sustain revenues”. The industries driving deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate breakdown are using the same tactics to maximise profits at the expense of people, animals, and the planet.

The parallels are undeniable. Meat, fish, and dairy industries are clamouring to deceive the public and not do what is necessary to safeguard the future. How can less but better work when every observable plant-based alternative is more sustainable than one coming from meat, fish, and dairy industries? 

The greenwashing of the meat industry is an emerging scandal, with a DeSmog investigation shedding light on the sustainability sham. They’re not alone in highlighting the underhand practices rampant throughout meat production, that harm workers, animals, and the planet. Underreporting emissions, making false promises, and manipulating sustainability labelling are just a few tactics used to give the illusion of sustainability. 

Why would these industries be working so hard to cover up their practices if they were actually sustainable?

Plant-based options are less land intensive, more productive, and infinitely repeatable. Adopting them will allow us to nourish the world’s population for generations to come, rewild land, end the suffering of billions of farmed animals, and allow for adequate carbon capture! None of this is possible with any food-system reliant on meat, fishing, and dairy.The stories that the likes of McDonald’s want to tell us about “Sustainable Agriculture & Beef“ are laughable in the face of swathes of evidence to the contrary. The only way to achieve sustainability is through a just transition to a plant-based food system. Our planet is on the brink of collapse, and already millions of people are experiencing the deadly impacts of climate breakdown.

Now is not the time for governments and corporations to lie to the world; now is the time for real change, real action, and a just and sustainable plant-based food system.

How?

• Volunteer with us!
• Demand McDonald’s and Arla go plant-based by 2025. 
• If you’re a student and want to make the change with the Plant Based Universities campaign at your university, please contact us using the details, or fill out this form now!

The post Why 100% Just and Sustainably Plant-Based? first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

January – Saving the world one council at a time

We kicked off the year with our schools and councils campaign, demanding that they do their part to encourage plant-based eating. A total of 74% of councils have declared a climate emergency, yet few are taking steps to reduce food-related emissions. How did we get on? Well, an incredible 10% of UK councils got on board and saw the need to help reduce animal product consumption in their local area. Thanks to the actions taken by Hackney Council alone, an estimated 92,000 animal lives will be saved each year, not to mention 490 tonnes of CO2! 

April – Challenging the school menu

We demanded that the Department of Education introduce plant-based foods in school canteens, an initiative which will aid them to do their part in helping meet climate targets while encouraging young people to establish healthier eating patterns and save money! Several councils from Brighton to Somerset worked with ProVeg to promote more plant-based meals in schools.

May – McDonalds brought to a halt

That’s right, we blockaded all four McDonald’s UK distribution centres, which supply approximately 1300 restaurants! We called for, and continue to call for, McDonald’s, one of the biggest symbols of the animal agriculture industry, to offer a fully plant-based menu by 2025. 

Why? McDonald’s is an enormous contributor to climate change by selling such environmentally destructive foods at ridiculously low prices, and is also known for its poor track-record on animal cruelty and workers rights. We say no! Over 100 protestors blockaded the site for 24 hours, fighting for human, animal and climate justice. 

June – G7 Presence in Cornwall

We made sure our voices were heard at the G7 Summit taking place in Cornwall. Around 50 people peacefully occupied both indoor and outdoor seating at the McDonald’s in Falmouth. 

July –  Big Mac crisis 

Animal Rebellion blockaded McDonald’s only UK burger factory and halted production for over 24 hours! Tents and gazebos were set up as a camp and our brave activists secured themselves to bamboo structures outside the building and occupied the roof, setting an unofficial world record of 62 hours up a beacon! We were met with support from former employees of OSI Foods, who described horrendous working conditions and from the locals who rallied to show support and provided food and essentials.

August –  All night occupation

Sick of us yet Mcdonald’s? In August 50 protestors spent the night at the Leicester Square branch of McDonald’s as we repeated our demand for a transition to a plant-based menu! From 6pm onwards we occupied the restaurant and aimed to start conversations with customers about the destruction caused by McDonald’s and the impact of the fast-food industry.

Buckingham Palace Protest 

That’s right! We dyed the iconic Buckingham Palace fountains blood red in a protest against use of crown land for hunting and animal agriculture.

We demanded that the Queen put an end to the use of crown land for industries which are contributing to the climate and ecological emergency and the death of animals. It’s time for a new system based on justice and compassion and the royal family should be leading the way. 

National Animal Rights March

We were joined by numerous animal rights groups and activists to stand up for animals loud and clear. We marched from Smithfield Market, stopping at Unilever, Cargill and MSC and through central London, mobilising thousands of people and celebrating all that has been achieved for animals and the large amount of work still left to do.

Arla Action
To end our August Rebellion, 50 rebels blockaded Arla, the UK´s biggest milk factory, calling for an end to dairy production. Dairy corporations, including Arla, together emitted more greenhouse gases in 2017 than major polluters such as BHP and ConocoPhillips, and the industry also undoubtedly abuses animals on a large scale. We demanded that the government supports companies like Arla by funding a fair transition for workers in meat and dairy industries to just and sustainable alternatives.

October – COP 26 Protest 

Animal Rebellion protestors scaled the face of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Ahead of the COP 26 Climate change conference, we urged leaders to ‘defund meat’ and invest in plant-based alternatives instead.

We called out our government’s hypocrisy, as they claim to be world leaders in climate change whilst propping up the unsustainable and environmentally destructive meat and dairy industries with at least  £1.5 billion a year in subsidies. We called for an end to this and sent a clear message to world leaders attending COP26 later that month!

What a year! And we are ready for even bigger and better things in 2022. Find a role that’s right for you and get involved with Animal Rebellion now. Let’s bid goodbye to the year with some wise words from Margaret Mead.

‘’Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’’

The post Animal Rebellion’s 2021 Roundup! first appeared on Animal Rebellion.