We must face facts - meat is the problem

[mspohr]

Meat Industry Campaign Cash Flows to Officials Seeking to Quash Covid-19 Lawsuits

FACTORY FARMING INTERESTS, facing potential legal risks for allegedly failing to protect workers from coronavirus-related risks, are among the many business interests now backing efforts to obtain special immunity from legal liability

 

[mspohr]

We are entering an era of pandemics – it will end only when we protect the rainforest | Peter Daszak

Every pandemic starts like this. An innocuous human activity, such as eating wildlife, can spark an outbreak that leads to a pandemic. In the 1920s, when HIV is thought to have emerged in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, scientists believe transmission to humans could have been caused by a bushmeat hunter cutting themselves while butchering a chimpanzee. In 2019, we can speculate that a person from south-west China entered a bat cave near their village to hunt wildlife for sale at the local wet market. Perhaps they later developed a nagging cough that represents the beginning of what we now know as Covid-19. Now, a growing human population, ever-encroaching development and a globalised network of travel and trade have accelerated the pace of pandemic emergence. We’re entering a new pandemic era.

If we are to prevent future pandemics, we will need to reassess our relationship with nature, blocking each step in the chain of disease emergence. This should begin with reducing the rampant consumption that drives deforestation and wildlife exploitation. We’ll also need to remove viral-risk species from wildlife markets, crack down on the illegal wildlife trade and work with communities to find alternatives. We should be putting more pressure on industries that harvest tropical timber and wildlife products, rewarding corporate sustainability and legislating against overconsumption. Consumer-led campaigns against palm oil, for example, have had a ripple effect on sustainability.

 

[mspohr]

The pandemic highlights the gruesome animal abuses at US factory farms

The pandemic has revealed gruesome animal abuses at US factory farms | Andrew Gawthorpe

More than any event in recent history, the coronavirus pandemic has made plain the consequences of our abuse of animals. From the Chinese wet market where the virus likely emerged to the American slaughterhouses which have become key vectors of transmission, our ravenous demand for cheap meat has been implicated in enormous human suffering. But the suffering is not ours alone. The pandemic has also focused our attention on how American agribusiness – which has benefited from deregulation under the Trump administration – abuses animals on an industrial scale.

 

[mspohr]

'One thing I've learned about modern farming – we shouldn't do it like this'

'One thing I've learned about modern farming – we shouldn't do it like this'

This was no lake. It was an open cesspit, a vast lagoon full of waste from the pig farm. Floating beneath the surface were the bodies of pigs in various stages of decomposition. Through the filth we could see snouts and curly tails.

Everywhere was the detritus of factory farming – plastic syringe casings, needles and white clinical gloves – floating in the rancid pool and discarded on adjacent farmland. It was the first time I’d ever stepped on to a factory farm. It was a moment I would never be able to forget.

In Portugal, I saw pigs being repeatedly hit and dragged by the ears, squealing, on to transporters before starting their journey to slaughter. In Spain, thousands of quails – reared for their eggs – were crammed into filthy battery cages, many having lost feathers and others dead and left to rot. Calves, too – some subject to journeys on trucks that take days – confined in solitary pens as part of the veal trade.

In Bulgaria, I visited primitive horse and donkey farms, including one where animals were fixed to the wall or floor with rope and chains. Some had little, if any, straw or other bedding. At one farm, the corpse of a horse lay sprawled outside, blood visible on the ground. Similarly, in Croatia, I saw cattle tethered day and night in darkened sheds, some never having set foot on grass.

In Chile, I saw vast offshore “floating feedlots” with thousands of salmon packed into underwater cages. In the UK – at one of the country’s biggest intensive beef farms – we saw cows caked in excrement and other waste in flooded, dirty yards with no protection from the elements

And in poultry units across Europe, time and again I’ve seen broiler chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese crammed into vast, crowded sheds with no outside access. Each morning on these farms, workers remove the birds that have died overnight. Sometimes a handful, sometimes scores of birds, flung into piles on the floor or loaded on to wheelbarrows, and chicks disposed of – some still alive – into skips piled high with carcasses.

About 70 billion land animals are produced globally for food each year, an estimated two-thirds reared in intensive conditions. Many of the issues this raises, and which I’ve covered extensively – food safety, antibiotic resistance, animal welfare, exploitation of workers, pollution, deforestation – are now firmly on the global agenda and commanding attention.

 

[mspohr]

Tesco urged to ditch meat company over alleged links to Amazon deforestation

Tesco urged to ditch meat company over alleged links to Amazon deforestation

Tesco has called on the UK government to order food companies to ensure all food sold in the UK is deforestation-free. The move comes in response to a new Greenpeace campaign calling on the supermarket to cut links to JBS, the world’s biggest meat company, over its alleged links to farms involved in Amazon deforestation.

The supermarket says the UK should introduce due diligence across supply chains to monitor for deforestation. Germany is also weighing up a due diligence law on supply chains, reportedly supported by Angela Merkel. And more than half of Britons would consider rejecting meat products linked to deforestation, a YouGov poll for Greenpeace has found.

 

[mspohr]

HSBC sounds alarm over investment in meat giant due to deforestation inaction

HSBC sounds alarm over investment in meat giant due to deforestation inaction

The meat giant “has no vision, action plan, timeline, technology or solution” for monitoring whether the cattle it buys originate from farms involved in rainforest destruction, according to analysis by the bank, which has substantial investments in the troubled meat packing firm

 

[mspohr]

This is How we End Deforestation to Avert Pandemic, Climate and Societal Collapse - Resilience

In 2019, I reported on a major new study in the Global Environmental Change journal which found that between 2010 and 2014, beef and oilseed production accounted for over half of carbon emissions from tropical deforestation. The study also quantified precisely which products were more responsible for deforestation than others.

It concluded that the biggest global driver of carbon emissions induced by deforestation is beef production in Brazil, the rest of Latin America, and Africa, accounting for some 34 percent of emissions. The next major driver is from oilseeds products such as vegetable oils, at around 20 percent.

 

[mspohr]

China's billion dollar pig plan met with loathing by Argentinians

China's billion dollar pig plan met with loathing by Argentinians

But the ASF precedent does not sit well with local environmentalists. “You could almost say China is outsourcing the risk of a repetition of such outbreaks by moving production offshore,” said biologist Guillermo Folguera.

With Argentina in the grip of a rapidly escalating coronavirus situation – the country now ranks sixth worldwide in the number of daily new cases – many Argentinians are wary of the health risk posed by industrial-scale pig farming. “Hog farms produce pathogens, bacteria and viruses that can pass from animals to humans,” Folguera said.

 

[mspohr]

Unless we change course, the US agricultural system could collapse | Tom Philpott

Picture an ideal dinner plate. If you’re like most Americans, it features a hearty portion of meat, from animals fattened on midwestern corn and soybeans, and a helping of vegetables, largely trucked in from California. The unique landscapes we rely on to deliver this bounty – the twin jewels of the US food system – are locked in a state of slow-motion ecological unravelling.

Climate justice and food justice are, in fact, the same fight – the struggle to beat back corporate dominance and make the world livable for everyone.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I promise not to eat bats, especially ones kept in close proximity to pigs.

 

[mspohr]

I promise not to eat bats, especially ones kept in close proximity to pigs.

Unfortunately, you don't have that choice. If you eat meat, you will end up eating all sorts of organisms generated by the toxic mix of animals everywhere in the world.

 

[mspohr]

Go Vegetarian to Save our Planet, says David Attenborough

Meat plays a huge role in humans overrunning the world and if factory farming continues on this path, gas emissions from our food system will account for over half of global emissions created by humans by 2050.

Read More: Go Vegetarian to Save our Planet, says David Attenborough | Go Vegetarian to Save our Planet, says David Attenborough

Life On Our Planet isn't another documentary meant to guilt or scare you into changing your habits and behavior, rather it is meant to show you why and how to fight climate change for our planet and the animals. Attenborough said: "This film is my witness statement and my vision for the future. The story of how we came to make this our greatest mistake. How if we act now we can yet put it right. Our planet is headed for disaster. We need to learn how to work with nature rather than against it and I'm going to tell you how."

 

[mspohr]

Army War College is concerned

YOUR HAMBURGER AND NATIONAL SECURITY: VEGANISM, FOOD INSECURITY AND AMERICAN POWER

America exemplifies abundance, with its engrained cultural preferences for animal products and sugary, processed convenience foods. growing number of documentaries, like The Game Changers, challenge the status quo U.S. diet and illustrate the health and environmental benefits of veganism. What we eat affects mental and physical fitness more than any exercise regimen. A shift towards a plant-based diet (i.e., veganism) could have radical implications for the mental and physical health of the military, not to mention for American citizens at large.

Overindulgence leads to numerous externalities. Few realize how many hidden ‘costs’ (e.g., poor health, environmental damage, and unsustainability) are associated with enjoying a cheap hamburger. Eventually, the U.S. (and the nations it helps safeguard) will have to pay the ‘bills’ associated with these ignored ‘costs.’

 

[Type 5]

I am ready to pay the price as soon as animals quit eating animals, sharks quit eating fish and birds of prey quit eating meat. Then I will know the natural order has changed.
Probably won’t happen during your life though.
By the way, the plants that are mentioned as a really groovy replacement for the part of my diet that is meat and cruel animal byproducts, cause severe inflammation in my joints, pain that limits movement, bloating and acid reflux. So I will go on eating an almost entirely animal based diet.
We all live in our own worlds. I choose to live in the light, not in fear or ignorance. I choose to know I don’t know it all, nor does anyone else. And while I don’t know everything, I choose to let others make decisions that are right for themSelves and not force what I know or don’t know on them.
I’m just not sure why there is an element that wants to force something on others whether it is their business or not or even if it is good for the “lesser” people.
Im sure this thread will continue after I’m dead - only have another 25 years left - if my parents are a measure.
Good luck and best wishes on achieving absolute compliance.
Oh yes, forgot to mention, I love my Tesla - see you on the road!

 

[mspohr]

I am ready to pay the price as soon as animals quit eating animals, sharks quit eating fish and birds of prey quit eating meat. Then I will know the natural order has changed.
Probably won’t happen during your life though.
By the way, the plants that are mentioned as a really groovy replacement for the part of my diet that is meat and cruel animal byproducts, cause severe inflammation in my joints, pain that limits movement, bloating and acid reflux. So I will go on eating an almost entirely animal based diet.
We all live in our own worlds. I choose to live in the light, not in fear or ignorance. I choose to know I don’t know it all, nor does anyone else. And while I don’t know everything, I choose to let others make decisions that are right for themSelves and not force what I know or don’t know on them.
I’m just not sure why there is an element that wants to force something on others whether it is their business or not or even if it is good for the “lesser” people.
Im sure this thread will continue after I’m dead - only have another 25 years left - if my parents are a measure.
Good luck and best wishes on achieving absolute compliance.
Oh yes, forgot to mention, I love my Tesla - see you on the road!

I don't think anyone is forcing you to give up your place in the natural order as you see it.
Good luck with your health.

 

[David_Cary]

I am ready to pay the price as soon as animals quit eating animals, sharks quit eating fish and birds of prey quit eating meat. Then I will know the natural order has changed.
Probably won’t happen during your life though.
By the way, the plants that are mentioned as a really groovy replacement for the part of my diet that is meat and cruel animal byproducts, cause severe inflammation in my joints, pain that limits movement, bloating and acid reflux. So I will go on eating an almost entirely animal based diet.
We all live in our own worlds. I choose to live in the light, not in fear or ignorance. I choose to know I don’t know it all, nor does anyone else. And while I don’t know everything, I choose to let others make decisions that are right for themSelves and not force what I know or don’t know on them.
I’m just not sure why there is an element that wants to force something on others whether it is their business or not or even if it is good for the “lesser” people.
Im sure this thread will continue after I’m dead - only have another 25 years left - if my parents are a measure.
Good luck and best wishes on achieving absolute compliance.
Oh yes, forgot to mention, I love my Tesla - see you on the road!

Humans have changed the natural order rather dramatically don't you think? When you really examine the scale of what we are doing, it isn't sustainable. That isn't fair to people of future generations or the poor today. That is common decency.

As far as "an element" wanting to force something on others - that is what civilizations do. We have rules that limit our damage to others. I am not allowed to piss on my neighbor's yard and he has to pick up his dog poop.

I would argue that you probably live in quite a bit of ignorance. How is that living in the "light"? Ignorance is darkness - it isn't called "head in the sand" because of light.

 

[mspohr]

Unclean greens: how America's E coli outbreaks in salads are linked to cows

And, although the links are still unclear, the finger of blame is now falling on cattle and dairy operations found near areas where leafy greens are grown.

“Whenever you have an E coli outbreak in any produce, and you do a long enough investigation, eventually you will bump into a cow,” says Richard Raymond, former undersecretary for the US Department of Agriculture.

 

[gavine]

Solar Foods Ltd. looks promising for a future of sustainable protein, manufactured from CO2 in the air and without pesticides, fertilizers, animals, etc.

Home - Solar Foods Ltd.

I hope to be able to invest in them some day.

 

[Uncle Paul]

As the song says...the problem is with the man in the mirror.

The problem is not with beautiful animals that God created, but with the way we have bent them to our wishes.
If mankind were to simply vanish, the world would become a much better place. Our ugly cities and homes have desecrated the Earth. We pollute by burning Earths natural resources at a rate far higher than replenishment.

The solution is for us all to perish. Then the Earth would once again become a beautiful place.

Time for us all to self exterminate.

Now that you know the real solution, don't virtue claim by only eating plants. You are still the problem. People consume oxygen, live in huge houses, far larger than basic shelter. We go to terrible jobs, pro-create too quickly, protect our terrible ways and try to have others bend to our individual wishes. (nobody can eat meat etc). We spend our time looking at energy consuming screens (like you all are doing right now) and concentrate on earning money instead of helping others.

Problem is that there are just too many of us and we have given humans great self importance.

 

[mspohr]

As the song says...the problem is with the man in the mirror.

The problem is not with beautiful animals that God created, but with the way we have bent them to our wishes.
If mankind were to simply vanish, the world would become a much better place. Our ugly cities and homes have desecrated the Earth. We pollute by burning Earths natural resources at a rate far higher than replenishment.

The solution is for us all to perish. Then the Earth would once again become a beautiful place.

Time for us all to self exterminate.

Now that you know the real solution, don't virtue claim by only eating plants. You are still the problem. People consume oxygen, live in huge houses, far larger than basic shelter. We go to terrible jobs, pro-create too quickly, protect our terrible ways and try to have others bend to our individual wishes. (nobody can eat meat etc). We spend our time looking at energy consuming screens (like you all are doing right now) and concentrate on earning money instead of helping others.

Problem is that there are just too many of us and we have given humans great self importance.

I come across this point of view regularly. Yes, our wasteful consumptive capitalist driven lifestyle is the problem.

However, there is a path to sustainable human occupation of earth. Changes in consumption and lifestyle can lead to a meaningful reduction in our environmental impact. It is not just "virtue signaling". It is defeatist to claim otherwise. It's taking the easy way out to just say "I don't need to do anything because it won't make a difference".

I also get the impression from your post (and others in this thread) that you feel you will be "forced" to bend to the wishes of others. While there are many people advocating for veganism, I've never encountered anyone who advocates forcing people to give up meat. Persuasion, not persecution. Most mature people realize that we live in a society that thrives on cooperation. A few take "freedom" to mean that they can do anything they want without regard to impacts on others or the environment. That is immature. Time to grow up, assess your impacts on others and the environment and make changes. (I see in your post that you value "helping others". That is a good perspective to start. You can start helping by reducing your environmental impact.)