Related Posts
George Monbiot confronts the abject failure of humanity to act on climate change
Is environmental writer/Guardian columnist George Monbiot getting all doom and gloom Dark Mountain on us? Well, maybe not...
Insects: Food or foe?
As an alternative to cutting meat consumption in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the UN Food and...
New UN report says diet high in meat and dairy is ‘unsustainable’
A UN report entitled 'Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production', released Wednesday, states that eating less...
Livestock vs. Transportation: Which is Really Worse?When it comes to the effect livestock has on the environment, most people “in the know” will cite...
UK: Will biomass farming replace livestock?A recent piece for The Ecologist, entitled ‘Biomass Britain: do fields of energy crops spell an end to...
Get your Eco Starter Kit
Create an account and start harvesting Carbon Credits! Exchange your Carbon Credits for green goodies, like the Eco-Hatchery Starter Kit!
-
Green network users
2,991 Users - Show All
Green Directory
Tip of the Day
Keep eggs out of the fridge to save energy when cooking them
George Monbiot’s retraction on environmental veganism – Missing the point?
photo by Compassion in World Farming (Flickr CC)
Environmental writer and Guardian columnist George Monbiot knows a lot more about environmental issues than I do. But his latest article, ‘I was wrong about veganism. Let them eat meat – but farm it properly’, seems too much of a flip-flop: from advocating one ‘extreme’ lifestyle to going a bit close to absolving meat eating’s environmental damage, because theoretically, the livestock industry could be a lot more sustainable.
It is admirable for a public intellectual to admit he was wrong and Monbiot’s article makes good points, gleaned from Simon Fairlie’s book Meat: A Benign Extravagance. But the issue was never black and white. It’s about identifying causes and trying to remedy them via personal lifestyle choices as well as economic, structural and political change.
If pigs are fed on residues and waste, and cattle on straw, stovers and grass from fallows and rangelands – food for which humans don’t compete – meat becomes a very efficient means of food production. Even though it is tilted by the profligate use of grain in rich countries, the global average conversion ratio of useful plant food to useful meat is not the 5:1 or 10:1 cited by almost everyone, but less than 2:1. If we stopped feeding edible grain to animals, we could still produce around half the current global meat supply with no loss to human nutrition: in fact it’s a significant net gain.
–George Monbiot
So should we, who read the Guardian, live in the developed world, etc, simply keep stuffing our faces with burgers until someone changes our wasteful agricultural model – and in turn, the free market system of profits über alles?
I think (at least most) of the arguments in Monbiot’s article have already been made. But the individual action of cutting down on meat and dairy – or ‘going the whole hog’ and becoming vegan if you like – shouldn’t be confused with revamping livestock farming into a more sustainable industry. They are different, albeit related, points.
Of course, the details and accuracy of UN statistics, etc. on the matter should always be revised when new info comes to light. But the fact is that most Guardian readers don’t get their food from sustainable farmers in the developing world, but rather from more or less mechanized farms in the West. Sure, the US is the worst example, but Europe isn’t that great either.
‘Meat Free Monday’ isn’t called ‘Go Vegan or Die’ for a good reason. It stresses that a reasonable, easy adjustment in the modern Western gluttonous diet makes environmental sense. A simple way to reduce waste and greenhouse gas contribution is still to cut down on meat and dairy.
That said, we should all want less sloganeering and more detailed nuanced arguments in order to understand the issue – as Monbiot’s article gives. But unfortunately most people will reduce such arguments to ‘all or nothing’ lifestyle choices – i.e. eat lots of meat from any source whenever I want or be a total vegan. Just read the comment section below the article for proof.
We tend to treat these issues in a ‘religious’ way. Yet people should not consider themselves superior because they are vegan, nor should others react spitefully to what they perceive as arrogance in others, but rather try to live up to what they themselves truly believe is the best lifestyle for the environment – if they care at all.
Tags: environmental, farm, George, industry, livestock, meat, Monbiot, vegan, veganism
Other Greenfudge.org posts
UK launches £10m research project to stop insect decline
Due to concerns over the rapid decline in the population of Britain’s insect pollinators in recent years, a research program was launched on Tuesday, allotting £10m (€12m) to the discovery of why bees and other insects are dying off. If all insect pollinators in the UK became extinct, it would cost the national economy £440m (€534m) per year. And although honeybees get most of the attention, they are just one of Britain’s many crucial pollinator insect species. From an article in the...
California: No Big Screen TVs for You!
That’s right, starting next month big screen TVs will be banned from California. Ok, well, that’s not entirely true—they are banning big screen TVS, but it will be those that are dubbed “energy hogs”. The new rule—which is to go into effect November 4th—will put a limit on how much energy a big screen TV can consume. This concept isn’t entirely new for the state, since similar regulations have been placed on air conditioners, refrigerators and other appliances already. Thanks to...
Fall Foliage: Why Leaves Change Color and Other Useful Information
Fall is here, which means the leaves are starting to change color. This is the last season of color we get before the world turns to a drab white, brown, black and grey. It’s also one of the most spectacular times of the year to go for a hike. Whether you live near the Swiss Alps or the Rocky Mountains, sometimes nothing is more amazing than walking amongst the trees as their leaves turn to pumpkin orange, golden yellow, or...
These aren’t lakes, they’re rice fields
Merciless rainfall has been ravaging Thailand for the last six months. Cataclysmic floods have destroyed most of the rice fields, which are the backbone of this country’s economy. Currently, high water levels still remain in 17 out of the 77 provinces. According to the Bank of Thailand’s preliminary estimates, losses caused by floods range from between 1.9 to 2.6 billion dollars. The Ministry of Agriculture reported that the floods could damage more than 1 million hectares of rice fields. If that were...
Tibetan Environmentalist Sentenced to 5 Years in Jail…For Helping the Environment.
I have heard and seen some pretty crazy environmental news lately, but I think this piece is absolutely ridiculous beyond belief. What am I talking about? A Tibetan environmentalist was sentenced to a 5 year jail term because he organized villagers to pick up litter and plant trees. …Yes, you read that correctly. The Chinese court sent an environmentalist to jail for getting people to help the environment in a positive way. Does that make any sense to you? It certainly doesn’t...
European supergrid could power UK with foreign green energy
Soon Wales will receive wind energy generated off the coast of Ireland via high voltage cables spanning the bottom of the Irish Sea. There is already a link between the UK and the Netherlands via the BritNed cable and by 2019 a 900km interconnector between Norway and the UK should be completed, supplying energy from a clever pump storage system powered by wind turbines. Another connector between the UK and France is already in existence, with two more proposed, although one...
Spaniards drive their horses through the fire to get them “cleansed and protected”
On the Eve of St. Antonio’s Day (16th January), dozens of riders jump on their horses and ride them over burning stakes, which are set alight on the streets of San Bartolomé de Pinares in the Spanish province of Ávila. This unusual festival, known as "Luminarias," has been organized for over 500 years. Jumping through the fire is accompanied by the sound of bagpipes playing. The people of San Bartolomé de Pinares believe that the horses don't feel any pain while...
Teaching Your Kids About the Environment
As many parents know, as soon as children start to talk, they start to ask questions. Studies say that most 4-year-olds ask about an average of 400 questions per day (though they haven’t met my niece, who asks that many questions before breakfast). “Why is the sky blue?” “Why is that flower yellow?” and of course, probably the most asked question when toddlers begin to stretch their limits -“Why NOT?” Yes, children between the ages of 4 to 7 can...
India to Launch 2 Satellites Exclusively for Monitoring Daily Environmental Changes
India’s Minister of State for Environmental and Forest, Jairam Ramesh, recently announced plans to launch 2 satellites that will be specifically used to monitor environmental changes in the country. The first satellite, which will be launched in 2012, will monitor daily carbon emissions; while the second satellite will monitor India’s forest cover—also on a daily basis. Both satellites will be launched by the Indian Space Research Organization. According to Ramesh: “Currently, forest cover in the country can be known only after two years...
UK govt rejects calls for ban on deep sea drilling
Despite low public opinion on deep sea drilling and an overall global shift away from the practice, including the Obama administration’s moratorium in the US, the UK government – the ‘greenest government eva’ – has decided to go against the grain and allow exploratory drilling in the North Sea. A spokeswoman for the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change was quoted in an article in the Independent: We will not consent to the drilling of any well unless we are convinced...
View all articles
You can also log in to post a comment.