Here are some articles that have recently caught my attention. Every week the news presents further reasons to take up plant based diets, whether it is by describing the benefits of a plant-based diet, or the apalling lives of animals in intensive farms. The climate emergency is growing – inaction is not an option – veganism will be part of the solution
VEGANUARY
Veganuary is an annual challenge run by a UK nonprofit organisation that promotes and educates about veganism by encouraging people to follow a vegan lifestyle for the month of January. Veganuary 2024 saw an estimated 25 million people adopt a plant-based diet for the month of January. [1]
PRECISION FERMENTATION
Precision Fermentation has the potential to revolutionise the food system by enabling the production of food protein sources without the extensive use of animals and land
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has invested £12 million (US$13 million) in a Microbial Food Hub led by the Imperial College London that will focus on advancing sustainable microbial foods through novel fermentation methods [2]
The project is led by Dr Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro. Last year he authored an overview of The microbial food revolution in which he looked at the different applications of microorganisms in food, and the history, state-of-the-art and potential to disrupt current foods systems, Nature Communications, 19/04/2023 [3]
DISINFORMATION
The Hidden Battle In Our Food System: New Report On Meat Industry Disinformation [4a]
The Freedom Food Alliance just published a report analyzing how the animal agriculture industry undermines sustainability efforts
The report can be found here [4b]
Shortly after this, perhaps illustrating the problem, the Guardian reported that a court ruled that a Danish firm’s ‘climate-controlled pork’ claim was misleading [5]
PIGNORANT
The film, Pignorant was released in February [6]
Director and Activist Joey Carbstrong goes undercover with fellow activists to infiltrate and expose the deeply ingrained corruption and heartbreaking abuse that lies at the heart of the UK’s ‘pork industry’
Film website: https://pignorantfilm.com/
UK ANIMAL HANDLING RULES
Carrying chickens by their legs should remain unlawful, say UK campaigners. A UK government committee disagrees [7]
The committee is proposing the relaxation of farming rules and allowing chickens and other poultry to be carried by their legs. They acknowledge that this can cause “pain, discomfort and breathing difficulty” leading to distress and injuries such as fractures and dislocations.
Clearly so called “high welfare standards” are no barrier to inflicting pain on these sensitive birds.
UK MEGA FARMS
In recent years there has been a ‘Shocking’ rise in US-Style Mega-Farms in the UK [8].
Millions of animals are now confined in the intensive farming system.
Topping the list are Lincolnshire (35.8 million), Shropshire (27.3 million), and Norfolk (25.7 million).
Not only immensely cruel to the animals they are a serious risk to human health and devastating for the environment.
AUSTRALIAN LIVE EXPORT OUTRAGE
Seventeen Thousand sheep and cattle have been confined for five weeks on a ship travelling between Australia and Israel. Having been unable to pass through the Red Sea they have been returned to Western Australia during a severe heat wave and will be re-exported on a a 30+ day sea journey around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. [9].
This is obviously an apalling decision, but unsurprising. Once the principle of meat consumption is accepted then events such as this are inevitable.
Update April 8th : Livestock finally arrives in Israel after 3 month Houthi-delayed voyage from Australia [10]
Astonishingly the Israeli government was planning to phase out live imports of animals from Australia in 2018 [11].
It never happened! Prevented by further delay and disinformation from the meat industry.
ANIMAL WELFARE BILL
Cognitive dissonance is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when a person holds two contradictory beliefs at the same time.
This was clearly demonstrated during the passage of The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill in a House of Lords debate on 21st Feb. [12]
At one point it was said, “The Government recognise that we are a nation of animal lovers, with some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world”
Elsewhere, “This Bill will prevent unnecessarily long export journeys by ensuring that livestock are transported on shorter and less stressful journeys for slaughter domestically”
The question has to be asked, how can an animal lover think that any journey to a slaughter house could ever be necessary, and worse, that some long export journeys should be allowed because they are necessary?
There can be no doubt that the animal itself does not want to go.
The truth is that the Animal Welfare Bill is driven by the love of profit more than the love of animals
CLIMATE CHANGE ACCELERATES
The World has experienced the first Year-Long breach of 1.5C Limit, drawing closer to breaching the Paris Climate Agreement [13].
Yet policies are still formulated in order to achieve Net Zero by 2050 while irreversible damage to the planet is occurring now.
[1] https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/food/veganuary-signups-2024
[2] https://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/news/uk-government-injects-%C2%A312m-into-microbial-food-hub-for-alt-protein-innovation.html
[3] https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/bitstream/10044/1/104703/2/The%20microbial%20food%20revolution.pdf
[4a] https://plantbasednews.org/news/environment/report-meat-industry-disinformation
[4b] https://www.thefreedomfoodalliance.org/report/home
[5] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/01/danish-firm-climate-controlled-pork-claim-misleading-court-rules
[6] https://plantbasednews.org/culture/joey-carbstrong-documentary-pignorant/12/02
[7] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/27/carrying-chickens-by-legs-remain-unlawful-brexit
[8] https://plantbasednews.org/animals/shocking-rise-us-style-megafarms-uk
[9] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/06/live-export-cargo-of-17000-sheep-and-cattle-to-be-unloaded-in-perth-heatwave
[10] https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/livestock-finally-arrives-in-israel-after-3-month-houthi-delayed-voyage-from-australia-rvgxxvgr
[11] https://theconversation.com/israel-moves-closer-to-phasing-out-australian-live-sheep-and-cattle-imports-99594
[12] https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2024-02-21/debates/9082C4C0-2314-4472-9D94-6BAB4675F7EA/AnimalWelfare(LivestockExports)Bill
[13] https://plantbasednews.org/news/environment/worlds-first-year-long-breach-limit/
