Why eat low on the food chain from 2010 cip talk

A vegan approach to Environmental Management

Dr. Michael C. MorrisBay of Plenty Polytechnic

Don’t Shoot the MessengerHow does the scene from MacBeth show the way we react to news we don’t like?

Rachel Carson published silent spring in 1962

The industry reacted by personal attacks. Rachel Carson is an embittered spinster, or a Lesbian (therefore by implication ignorant)

The Food and Agriculture Organisation published “livestock’s long shadow” in 2006.

Here is Federated Farmers’ intelligent, measured and scientific response

“it must be written by a vegan” (and therefore by implication wrong)

So vegans are the Lesbians of the 2000s!

The Elephant in the roomClick to edit Master text stylesSecond level

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Environmental degradation has been blamed on...PopulationTransportIndustrial growthCapitalismLack of capitalismCommunismLack of communismGovernment corruptionGod’s wrathEtc...

But what about our “SAD” diet

Ecology 101For every step up the food chain, the amount of resources (land, water, fuel, energy etc.) goes up by a factor of ten

So passing food through a cow before eating it is very inefficient

Global warming

Agriculture is responsible for 50% of global warming in New Zealand. More than any other industryThis is caused by methane from cow burps (not farts) and nitrous oxide from animal waste

Worldwide, livestock accounts for 18% of all greenhouse gases. More than transport.

Rats

Rats with wings!!!Locusts with tits!

Source: Eshel and Martin 2006

Conclusion from Eshel and Martin studyA vegan in a SUV has the same effect as a red-blooded American (or Kiwi) meat eater in a Prius

Water use1kg of meat requires

10,000 L of water

Photo: David Hamilton, Waikato University

Photo David Hamilton

Habitat destruction

Easter Island

Christchurch and the Canterbury Plains

Photo: Nzescape.com

Illegal Amazonian Deforestation for Soybean production

Photo: Gilbert van Reenan

Kahikatea forest

Hauraki Plains

Photo: Environment Waikato

Some factsLand clearance for farms is a leading cause of sediment build up and coral reef destructionLand clearance for meat is the leading cause of Amazonian deforestationAlmost all of New Zealand’s lowland Kahikatea forest has goneNew Zealand is a biodiversity “hotspot”Import of Palm kernel is contributing to rain forest destruction in Borneo

Water pollution

Some figures90% of Waikato streams are too polluted to swim inFarming in the Waikato contributes more to stream pollution than the Hamilton and Ngarawahia sewage worksA piggery of 16,000 pigs produces as much untreated sewage as a city of 23,000Reid’s piggery in Carterton and the Kuku Beach Road piggery have been convicted for pumping raw sewage into the rivers

Fertiliser supply

Fertiliser ship unloading in Tauranga

Photo: Western Sahara Watch

Photo: Republic of Nauru

Some FactsNew Zealand fertiliser use has doubled in the last 10 years

Most of this finds its way into streams

Nauru’s fishery has been totally destroyed by phosphate mining

Present phosphate in New Zealand comes from disputed territory in the Western Sahara

Human rightsLivestock agriculture

cannot feed the worldSource: Bender, W.H. 1997. How much food will weneed in the 21st Century? Environment. 39: 6-11, 27-28.

1 The actual world population in 1990 was 5.3 billion.

Population that could be fed if everyone shared the dietary preferences and food system efficiencies of:

USA 2.3 billion

New Zealand 3 billion

Europe 4.1 billion

Japan 6.1 billion

Bangladesh 10.9 billion

Subsistence only 15 billion

Population that could be fed if everyone shared the dietary preferences and food system efficiencies of:

Source: Bender, W.H. 1997. How much food will weneed in the 21st Century? Environment. 39: 6-11, 27-28.

1 The actual world population in 1990 was 5.3 billion.

Health

Eating low on the food chain prevents• Adult onset diabetes• Kidney Stones• Breast prostrate and pancreatic cancer

There are 90 million broiler chickens in New Zealand. Antibiotics are imported by the truck load to prevent these very sick individuals from dying before we are ready to kill themThe source of the swine flu epidemic has been traced to a factory piggery in MexicoBird flu outbreaks start in factory farms

Animal Welfare

Layer hens

Photo: Wellington Animal Rights Network

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Photo: Open Rescue Coalition

Broiler chickens (NZ)

Photo: Auckland Animal Action

Pigs

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Vivisection

Some myths about meat

Myth 1: Human canines show humans are designed to eat meat

The truth: Have a look at the skulls in the next slides

Baboons and Mandrills

Chimpanzee

Gorilla

Biggest Canine Joke in the Animal Kingdom!

Homo Sapiens

Myth 2: Meat is necessary for protein

The truth: Have a look at the protein tables below

Food source Protein in 100g Cost (NZD) Cost per 100g protein

Egg, whole, raw 12.0g $7.36 (battery eggs, size 7, 30 pack (approx. 1.470kg))

$4.17

Peas, frozen 5.4g $2.00/kg (Watties)

$3.70

Sunflower seeds, kernel, dried

22.8g $7.90/kg $3.47

Cheese, Edam 26.7g $8.10/kg (Basics brand)

$3.03

Peanuts, raw 24.3g $6.90/kg $2.84Rolled oats, raw 13.5g $3.82/1.8kg

(Basics brand)$1.57

Protein composition and price of eggs and various plant sources. Food composition data comes from the New Zealand Food Composition Tables, 6th Edition (Ministry of Health/Crop and Food Research, 2003). Price data comes from Woolworths online (www.woolworths.co.nz, accessed 23 June 2006).

Myth 3: Meat eating is what gave humans their brain power

The truth: Genetic studies show human brain power is more to do with the ability to digest starch. There are several copies of the amylase gene in humans.

Myth 4: God wants us to eat meat.

The truth: Adam and Eve and all the animals were vegan before the fall. Gen. 1:29

Other rationalisationsOur ancestors ate meat

Response. Our ancestors also lived in caves, spoke in grunts, had poor hygiene and did not own cell phones. Most of us have moved on since then.

Meat tastes nice.

Response: Since when has pleasure been a basis for moral decision making. Maybe children taste nice too!

Animal eat other animals

Response. Most animals don’t eat other animals. And why should we base our morality on the few that do.

Conclusion – something to think aboutCan you be an environmentalist and continue to...

Drive a SUVChop down treesPour pollutants into streamsTake food from the poor

Or

Eat high on the food chain