The meat industry is destroying the planet and leading to animal cruelty. If you care, there is only one way out for you…
Over the past decade or so, the need to switch to a plant-based diet has become increasingly urgent. The watershed came in 2008, when Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made the link between meat consumption and the environmental crisis.
She advised everyone to “avoid meat for one day a week initially, and reduce its consumption afterwards.” Now, as then, the meat industry accounts for about a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and is directly responsible for huge levels of deforestation.
Sixteen years ago, scientists at Cornell University estimated that 800 million people could be fed on grain used to fatten US livestock, since most of the world’s corn and soybeans are now fed to cattle, pigs, and chickens. .
There is growing outrage at the activities of the meat industry: on the one hand, arguments about the future of the planet, and on the other hand, the terrible living conditions of billions of animals.
Ever-rising food prices have pushed retailers and manufacturers to use questionable meats in order to keep prices down. Costs are rising in part due to increased global meat consumption, particularly in China and India, which drive up prices not only for meat, but also for food used to feed livestock.
So you can’t be flexitarian, toss a couple of bunches of greens into your cart and pretend everything is fine.
Even if you have the money to buy organic meat from a butcher you know, you’ll still face a few inescapable facts: organic slaughterhouses offer no ethical guarantees, and eating meat is bad for your health and the planet.
Becoming a vegetarian is the only viable option.