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Chris Smaje's avatar

Thanks for the interesting comments - much to agree with. In case it needs clarifying, I've got no problem with veganism - it can be a wise choice on any number of grounds, and for sure there's much about the global livestock industry that's horrific and ecocidal. It's just that I find exaggerated claims about it in respect of the climate problematic.

I found theearthly link a bit problematic too in that respect. Maybe I will try to clarify these issues some more as requested by some folks here.

Thanks for your essay Paul P - I enjoyed it. My new book engages with distributism, subsidiarity & elements of conservative thought.

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Mark Bevis's avatar

Your title "Go solar, go vegan and still collapse" made my smile.

I went vegetarian in 2015 after seeing the Cowspiracy film, and had given up chicken before that, have been vegan for about 8 years. But I don't suffer any illusion that it "will save the planet" and didn't go that way because of carbon footprint, but simply because of the inherent cruelty in the industry. If someone wants to eat meat or fish, that's fine by me, as long as they catch it, kil it, skin it, gut it and cook it themselves.

The way I look at is, if everyone went vegan, the planet would be in an even worse state. Think it through.

Lets say in 1973 everyone read Limits to Growth and the entire world went vegan. The human population today would be over 14 billion. Or more. Wut? Yes.

Does anyone think that the rate of deforestation would have got any less?

No, the capitalist machine would have carried on regardless, only now you could feed more people per acre harvested once you've got rid of the pesky cattle and sheep. It is said a meat eater requires 15 acres, a vegetarian 5 acres and a vegan 1 acre. Those ratios are probably suspect but even so, I think readers can see the pattern. So now with more people you can cut down even more of the rainforests and convert it to crop growing, from which you can then feed more people. The entire Amazon would have probably gone by now and the world's climate be in an even worse state.

So no, being vegan isn't an answer to climate change. It's a sane moral response to the hideousness of the agricultural industrial complex, and a personal taste and texture choice, but only those.

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