Urge the COP26 Climate Summit to Serve a 100% Vegan Menu
The 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) climate summit is fast approaching. Urge the president of COP26 – Alok Sharma – to set a meaningful example during this time of climate emergency by serving a fully vegan menu at the event.
Eating Vegan Is Better for the Environment
The fishing, meat, dairy, and egg industries are not only cruel to animals but also cause catastrophic damage to the environment. For decades, the United Nations has identified animal agriculture as a leading cause of deforestation, pollution, ocean dead zones, habitat loss, species extinction, and zoonotic disease spread.
Plant-based foods have a far smaller carbon footprint than their animal-derived equivalents, even when comparing imported plant proteins to flesh from grass-fed, locally farmed animals. And a switch to vegan eating can reduce food-related carbon emissions by 73%. Quite simply, eating meat and dairy is part of what got us into this mess.
The COP26 Climate Summit Should Set an Example
Given everything we now know about the devastating impact of animal agriculture on the environment, serving meat, dairy, or eggs at a climate change summit would be like distributing cigarettes at a health convention.
Plants are the way forward, and a vegan menu would not only allow attendees to dine with a clear conscience but also set an important example for the world to follow.
Take action and tell Alok Sharma, president of COP26, to set an example and only serve vegan food at the event:
Reuters reported on September 27, 2021, “South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said on Monday there might be a need to prohibit dog meat consumption amid debate over the controversial practice and growing awareness of animal rights.
While no longer as common as before, dog meat is eaten mainly by older people and is served in some restaurants and can be bought at specific markets.
Moon made the remarks after being briefed by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum on efforts to improve the handling of abandoned animals and a mandatory registration system for dogs.
“After the briefing, he said time has come to carefully consider imposing a dog meat ban,” Moon’s spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee said in a statement.”
This is great news and gives us hope that perhaps finally changes will come and we will see the end of the horrific dog meat industry in South Korea. This is a sign that the Korean government is starting to feel the pressure from many decades of campaigns and hard work by animal advocates both in and outside of South Korea to end the shameful and cruel dog and cat meat cruelty.
However, while we celebrate this good news, this is not the time to slow our campaign and lose momentum.
Unfortunately, we have heard similarly encouraging news in the past, with few actual results. For example, while he was campaigning for the Presidential elections, Moon Jae-In made a campaign pledge to strengthen animal welfare.
But as President, he has done nothing to address the dog meat issue. It now seems like he may have suggested reforming the dog meat industry as a way to appeal to a domestic and international population which has become increasingly concerned with the cruelty to dogs and cats in South Korea. Regardless of his actual intentions, considering he will only be in office until May 10, 2022, at this point it is obvious that there is very little time remaining for him to actually bring the end to the dog meat consumption.
We are all sure the UN COP26 conference in Glasgow soon will sort out all the worlds environmental issues; like eating meat rather than plant based; or plant based rather than meat, wont it ?
? are they having plant based food for delegates ? – see what we mean here:
Is it not disgusting, or worse, that the worlds appetite for meat could see parts of the Amazon rain forest turned into wastelands within the next 15 years !
The Amazon Rainforest is home to 427 mammal species, 1,300 bird species, 378 species of reptiles, and more than 400 species of amphibians. All are potentially at existence threat due to the ignorant wanting of meat eaters to stuff their faces with dead animals – meat produced by methods currently causing all this rainforest destruction. I am beyond words and anger about this; especially when I hear that the conference on climate change may NOT even be promoting a plant based diet to delegates and attendees !
There is big talk by the UN that the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) being held in Scotland (Glasgow) on 31 October – 12 November 2021 will bring big changes; but we wonder if issues such as food options will even be addressed. After all, the last we heard recently was that a plant based food selection was not even being arranged !
This morning (30/9 21) I have written to the conference now to ask if this is still the case; ie that all delegates will only eat meat (probably from Brazil !), where all the destruction is happening to make (Amazon) animal species extinct, or, if there are now (at last) plant based options for food selection. I have asked for, and expect, a formal reply soon.
The Amazon is one of the greatest places on the planet for species of flora and fauna. To think that a lot of this could be turned into arid savannah and dust within the next 15 years due to meat production is, to me, beyond belief; and is something that the UN needs to address NOW at their meat eating climate change conference in Glasgow in the coming months.
Regards Mark
‘World’s Appetite For Meat’ Driving Amazon Destruction, Says New Campaign
‘Experts predict that deforestation at this rate could turn parts of the Amazon into savannas in just 15 years’
The world’s appetite for meat is driving the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, according to a new campaign.
Animal-rights charity Mercy For Animals has released a video as part of its Behind The Firescampaign – which reveals the ‘destructive impact of cattle ranching’.
The video, which is narrated by celebrity actor Calum Worthy, shows how the ‘unprecedented’ number of fires that ‘ravaged’ the Brazilian Amazon last year were intentionally ‘set to clear every last plant from deforested areas’.
‘The biggest drivers of climate change’
“Brazil is the world’s largest beef exporter, and its meat production practices have far-reaching consequences,” Worthy states.
“Experts predict that deforestation at this rate could turn parts of the Amazon into savannas in just 15 years. World leaders must take swift and bold action to stop cattle ranching in the amazon and address the greater climate crisis.
“But cattle ranching in the Amazon isn’t the cause of the problem. According to the UN raising animals for food is one of the biggest drivers of climate change and habitat loss globally. Simply put, the meat we consume is burning up our future on this beautiful planet.”
Worthy adds that eating more plant-based foods can play an ‘important role’ in fighting the climate crisis and ‘protecting vital ecosystems’.
Scientists Warn Human Impact On Amazon Rainforest Is ‘Worse Than We Realize’
The rainforest’s climate is ‘changing fast and in alarming ways’, National Geographic claims and this has wide-reaching impacts on the entire planet
The Amazon Rainforest has been linked by scientists as a leading factor of increased global warming, due to deforestation and resource extraction at the hands of humans.
How humans ‘complicate natural cycles’ in the Amazon, such as logging and farming, is not only affecting its capability to absorb CO2, but contributing to global warming, reports National Geographic.
Scientists argue the world’s largest rainforest landscape may ‘release more carbon than they store’ and fear the rainforest is now a net contributor to climate change.
Climate change
Animal agriculture and meat consumption are widely blamed for causing deforestation and fires across the region by scientists and environmentalists worldwide.
The rainforest’s climate is ‘changing fast and in alarming ways’, National Geographic claims and this has wide-reaching impacts on the entire planet.
A recent report assessed the impact of Amazon rainforest destruction over fears it was rapidly approaching ‘tipping point’.
It was conducted by over 30 scientists and published in Frontiers. They looked at the causes behind interference in the Amazon’s capacity to absorb CO2.
Greenhouse gases
‘Activities in the Amazon, both natural and human-caused, can shift the rainforest’s contribution in significant ways’ according to National Geographic.
They can warm the air ‘directly’, or release other greenhouse gases that do. The article lists a range of resource extractions that can alter it. They include damming and soybean production for livestock feed.
Lead author Kristofer Covey told the organization: ‘Cutting the forest is interfering with its carbon uptake; that’s a problem…
‘When you start to look at these other factors alongside CO2, it gets really hard to see how the net effect isn’t that the Amazon as a whole is really warming global climate.’
Human impact on the Amazon Rainforest
Researcher Patrick Megonigal said the impact human activities have on the Amazon is ‘worse than we realize’.
Rising deforestation may alter the ‘flow of moisture’, another research protested in the article. This ‘could lead to the Amazon become a ‘drier woodland savanna’ permanently.
Moreover, humans have ‘diminished’ the rainforest’s capacity for offsetting its natural methane emissions.
Activists urged Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro to halt deforestation. The harmful practice reached an all-time high last year.
Grana Padano: documents from new investigation reveal shocking conditions on another farm
28 September 2021
Essere Animali
News
Two months after the release of an initial investigation, Essere Animali is releasing today a new video filmed on another dairy farm producing Grana Padano, the most widely consumed PDO cheese in the world. The footage shows dead calves, and exposes serious hygienic and sanitary neglect by the farm management, with animals forced to live and give birth among their own excrements.
Bologna, 29 September – After the release of an initial investigation on a dairy farm producing Grana Padano, which documented unacceptable living conditions for calves and violence by workers towards the animals, Essere Animali is publishing a new video filmed on another farm.
By releasing this second investigation, Essere Animali wishes to respond to the objections of the Grana Padano Protection Consortium, which previously dismissed the documented problems as isolated cases.
The new investigation exposes conditions on a farm located in the province of Brescia (Italy). The dairy production site is located next to the sheds which house some 1,000 animals, including cows and calves.
The undercover video by Essere Animali reveals:
• The presence of many dead calves, who died on the farm;
• Obvious hygienic and sanitary shortcomings, which indicate general neglect in the management of the farm;
• The birth of calves and ensuing separation from their mothers;
• The sheltering of calves in individual pens.
“With the first investigation on a farm in the province of Bergamo, we documented violence and insulting behaviour towards animals, while this new video of a farm in the province of Brescia shows inconceivable conditions of neglect, with animals forced to live in enclosures that are flooded or covered with excrement to the point that they struggle to move. Calves are also born in an unsanitary environment, conditions that presumably contribute to the high mortality rate found on the farm. With our investigations, we have unfortunately demonstrated that irregularities on factory farms are not isolated cases,” commented Simone Montuschi, President of Essere Animali.
The footage also highlights the maltreatment of calves on dairy farms, in particular the separation of calves from their mothers – which takes place immediately after birth – and their subsequent solitary confinement in small individual pens.
These practices are permitted by law and are carried out on almost all dairy farms, including those producing milk for ‘premium’ Italian products such as Grana Padano, but various studies demonstrate that such practices subject animals to social deprivation, stress, and suffering.
With the release of this investigation, Essere Animali is relaunching the No Animal Left Behind campaign, coordinated by Eurogroup for Animals, an organisation that brings together 79 animal protection NGOs in 24 EU member states, as well as the UK, Switzerland, Serbia, Norway, Australia, and the US.
These organisations are calling on the European Commission – which is committed to the Farm to Fork strategy, an initiative aimed at making the European food system fairer, healthier and more environmentally friendly – to revise the legislation on the protection of farm animals, which is currently considered grossly inadequate to guarantee them a life free from avoidable suffering.
With regard to the conditions of calves, Essere Animali and Eurogroup for Animals are calling for a revision of the current EU animal welfare laws to:
• Allow contact between the calf and the mother for at least eight weeks after birth, during which the animals must be kept in a system that provides for contact for at least half the day, with suckling permitted;
• Provide shelter that meets the behavioural needs of calves, which should be raised in groups and have access to outdoor areas
“This latest investigation proves for the upteenth time that most dairy farms don’t respect basic animal welfare rules but on the contrary, that calves and cows are treated as mere commodities. The revision of the legislation on farm animals is the opportunity for the European Commission to change once and for all this situation without leaving a single animal behind”, commented Reinke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals.
In opposition to the vast majority of the British (UK) public, disgusted by this unnecessary annual murder of intelligent marine mammals, the UK government has still refused to take action regarding the trade deal between the UK and Faroe Islands;
So now, things are cranking up a gear; Brits are a little bummed off with the way ‘their’ government is acting in putting money before the welfare of marine mammals..
Campaigner Dominic Dyer has launched a petition calling for the Government to put its trade deal with the North Atlantic archipelago on hold following an outcry over the killing of 1,428 white-sided dolphins earlier this month. The slaughter was part of the tradition known as the grind which has been practised by the islands for hundreds of years.
We took to the streets about this massacre 30 years ago:
Here is the wording of the petition:
Petition
Suspend trade agreement with Faroe Islands until all whale & dolphin hunts end
In 2019 UK Government finalised a free trade agreement (FTA) with Faroe Islands which allows for £100 million of exports of wild caught and farmed fish to Britain per annum (20% of the Faroe Islands global trade). This FTA should be suspended until all whale & dolphin hunts on Faroe Islands end
The Free Trade Agreement with the Faroe Islands gives the UK Government significant leverage when it comes to ending the mass slaughter of pilot whales and dolphins on the Faroe Islands which causes huge anger and revulsion around the world. If the UK is to be considered a world leader in the protection of marine mammals it must use this leverage now
Only British citizens are allowed to sign.
If you are a UK citizen, then you can add your name to the petition – here is the link:
Currently there are 32,129 signatures on this petition. Lets get it past 100k, as then it would be debated in the UK Parliament.
Please take a look at all the photos of the murders in the links provided above; and then ask yourself, what is more important; money or saving lives ?
Please add your name to the petition now; you can signinitially, but will then be sent back a link from the UK government in your e mails which you have to click on in order to get your name officially added to the petition.
Corky has been in captivity longer than any other whale or dolphin. She was taken from her family when she was only three years old. She’s been pregnant seven times and given birth four times but only two of her babies survived. The other two starved to death because the shape of the pool was not suitable for her to nurse them properly. Corky is from the Northern Resident population of orcas and she has a large family, including a brother and sister, living wild and free in the waters of British Columbia, Canada.
‘Gassing methods can cause horrendous suffering to animals in their last moments.
Pigs are lowered into a chamber containing at least 70 percent CO2 in air.
During this time they will struggle, gasp for breath, squeal, and climb over each other until they finally lose consciousness.
The pigs must remain in the gas mixture until they are completely unconscious which can take up to 30 seconds. After this, the animals are then shackled by one hind leg, hoisted and their throats cut to drain their blood’.
OPINION: Why The CO2 Shortages Make It The Best Time To Go Vegan
The UK meat industry is reaching ‘breaking point’ and warns Christmas will be cancelled as it fears CO2 slaughters will be stopped…
This week’s headlines are overrun with the issues surrounding the current surge in gas prices. And, the knock-on effect they are expected to have on the UK’s food security. Damning reports from both farmers and meat processors warn that the CO2 shortages could cancel Christmas, and that the meat industry is reaching breaking point. This is affecting the slaughter process of pigs, poultry, and beef, as well as packaging.
Siobhan Dolan from vegan charity Viva! explains the connection between CO2 and the meat industry.
CO2 shortages and the meat industry
For billions of animals slaughtered each year in the UK, CO2 is the last thing they will breathe before dying.
In fact, this technique of slaughter, known as gassing, is the most common slaughter technique for many intensively farmed animals.
This is usually because it is the cheapest and quickest way to kill many animals at once. While it has often been thought to cause less suffering than other visibly more brutal methods, this is not true. And, gassing methods can cause horrendous suffering to animals in their last moments.
Pigs are lowered into a chamber containing at least 70 percent CO2 in air.
During this time they will struggle, gasp for breath, squeal, and climb over each other until they finally lose consciousness.
The pigs must remain in the gas mixture until they are completely unconscious which can take up to 30 seconds. After this, the animals are then shackled by one hind leg, hoisted and their throats cut to drain their blood.
The length of time it takes to kill pigs and the acute distress it causes have led to calls to ban the CO2 stunning method.
How birds are slaughtered with CO2
Most poultry birds killed in the UK face a similar fate. Birds are transported to slaughterhouses in crates.
Then, while still in the crates, they are placed into a chamber. Here, they are exposed to either concentrations of CO2 or a mixture of inert gases (nitrogen and argon). The gas mixture deprives birds of oxygen, causing them to lose consciousness and die.
In a nutshell, CO2 is used to slaughter millions of animals each year in the UK. And, the current shortage could pose significant delays to the number of animals processed for slaughter.
Factory farmed animals are bred and reared in filthy, overcrowded sheds. As a result, they often suffer from disease, injury, and psychological problems.
In these environments, profits take priority over animal welfare and Viva!’s countless investigations prove that animals suffer for food production.
Why are animals allowed to be killed like this?
Conditions on factory farms are likely to deteriorate even further. And, animals will experience prolonged suffering on factory farms if delays occur at slaughterhouses as the industry is predicting.
There are also reports from the industry regarding the possibility of animals being destroyed (killed) on farms, should the issue continue.
However, shouldn’t the bigger question be; why are we allowing animals to be kept in these conditions, killed in this way, and continuing to eat them?
Especially, considering how much we understand about animal sentience and the impact animal agriculture is having on the climate crisis?
CO2 shortages might mean you can’t eat turkey this Christmas, but there are plenty of incredible meat alternatives on the market that can win over even the most dedicated carnivores.
Veganism – Now might be a good time to give it a go…
World Animals Voice 