EVU Talks 2007: “The Veggie Answer to World Hunger”
A lot of the discussion focussed on the
question of how best to get the veg’ism message across. The following issues were discussed:
- Put pressure on scientists who know the facts to bring our points across, especially regarding global warming
and meat consumption. The public may trust them more than veg’an organisations;
- Link up with
organisations in countries that are most likely to be affected negatively by climate change (such as Bangladesh) and
encourage them to bring pressure on the west to change. One good way of making governments listen is by the threat of
legal action (i.e. global warming as a Human Rights Violation). However, there may well be no organisations in these
countries that are strong enough to take on governments in the west;
- Grassroots activism in environmental and
animal welfare groups to encourage them to see the necessity of veg’ism for the protection of the environment
and
animal wellbeing. Possible allies could be Friends of the Earth in the UK and the Green Party. Engaging with these
groups, responding to what they have done so far and creating significant numbers of veg’ans within these
organisations could bring pressure on them to change their views, rather than criticising them from the
outside;
- Another discussion leading on from this was whether we should work with organisations that
support things we do not. Should we work with them on issues that both parties agree on in order to present a united
front, or does this compromise our position and go against our beliefs?
- Use the new EU Equality laws to
gain more rights and prominence for veg’ans;
- Emphasise the fact that methane emissions are turned over
much faster in the atmosphere than CO2, which is positive for the veggie argument;
- We need to use self-centred
arguments to persuade people to give up meat and animal products, we cannot expect the whole world to suddenly be
shocked into eating less meat through a report on climate change;
- Although we cannot expect meat to be banned,
we can ask governments to stop unfairly promoting the production and consumption of meat and animal
products;
- “Saving the Climate with a knife and fork”. Barbara Ruetting explained that she has
managed to ensure that 2 vegetarian dishes are available every day at the building of the Bavarian parliament.
Encouraging people to try veg’an food is a very good way of getting them to reduce their meat consumption.
The question of whether the discussion should focus on European solutions or worldwide solutions was
also raised. The following suggestions were made:
- There is no hunger in Europe, but a reduction in meat consumption within Europe would mean that less
plant-based foods would need to be imported into Europe from poorer countries to feed cattle. Instead this plant-based
food could be consumed directly in the country of origin, thereby reducing the number of hungry / malnourished
people;
- India is an important country to focus on, and can be seen as the “front-line”. China has
already been “lost” as meat consumption there is practically at a Western level. However, cultural
differences in India mean that meat consumption has not risen as much as the available money would allow. It is very
hard to change cultural links to meat in the West (i.e. turkey for Christmas);
- Poorer and developing countries
tend to see richer countries as role models: rich countries consume large quantities of meat and see animal products
such as fur as status symbols, so developing countries follow;
- Problems of global warming are going to be
experienced by countries that haven’t created the problems – the poor, undeveloped countries will be hit
most.
One solution put forward to reduce the consumption of animals was to grow meat from stem
cells.
There were strong opinions both for and against this option, as some people saw it as simply reinforcing the myth that
meat is necessary, whilst others felt that it provides a viable solution without causing pain or suffering.
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