Meat on the menu in Rio

Last week, diplomatic, environmental and corporate leaders from around the world converged on Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for Rio+20, The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.  According to the event's website, "the conference will focus on two themes: (a) a green economy in the context of sustainable development poverty eradication; and (b) the institutional framework for sustainable development."


Though pundits were less than optimistic about the actual outcomes of the conference, there was much excitement around such a large conference with global participation and a mix of private and public sector leaders.  These are people who have devoted their careers to saving our planet so they must be the most green, environmentally responsible of us all right?  Not necessarily?  Well, at least the world's largest gathering to discuss the future of the environment must have been planned to leave the smallest impact on the earth, right?  I mean, at the very least, I'm sure the meals were vegetarian.  Knowing that the United Nations' very own Food and Agriculture Organization  published "Livestock's Long Shadow", in which they found that the meat industry is "one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems...urgent action is required to remedy the situation."  They also found that livestock is responsible for more greenhouse gasses than the transportation industry.  So of course they wouldn't want to add to the problem by serving meat, right?  They wouldn't dream of being so hypocritical.


But they were.  And they did.  Meat consumption is different from other environmental issues because it requires personal reflection.  It requires a level of commitment to rise above cultural norms.  It's not as easy as recycling or driving a hybrid car.  But removing meat from one's diet is the single most important and impactful thing you can do to save the environment.  


Are you ready?   

The dog you love, the cow you eat

This post is less insight into being vegan and more about introspection.  Ready?  Here goes.


I work in animal welfare and know so many people who would do absolutely anything for their pets.  They dedicate their lives to saving homeless animals - often taking countless numbers of cats and dogs into their lives and their families.  These people are truly selfless and caring.  


But not one of them is vegan.


Not only are they not vegan, they like to joke with me about my "extreme" lifestyle and tell me how much they love their meat and dairy.  Where is the disconnect?  Where's the comprehension that cows and chickens are living, breathing beings that know how to love and feel pain?  What about the fact that pigs have the intelligence of 3 year old human children?  And that cows cry in agony when they are separated from their babies (which is the result of a dairy industry that sells the baby male cows for veal)?  Is the taste of that burger or that slice of bacon so important to them that they are willing to contribute to an industry built on the suffering of sentient beings - sisters and brothers to those same sentient beings that they've dedicated their careers and much of their lives to saving?  


In the groundbreaking book, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows,  Melanie Joy attempts to answer this very question.  She coins the term "carnism" to describe the cultural phenomenon that causes us to love some animals while ignoring (and even contributing to) the suffering of others.  I believe that if more people made emotional connections to cows, pigs, chickens and other farm animals, and really experienced their individual personalities, there would be many more vegans.  And as Sir Paul McCartney famously said, "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian."  


Quite right.