“Could You Just Cut Down A Little On Eating The Planet?”
Climate Change
The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has some people really shaken up. They state that the only way to keep global temperatures down is to “change the way the food is produced”. That change is fairly specific if you read anything beyond the headlines. It should read – “Stop Using Animals for Food”.
They suggest that the diet we need (in order to keep living on a habitable planet) is comprised of healthy and sustainable foods, such as grains, pulses and vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. We have been hearing this from government think tanks, private institutions and environmental scientists for the past fifteen years but it seems to not be settled yet. They will meet next year and decide what to do. Decide what to do? Really?
Another Study!
I bet one of the things they do is commission a new study to take place and report back at a later date. You might wonder why any group of bureaucrats in Geneva or elsewhere need to decide anything. This issue is all done except for two stumbling blocks.
The first problem is that discontinuing our habit of using animals as food processing equipment seems to send panic among those who mistake tradition and personal pleasure for common sense. It’s sort of like being on the deck of the Titanic and remembering you left your favourite sweater in your cabin – there must be time to run down and get it.
The second is that we keep hoping that someone will come up with a solution that doesn’t require any personal change. There are lots of helpful folks to come to the rescue. Study groups and conferences abound. Everything from social engineering to rockets to Mars are on the table. There are so many powerful and famous people that want to be part of the solution. Some of them gathered recently for “Camp Google” at a luxury resort in Sicily to work on the problem.
More Toxic Fumes
Among those in attendance were Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bradley Cooper, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Bono and Chris Martin. A representative group of billionaires and show business folks. They all came via 114 private jets and were brought into camp by helicopters – all in service of reducing greenhouse gases. The number of toxic fumes given off by the jets can easily be measured, the gas given off by the rich and famous is not so easy to assess.
Perhaps Bill Gates had a chance to talk about his plan to sprinkle magic dust in the atmosphere to reflect sunlight (really). If Jeff Bezos were there, he could have talked about his space colonies, where we leave this ruined planet behind and live in artificial climate-controlled cities in the sky(really). All these events give the false impression that there are “big science” solutions to what is fundamentally a problem of human consciousness, behaviour and will.
Here is a modest proposal. Bill, Jeff, Bono, Leonardo - keep the private jets and choppers in the hangers, chat on Skype and make a commitment to immediately stop all personal animal food consumption. Use your celebrity status by modelling how easy it is to go vegan. Make it practical, make it personal. You can start right here with Marlene's latest book, Go Vegan available world-wide on amazon.
In good health
Bill