Bullshit, Cow Burps, and all that hot gas!
Do cows cause climate Change? Will eating meat kill you? Will eating beans, bugs and Impossible burgers save us and the planet?
In 1977 the publication of the first ‘Dietary Goals for the United States’ led to a radical change in the US and British dietary guidelines. Public Health messaging instilled fear that eating butter and other animal fats caused heart disease, whilst eating red meat caused cancer. Millions of Brits switched to margarines and vegetable oils, chicken and vegetarianism. Despite these major dietary shifts, our health has never been worse – with soaring levels of obesity, diabetes, cancer, cardio-vascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Also, in the 1970’s, the contemporary animal liberation movement was founded in Britain. In the mid 2000’s a new dimension was added when the United Nations began claiming that Livestock farming caused more greenhouse gas emissions and therefore, climate change, than the whole of the global transport sector. We were told that veganism was the only way to stop climate change, save wildlife and save human health. But what is the truth behind this? Who will be the winners and losers of the drive for a plant-based world?
Ali Morgan has spent 40 years working in agriculture in Britain and overseas and is one of the authors of a soon to be published book on diet, health and the environment.
