Veganism is ‘the opponent’ of climate change mitigation - Lord Deben

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
From Farmers Guardian:

Veganism is ‘the opponent’ of climate change mitigation, says top climate advisor

News18 Nov 2021Abi Kay
The UK Government’s top climate change advisor has warned vegan activists are ‘the opponent’ of climate change mitigation.

Lord Deben, who chairs the influential Climate Change Committee (CCC), told the East of England Farming Conference today (November 18) that vegans must be prevented from ‘taking over’ climate change debates.

He also urged the public to eat British beef if they were serious about mitigating their own impact on the climate, saying it has ‘the lowest carbon footprint in the world’.

“We should be recognising that most of the discussion about meat is besotted by people who have an ulterior motive,” he said.

“Veganism is not the answer to climate change. Indeed, it is an opponent of solving climate change, because unless we have animals, we cannot have the kind of mixed farming which ought to be a very significant part of the farming community.

“We will not get the kind of landscape or healthy soil we need unless we have animals.

“We therefore have to stop the vegans taking over the climate change agenda for purposes which are not about climate change, but are about a kind of religious desire to stop the husbandry of animals.”

Obligations

Lord Deben went on to claim the Government would be unable to fulfil its international climate obligations unless the farming community was ‘fully on board’.

“The Climate Change Committee recognises unless the farmer plays his part and is sharing in the battle, we are not going to achieve our aim of net zero,” he said.

The CCC has previously been criticised by the industry for recommending meat and dairy consumption is cut by 20 per cent by 2030, rising to 35 per cent by 2050 for meat only.

I know Seldom Glummer was speaking to a group of farmers, and that should be kept in mind, but I find this surprising. Considering what the CCC have been advising the govt up to now his words seem at odds with his committee's words. He might want to speak to his chief executive Chris Stark about what he's telling the public every time his face appears on telly or radio.
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
From Farmers Guardian:

Veganism is ‘the opponent’ of climate change mitigation, says top climate advisor

News18 Nov 2021Abi Kay
The UK Government’s top climate change advisor has warned vegan activists are ‘the opponent’ of climate change mitigation.

Lord Deben, who chairs the influential Climate Change Committee (CCC), told the East of England Farming Conference today (November 18) that vegans must be prevented from ‘taking over’ climate change debates.


He also urged the public to eat British beef if they were serious about mitigating their own impact on the climate, saying it has ‘the lowest carbon footprint in the world’.

“We should be recognising that most of the discussion about meat is besotted by people who have an ulterior motive,” he said.

“Veganism is not the answer to climate change. Indeed, it is an opponent of solving climate change, because unless we have animals, we cannot have the kind of mixed farming which ought to be a very significant part of the farming community.


“We will not get the kind of landscape or healthy soil we need unless we have animals.

“We therefore have to stop the vegans taking over the climate change agenda for purposes which are not about climate change, but are about a kind of religious desire to stop the husbandry of animals.”

Obligations

Lord Deben went on to claim the Government would be unable to fulfil its international climate obligations unless the farming community was ‘fully on board’.

“The Climate Change Committee recognises unless the farmer plays his part and is sharing in the battle, we are not going to achieve our aim of net zero,” he said.

The CCC has previously been criticised by the industry for recommending meat and dairy consumption is cut by 20 per cent by 2030, rising to 35 per cent by 2050 for meat only.

I know Seldom Glummer was speaking to a group of farmers, and that should be kept in mind, but I find this surprising. Considering what the CCC have been advising the govt up to now his words seem at odds with his committee's words. He might want to speak to his chief executive Chris Stark about what he's telling the public every time his face appears on telly or radio.

I was present at the conference. If I recall the part of his speech he was supportive of UK produced beef but negative about 'feedlot' produced beef. Thus the CCC recommendation for a reduction of 20% in beef consumption by 2030 did ally with his speech as the two could be considered mutually exclusive.
 

delilah

Member
I was present at the conference. If I recall the part of his speech he was supportive of UK produced beef but negative about 'feedlot' produced beef. Thus the CCC recommendation for a reduction of 20% in beef consumption by 2030 did ally with his speech as the two could be considered mutually exclusive.

Thought it was too sensible to be true. He slagged off much of UK beef production then, and demonstrated a continuing misunderstanding of the issues. As you were then.
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
Why do the BBC not report this,

Because it is at odds with Government policy

Was anyone from the Beeb at the conference? I recall at the end of the conference as Chairman was winding up he referred and pointed to someone called Abi. I was sat right the other end of the hall but I twigged it as Abi from FG. And he said another name - which I didn't catch and presumed that was someone from the FW Yellow alternative. (I was a guest by the way - not my usual life to mix with the great and good - was well out of my depth!)
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
I was present at the conference. If I recall the part of his speech he was supportive of UK produced beef but negative about 'feedlot' produced beef. Thus the CCC recommendation for a reduction of 20% in beef consumption by 2030 did ally with his speech as the two could be considered mutually exclusive.
That'll be the CCC who are now aware of GWP* but have not changed their position to allow for the repercussions accordingly?
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
Just goes to demonstrate that religion is about belief, and science is about doubt.

Now you can see the BBC et al for how they really are, espousing belief systems, then you can feel better about questioning science.

It's what it's for.
That's how you close in on the truth...
 

primmiemoo

Member
Location
Devon
I don't know how many listened to the programme below, but the first part of it has a most interesting accusation of bias aimed at the BBC for including livestock farming (including, how, among other things, livestock farming mitigates climate change by carbon sequestration in soil under grassland) in a recent episode of Radio 4's The Food Programme. The accuser is a militant vegan activist.


This is the episode of The Food Programme in question ~

 

Lowland1

Member
Mixed Farmer
Where as Jimmy Saville and Martin Bashir were not ?
1637439097180.png
1637439097180.png

Maybe Bashir wasn’t but….
 

Jethrob

Member
Horticulture
Just goes to demonstrate that religion is about belief, and science is about doubt.

Now you can see the BBC et al for how they really are, espousing belief systems, then you can feel better about questioning science.

It's what it's for.
That's how you close in on the truth...
When you have an overwhelming consensus in Science as now, saying that a vegetable based diet will help reduce the impacts of climate change (IPCC), improve land usage and feed the world you can challenge. Present evidence and alternative solutions not just hot air and parochial anger.
 

Kiwi Pete

Member
Livestock Farmer
When you have an overwhelming consensus in Science as now, saying that a vegetable based diet will help reduce the impacts of climate change (IPCC), improve land usage and feed the world you can challenge. Present evidence and alternative solutions not just hot air and parochial anger.
There's also overwhelming censorship "muting" of those in posession of any antithesis, it seems
 

nxy

Member
Mixed Farmer

from Today's Telegraph, its behind a paywall


Vegans use bogus arguments about climate change, says ex-minister leading fight against global warming​


Lord Deben, chairman of the Climate Change Committee, accuses some vegans of 'muddying' the debate to support their animal rights agenda


By Emma Gatten, Environment Editor 29 December 2021 • 10:00pm

Lord Deben, chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, says vegans are ‘muddying’ the debate around climate change

Lord Deben, chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, says vegans are ‘muddying’ the debate around climate change Credit: Dorset Media Service/Alamy Stock Photo

Vegans are using bogus arguments about climate change to support their animal rights agenda, the UK’s top adviser on tackling global warming has said.
Lord Deben, chairman of the Climate Change Committee, said pro-vegan activists were wrong to argue that eating meat was not environmentally friendly and were “muddying” the debate by calling for plant-based diets.
“They do it because they have other views about animals, but they have to accept that it is not about climate change,” said Lord Deben, who as John Gummer was the environment minister from 1993 to 1997.
“What I do not want to see is people muddy the climate change issue for some other agenda. Vegans have got to fight their case on their own grounds.”
Farmed animals are crucial in tackling climate change, Lord Deben said, because grass-grazed livestock improve the ability of soil to store carbon.

He called for the UK to embrace a more mixed and regenerative approach to farming, in which livestock are kept outside all year round alongside a crop rotation.
“It is just not true that we should have a world in which there are no farm animals,” he said. “They are essential for the mixed farming system, which is the way to return the vitality of the soil.”

Eat less, but better meat​

Lord Deben’s comments come as the Government faces criticism for not doing enough to tackle emissions from agriculture, which accounts for around 10 per cent of the UK’s territorial greenhouse gas emissions - the majority from methane produced by livestock.
The Climate Change Committee has called for people to eat 20 per cent less meat by 2030. It said encouraging people to cut down should have been part of the Government’s recent landmark green strategy.
But Lord Deben said eating “less, but better” meat should not be a path to full veganism.
“Human beings are omnivores and we have bodies made to have meat as well as plants,” he said. “If everybody were a vegan, then we wouldn’t have the healthy soil that we need.”
He also warned that “extreme” arguments from vegans or other green activists could turn people away from the fight against climate change.
“I’m a great believer that extremism puts everybody off,” he said.
Veganism has been increasingly popular in recent years, as environmental awareness grows and plant-based meat alternatives have become increasingly accessible.
Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate change activist, has attributed her veganism both to a desire to save the planet and to consider the “thoughts and feelings” of animals that are killed for meat.
Globally, meat is responsible for around twice the carbon footprint of plant-based foods, according to a recent study by scientists at the University of Illinois.

Protecting British farmers​

Government ministers are divided on the topic of meat eating. Alok Sharma, the Cop26 President, said he was persuaded to go vegetarian by his daughter, while Kwasi Kwarteng, the energy minister, has said he is considering veganism. But environment secretary George Eustice has said he won’t change his diet and has backed the message of eating “less, but better” meat.
Mr Eustice has recently backed the UK moving towards a regenerative agriculture system, but has called for carbon taxes on domestic produce and imports, in order to protect British farmers from being undercut.
British beef has around half of the carbon footprint of global production, but faces competition from cheap imports as farmers lose access to the EU’s direct subsidy regime.
But Lord Deben said the Government was not doing enough with its post-Brexit subsidies to help farmers rear livestock in an environmentally friendly way, and was leaving them at the mercy of imports from new trade deals.
“It is absolutely unacceptable to have trading agreements that allow people to export into this country without tariffs and undercut people in this country producing goods that meet higher environmental standards,” he said.
 

SteveHants

Member
Livestock Farmer
Just goes to demonstrate that religion is about belief, and science is about doubt.

Now you can see the BBC et al for how they really are, espousing belief systems, then you can feel better about questioning science.

It's what it's for.
That's how you close in on the truth...
Or, they've missed the one time Lord Deben wasn't spouting absolute drivel.
 

Lowland1

Member
Mixed Farmer
I’m actually a bit baffled that Alok Sharma a Hindu a religion that has Vegetarianism at its core had to be converted by his daughter. I’d have thought it would have been something he’d have been doing from day one especially as he was born in Uttar Pradesh.
 
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SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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