The meat, dairy and fish industries are under threat so are desperately lashing out and it isn’t pretty. There is nowhere for those with vested interests to hide, given the science is now so clearly stacked against them. So they are going on the offensive. All 10 largest meat and dairy companies in the USA “have contributed to efforts to undermine climate-related policies” (Lazarus et al., 2021).

In an interview published on Boxing Day in The Guardian, a Spanish government minister, Alberto Garzón, in charge of consumer affairs, explained that factory farming is damaging the environment and leading to the export of poor-quality meat. Mild stuff and clearly factually correct. 

The backlash has been furious, from the meat industry and politicians, forcing the government to distance itself from his comments.

Fortunately, Garzón has stood his ground. In a subsequent radio interview he said: “I’m not saying anything new. I’m just relaying what scientists say. Everyone knows that the factory farming of meat causes pollution … and emits greenhouse gases.”

In the UK this month, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has launched a £1.5 million campaign featuring an inquisitive little girl ‘Nancy’ along with her grandad. Being broadcast on Channel 4, ITV and Sky as well as on-demand services, the new TV advert focuses on the supposed goodness within red meat and dairy. Poor ‘Nancy’.

The AHDB describes itself as “a statutory levy board, funded by farmers, growers and others in the supply chain to help the industry succeed in a rapidly changing world”.

“Survive” might be a more appropriate word than “succeed”. The rapidly changing world is what scares corporations that for so long have trashed the environment, contributed massively to the climate crisis and put out disinformation, while making huge profits and raking in massive taxpayer-funded subsidies. 

That misinformation is nowhere better epitomised than in the Red Tractor consumer logo for pork and pork products. It is not hard to understand the problem when you know that the “standard” behind this logo is from the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA). Talk about marking your own homework.

For mass misinformation under one roof, you can’t beat the industry’s WeEatBalanced website, with its sheen of respectability and faux concern for health and the environment. 

In fact, the weaknesses of the arguments shine through. For instance, in a piece entitled “What would happen if the world converted to veganism” there is basically nothing that can be said to counter all of the benefits of a plant-based diet. 

Here’s the first of five pathetic straws that are clutched at: “Livestock produce much more than just food, from medicines and cosmetics to glue and waterproofing agents, they are in a huge number of products. Consideration hasn’t been taken on the impact of these production processes or the impact of animal-free replacements.” 

Is that the best you can do?!

If the world switched to a plant-based system, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% – an area equivalent to the US, China, European Union and Australia combined – and still feed the world (Poore & Nemecek, 2018). This was according to a study, published in the journal Science, based on a huge dataset from almost 40,000 farms in 119 countries and covering 40 food products that represent 90% of all that is eaten. It assessed the full impact of these foods, from farm to fork, on land use, climate change emissions, freshwater use and water pollution (eutrophication) and air pollution (acidification). Oddly, this and the many other benefits, don’t feature on the website. 

The global meat industry leaves a trail of destruction all over the world, including climate change, deforestation, forest fires, human rights abuses, land grabs from indigenous people and traditional communities, increased risk of future pandemics like coronavirus, and damaging health.

Joseph Poore, at the University of Oxford, UK, who led the research, said: “A fully plant-based food system “is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use. It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car.” 

There are echoes within the industry fight-back of other sectors that have ended up on the wrong side of history – tobacco and fossil fuels. If the food industry bodies wanted to be useful, they would put all of their efforts into bringing about a fair transition that protects independent farmers and supports the urgent shift to plant-based models. 

Instead, they shout, rant, misinform, and spend millions on lobbying, websites and advertising, as the sun starts to set on them. As Mr Garzón found recently, those that speak out will be attacked but these are the wayward, flailing punches of industries that are down and on their way out. 

What you can do:

Join Animal Rebellion and help us call out the hypocrisy and lies as we have done time and time again in our actions against the likes of McDonald’s, Arla, Red Tractor and others. 

Make a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (in the UK, this is at https://www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html)

References:

Lazarus, O., McDermid, S. & Jacquet, J. The climate responsibilities of industrial meat and dairy producers. Climatic Change 165, 30 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03047-7

Nemecek. T and Poore. J, “Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers,” Science 360, issue 6392 (June 2018): 987-992. 

The post Industrial farming: Fighting for its survival first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

In solidarity with SMASH Speciesism, Animal Rebellion shut down a Pilgrim’s Pride pig slaughterhouse in Manchester for a full day.

Over two hours prior to opening, rebels arrived at the slaughterhouse and obstructed the gateway by locking onto concrete-filled coffins. Two rebels entered the site and climbed bravely to the top of the gassing chambers. On their arrival, Animal Rebellion informed the slaughterhouse to call their suppliers and cancel lorry arrivals for the day – these lorries would be filled with pigs arriving at their final moments of breath. Managers from Pilgrim’s Pride agreed to this condition, confirming there would be no lorries coming on-site that day.

Unfortunately, later in the day, as the police began unlocking rebels from the coffins, slaughterhouse managers saw this as an opportunity to resume truck arrivals. This was a sickening decision.

Sadly, three trucks were let onto the site despite earlier agreements – it was emotionally and psychologically traumatic. Pilgrim’s Pride showed that they were ready to put profit over animals, people and planet.

Fortunately, they had sent their workers home and one rebel remained on the the roof until the site closed at 5pm. No pigs were gassed alive and killed at the slaughterhouse that day. This day without slaughter symbolises what a world that puts people, the planet and animals above profit could look like.

Usually, more than 3000 pigs are slaughtered on site each day.

In addition to the clear animal justice message we sent, rebels were also highlighting the climate and health emergency we are in due to animal agriculture.

The choice made by Pilgrim’s Pride demonstrates how our current system places profit over animals, the people, and the planet. It was clear that they did not understand, nor care about the urgency of animal justice, people’s health, and climate crisis issues.

Animal Rebellion shutdown this slaughterhouse in order to highlight four issues of animal agriculture:

• This action was particularly aimed at animal justice as there is no way for animal justice to exist in a slaughterhouse. There is no humane way to kill a sentient being. Animal agriculture is not just.
• Animal agriculture is a leading cause of the current climate crisis. It contributes to more greenhouse gases than all of the transport industry combined (cars, trains, busses, ferries, lorries, etc.)! Animal agriculture is not sustainable.
• Food factories and processing plants are a health hazard for workers. During this pandemic, there have been outbreaks across the UK: Kober Meat factory, owned by ASDA (150 cases), 2 Sisters Poultry (216 cases), and Rowan Foods (237 cases).
• Animal agriculture will contribute more and more to pandemics. 75% of new and emerging infectious diseases are coming from animals. Whilst animal agriculture continues it is only time before the next pandemic strikes. Meat processing factories are hotspots for the outbreak of viruses and disease.

The post Why Animal Rebellion Shut Down a Slaughterhouse first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

Animal farming is both a health risk and climate risk.

In February, SMASH Speciesism locked themselves to concrete and blocked the entrance of Tulip Slaughterhouse, an abattoir in Manchester. The factory was brought to a standstill for 10 hours. SMASH Speciesism urged the factory to transition to a plant-based food production site instead of contributing to the 3000+ pigs they gas and stab each day.

SMASH Speciesism is an anti-speciesist, non-violent, direct action group. Eleven members were to be held on trial today (7th September), but the trial was postponed. Today, Animal Rebellion also blockaded the same slaughterhouse, now under the ownership of Pilgrim’s Pride, to stand in solidarity with SMASH Speciesism. They demanded that all slaughterhouse trucks arriving to the site were cancelled for the day. The action highlighted the criminality of gassing pigs, the health risks posed to slaughterhouse workers and, the climate crisis.

“Speciesism” is the human-held belief that all other animal species are inferior. Speciesist thinking involves considering animals — who have their own desires, needs and complex lives — as a means of human enjoyment, consumption and personal gain.

Outside Parliament, Rebels, with red-dyed hands, held up a 30-metres banner reading “UNFUCK THE WORLD — PLANT-BASED FOOD SYSTEM”. They were also demanding justice for all non-human animals, the slaughterhouse workers, the climate, and the activists who stand up against these unjust systems.

The animals

Over 3000 pigs are gassed alive in chambers and cut from their neck at Tulip Slaughterhouse every day. 72 billion land animals and more than 1.2 trillion aquatic animals are killed for food every year in our agricultural system. Each can feel physical and emotional pain.

As Corona virus impacted worker numbers, millions of animals have been culled in the past few months. Culling can take place in two forms: “the first involves filling the sheds where chickens live with CO2. The second involves putting the birds in specialised containers filled with CO2 and other gasses”. Both suffocate them.

The Climate

75% of global agricultural land is used for animal agriculture. To produce the same amount of energy, animal agriculture requires more land than plant-based foods. Reconsidering our eating habits is a powerful decision. It enables us to move away from polluted air, poisoned waterways, loss of biodiversity and the destruction of wildlife.

Creating a just and sustainable plant-based food system is pivotal for planet health.

Harley McDonald-Eckersall, a spokesperson for Animal Rebellion, said:

“We are shutting this slaughterhouse down because we see no lawful activity being done here. It is contributing to the gassing of pigs, the destruction of our climate and the spread of deadly diseases between workers.”

Slaughterhouse workers

Recent studies have shown that 75% of new and emerging infectious diseases come from animals. In the UK, there have been several outbreaks of coronavirus in meat production sites and slaughterhouses. These are hotspots for the virus to thrive and the cases have been in their hundreds! Vulnerable workers are being put at large risk by the continued operation of these plants.

Factories are cold and damp — the ideal atmosphere for the virus to thrive. Workers are between 30 to 40 cm away from each other as they are working on mass scale. Between lines there is little space to keep their distance too.

Other outbreaks have been seen in:

• Banham Poultry Slaughterhouse (75 workers)

At least 350 individuals are isolating due to these cases.

300,000 chickens will be gassed alive in order to cull them. Without the staff, the slaughterhouse cannot “process” the sheer number of chickens.

• 2 Sisters Poultry processing factory, Anglesey (216 workers)

2 Sisters is one of the largest food producers in the UK, processing about 1.3 of all poultry eaten in Britain each day. It supplies major food outlets and supermarkets: ASDA, Co-op, KFC, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s Tesco, and more.

• Rowan Foods of Oscar Mayer Group, Wrexham (237 cases)

On April 3rd, workers staged a walkout from the factory in protest to unsafe working conditions.

Earlier, a worker told 5 Live Investigations he does not feel safe at work as there are three or four lines of 10 people each in a metre-and-a-half of each other. There is 35–40cm between each person on the line.

The post Animal Rebellion Shuts Down a Manchester Slaughterhouse first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

An open letter from Animal Rebellion to the ‘silent giant’ that holds the fate of many of the world’s forests, billions of worlds’ farmed animals and much of the global food-system in its grip.

Over 140 years Cargill, whilst remaining little-known, has grown to be one of the largest traders of commodities for the animal-agricultural industry. Your company is one of a handful that control up to 90% of the worlds grain markets. Your company is also the largest worldwide producer of the grain-based feed for farmed animals and the third-largest “meat processing” company in the world.Today, your agri-business is the largest food-conglomerate in the world.

Astonishingly, all this makes your organisation directly accountable for: the life and death experiences of billions of commoditized animals every year; for a critical amount of deforestation, air and water pollution; for the wellbeing of the animals fed your grains and ‘processed’ by your plants; for the welfare of millions of humans that work within its supply chains; and for the health of billions more humans that consume the animal products that Cargill directly and indirectly profits from.

Cargill is also the largest family-owned business in the world: your family members hold together a 90% stake. Until now, you have overseen a strategy of keeping a deliberately low-profile, but today Animal Rebellion is asking you to call time on that secrecy!

During the International Rebellion, rebels called for Cargill to #TellTheTruth about the real costs of their business. We are calling for you, the Cargill family, to step up to your responsibilities to farmed animals, to humans and to the planet — the home of all of us.

Cargill family: you have perhaps more power than any company past or present to either destroy the planet or, instead to lead the transition to the only form of a just, sustainable food-system there is: a plant-based one.

The world needs you, Cargill, to #ActNow! Help end the harmful and destructive animal farming industries that are fuelling climate breakdown and ecological collapse. Will you join us today on the right side of history?

Unfortunately, much of the Cargill story known to a public concerned about ecological destruction and animal justice is one of deforestation, air and water pollution, dangerous food contamination, human rights abuses and tax evasion. Just some of the most striking examples include:

Deforestation

Animal farming — the ‘meat industry’ — relies on about 75% of the world’s soy — of which you, Cargill, are the largest producer and which is fed to the animals slaughtered in your plants. Globally more than 1,000,000 square kilometres — three times the size of Germany — is dedicated just to growing soy.On top of this, you are one of the world’s largest importers and exporters of palm oil, and direct owners of five palm oil plantations .

This means you must own up to your company’s responsibility for the destruction of tropical and lowland rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands that have characterised this trade and have contributed significantly to climate change and the disruption of hydrological cycles, as well as the destruction of many wildlife habitats. It also means you have to bear responsibility for emitting, together with the other two largest meat-producing businesses — more greenhouse gases that the whole of France.

In 2014 Cargill signed a landmark deal with 150 other countries, businesses and civil society organisations, pledging to eliminate deforestation by 2020. However, years on from that and your company has continued to expand its operation into new, pristine forest outside the Brazilian Amazon, whilst resisting the extension of the deforestation-free production agreements into these areas.

Polluting air and water

In June 2001 a Cargill subsidiary was fined for misleading officials about emissions of pollutants such as carbon monoxide, found to be at 15 to 50 times the legal level and just three months later Cargill was fined $1.5 million for illegally dumping pig manure near its facility in Missouri, killing 50,000 fish. In the years that followed, there were many more incidents of environmental pollution, including toxic brine released into water ways, phosphorous-laden chicken waste spread on fields, more pig manure releases and tens of millions more fish killed.

And all of that is just in the US…before describing the rivers and land of indigenous peoples claimed to be seriously polluted by pesticides sprayed on fields from overhead. Some local populations of soy plantations report an increase in birth defects, cancers and respiratory illnesses, and the loss of domesticated animals from herbicide exposure.

Food contamination

Cargill has been responsible for more than ten widespread outbreaks of E. coli, Listeria and antibiotic resistant Salmonella since 2000, some of which have been deadly and requiring the recall of hundreds of tonnes of contaminated animal products.

Human rights violations

Troubling past allegations of enslaved children involved in the production of some of the raw materials that Cargill purchases, including cotton from Uzbekistan and cacao from the Ivory Coast, have been named in an ongoing court case, as well as on its own palm oil plantations in Papua New Guinea.

Also at the PNG plantations, formally independent farmers are being converted into de facto bonded laborers, and indigenous communities have consistently reported the destruction of their natural habitats and intimidation through violence in zones claimed to be producing for Cargill.

Tax evasion

In 2018 the UK Revenue and Customs won a £79 million tax avoidance case against Cargill (together with Goldman Sachs), related to the acquisition of a gas-fired power plant from the collapsed firm Enron in 2001. Seven years earlier, Cargill, along with several other grain mega-traders, was accused of substantial tax evasion by Argentina.

All of these reasons are why we speak directly to you, Cargill family. Your operations acutely impact the wellbeing and survival of beings from all walks of life, from all species, across the globe. The world needs you NOW to lead your industry in shutting down the mechanics of animal exploitation and environmental destruction, and in putting an end to practices that harm tens of billions of sentient beings.

You have the choice, and the world’s eyes are upon you now.

We warmly welcome your investment in plant-based protein producers (such as the pea-protein supplier to Beyond Meat)and cultivated meat technologies (Memphis Meats and Aleph Farms), and you have recognised the importance of these alternatives in feeding the world. However, you continue to cling to your identity as a ‘traditional animal protein’ company. Many of your competitors are embracing the switch to being “protein” companies, such as Tyson Foods, whilst others have taken the next step to creating their own plant-based protein products, such as Maple Leaf Foods and Smithfield Food. By making similar changes in your operations, Cargill could have an enormous impact on food sustainability, environmental health and social and climate justice.

We also welcome your investment in charitable initiatives to support food security — like your recently-launched initiative with Heifer International “Hatching Hope”. However, this partnership aims to improve the nutrition of 100 million people by 2030 based on greater production, promotion and consumption of poultry. We urge you to use these opportunities to leave behind the destructive and harmful practices of animal farming, and help vulnerable communities to feed themselves with foods that are more , more sustainable and more ethical: plant-based foods. The enormous amount of food we directly feed to livestock should be fed directly to those who need it.

Lastly, we applaud you also for listening to your customers, and listening to the concerns of the individuals that consume the animals that you process. Just last year you radically altered your slaughter process for chickens at your London plant, reducing the distress experienced by these sentient beings in response to welfare concerns. Cargill, we believe these welfare concerns are only going to increase as the public becomes rapidly more informed about the suffering of farmed animals and as they are faced with the stark facts about the central role of animal agriculture in the climate emergency. Today, we say that listening to your customers and consumers can only mean spearheading a global shift towards a plant-based food system.

Cargill: you have enormous influence over today’s food and agricultural systems and over the companies that work within it? Crucially, you have a massive impact on wellbeing, and now the survival, of tens of billions of living beings whose habitats, livelihoods and very lives are now facing extreme risk.

We now know that a plant-based food system is the only system that can minimise the risk of climate breakdown, halt mass extinction and avert social collapse.

With your investments and your infrastructure, we can we can start the urgent project to build a just and sustainable plant-based food system for the planet.

The post Cargill Family, A Historic Choice is upon You: Planetary Destruction or Climate, Animal and Human Justice? first appeared on Animal Rebellion.

According to Brazil’s space research centre Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), over 75,000 fires have now been spotted in 2019 so far — an 85 per cent increase from the same period last year.

It’s believed around one million indigenous people from up to 500 tribes are at risk from the fires, while hundreds of thousands of other animals for whom the dense forest is home, are desperately trying to flee, or are dying agonising deaths in this human-made inferno.

Massive amounts of carbon are being emitted into the atmosphere as smoke billows up from the blazes and blankets entire cities such as Sao Paolo, blocking the sun, and turning day into night. The fires are not restricted to Brazil but are affecting other countries in the Amazon basin. In Bolivia, video footage from its Santa Cruz department shows monkeys and other animals running in search of shelter from the fires, amid burning trees and a blackened landscape. The European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams), reports that smoke has reached the Atlantic coast.

While Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s right wing president, has been pointing the finger at NGOs for igniting the fires, there is no evidence to support this claim. In fact, evidence points squarely at Bolsonaro himself for inciting farmers to set the forest ablaze in order to clear the way for cattle grazing land and soy production.

Bolsonaro has made no bones about his apparent death-wish against the Amazon and its human and nonhuman inhabitants. Upon entering office, Bolsonaro proudly asserted that he would be dismantling existing environmental protections to make way for agricultural land expansion and intensified production and his policies have reflected this.

According to OpenDemocracy (DemocraciaAbierta), recently leaked documents suggest that Bolsonaro intends on wreaking yet more havoc on our earth’s respiratory system, by cutting through it to build hydro dams, bridges, and highways to service the booming agricultural sector. To crush opposition before it has a chance to form, Bolsonaro plans on increasing government presence — which will almost certainly translate into intimidation and aggression, and perhaps worse, against local communities and activist groups — in the affected areas.

What is particularly disturbing about Bolsonaro’s position is that he regards the conquest of the Amazon as part of a Brazilian nationalist project and those who oppose its systematic annihilation as part of a leftist conspiracy to undermine Brazilian national sovereignty.

Meanwhile, indigenous communities’ legitimate claims to sovereignty within the region are being trampled on. Although not necessarily stated in the leaked documents, it is clear that part and parcel of Bolsonaro’s extremist ideology is the idea that cattle farming is integral to Brazilian national identity. At stake are not only local identities and ways of life, but life on earth as such.

Celebrities and global leaders have joined the chorus of public figures calling for action. Leonardo Decaprio, Madonna, and Ariana Grande, among others, have expressed horror and apocalyptic scenario, while president Emmanuel Macron tweeted, “Our house is burning. Literally,” and called for the fires to be a top priority in discussions at the upcoming G7 Summit.

But much more urgent action at the grassroots level is needed. The climate is already in major crisis and these recent events only accelerate our headlong journey to catastrophe. We cannot rely on world leaders like Macron, who have a vested interest in maintaining the eco- and zoocidal status quo, to save the earth in yet another round of talks. It is past time to take matters into our own hands — to take to the streets and in peaceful protest demand swift action to slow the tide of destruction.

To this end, we animal justice activists from newly formed movement Animal Rebellion joined climate justice group Extinction Rebellion outside the Brazilian Embassy in London on Friday 23rd August to mass protest the Brazilian government’s responsibility for the fires raging through the Amazon rainforest. Around a thousand people attended the protest, which was led by Brazilian indigenous groups. In line with Animal Rebellion’s use of non-violent civil disobedience to bring about change, the protest included an occupation of the street outside the Brazilian Embassy and surrounding area.

While Bolsonaro, lit the proverbial match, the global animal agricultural industry and the desire for animal flesh around the world are ultimately the main culprits.. Condemning Bolsonaro for his negligence is paramount, as he is directly responsible for this latest act of zoocide. It is essential to take Bolsonaro to task for his ruthless and unforgiving scorched earth policy, but he has only brought to a head an already perilous situation for which our totally unsustainable profit-driven and exploitative global food system is fundamentally to blame. We are facing an existential crisis that can be mitigated but by no means solved by removing Bolsonaro from office and boycotting Brazilian products. An entire overhaul of the global food production system is needed.

Through peaceful civil disobedience, governments worldwide need to be pressured to take a cold hard look at what it is really fuelling this inferno — global animal agriculture.

Our governments need to commit to taking immediate steps to transition to a sustainable plant-based food system. According to the UK government’s own report, agriculture is estimated to be the driver for around 80 per cent of deforestation worldwide. Approximately 450,000 square kilometres of deforested Amazon in Brazil are now cattle pasture. A 2015 study calculated that “pasture [cleared for cattle] was the dominant driver of forested area and related carbon loss in South America”. Compared to data from 1970, over 90 percent of the cleared land in the Amazon region has been converted to cattle ranching.

While we must rise up in peaceful protest against Bolsonaro and his shamefully irresponsible policies, we must also ramp up pressure on governments worldwide to change our food system now. Time is running out.

The post The Amazon Ablaze: Bolsonaro and the Meat Industry Are Fuelling the Flames first appeared on Animal Rebellion.