All steaks to be rare in Ghent, starting today
The Guardian reports that the Belgian city of Ghent is turning vegetarian once a week to save the planet, despite the fact critics say that a diet high in fruit, veggies and dairy isn't a sure-fire solution to climate change.
In an awesome display of the power of political intervention (which some say is vital if we are to tackle climate change promptly) all menus in one of Belgium's largest cities will henceforth sport at least one veggie option on Thursdays, while some 'meateries' will become fully vegetarian for the day.
But will Ghent's strict diet of greens tackle global warming, as the Flanders' Ethical Vegetarian Association claims so unequivocally?
The hard-to-swallow truth is this: a vegetarian diet can actually have a bigger climate impact than a diet of chicken burgers and lamb chops. Greens, simply put, aren't always that green. Particularly when they are grown out-of-season in energy-hungry greenhouses or flown to market in airplanes with typically sky-high emissions.
And as for the 'organic wholegrain bread' and 'soya fritters' beatified by the Guardian article, organic farming may benefit biodiversity, but it's not necessarily less greenhouse gas-intensive. And soya fritters are no planetary panacea either: soya farming is one of the main causes of tropical deforestation, which currently produces a fifth of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Either way, the good-natured citizens of Ghent appear to be taking the shift in dietary regime in their stride. But then, this city - which used to employ a diet of blessed donut-shaped buns called 'Saint Hubert bread' to fend off rabies - has a history of tactically deploying food.
Follow up: Treehugger: Ghent Goes Veggie on Thursdays
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You are right - Friends of the Earth estimate "If currents trends continue, cattle ranchers and soya farmers alone will destroy 40 per cent of Amazon rainforest by 2050."
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BUT: A massive 97 per cent of soyameal produced worldwide is fed to animals reared for meat.
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Most soya is grown in Latin America, with leaders in the trade being Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, behind the US. These countries export soya to Europe, which is then converted into animal feed.
If you look at vege-burger packets etc. they all bare the 'rainforest alliance' symbol... so are carefully and sustainably farmed.
Where-as the GM soya your meat was fattened up on is guaranteed not to be.
You should get your facts straight before posting under such a well respected brand as 'BBC'... and no, reading other people's blogs does not count as research.
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Climate Change Conference - Dec 07
Hi all great forum. I hope you dont mind but I wanted to raise the issue of climate change. There will be a conference for Climate Change Conference - Dec 07 in Copenhagen.
We cant ignore it we are all detroying our planet with CO2, each year its getting hotter and winters are getting shorter. The ice is melting and the sea and coral are dying, chocked with C02. We must take action now and not just accept words from our politicians. We must ALL take action. Please take part and get invloved before its too late for us and our children.
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Hi Daisy_Mae, I entirely agree with you. But while the lion's share (about 80% according to the Worldwatch Institute) of soya ends up fattening our meat animals, but vegetarians aren't entirely off the hook: some of that soya ends up on our plates as tofu, yoghurt, cheese and in many other processed foods. Obviously, the best way to reduce demand for soya is to eat less meat, but vegetarians can also help by choosing 'Amazon-friendly' brands. You can read more about this in the article I wrote for BBC Bloom, here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bloom/actions/soya.shtml
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Nice blog...
Here is a break down of the amount of land needed to produce enough soya per animal product:
* Beef and veal = nearly 600,000 hectares per year
* Pork = nearly 4 million hectares per year
* Poultry meat = 3 million hectares per year
* Milk = over 200,000 hectares per year
* Cheese = over 400,000 hectares per year
* Eggs = over 1 million hectares per year
This means that for one EU citizen to eat pork for a year, it requires 80m2 of land to satisfy their consumption alone.
There is loads more great info about soya here if you are interested:
http://www.savetheirworld.org.uk/soya
xxx
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Great blog.
I've just had a very tasty bacon sarney. With HP sauce. Yummy.
We've had fresh powder snow and I'm going heli-skiing tomorrow. The chopper pilot assures me it flies on bio-diesel. He should know - he used to be in the Israeli Air Force.
Toodle pip.
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great! vege-bacon I trust? :p xxx
tee hee!
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