George Monbiot: Face It, We All Aren't Going to Become Vegetarians

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



Face It, We All Aren't Going to Become Vegetarians

By George Monbiot, Monbiot.com. Posted April 18, 2008.

It's better for the planet to avoid eating meat, but the reality is we have to make it more sustainable for people who don't want to be vegetarians.



Never mind the economic crisis. Focus for a moment on a more urgent threat: the great food recession that is sweeping the world faster than the credit crunch.

You have probably seen the figures by now: The price of rice has risen by three-quarters in the past year, that of wheat by 130 percent. There are food crises in 37 countries. One hundred million people, according to the World Bank, could be pushed into deeper poverty by the high prices. But I'll bet you have missed the most telling statistic. At 2.1 billion tons, last year's global grain harvest broke all records. It beat the previous year's by almost 5 percent. The crisis, in other words, has begun before world food supplies are hit by climate change. If hunger can strike now, what will happen if harvests decline?

There is plenty of food. It is just not reaching human stomachs. Of the 2.13 billion tons likely to be consumed this year, only 1.01 billion, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), will feed people.

I am sorely tempted to write another column about biofuels. From this morning all sellers of transport fuel in the United Kingdom will be obliged to mix it with ethanol or biodiesel made from crops. The World Bank points out that "the grain required to fill the tank of a sports utility vehicle with ethanol ... could feed one person for a year."

Last year global stockpiles of cereals declined by around 53 million tons; this gives you a rough idea of the size of the hunger gap. The production of biofuels this year will consume almost 100 million tons, which suggests that they are directly responsible for the current crisis. In the Guardian yesterday, British Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly promised that "if we need to adjust policy in the light of new evidence, we will." What new evidence does she require? In the midst of a global humanitarian crisis, we have just become legally obliged to use food as fuel. It is a crime against humanity in which every driver in this country has been forced to participate. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/environment/82628/

[gear_head]

1. food-importing countries, should stop feeding grain to ...

non-humans

[diane in sf]

2. It's better to run cattle and buffalo on grassland that doesn't sustain grain growth.

Healthier for marginal soils and better quality meat.

[kestrel91316]

3. The really sad thing is, grain shouldn't even be fed to cattle......

They are grazers. Of grasses and forbs.

Heavy feeding of grains causes rumen acidosis in cattle, leading to bloat (possible death), liver abscesses (IIRC), and susceptibility to Shiga-Toxic (aka enteropathogenic) E. coli infection.

Sounds about like when people feed their cats fish. It makes no biological sense and causes multiple health problems, but still they do it. And now we find out the mercury in it may ALSO be a problem for them.

We need to consider biological facts when we keep animals in our care, and not just do whtever we damned well feel like with them.........

[bananas]

5. I'm glad we stopped feeding cattle to cattle. nt

[NickB79]

4. And we're going to starve a lot of poor people to make sure of it. nt