“In this Our Changing Climate video essay, I look at the validity of vegan and plant-based diets as a solution to climate change. I dive into the human and planetary toll of the meat industry, looking at the massive emissions toll of beef production as well as the exploitative conditions in meat processing plants. Ultimately, I consider whether veganism is an effective tool to dismantling the meat industry and mitigating climate change.”
approaching the question from the economic/climate side with two big provisos
- while veganism is good for your personal carbon footprint, it is a consumer level change whereas we need to drastically change the production side of things
- it cannot be used as the moral justification to dictate imperialist policy to the rest of the world
For dealing with climate change, the most effective solution is to eat the rich… literally. No, I’m not kidding. One trip in their private plane to their private bunker or resort creates way more CO2 than going vegan would prevent. If we’d switch to a 1% diet, it would help the climate and the economy.
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I can’t do videos ATM but from the text you write I’m sensing a false dichotomy (that change can either be organized via policy or it can come from individual action) – a very popular one that I find self-destructive. If you tell people this is all on the big corps & that the govs must fix it, you discourage individual action (“it’s not my responsibility to stop driving a car, someone else should take away the option” mentality).
Extinction Rebellion (#XR) has the right idea: you can’t rely on govs or corps to get their shit together. Individual action is essential. Which is not say you shouldn’t still pressure the gov to act. But you certainly cannot count on the right policy to come fast enough.
