One Year Post-Sandy: Climate Changes, Tactics Don’t
By Mickey Z.
30 October, 2013
World News Trust
“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted … And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore, and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief.” - Fanon
In the year that’s passed since Superstorm Sandy, I’ve attended a fair amount eco-related events and (unless I was one of the speakers) no one -- I repeat: no one -- has even hinted at the fact that the No. 1 source of human-created greenhouse gases is the global animal by-products industry.
Reminder #1: Greenhouse gases contribute mightily to climate change.
Reminder #2: Climate change contributed mightily to the impact and aftermath of Sandy.
Yep, the climate sure is changing. Our awareness, our tactics, our willingness to embrace new ideas? Not so much.
A Few Questions for the Bacon Crowd
Why be a meat-eating environmentalist when we lose nearly 7 billion tons of topsoil every year, 75 percent of the original U.S. topsoil is already gone, and without nutrient-rich topsoil, human life will vanish?
Punchline: Guess what’s causing 85 percent of this topsoil erosion: yep, livestock raising and feedcrops.
Why be a meat-eating environmentalist when the vast majority of grains (estimates: 88-95 percent) are of the untested, genetically modified variety?
Punchline: While 40,000 humans starve to death each day, 65 percent of these grains are fed to doomed “food” animals and the resulting “food” is also not labeled as GM.
Why be a meat-eating environmentalist when each and every day, 200,000 acres of rainforest are destroyed and 70 percent of previous forested land in the Amazon is now pastures or feedcrops for doomed livestock?
Punchline: Every time you eat a burger sourced from the rainforest, you are responsible for 700 pounds of living matter being destroyed: 20-30 plant species; 100 insect species; and dozens of reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Why be a meat-eating environmentalist when the land used to raise animals for “food” is 10 billion acres?
Punchline: Livestock production consumes 70 percent of all agricultural land, which translates into the consumption and destruction of one-third of the land surface on the planet.
Let’s Re-Cap
Each year, 65 percent of untested GM grains are fed to 53 billion doomed land animals by an industry that consumes one-third of the planet’s land surface and is the No. 1 source of human-created greenhouse gases -- yet “environmentalists” serve meat at their eco-conferences and warn people like me to keep our “personal choices” to ourselves.
“Environmentalists” order pizzas to their demos and follow a “leader” like Bill McKibben who doesn’t wanna focus on meat or the U.S. Department of Defense (the planet’s No. 1 polluter) or do anything that might aggravate Obama.
My retort to these Obama apologists, meat-eating environmentalists, and knee-jerk anti-vegans: If your idea of justice and liberation isn’t all-inclusive, if it doesn’t include all earthlings, well... guess what? It ain’t justice and it ain’t liberation.
Comrades, if we don’t want our legacy to be one of inaction, denial, and shame, it’s time to embrace a much darker shade of green.
#shifthappens
Note: To continue conversations like this, come see Mickey Z. in person on Nov. 7 in NYC for One Year After Hurricane Sandy: Activism, Solidarity, Animal Liberation.
Mickey Z. is the author of 11 books, most recently the novel Darker Shade of Green. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on a couple of obscure websites called Facebook and Twitter. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here.
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