European Union Parliament Joins the Climate Change Conversation
- Topics:
- Blog, Food Policy & Politics, Meat Industry
Thursday, February 26th, 2009, 2:12 PM
The European Union’s Parliament joined a growing debate when they assembled in early February: how to combat climate change and livestock emissions while ensuring adequate food supplies for their 27 member-nations.
According to an article on “The Pig Site,” the EU Parliament said “changes in behavior by consumers and the consideration of targets for reducing agricultural emissions should accompany regulations to cap industrial greenhouse gases and improve energy efficiency.” The 80-page report also reiterated the EU’s plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions 20% by 2020.
A step forward, right? Well, the assembly also took a huge leap backward when they decided to DELETE a piece of the report that demanded a cut in global meat consumption, especially in wealthy countries. Why the hesitation? Read the article and tell us what you think.
– Deepa
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:30 am
I think the problem is that many of the European Parliament members who were behind deleting the crucial line about reducing meat consumption were from countries with large livestock industries (such as Ireland).
The Christian Democrats, the EU Parliament’s largest political faction and one with ties to farm interests, also had a part to play.
So it all comes down to putting the interests of farmers before climate change.
http://www.foodforchange.org.uk/2009/02/euadoptsclimatechangereportbutdeletescrucialpoints/
January 5th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
The article says less meat, not no meat. But our precious heat stopping meateaters cannot change. Especially in the US. But remember Pink Floyd in The Wall? “You can’t have any pudding until you eat your meat!”
It’s ingrained that people in the north must eat meat. Excuse me, but that is bull. Each time I visit the doctor despite my smoking non-filtered cigarettes, he says, “I wish all my patients were as healthy as you.” Must be 35 years of a high fiber vegetarian diet. I am not starving and my organs are healthy. You can live well without meat.
Considering that the livestock industry is the second largest (bigger than the transportation sector) contributor to climate change, I think these guys in the EU Parliament gotta just keep at it.
I think that US Ag Secretary Vilsack’s action with US dairy farmers is a good first step, but I am surprised that he took on dairy and not beef.
While diabetes and obesity rise to epidemic proportions around the world, can we afford to sit back and not put Monsanto, Cargill, National Beef, Tyson, JBS-Swift, ConAgra and Archer Daniels Midland out of their “too-big-to-fail” businesses? I guess not. They have become synonymous with the WTO/G-20/UN and other such megalomaniacal pirates.
One serving of beef per month is more than enough for would be meat eaters. And imagine if all beef producers had to use anaerobic digesters to supply the energy required to process and transport that beef. Now we’re talking not none, but substantially less meat. Less heart disease, more rainforests, less polluted water. If we rolled back NAFTA Mexicans might stop pouring over the border to work in the meatpacking industry and return to their farmlands.
Wimps they are, puppets held up by industries that are sunsetting. But their denial is our poison. Try again EU Parliament. The folks you’re addressing are suffering a protein and animal fat overload and their brains have shut down.