Bookshops What the Grumpy Vegan Likes
Camilla’s Bookshop in Eastbourne, East Sussex.
Socialist Agribusiness in the U.S.
The public has soured on bailouts for industries that have made the wrong decisions for years. With the billions it doled out to the financial services and auto industries, the federal government has finally imposed some requirements, modest though they may be, on the companies that received vast sums of taxpayers’ funds. The public no longer wants the combination of financial bailouts and government deregulation. The industries must observe some standards and have some accountability, so that mistakes are not repeated again and again, and taxpayers can feel like the industries are not getting a complete free ride.
But the Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture never seem to have gotten the memo when it comes to Big Agribusiness, and especially the pork industry.
Big Pork at the Government Trough—Again
The Grumpy Vegan deliberately put a provocative title to this post which quotes from Wayne Pacelle’s excellent article. The title isn’t Wayne’s; it’s mine. Wayne may or may not agree with it. Just want to make that clear. Nonetheless, capitalists call government tax subsidies good business practice whereas they declare government benefits to the poor as socialism.
How Many Animals Does It Take?
Produced by the excellent Animal Visuals.
Erik Marcus on Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Grumpy Vegan thought this was a very helpful review and looks forward to reading the book.
As the author of two books on this subject, I couldn’t possibly be more impressed by what Jonathan Safran Foer has accomplished in Eating Animals. It’s by far the best book on agribusiness and vegetarianism I’ve ever read. In fact, had a book half this good existed fifteen years ago, there’s no way I’d have written Vegan or Meat Market: I wouldn’t have felt there was a need.
Sterner Stuff
It seems that yesterday’s pronouncement by Lord Stern, author of the British government’s report “Review on the Economics of Climate Change,” recommending a vegetarian diet caused such a fuss that he subsequently released a
clarification.
I think that once people understand the great risks that climate change poses, they will naturally want to choose products and services that cause little or no emissions of greenhouse gases, which means ‘low-carbon consumption’. This will apply across the board, including electricity, heating, transport and food. A diet that relies heavily on meat production results in higher emissions than a typical vegetarian diet. Different individuals will make different choices. However, the debate about climate change should not be dumbed down to a single slogan, such as ‘give up meat to save the planet’.
The Grumpy Vegan heard him interviewed yesterday morning on BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program. Go here to scroll down and listen to the interview. Stern is a most impressive speaker and advocate for global warming who understands the important relevance to animal food production and environmental degradation. It’s clear that some in media want to trivialise Stern’s message on the environmental impact of animal agriculture while he, Stern, is skillfully raising the issue of vegetarianism in a way which puts the issue before the public in a rational way.
Posted in Animal Rights, Eating
Tagged Animals in Agriculture, Living the Grumpy Vegan Life
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