From Jeremy Rifkin’s Los Angeles Times op-ed piece, May 27, 2002:
“In the past half a century, we have erected an artificial, worldwide protein ladder, with grain-fed beef and other meats on the top rung. Affluent populations, especially in Europe, North America and Japan, devour the bounty of the planet. The transition of world agriculture from food grain to feed grain represents a new form of human evil, with consequences possibly far greater and longer lasting than any past wrongdoing inflicted by men against their fellow human beings.
“The shift from food to feed continues apace despite the growing hunger of an increasingly desperate humanity. The human consequences of the transition from food to feed were dramatically illustrated in 1984 in Ethiopia, when thousands were dying each day from famine. The public was unaware that, at the same time, Ethiopia was using some of its agricultural land to produce linseed cake, cottonseed cake and rapeseed meal for export to Britain and other European nations to be used as feed for livestock.
“Consuming large quantities of grain-fed beef and other meats is viewed by many as a basic right and a way of life. The underside of the beef culture, in which displaced people search desperately for their next meal, is rarely considered. There is likely to be plenty of talk at the World Food Summit about how to increase food production. No doubt the biotech companies will be there, touting their genetically modified “wonder seeds.” Developed countries and nongovernmental organizations will talk about extending food aid. Other countries will talk about more equitable global trade agreements and securing higher prices for their commodities. There may even be some discussion about the need for agricultural land reform in poor countries.
“What is likely to be virtually absent from the debate is talk about the food preferences of the world’s wealthier consumers, who favor eating at the highest point on the global food chain while their fellow human beings starve.”
And so it goes on and on. The climate keeps changing, the children keep starving, and the animals keep being bred to be fed. And fed. And fed and fed and fed.
Starvation in Uganda reported last month on africanews
“Starvation in Karamoja is going largely unnoticed as higher-profile crises, including looming famine in the Horn of Africa, and the war in Ukraine, compel global attention.
“The erratic effects of a changing climate — Karamoja is experiencing harsh drought, but last year witnessed damaging floods and landslides — have only multiplied the hardships bearing down on the region.
“In terms of acute malnutrition in this year we have experienced the worst that we have had in the last 10 years. And we are tracing this back to the issues around climate change, we have also experienced increasing pockets of insecurity as well as common childhood illnesses,” said Alex Mokori, UNICEF nutrition specialist.
Across the region, about 91,600 children and 9,500 pregnant or breastfeeding women are suffering from acute malnutrition and need treatment, according to the latest assessment by humanitarian agencies and foreign donors.”
And it’s not just food that’s scarce.
From https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2004/aug/23/water.famine
“Meat-eaters soak up the world’s water.
A change in diets may be necessary to enable developing countries to feed their people, say scientists.
It’s 2022 and we’ve known for decades that animal protein is not only unnecessary, but unhealthy for us. So why isn’t anyone ending animal agriculture? Why won’t they just stop? Stop to save the children. Stop to save the world.
Help us feed the children at our vegan school. Help us teach the next generation that veganism is the only way to save the world. For just $10 a month, you could help us help them to prevent these avoidable human tragedies in the future.
Thank you.
