Overconsumption, overpopulation, having children

The question “when will I have children?” was never as important to me as “will I have children?” and – perhaps more importantly – “should I have children?”

These are some of my thoughts on the matter…

Should I?

The question of should relates to the ethics involved in bringing another person into the world, and the argument against that is usually the fallacy that overpopulation of the human race is a major destructive force, which is simply not the case. Yes, humans can be destructive, but it’s not a population problem. A person living in the developed world (or “first world”) on average consumes 32 times as many resources as someone living in underdeveloped “third world” nations. Not only that, the idea of “food shortage” is a problem, as it is an issue of food distribution and rising costs and competition rather than a true shortage. The planet certainly has a food crisis, but not a food shortage.

Here’s a great article that covers 10 key points about “overpopulation” -

10 Reasons to Rethink ‘Overpopulation’
A Publication of the Population and Development Program at Hampshire College, No. 40, Fall 2006

Fears of overpopulation are pervasive in American society. From an early age we are taught that the world is overpopulated and that population pressure is responsible for poverty, hunger, environmental degradation and even political insecurity. If we don’t get population growth under control now, the argument goes, our future is in danger.

Conventional wisdom, however, is not always wise. Placing the blame on population obscures the powerful economic and political forces that threaten the well-being of both people and the planet. It leads to top-down, target-driven population control programs that undermine voluntary family planning and women’s reproductive rights. It reinforces racism, promoting harmful stereotypes of poor people of color. And it prevents the kind of global understanding we need in order to reach across borders to work together for a more just, peaceful and environmentally sustainable world.

Here are ten reasons why we should rethink ‘overpopulation.’ …

Click to continue reading…

Blame the “breeders”?

On the other hand, to say we don’t want to have children out of consideration for animals or the environment, or because modern human “breeding” is “unnatural” somehow, delves into areas that are speciesist when we frame the issue as a them versus us problem, and perpetuates the problematic view that humans are somehow “above” the environment, rather than fostering a healthy, sustainable relationship with it. This human superiority complex – our alleged need for hierarchical relationships to (or “dominion” over) others – is to blame for overconsumption, environmental exploitation, and the commodification of – and consequent disregard for the welfare of – humans and animals. The behaviour and ignorance of individuals conforming to and perpetuating a faulty system is what needs to be challenged, not “breeding” or “breeders.” Throwing blame around is easy, but it’s not a productive or kind thing to do! And it’s certainly not in the interests of improving conditions for other people or animals, nor for improving on the status of reproductive rights… but that’s another post for another day… as is the option for adoption, where it exists (and where it’s grossly restricted due to problems and bigotry of a different nature…).

Will I? When will I?

The questions of will and when are rather more personal, and involve different sorts of considerations, such as more personal, individualised philosophies of life, religion, and personal financial considerations, which I’ll not go into here to avoid a long-winded ramble of potentially no interest to anyone other than myself and my husband… other than to say until I was pretty much in the “will not” camp in regard to having children until I was in a relationship with my husband, who made me rethink a lot of things in my life. And vice versa, actually. I also wasn’t completely sold on the “idea” of marriage and weddings until he came along. (That’s “tru wuv” for you!)

Reducing consumption

On the subject of overconsumption – how does one reduce their consumption to contribute to environmental protection? Recycling? Take the bus? Don’t use plastic bags? Change one’s lightbulbs? These things – and others – together can make a small impact, but the largest impact involves food consumption and the food crisis – and the most destructive and unsustainable food industry is the animal industry: land is cleared for animal grazing and for crops to feed animals, farming animals uses up far, far more water than any plant crop, and animal industries pollute more than all other industries combined.

UN figures suggest that meat production puts more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than transport.

“The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that direct emissions from meat production account for about 18% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions,” he told BBC News.

“So I want to highlight the fact that among options for mitigating climate change, changing diets is something one should consider.”
- BBC News

There’s a reason why those little “what’s your ecological footprint?” quizzes ask you questions about your diet. If you are serious about reducing the impact that human beings have on this planet, the answer doesn’t lie in not having children – it lies in making sure your own impact on the world is minimised, and a large portion of that does include what you shovel into your mouth on a daily basis – which a lot of people don’t like to hear! It’s easier for us folks in rich countries to throw money at a problem – like buying a hybrid car, for example – and tell ourselves that’s enough, and that using low-flow showerheads makes us environmentally aware. The fact of the matter is: if you eat meat, you’re not living a sustainable or environmentally-friendly life. Helping other people – including your kids! – go vegan and stay vegan is probably the best of the best things – and one of the easiest things – you can do to help protect the environment. Having kids or interests other than veganism does not have to hamper your ability to engage in animal rights activism or in improving the environment, human rights, the world, etc, etc… In fact, it can improve upon it!

Save everything! Go vegan!

(For further info, see my other posts on environment stuff.)

Australian vegans: 4th October gathering!

Calling all veg Aussies: a national event is coming up!

Love Earth Gathering

What is the Love Earth gathering?
Concerned citizens are calling on your help to save our planet from the impending catastrophes of climate change. We believe that the policy makers of our time are going to great lengths to avoid the one solution that is easy and affordable and will have a dramatic and powerful effect in reducing global warming.

A worldwide adoption of a Vegetarian/Vegan diet.

If all people in Australia could adopt a vegetarian/vegan diet we could reduce green house gas emissions by one third.

31% of total greenhouse gases in Australia are caused by animal industries – from A Balancing Act (2005), a report by CSIRO and The University of Sydney.

It is a simple inexpensive solution that will buy us more time to wean our civilization off fossil fuels. Yet the policy makers are afraid to suggest this idea for fear of losing votes.

We want to change that and get the vegetarian/vegan diet on the agenda of anyone seriously concerned about reducing the impact of climate change.

And we need your help. The Love Earth Gathering is our opportunity to encourage the world to adopt a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle so we can reduce green house gas emissions and save our planet.

It is a celebration of love and a demonstration of unity.

On the 4th of October, 2008 we are asking all the vegan and vegetarians of the world to gather together in their city and publicly request the world governments to recognize and promote the vegetarian/vegan diet as a real and viable means to reduce green house gas emissions.

So come and join us on the 4th of October in your city (details of venues to be advised) Wear something bright, funny or just come as your own good looking self, But do come. Make a stand and be counted. Together we can save our world.

Date: Saturday 4th of October.

For more information on gatherings in your city, including locations, times, and celebrity guest speakers, check out the Love Earth Gathering website.

Tiny vegan footprints

A quick, to-the-point article turned up on MSN Singapore News recently about the environmental benefits of veg diets.

Going veggie can slash your carbon footprint: study

Giving up meat could drastically reduce your carbon footprint, with meat-eaters’ diets responsible for almost twice the emissions of those of vegetarians, a German study said on Tuesday.

A diet with meat is responsible for producing in a year the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving a mid-sized car 4,758 kilometres (2,956 miles), the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IOeW) said.

But the food a vegetarian consumes in 12 months is responsible for generating the same emissions as driving 2,427 kilometres, the IOeW said in a study commissioned by independent consumer protection group Foodwatch.

The calculations are based on emissions of greenhouse gases, including methane produced by the animals themselves, as well as emissions from food production including manufacturing feed and fertiliser and the use of farmland.

Going vegan — giving up meat and dairy products — would cut the emissions released in making what you eat more than seven-fold, to the equivalent of driving 629 kilometres, it said.

And if it is all organic, your food footprint is almost a 17th of that of a meat-eater — the equivalent of driving 281 kilometres.

Beef is particularly environmentally unfriendly, it said, with producing a kilo (2.2 pounds) the same as driving 71 kilometres compared with 26 kilometres for pork.

Switching to organic farming can cut emissions dramatically, “but what counts is the way we feed ourselves … production and consumption first and foremost of beef and milk must be cut drastically,” the study said.

[Agence France-Presse - 8/26/2008 4:21 PM GMT]

So if, in the future, you want to know why I’m baffled by meat-eating “environmentalists” and meat-eating hybrid car drivers, please refer to this article – one among many, both on this here blog and in the great Googleverse beyond. K thx.

An ethical wardrobe: it’s so hot right now

The UK media, from what I’ve seen, seems to be reasonably vegan-friendly. From pro-animal rights articles to health, they aren’t quite so afraid as certain other western nations of throwing the v-word around. *cough*Australia*cough* *cough*UnitedStates*cough*cough*

The Guardian has been doing a series called The Ethical Wardrobe in their Life & Style section that’s worth checking out. Recent articles include info about leather and silk.

Don’t hide from the truth
Many ethical consumers excuse their leather purchases on the grounds that skins are simply a byproduct of the meat industry. The reality is not so simple, as Kate Carter reveals

& More on vegan-friendly weddings!

A whiter-than-white wedding
Wedding dressing can include a catalogue of ethical no-nos, from low-paid seamstresses to tortured silkworms – not to mention the sheer waste involved. Kate Carter explains how to keep a clear conscience on your big day

Thanks to Andrew Bartlett for pointing this out in his recent blog post “Queensland government’s hot air on climate change continues unabated.”

And speaking of ethical clothing, there’s a great photo group on Flickr dedicated to Vegan Shoes. That’s hot.

Psychological blind spots

People “prefer” the meat version of foods, even if… it tastes, looks, and feels exactly the darn same.

“An ingenious study just published in the Journal of Consumer Research has provided a striking demonstration that taste perceptions and product preferences are strongly influenced by our personal values – to the point where people who believe in the importance of social authority perceived a sausage roll labelled as vegetarian as far inferior to a ‘meat’ version, even though they ate the same sausage roll on both occasions.

The same result appeared whether the participants actually ate meat or vegetarian sausage rolls, and the participants couldn’t reliably distinguish the two in any condition.”

Anti-veg prejudice is fascinating… if a little bit sad, given all the unnecessary animal suffering, environmental degradation, and health problems that result from people’s alleged “preferences.”

Read the whole article here!

An Inefficient Truth

In Australia water shortage has been a real problem in recent years, particularly in south-east Queensland where dam levels in the state’s capital dropped below 20% of capacity. The Australian continent is dry, and quite hostile to cropland and grazing pasture. Much of the food we eat is imported. The current Australian population is roughly 20 million. The land can sustain a population of 10 million eating a standard omnivorous diet, however the continent could sustain up to 30 million eating a vegan diet… Sounds strange, doesn’t it? How is such a big difference possible? A quick glance at the figures reveals the answers.

“It takes between 55,000 to 100,000 litres of water to produce just 1 kilogram of beef. Canon Hill Abattoir (just one abattoir in the country) uses 580 million litres of water per year.”
- Professor Wayne Meyer, CSIRO water expert

Amount of water required to make 1 kilogram of produce:

Potatoes	500 litres
Wheat	900 litres
Alfalfa	900 litres
Sorghum	1,100 litres
Maize	1,400 litres
Rice	1,900 litres
Soya Beans	2,000 litres
Chicken	3,500 litres
Beef	100,000 litres

[New Scientist, 01/02/1997]

  – Between 10 and 16kgs of plant food are required to make 1kg of beef.
  – 38% of the world’s grain is fed to animals.
  – 1.5 billion cattle, and 1.7 billion sheep and goats are competing for water.
  – The world’s vast cattle herds emit more climate-changing greenhouse gases than all the cars, planes, and other forms of transport put together.
[United Nations 440 page report, "Livestock's Long Shadow"]

The above collection of figures were care of Vegetarian/Vegan Society of Queensland. I’ve also been told by some well-informed friends that – since some of the above information was published – potatoes and rice, among other plant crops, require less water these days due to the implementation of more efficient farming methods. Animals, on the other hand, are still just as thirsty, and, on top of that, are still consuming a huge portion of some of the most water-intensive plant crops.

Ever since I was a kid I remember seeing stories about “drought-stricken sheep farmers” on the evening news, and, of course, the farmers are fine aside from losing money because they can’t sell “their” animals/production units on to slaughterhouses. Meanwhile the sheep are starving and dehydrating to death and suffering horribly. Interestingly, the Australian government already subsidises animal farming regularly, with or without drought – it’s just not sustainable. (&An aside: some years ago a commercial on Australian television shouted something along those lines of: “if you don’t eat lamb on Australia Day then you’re un-Australian!” Well. If being Australian means supporting environmentally destructive industries that continually inflict extreme cruelty on animals, then I’m proud to be un-Australian!… whatever that means. People are free to be vegan in Australia, if this whole “freedom” and “democracy” thing is to be taken seriously, and throwing around fascist terms like “un-Australian” is one of the most ignorant and un-Australian things that goes on in this country… But before I wander off any further on this tangent…)

“Ethical vegans” and “health vegans” are common terms – people who are vegan primarily for animal rights reasons or for primarily health reasons respectively. There’s a another category of vegans who call themselves “eco-vegans” or “environmental vegans” as a result of recent environmental studies relating to animal industry pollution… And me? I prefer prefix-free veganism! I went vegan for the well-being of animals first and foremost. But the benefits to my health are a bonus, and I’ve developed an interest in nutrition and health food since going vegan (although I still admire vegans who are committed to living off vegan junk food!). That the rich variety of tasty dishes I’ve added to my diet since going vegan are actually helping the environment as well was a great discovery, as I’m into minimising my ecological footprint since I first learnt about such things back in school. On top of all that, I’m also vegan for Buddhist/meditation-related reasons, but that’s another story entirely…

On the subject of environmental veganism, the facts show that animal agriculture takes a devastating toll on the earth and it’s a grossly inefficient way of producing food. Animal industries pollute more than all other industries combined. One of the easiest and best things – if not the best thing – an environmentalist or eco-aware person can do to reduce their impact on the planet is to reduce the demand for animal products by going vegan – veganism contributes to lowering carbon emissions, and there’s certainly a heck of a lot less water wastage.

Note: This blog will return to its regular gluten-free/vegan recipe postings shortly! I’ve been experimenting with “raw food” style recipes and planning a wedding (I’ll be gettin’ hitched later this week!), so I haven’t had much time for recipe blogging & photos. Also, I wanted to make it clear this was a vegan-based blog due to some confusion (aka daft comments!), hence the recent extra vegany explaining. We now return you to your regular tasty programming…