Anti-meat rhetoric harms environmentalism
As a conservationist/environmentalist/part-time farmer, I care about climate change and agricultural policy here on the Prairies.
I am lucky that in my 9-5 occupation I get to work with producers on conservation projects, and they are some of the most environmentally minded people I’ve met. Their livelihoods do depend on healthy ecosystems, after all.
I think there is an immense opportunity to increase our climate resilience by working together. There are so many solutions that are mutually beneficial to agriculture, communities and ecosystems, yet there continues to exist an “us versus them” mentality between the sectors.
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I’ve felt optimistic about bridging this gap recently, knowing that we have organizations like Regeneration Canada and the National Farmers Union with representatives at COP26, making sure that Canadian farmers have a voice as climate allies on the world stage.
So, I was slightly dismayed to see signs at the Nov. 12 climate rally at Saskatoon City Hall in support of COP26 advocating plant-based diets because meat and dairy production are responsible for more greenhouse gases than the transport sector.
While I have nothing against plant-based diets and think we should probably all eat more veggies, this statement was simply untrue. A quick search on Natural Resources Canada’s website shows that for 2018, total emissions from transportation were nearly 10 times greater than those from the entire agricultural sector. As far back as 1990, agricultural emissions have never been greater than those from transport. Where did these people get their information?
Unfortunately, I know. A 2006 report from the United Nations painted the livestock industry as a larger polluter than global transport, but their research methodology was flawed and the results inaccurate. They wound up apologizing and came out with a new report in 2013 that better captured the nuances of greenhouse gases and addressed regional differences.
Canadian beef actually has a relatively small footprint compared to other countries and maintains one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems: Canada’s temperate grasslands and prairie potholes. And get this, these ecosystems store a lot of carbon. Without a cattle industry, what would happen to all that land?
Back to the sign at the rally. It was very esthetically pleasing and I saw a reporter or two snap a picture of the group and cringed a bit thinking about all the small cattle farmers around the province who would sit down to watch the evening news and likely feel a little attacked. I just hope that they won’t associate that with the entire conservation/environmental movement because the only way forward is together.
There are so many win-win scenarios that we should be working towards, and sowing divisiveness does not get us there.
Brooke Forbes
Saskatoon
