EPISODE 116 FEATURES PHILIP LYMBERY

You probably already know that industrialised farming is chemically intensive and a big greenhouse gas polluter - but how much do you really know about animal agriculture? About its enormous scale, the waste and the way we treat the animals that feed us, and provide leather for the fashion industry?

In this interview Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion in World Farming and author of Farmageddon, provides a powerful argument for a system reset.

NOTES

COMPASSION IN WORLD FARMING is a UK-based campaigning and lobbying animal welfare organisation. It campaigns against the live export of animals, certain methods of livestock slaughter, and all systems of factory farming.

NUMBERS Globally, meat consumption has quadrupled in 50 years. “We rear and slaughter 74 billion farm animals every year. For every 1 person on Earth that’s 10 animals,” says Philip.

“MEAT HAS BECOME THE FOOD - EVERYTHING ELSE IS THE GARNISH.”

“Nearly half of the usable land surface of planet Earth is producing our food, and of that half, 83% is devoted to producing meat and dairy,’” he says. “And if you look at what we get from using all of that land, meat and dairy produces just 37 % of all our protein needs and 18% of our calories.”

A VEGETARIAN diet avoids meat and fish, but commonly allow eggs and dairy products.

A VEGAN diet means not eating animal products full stop. It is growing more popular. Once a fringe idea, it is now both chic and accessible, and vegan of course extends to fashion and beauty products. Last year, fashion search engine Lyst reported a 119% increase in searches for vegan leather.

“The word vegan was initially defined as a diet free of animal-based foods (such as meat, dairy products, eggs, and honey.) Nowadays, the word’s meaning is commonly extended to refer to non-food products—such as clothing, cosmetics, and medicine—that are made without animal-derived substances. Vegans also typically object to exploitative uses of animals, from animal testing to rodeos to zoos and dolphin shows. You can use the word vegan to identify a sandwich, a car seat, a shampoo, or a person. Given the word’s flexibility, seeking an accurate and uncontested definition inevitably produces disagreement. You’re always going to have bickering over who or what qualifies as vegan. The core virtue of the vegan concept is that it enables, through the tiniest efforts, the prevention of vast amounts of animal suffering and environmental degradation. Donald Watson, a founding member of the Vegan Society, coined the term vegan in 1944 while living in the United Kingdom. Via vegan.com

The “Veganuary” movement started in 2014. More here.

MEAT-FREE MONDAY was launched by Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney in 2009. It’s a not-for-profit campaign that aims to raise awareness of the detrimental environmental impact of animal agriculture and industrial fishing. The campaign encourages people to help slow climate change, conserve precious natural resources and improve their health by having at least one plant-based day each week. More here.

For a big read on the CLIMATE IMPACTS OF ANIMAL AGRICULTURE try this National Geographic article.

Do we need A WORLD WITHOUT FARM ANIMALS then? That’s not realistic, says Philip. In his blog post, Why Our Planet Needs Less Meat and more Extensive Farming, he argues, “In landscapes reworked by reductions in meat and dairy and an end to factory farming, marginal lands and uplands could be reforested, using agro-forestry techniques, helping to restore hillsides with wooded wildlife habitats of climate-stabilising trees.

Farm animals could be reintegrated as part of mixed, rotational regimes on rich lowland soils where they can help bring landscapes back to life. As part of genuinely extensive, agroecological forms of farming, domesticated animals can help regenerate soils. They re-engage the age-old nitrogen cycle where sunlight pushes up plants, eaten by animals whose droppings return nourishment to the soil. They can express their natural behaviours – running, flapping, grazing – making for happier animals with better immunity, cutting down on the need for veterinary antibiotics and reducing risk of disease. Read it in full here.

DO COWS REALLY TALK TO EACH OTHER? A Sydney University phd candidate’s study “found that cows use their voice to help them maintain contact with the herd and express excitement, arousal, engagement or distress”. Watch a video interview with researcher Alexandra Green here. As the New York Post puts it, cows do “commooonicate” about how they feel. Geddit? Read the story here.

LANGUAGE Philip argues that “sustainability is rapidly going out of fashion” because it’s about doing tomorrow what we can do today. He says we should change our focus to regenerative solutions, and what he calls “putting back into nature’s asset bank.”

“WE NEED TO MOVE AWAY FROM THE CURRENT WAY OF PRODUCING FOOD” - PHILIP LYMBERY

Listen to the Wardrobe Crisis Episode with vegan chefs, featuring Abi Aspen Glencross, here.

FOOD WASTE About 40% of the world’s grain harvest is fed to factory farmed animals.

Watch Philip Lymbery speak at the 2019 Copenhagen Fashion Summit below. The panel was called From Farm to Fashion - animals in fashion supply chains, and moderated Marion Hume.

“THE FUTURE OF LEATHER IS ON GRASS” says Philip. “So many cows, and other animals, are kept caged, crammed and confined in factory farms. Cattle are being kept in feed lots and never being allowed to roam in the fields… If it’s going to play it’s part in this whole sustainability, regenerative future, then leather has to come from animals that have been kept in a way that restores the landscape - so animals that have been kept on grass in free range conditions.”

The campaign to get the EU to recognise animals as sentient beings was successful. The European Union first recognised animal sentience in 1997 in the Treaty of Amsterdam. I was recognised by New Zealand in 2015 in its Animal Welfare Act 1999, and by Quebec in a 2015 amendment to its Civil Code. In 2019, ACT became the first Australian jurisdiction to recognise animal sentience. More here.

MUSIC is by Montaigne, who sang this special acoustic version of “Because I love You” from her album Glorious Heights, just for us.

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Clare & the Wardrobe Crisis team x