John. Hi. Welcome. We've got Ed here. He's a vegan and you're a butcher. Look at that, look at that. That's what we want more of. Are you both available to go to Brussels next week? Nicky: Do you feel demonized as a butcher? Because you know, you have high animal welfare standards, don't you? John: I think this is about educating about production systems and I think a lot of the production systems all get lumped together. And as a small retail butcher that has direct contact with the farms, I feel I can offer my customers the traceability, the welfare, and also how those animals are looked after and fed. Ed: Can you tell me how they're looked after and fed? John: Yes, I can tell you how they're looked after and fed. We actually go and visit the farms; we also have an abattoir as well, and so... so....
Ed: And how are they killed in the abattoir? John: They're killed in the abattoir..... This is not a debate on killing methods or.... This is about environmentalism...
Ed: Well can you tell me how they are killed in the abbatoir? John: Well they're electrocuted so they're knocked out cold and then they and uh they Ed: But it doesn't always work, does it? John: It does work. Ed: It doesn't always work, like I said. John: We have vets there, we have vets there watching everything. We're even on CCTV, all the time. So there's never been higher welfare standards in this country than there are at the moment and we're wanting to defend those standards Especially with regard to breaks in that as well... Man: What are you doing it in the first place? You don't have to do it. (applause) John: We do it because You know, we believe that we should eat, um, a varied diet and eating meat is part of that diet. John: Well, that's your opinion...and and and ... Ed: Based on facts as well. It's a fact that we don't need to eat these products. So to take the life of an animal unnecessarily can never be high-welfare or moral. John: We can choose... we can choose.... we can choose to eat meat. We're gonna produce... Ok, ok gentlemen. It's all going so well. We hear you, but what is it doing to the environment? Ed: So the issue of talking about the impact...
Nicky: Taking out the animal welfare aspect of it Ed: Absolutely. Talking about climate change and not addressing the role of animal agriculture plays is like talking about lung cancer and not addressing the role that smoking cigarettes plays. Ed: A five year study...
John: Animal agriculture has reduced carbon emissions by 20 percent since 1990 65 percent of the land, the arable land, agriculture land in this country is grass That locks in ninety billion tons of carbon into our soils, right? Animals are an essential part of the actual life cycle. They cannot emit more carbon than they eat They are part of, they are part... and that's why Natural England and people like the RSPB um Actually support grazing animals. We're talking about grass-fed livestock here We're talking about small butchers who have those short supply chains... Nicky: Ok. Ed, respond. John: low fat, uh, low travel distances, supporting the local food economy, wihch has a big effect. Nicky: Animal welfare here are better than many other parts of the world where it's horrific. But there are some horrific things online, You have to look about what's happening in our own country in some circumstances. Ed: There's a documentary...
Nicky: Quick response. Ed: We created a documentary called The Land of Hope and Glory, online, which talks all about what happens to animals in the UK. John: I understand....
Ed: But let me respond, please. Okay, so there's two studies. The first study is a five-year study conducted by the University of Oxford; it's the most comprehensive study that has ever been conducted exploring the relation between the environment... John: Is this the one that was run by a vegan? Ed: He wasn't vegan when he started, but he was vegan when he finished it because of what he found out. And what he discovered... Nicky: You may be, after this conversation, John, as well. John: Not very likely. Ed: What he discovered is that 83% of the farmland that we use is currently dedicated to animal agriculture and if the world shifted to a plant-based diet, we can reduce the amount of land we need to animal agriculture by 75%. He conducted it and at the end he summarized by saying: the best thing that we can do for our planet is to live a vegan lifestyle. Now the second study was most comprehensive study ever conducted exploring the relationship between food and the environment. And it said that in this country, in the UK, we have to reduce our beef, our lamb, and our pig consumption by 90 percent, and our dairy and poultry and egg consumption by 60 percent, to not hit that 1.5 degree threshold rise in twelve years' time. The studies are out there, the information is out there, we have to listen.
(applause) Nicky: Thank you both.
I love how at the end the announcer was all like, "okay, yeah, yeah, that's nice kiddo, thank you. Now, viewers, sit back and relax while you enjoy some advertising from the humane meat and dairy industry."
I would love if the TV channels weren't biased as fuck and also actually provided links or paper printouts of the studies Ed mentioned. Today, anyone can say "there was a study" and sound smart. The problem is, the industry knows this and dilutes the pool of studies with shit ones. Hence the issue of "there is a study" not having as much weight. Especially since if you don't actually provide said study, they'd most likely say "He just said that and made up those numbers, kthxbye!".
Now having the study in hand and showing the Conclusion section to the camera would be so much better. Or better yet, post a link to it online.
As per usual, Ed is level headed and very quick to respond. Love watching these, although they are a bit cringe-y at times cause of the "opposition" and their way of arguing things.
About 9 months ago I converted to a vegetarian lifestyle mainly for health and environmental reasons. A month or so ago I started trying to live a vegan lifestyle, I tell you that to establish it’s been less than a year, the strongest driving factor was not animal wellbeing (that’s a nice side effect).
Overall I think the environmental impact could open a lot more people’s eyes to plant based lifestyles, the majority (I think) of people accept the climate science now, but are not sure what they can do, Day to Day to make an impact, they need their cars to get to their jobs, there may not be a public transit system where they live, they are concerned about the planet, and this offers them a way to make a difference...
Just my .02