Plants vs animals: the great debate

It would be fair to say that humans have made some pretty terrible environmental-life-choices. We destroy our rainforests to raise our livestock and feed our naturally grass-grazing cattle with grain. Grain that has been grown for the sole, unnecessary purpose of feeding our cattle.

The chant from the media is “stop eating meat to stop climate change” and this is splashed everywhere. From headline news, to social media, to the self-appointed plant-based nutrition guru. And what’s worse, is that our British farmers are unfairly taking the flack.

With Christmas and all its meat-filled feasting just around the corner, we thought we’d ask the question:

Does living a more sustainable life mean that we have to cut out meat (at Christmas and beyond)?

Our answer is no, but you have to know how your meat is sourced. Here’s why:

Plants aren’t automatically off the hook

If you take a step back it’s obvious this approach is over-simplistic. We need to respect our environment regardless of whether we eat plants or animals. And just as there are offenders in the world of livestock farming, there are some serious offenders in the plant-based world too.

I’m sure we’re all aware that palm oil is terrible for the environment, heavily involved in deforestation. What we fail to give credit for is that alternative oil crops come with their own host of problems. These crops have far lower yields than palm oil and require huge amounts of land and resources to be grown to the same level as palm. A bit of an environmental nightmare.

Almond milk, a trendy dairy-alternative, is not exactly what you’d call an environmental hero either. It takes approximately 15 gallons of water to produce just 16 almonds and they are heavily sprayed with pesticides, a disaster for biodiversity. With 80% of the world’s almonds being grown in California, the food miles aren’t great for us Brits either.

How your food is farmed matters

We’re not trying to say that the meat and livestock farming industry is off the hook. It isn’t. What we’re saying is that a blind animals vs. plants argument entirely misses the point. What is actually crucial, is how we farm, not what we farm.

We should be uniting together to create support and demand for food that is grown without the use of environmentally damaging chemical fertilisers and pesticides. We should be championing farmers who don’t use routine antibiotics, who farm as locally as possible and who use the natural land around them. We should be buying British, grass-fed meat.

British livestock farming is a thing of beauty

We know that global meat production comes with its problems. But the “stop eating meat” mantra shows complete ignorance for how free-range and grass-fed British meat is produced.

British livestock farming is recognised as being some of the most efficient in the world in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, UK farming emissions are sitting pretty at a cool 2.5 times less than the global average.

The land we have here on our doorstep is also two thirds grass. So, if we wish to follow a diet with minimal foods miles and damage to our environment, animals that can be reared on our grassy home-soils should feature in our diets. That is, unless you wish to rely on importing alternative protein sources from around the globe (lentils may be in, but they’re also predominantly grown in Canada, India and Turkey).

There are other (arguably more important) factors

UK farmers are actually only responsible for 10% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, which doesn’t even remotely correlate to the level of stick they receive in the media. There are a tonne of other factors coming into the mix and these don’t leave plants OR animals exempt. Take food waste for example. Us Brits generate an eye-wateringly large amount of the stuff and this contributed to 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions in the years 2010-2016.

It’s about time we stood up for our British farmers. Supporting both animal and plant-based food that is local, British and grown with minimal chemical intervention. At Christmas and beyond, we need to know how ALL the food on our plates has arrived there. From the livestock farm to picking plants.

With that in mind, it’s about time we gave meat a break (so long as it’s grass-fed and free-range, that is).