According to a new study, most people aren’t fully aware of just how much animal agriculture contributes to the Earth’s rising temperatures, The New Statesman reported.
What happened?
Madre Brava, an organization pushing for less polluting and more eco-friendly food production, recently set up a survey of more than 7,000 adults across Germany, Brazil, France, the U.S., and the U.K.
Out of the people polled by Madre Brava, very few knew much about the meat industry: The U.S. held the highest percentage of people who said they know “lots” about industrial meat production, at only 8% of the population. Only 31% of people in the U.S. and 26% in the U.K. were “very concerned” or “extremely concerned” about the issue, and only 17% of participants worldwide accurately ranked industrial meat as a leading cause of higher global temperatures.
Yet livestock accounts for 14.5% of the heat-trapping gases produced worldwide, about the same amount as transportation, the New Statesman reported, based on a figure from the United Nations.
Cattle farming is also one of the main reasons behind the destruction of rainforests, which the world desperately needs to remove heat-trapping gases from the atmosphere.
The New Statesman reported that propaganda from the meat industry is making it harder to spread awareness about this issue by telling the government and the public that no changes are needed. Meanwhile, people who push for the other extreme and call for the elimination of meat as a food source also muddy the issue.
Why does it matter?
Good information is crucial to allow buyers to make smart financial and environmental decisions.
According to the New Statesman, people across the world need to eat less meat (not none) to protect the Earth from rising temperatures and extreme weather. But people can’t make informed choices if they’re unaware of the issue.
“The science is actually quite clear,” Rob Percival, a food policy author and member of Soil Association, told the New Statesman’s Spotlight. “Average per capita consumption of meat and dairy needs to decline by at least 35 to 50% if we are to meet our climate and nature targets, but there is still an important role for livestock in nature-friendly farming systems.”
What’s the solution?
More media coverage of the research would go a long way to increasing public awareness. According to the New Statesman, fewer than 450 out of 92,000 surveyed environment articles mentioned animal agriculture as a contributor to rising global temperatures.
Meanwhile, individuals and households can save money and the environment by skipping meat sometimes and choosing cheaper plant-based protein sources like beans and soy. In the near future, lab-grownmeat may even be an option.
Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more, waste less, and help yourself while helping the planet.
Abandoning human civilization for a life of adventure in the mountains is a fascination for many, but for one Colorado Springs family the dangers of living off the grid were made brutally apparent. Last week, the remains of Rebecca “Becky” Vance, 42, her sister Christine Vance, 41, and Becky’s 14-year-old were found at a remote campsite a year after setting off for a new life in the Rocky Mountains.
“I’d had a feeling around March that something had happened to them and wanted to go to the mountains to see if they were up there,” Becky and Christine’s stepsister Trevala Jara, 39, said. “But those mountains are huge. Where would you start?”
The story of the Vance sisters, and of a mother’s effort to protect her son from society, has threaded into a prevalent social narrative: that the best way to deal with uncertainties in the world is to detach from it.
But their experiment ended badly. After their decomposed remains were discovered by a hiker at a remote campsite in the mountainous Gunnison county earlier this month, sheriffs soon discovered two more. The trio had set off last August, dropping their off possessions at Jara’s home in Colorado Springs before they left.
“My elder sister Becky had become fearful of the way the world was going. It wasn’t going the way she wanted it to be, or the way it should. And honestly, I’m with her on that. It isn’t. Big time. There’s more shootings, hate crimes. Covid is pretty much what broke the camel’s back. Everyone felt the atmosphere change. People changed. The economy changed. Politics changed. Everything changed. They didn’t like it, especially Becky,” Trevala said.
“I’m angry,” she added, from the living room of her home. “My sisters and my nephew are unnecessary deaths and so, yes, I’m pissed.”
Becky, a single mother, was afraid of the influence the world would have on her son, Trevala said. She described her sister as a “caring and loving person” who “thought she was saving her son and Christine by going off and being by themselves and not letting the world influence them”.
But unlike the survivalists on the popular TV show Alone, the campers didn’t have a button to alert rescuers; the campers had no means to contact the outside world. The county coroner has not been able to determine how they perished or when, but it’s clear that they had very little experience in outdoor survival.
“The last time they went camping is when we were kids,” Trevala said. “My sister didn’t have a button to press for when they wanted to quit. I wished they’d practiced. You can look on YouTube, and there’s some good survival stuff on there, but reading it, watching it or whatever, is totally different from doing it and living way off the grid.”
According to reports, the campers had not managed to construct any shelter more robust than a tent, and had little more than canned food and ramen noodles from the supermarket. Trevala and her husband, Tommy Jara, had offered them their property in the mountains, which includes a generator, but Becky, the more strong-willed of the pair, who Trevala describes as “smart” and an “introvert”, had refused.
The trio set off last August, dropping off possessions at the Jaras’ home in Colorado Springs before they left.
“She was so smart. She was not crazy, not mentally unstable, she wasn’t a hippie,” Trevala said. “But they were definitely different. Becky just wanted to get away from everyone.”
Nor were the campers well-equipped to face the predators that roam the Rockies. Tommy, who had tried to talk the sisters out the plan but was rebuffed, said of Becky: “She just want to get her kid away from society which, as we all know, is not good.”
Tommy, who has Navajo, Hopi and Yaqui heritage, was taught to hunt in the mountains and now works for a gold mining company. He said he’s been hit by a sudden snowstorm in the middle of July: “These mountains are a beast. If you don’t know how to handle them, they’ll handle you.”
Tommy and Trevala’s theory is that the group probably did well for a couple of months before the weather turned. Gunnison, at nearly 8,000ft, experienced record snowfalls last winter.
“Even the most avid outdoorsman would have had a very difficult time,” he said.
Tommy introduced the trio to an experienced Native American outdoorsman who had lived off the grid.
“Our elders showed us what and what not to do. Plants you can eat, and plants you can’t. Bark you can cook for pain medicine, how to set snare traps. He couldn’t convince them,” he said. “The best we could do was show them some survival skills but there’s only so much you can put into an hour of time and talk and you’re not going remember what someone told you.”
Still, the campers decided to jump in feet first and they chose a place that Native Americans knew to leave in winter.
Chasm Lake in the Rocky Mountain national park. Photograph: UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
“It’s probably the roughest place this side of the western slope with the coldest weather in the state,” Tommy said.
And the cold is not the only danger. There are also wolves, bears and mountain lions to consider.
“The mountain lions in the last year have been very aggressive,” Tommy said. “There have been a lot of attacks.”
Near the Jaras’ mountain property, a bear and mountain lion recently attacked an RV.
“They did it together,” Trevala said. “It’s unusual but these two did!” Astonishingly, the campers set off without a firearm, taking only a knife.
If there is a message, it’s not that living off the grid is wrong – at least not for people with the benefit, slowly learned, of survival knowledge.
“I just hope my sisters can teach people you can’t go off the grid without experience,” Trevala noted. “Those mountains are unforgiving. But go ahead, turn off the internet, turn off the TV. Go back to pretty much like we’re in the 1980s. Just don’t go live off the grid.”
1/12South Korea Dog MeatDogs are seen in a cage at a dog farm in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Dog meat consumption, a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula, isn’t explicitly prohibited or legalized in South Korea. But more and more people want it banned, and there’s increasing public awareness of animal rights and worries about South Korea’s international image. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
2/12South Korea Dog MeatKim Jong-kil speaks at his dog farm in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Kim says he’s proud of the dog meat farm that has supported his family for 27 years, but is upset over growing attempts by politicians and activists to outlaw the business, which he is turning over to his children. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
3/12South Korea Dog MeatDogs are seen in a cage at a dog farm in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Dog meat consumption, a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula, isn’t explicitly prohibited or legalized in South Korea. But more and more people want it banned, and there’s increasing public awareness of animal rights and worries about South Korea’s international image. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
4/12South Korea Dog MeatAnimal rights activists stage a rally opposing South Korea’s traditional culture of eating dog meat in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, July 8, 2023. Dog meat consumption, a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula, isn’t explicitly prohibited or legalized in South Korea. But more and more people want it banned, and there’s increasing public awareness of animal rights and worries about South Korea’s international image. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
5/12South Korea Dog MeatHan Jeoungae, bottom center, an opposition Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, and animal rights activists stage a rally opposing South Korea’s traditional culture of eating dog meat in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, July 8, 2023. Dog meat consumption, a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula, isn’t explicitly prohibited or legalized in South Korea. But more and more people want it banned, and there’s increasing public awareness of animal rights and worries about South Korea’s international image. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
6/12South Korea Dog MeatKim Jong-kil speaks during an interview at his dog farm in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Kim says he’s proud of the dog meat farm that has supported his family for 27 years, but is upset over growing attempts by politicians and activists to outlaw the business, which he is turning over to his children. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
7/12South Korea Dog MeatBorami Seo, left, a director at the Korea office of the animal welfare charity Humane Society International, speaks during an interview with Lee Sangkyung, a campaign manager at the Korea office of the animal welfare charity Humane Society International, at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, June 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
8/12South Korea Dog MeatDogs are seen in cages at a dog farm in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Dog meat consumption, a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula, isn’t explicitly prohibited or legalized in South Korea. But more and more people want it banned, and there’s increasing public awareness of animal rights and worries about South Korea’s international image. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
9/12South Korea Dog MeatAn animal rights activist with a photo showing South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, and his wife Kim Keon Hee participates in a rally opposing South Korea’s traditional culture of eating dog meat in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, July 8, 2023. In April, first lady Kim Keon Hee, the wife of current President Yoon Suk Yeol, said in a meeting with activists that she hopes for an end to dog meat consumption. Farmers responded with rallies and formal complaints against Kim for allegedly hurting their livelihoods. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
10/12South Korea Dog MeatDogs are seen in cages at a dog farm in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Dog meat consumption, a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula, isn’t explicitly prohibited or legalized in South Korea. But more and more people want it banned, and there’s increasing public awareness of animal rights and worries about South Korea’s international image. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
11/12South Korea Dog MeatFILE – Ju Yeongbong, an official at an association of dog farmers, center, shouts slogans with other members during a rally in Seoul, South Korea on April 25, 2023. Ju Yeongbong, an official of the farmers’ association, said farmers want to continue for about 20 more years until older people, their main customers, die, allowing the industry to naturally disappear. Observers say most farmers are also in their 60s to 70s. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS
12/12South Korea Dog MeatDogs are seen in cages at a dog farm in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Dog meat consumption, a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula, isn’t explicitly prohibited or legalized in South Korea. But more and more people want it banned, and there’s increasing public awareness of animal rights and worries about South Korea’s international image. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea (AP) — The dogs bark and stare as Kim Jong-kil approaches the rusty cages housing the large, short-haired animals he sells for their meat. Kim opens a door and pets one dog’s neck and chest.
Kim says he’s proud of the dog meat farm that has supported his family for 27 years, but is upset over growing attempts by politicians and activists to outlaw the business, which he is turning over to his children.
“It’s more than just feeling bad. I absolutely oppose these moves, and we’ll mobilize all our means to resist it,” Kim, 57, said in an interview at his farm in Pyeongtaek city, just south of Seoul.
Dog meat consumption is a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula and has long been viewed as a source of stamina on hot summer days. It’s neither explicitly banned nor legalized in South Korea, but more and more people want it prohibited. There’s increasing public awareness of animal rights and worries about South Korea’s international image.
The anti-dog meat campaign recently received a big boost when the country’s first lady expressed her support for a ban and two lawmakers submitted bills to eliminate the dog meat trade.
“Foreigners think South Korea is a cultural powerhouse. But the more K-culture increases its international standing, the bigger shock foreigners experience over our dog meat consumption,” said Han Jeoungae, an opposition lawmaker who submitted legislation to outlaw the dog meat industry last month.
Prospects for passage of an anti-dog meat law are unclear because of protests by farmers, restaurant owners and others involved in the dog meat industry. Surveys suggest that one in three South Koreans opposes such a ban, though most people don’t eat dog meat anymore.
Dogs are also eaten in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, North Korea and some African countries, including Ghana, Cameroon, Congo and Nigeria.
Earlier this month, Indonesian authorities announced the end of dog and cat slaughter at an animal market on the island of Sulawesi following a yearslong campaign by local activists and world celebrities. The Tomohon Extreme Market will become the first such market in Indonesia to go dog and cat meat-free, according to the anti-animal cruelty group Humane Society International.
South Korea’s dog meat industry receives more international attention because of its reputation as a wealthy, ultra-modern democracy. It is also the only nation with industrial-scale farms. Most farms in South Korea have more than 500 dogs, according to a dog farmers’ association.
During a recent visit, Kim’s farm, one of the country’s largest with 7,000 dogs, appeared relatively clean but there was a strong stench in some areas. All dogs are kept in elevated cages and are fed with food waste and ground chicken. They are rarely released for exercise and typically are sold for meat one year after they are born.
Kim said two of his children, age 29 and 31, are running the farm with him, and that business has been going pretty well. He said the dogs bred for their meat are different from pets, an idea opposed by activists.
It’s difficult now to find dog meat restaurants in Seoul’s bustling downtown, though many still exit in the countryside.
“I only earn one-third of the money I used to make. Young people don’t come here. Only ailing old people come for lunch,” said Yoon Chu-wol, 77, the owner of a dog meat restaurant in Seoul’s Kyungdong traditional market. “I tell my elderly customers to come and eat my food more frequently before it’s banned.”
Farmers also face growing scrutiny from officials and increasingly negative public opinion. They complain that officials visit them repeatedly in response to complaints filed by activists and citizens over alleged animal abuse and other wrongdoing. Kim said more than 90 such petitions were filed against his farm during a recent four-month span.
Son Won Hak, general secretary of the dog farmers’ association, said many farms have collapsed in recent years because of falling dog meat prices and weaker demand. He thinks that’s a result of activist campaigns and unfair media reports focusing on farms with inferior conditions. Some observers, however, say consumption of dog meat was already declining, with younger people staying away from it.
“Quite honestly, I’d like to quit my job (as a farmer) tomorrow. We can’t confidently tell our children that we’re raising dogs,” Son said. “When my friends called me, they said ‘Hey, are you still running a dog meat farm? Isn’t it illegal?’”
The number of farms across South Korea has dropped by half from a few years ago to about 3,000 to 4,000, and about 700,000 to 1 million dogs are slaughtered each year, a decline from several million 10 to 20 years ago, according to the dog farmers’ association. Some activists argue that the farmers’ estimates are an exaggeration meant to show their industry is too big to destroy.
In late 2021, South Korea launched a government-civilian task force to consider outlawing dog meat at the suggestion of then-President Moon Jae-in, a pet lover. The committee, whose members include farmers and animal rights activists, has met more than 20 times but hasn’t reached any agreement, apparently because of disputes over compensation issues.
Agriculture officials refused to disclose the discussions in the closed-door meetings. They said the government wants to end dog meat consumption based on a public consensus.
In April, first lady Kim Keon Hee, the wife of current President Yoon Suk Yeol, said in a meeting with activists that she hopes for an end to dog meat consumption. Famers responded with rallies and formal complaints against Kim for allegedly hurting their livelihoods.
Han, the lawmaker, said she “highly positively appraises” influential figures speaking out against dog meat consumption.
Han said her bill offers support programs for farmers who agree to close their farms. They would be entitled to money to dismantle their facilities, vocational training, employment assistance and other benefits, she said.
Ju Yeongbong, an official of the farmers’ association, said farmers want to continue for about 20 more years until older people, their main customers, die, allowing the industry to naturally disappear. Observers say most farmers are also in their 60s to 70s.
Borami Seo, a director of the South Korea office of the Humane Society International, said she opposes the continued killing of millions of dogs for such a prolonged period. “Letting this silent cruelty to (dogs) be committed in South Korea doesn’t make sense,” Seo said.
“(Dog meat consumption) is too anachronistic, has elements of cruelty to animals and hinders our national growth,” said Cheon JinKyung, head of Korea Animal Rights Advocates in Seoul.
1/12South Korea Dog MeatDogs are seen in a cage at a dog farm in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Dog meat consumption, a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula, isn’t explicitly prohibited or legalized in South Korea. But more and more people want it banned, and there’s increasing public awareness of animal rights and worries about South Korea’s international image. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
2/12South Korea Dog MeatKim Jong-kil speaks at his dog farm in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. Kim says he’s proud of the dog meat farm that has supported his family for 27 years, but is upset over growing attempts by politicians and activists to outlaw the business, which he is turning over to his children. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Exposing the Big Game 