There's a huge herd of cows in the COProom

10/31/21 • 42 min

A recent peer-reviewed scientific report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was described by the United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, as a ‘code red for humanity’. The report warns of the severe consequences of inadequate action to contain climate change and avoid irreversible impacts known as tipping points.

Emissions of methane associated with human activity account for over a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. Methane is more potent than carbon dioxide but has a much shorter life. A rapid and big cut in global methane emissions would therefore slow down global heating significantly whilst buying time to tackle the more difficult sources of greenhouse gas emissions that involve capital expenditure.

Methane is the main greenhouse gas associated with meat and dairy consumption. Much of it is a product of the digestive systems of ruminants such as cows and sheep but other aspects of animal agriculture produce it too. It’s responsible for 42% of global methane emissions whereas the oil and gas industry only accounts for 36%. Waste is the source of a further 18%. Despite animal agriculture being the biggest source of methane emissions, the focus of calls for reduction so far has been on emissions from the oil and gas industry. This is despite the fact that dietary change need not result in extra costs to individuals.
To put this in context, meat and dairy consumption is responsible for between 16.5% and 87% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. The lower estimate is deficient in a number of ways including not reflecting the fact that land used for animal agriculture could be much more effectively used for absorbing carbon from the atmosphere than for grazing animals for food production and for growing animal feed crops.
Like the elephant in the room, the urgent need to reduce meat and dairy consumption, preferably eliminate it, is rarely recognised by politicians as a valid or viable tool in tackling climate change. This is despite being urged to do so by scientists and other experts. The title of this episode of Time is Sliding is therefore trying to draw attention to this. The need to move away from diets based on meat and dairy consumption is not even on the agenda for discussion at the crucially important COP26 climate change conference being held in Glasgow UK in November 2021. That conference is being attended by world leaders and other representatives of countries around the world. It's being seen as the last chance saloon for stopping climate change getting out of human control.
This episode explores the contribution of meat and dairy consumption to climate change, in more detail than here, and attempts to find reasons why the huge herd of cows in the COProom are being ignored.
Agricultural systems also need to change. Listeners might therefore wish to add their signatures to those calling for a Plant Based Treaty to parallel the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement that it produced.
Listeners might also be interested in the UK Vegan Society’s 2021 report called “Planting value in the Food System”. It sets out a vision for food and farming based on interviews with farmers and experts on health, environmental and food policy.

More at https://timeissliding.earth

Thanks for listening.
Time is Sliding is on BlueSky: @timeissliding.bsky.social

More at https://timeissliding.earth

Thanks for listening.
Time is Sliding is on BlueSky: @timeissliding.bsky.social

Previous Episode

Mary Clear, death doula and kindness propaganda gardener

This episode is a natural progression from the previous two because it starts on the theme of death and dying. It then moves on to cover the community growing phenomenon known as Incredible Edible Todmorden. This has garnered a great deal of attention from across the world and is sometimes described as propaganda gardening. The common thread that connects these two themes is kindness. You’ll hear about all of this from Mary Clear, the chairperson of Incredible Edible Todmorden. She’s a great speaker and a fun interviewee.
Mary received an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 2011 for her work in the community. Whilst this was awarded under the British honours system, she’s certainly not an establishment figure. Her Twitter profile (@thelonggoodby) gives a much better indication of who she is. This is what it says: “Dreamer - activist - Death Doula, a woman on the edge of adventure. I sleep like a baby. I am afraid and brave. I believe in change and kindness.”
A few years ago, Mary along with Hannah Merriman and Sue Robinson established the award-winning week-long Pushing up Daisies festival of death and dying in Todmorden. This ran for a few years and you’ll learn more about it from Mary including the reasons why it hasn’t continued. Here's a link to video recording of highlights of the Pushing Up Daisies festival in 2017. It was made by the Lien Foundation, a Singaporean philanthropic organisation that seeks to inspire social change in Singapore.
During this episode, Mary explains what a Death Doula is and talks with passion, compassion and wisdom about the work she’s involved in to support the dying. This includes helping people to have open conversations about the many aspects of death and the processes of getting there. Mary mentions that she trained as a death doula in Lewes in East Sussex, England. Membership of End of Life Doula UK can only be gained after a death doula has completed a training course or is a current trainee.
On Incredible Edible, you’ll hear about its aims, what it does and its guiding principles. One of the most important of those principles is kindness. ‘Vegetable tourism’, little libraries, doing rather than talking about doing, paralysis by fear, how to bring about change around you, and in yourself, litter-picking, breaking rules and taboos about eating eggs all enter the conversation.
Before the interview, I found the following quotes from Mary:
“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted".
“If you don’t want to do anything, just follow the rules.” (TedX talk 2012). This is elaborated on in this episode.
There are some great one-liners that come up during the interview too. Here’s some:
"Every day above ground is a blessing."
“Kindness is contagious. When money doesn’t step in the door, another piece of magic happens.”
“If you talk too much, you will be paralysed. Fear paralyses people.”
Mary’s activism is rooted in Todmorden, a Yorkshire market town that’s very close to Lancashire physically as well as in its collective mind. It’s nestled in the Calder Valley that runs through the South Pennine hills of England. Todmorden has a population of around 15,000, around 10,000 fewer than when it was a bustling cotton mill town during the industrial revolution.
The interview with Mary was recorded in her own home because our plan for a covered but open-air setting was too windy on the day.
See https://timeissliding.earth for more information.

Thanks for listening.
Time is Sliding is on BlueSky: @timeissliding.bsky.social

Next Episode

Series 2 appetiser: Full of Joy coming soon

Appetiser heralding the long overdue start of series 2 and the forthcoming Podcasthon episode featuring the Full of Joy Animal Sanctuary.

Links referred to in the episode:

Timothy Snyder video about sado populism & oligarchy.

Full of Joy Animal Sanctuary

Podcasthon

Thanks for listening.
Time is Sliding is on BlueSky: @timeissliding.bsky.social

Time is Sliding - There's a huge herd of cows in the COProom

Transcript

Intro 0:00
Rob
Hello sliders in time. You’ve pressed play... for Time is Sliding. I'm Rob Baylis, podcasting about change. Now let's slide on.

Welcome to episode 4 of Time is Sliding, a podcast exploring how our world and our lives are changing, or need to change, over the precious time that’s always slippery-sliding away.

In each episode, you’ll hear discussion about changes in people’s lives, society and the environment on which we all depend. As