Climate Summit Becomes an Opportunity to Fund Ranching
Next week, San Francisco will host the Global Climate Action Summit, a gathering of government and UN officials, leaders from the business sector and civil society that aims to inspire commitments to tackle climate change. It will be the largest gathering of the sort, and in response, a large coalition of non-profits and grassroots groups has formed to demand real solutions and strong commitments. We are kicking off our week of actions with a powerful climate march on September 8; Seed the Commons is organizing a historical veganic contingent that will be led by small-scale farmers from around North America.
Also happening that week is a joint project of Zero Food Print and the Global Climate Action Summit: the Zero Footprint Dining Week. The way it works is that local restaurants pledge to go carbon neutral for the week of the Climate Summit, and in return they are showcased to the thousands of visiting delegates and their entourages. The list will also circulate among local food press to promote Bay Area residents’ “participation in the climate summit” by patronizing these restaurants.
The problem: The proceeds of the Zero Footprint Dining Week will be donated to a dairy farm in Michigan and an organization that supports ranching in Marin.
This is why you need to show up. This is why Seed the Commons is organizing a veganic contingent at this climate march. Regenerative grazing is not the solution to global warming, yet it is promoted increasingly and unquestioningly in environmental circles. We already have too many cows on our lands; they are a principal source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and have been in conflict with native biodiversity since the beginning of settler colonialism.
If you are an environmentalist, you need to show up and counter this false solution. Whether or not you eat meat is irrelevant: you still belong in the veganic contingent. You probably use fossil fuels in your personal life and yet you’d be happy to march for an end to fossil fuels. This is no different; it’s not about individual lifestyles. Regenerative grazing is a false solution that causes direct harm to Bay Area ecosystems and environmentalists must counter it as such. Small-scale veganic farmers are showing us how we can cut GHG emissions and restore our ecosystems, and it’s time to give them a platform.
If you are an animal liberationist, you need to show up. Even if you don’t focus on environmental or agricultural issues, you need to march with veganic farmers because this is also about animal liberation. Society’s natural resistance to animal liberation currently finds its legitimization and anchor point in the environmental and local food movements. The topic of sustainable agriculture is where pro-carnist propaganda is now happening. There are veganic farmers who are joining us from around California, as well as Oregon, Vermont and even Canada. If you are an animal liberationist in California, there is no excuse to not march with them.
Regenerative principles can and should be followed within plant-based systems, which reduce GHG emissions and allow more land to be saved for forests and to be given back to wildlife. March with the small farmers who are planting the seeds of a truly climate-friendly food system.
RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1824504244276627/
Learn more about Veganic For Climate: https://seedthecommons.org/summit/