The Most Sustainable Diet For The Planet Is Not About WHAT You Eat, It's About How What You Eat Is Cultivated
January 18, 2020
From the sowing of seeds, to farm worker's pay and treatment, to your food's transportation, and the pollution caused along the way. It's all a question of provenance and careful cultivation.
In truth it doesn’t matter if you’re vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, or meat-eating, our entire food system is unsustainable and degenerative because it exists in the confines of capitalism. An economic system can only exist through the constant consumption of products produced through supremacy over people and planet.
Because of this, there is a narrative in the vegan movement that is incredibly dangerous. One which deceptively promotes the perception that if a food is marketed by say, The Vegan Society, it is somehow automatically 'eco-friendly' and 'healthy' regardless of how much its ingredients poisons the earth's life systems in its cultivation.
In reality, the majority of the products marked with the vegan sunflower symbol, are as harmful to the planet and your health as any other processed food you find in the supermarket. Because no matter what diet dogma you choose, if the ingredients that make up your shopping basket are not grown regeneratively in ways which protect the soil, the biosphere and all living things above and below ground and water, they shouldn't really be marketed as 'sustainable'.
In reality, the majority of the products marked with the vegan sunflower symbol, are as harmful to the planet and your health as any other processed food you find in the supermarket. Because no matter what diet dogma you choose, if the ingredients that make up your shopping basket are not grown regeneratively in ways which protect the soil, the biosphere and all living things above and below ground and water, they shouldn't really be marketed as 'sustainable'.
This was my frustration last night as I found myself disappointed by George Monbiot’s ‘Apocalypse Cow’ documentary on Channel 4. I know George is aware of the incredible regenerative agroecology farms across the UK, as well as the scientific studies which back its food security and carbon drawdown possibilities, yet he excluded them from his coverage directly disinforming the viewer by act of emission. I suspect he did this because, on the surface, it challenges veganism's popularity and progress.
What I had hoped, is that George would move past the battle of the diets, and focus instead on what could be done locally and nationally to help everyone #Eat4Climate.
What I had hoped, is that George would move past the battle of the diets, and focus instead on what could be done locally and nationally to help everyone #Eat4Climate.
WHY REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE IS SO IMPORTANT FOR ALL
DIETS
No matter how you eat, the bulk of current land practices displaces co2 from the soil (where it creates life) and forces its migration into the atmosphere and oceans (where its overpopulation does harm).
By restoring soil with agroecology's regenerative agriculture principles (by planting cover crops and perennials, mob grazing native animals, and eliminating monocultures, GM, and tilling), we have the opportunity to transform degenerative practices to regenerative, building healthy topsoil, cultivating nutritious food, and protecting our lands from both drought and flooding, while feeding the billions of life forms below ground.
Regenerative farming increases crop productivity, water retention, nutrient uptake, and pest resistance while culling the dangerous use of synthetic fertilizer, fungicides, pesticides and herbicides which cause our planet and its inhabitants harm.
Though it does include animal husbandry and manure (which does not always mean animal slaughter), there are ‘veganic’ methods which mirror these principals, cultivating plant-based food without animal integration. This practice is 7x slower (if manure is not used) and doesn’t regenerate the biosphere as drastically, but it makes the movement more inclusive for those who wish to keep animals away from their food generation.
No matter how you eat, the bulk of current land practices displaces co2 from the soil (where it creates life) and forces its migration into the atmosphere and oceans (where its overpopulation does harm).
By restoring soil with agroecology's regenerative agriculture principles (by planting cover crops and perennials, mob grazing native animals, and eliminating monocultures, GM, and tilling), we have the opportunity to transform degenerative practices to regenerative, building healthy topsoil, cultivating nutritious food, and protecting our lands from both drought and flooding, while feeding the billions of life forms below ground.
Regenerative farming increases crop productivity, water retention, nutrient uptake, and pest resistance while culling the dangerous use of synthetic fertilizer, fungicides, pesticides and herbicides which cause our planet and its inhabitants harm.
Though it does include animal husbandry and manure (which does not always mean animal slaughter), there are ‘veganic’ methods which mirror these principals, cultivating plant-based food without animal integration. This practice is 7x slower (if manure is not used) and doesn’t regenerate the biosphere as drastically, but it makes the movement more inclusive for those who wish to keep animals away from their food generation.
THE REGENERATIVE DIET: #Eat4Climate
Similarly to non-partisan movements which encourage increased voter participation, if we united under a single food sovereignty movement instead of spending our energy on arguing about what other people put inside their bodies, we could create a more powerful and inclusive system which concerns itself with conscious cultivation, leading all of us to eat in ways which respect plant, animal, human, sea and soil life in tandem.
Kiss The Ground has already created an #Eat4Climate movement, which consists of helping people find and cultivate foods which are based around locally grown, seasonal, regenerative options. Including personal cultivation in our own yards, contributing as a group to community gardens, or supporting local regenerative farmers through adopt-a-farmer programmes, or visiting farmer's markets. A diet that honours the interdependence of all forms of life across the globe while protecting cultural foods and practices.
Through regenerating our soil, this movement has the potential to contribute to the reversal of global warming, enhance health, and human relatedness, while culling eco-anxiety, climate depression and disease. Bringing us together in the name of positive progression and unity instead of dividing us on the details.
Kiss The Ground has already created an #Eat4Climate movement, which consists of helping people find and cultivate foods which are based around locally grown, seasonal, regenerative options. Including personal cultivation in our own yards, contributing as a group to community gardens, or supporting local regenerative farmers through adopt-a-farmer programmes, or visiting farmer's markets. A diet that honours the interdependence of all forms of life across the globe while protecting cultural foods and practices.
Through regenerating our soil, this movement has the potential to contribute to the reversal of global warming, enhance health, and human relatedness, while culling eco-anxiety, climate depression and disease. Bringing us together in the name of positive progression and unity instead of dividing us on the details.
