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Thread 1. For many the main takeway from this report seems to people should 'eat less meat and become a vegetarian' otherwise we face a food crisis. Its clearly a good thing for many reasons to cut meat consumption - health, climate etc. But whats missing from this story....
2. Well first of all - 1 in 3 people already face hunger issues, close to billion face malnutrition not in the future but right now. So the hunger crisis is happening -but of course its happening to people in the global South so it only matters when it might impact 'rich' people
3. Yet a 1/3 of all the food produced is wasted and a 1/3 of all soil eroded. You would be forgiven for thinking this was a result of something magical that could only be fixed by 'individual consumers' changing their habits rather than this has been deliberately engineered.
4. Those responsible have names & addresses. They are the big industrial agri-businesses, the multi-national companies. The top 10 seed companies account for 73% of trade, often the same companies control grade in grain, bio-tech and industrial food production.
5. Just 10 companies control every large food & beverage brand in the world. Whilst 4 companies are the biggest commodity traders in agricultural products. Unilever, Coke, Kellogs, Cargill, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF are the equivalent of the fossil fuel criminals like Shell & BP
6. They are destroying the planet & profiting from hunger. So stick with me whilst I spell out the story that the massed ranks of the NGO & the media should have told about 'climate and land'
7. When talking about food - start with that 70% of all the food produced is by small farmers who make up 90% of all farms. Yet they produce that on 24.7% of agricultural land. In Africa 90% of all farms are small but they have less than 15% of total agricultural land.
8.Yup thats right - rest of the land is often controlled by industrial food producers, producing food & commodities for export. In the last 2 decades its estimated that 100 million hectares of farmland have been turned over to export crops soya, sugar cane, rape seed, palm oil
9.This didnt magically happen - it happened because govts like the UK & other rich countries forced them to. Under colonialism rich countries exploited the resources of the global South. But that didnt stop after end of colonialism - western imperialism continued the exploitation
10 Be it the overthrow of govts in the global South - Allende, Lumumba, Mozzadegh - who threatened western control of their resources. But also by using the WTO, IMF and World Bank and structural adjustment programmes to force corporate control of food and a massive land grab.
11 Developng countries couldnt support local farmers/peasants or have policies to stop food price increases. Industrial large scale food production forced out local food producers & impoverished people Eg For 1 person working in soyabean in Brazil 11 agri workers are displaced
12 The devastating result - currently 1.7 billion people live in water stressed areas, set to increase 3.5 billion. Whilst consumption of water is set to grow by 40%. Agriculture accounts for 70% of global water use, & 1/2 of all freshwater polluted by industry and agriculture.
13. Are you still with me. If so phew. Here are some solutions we should be talking about & not just individuals making ethical choices.
* The climate crisis is already happening & poorest are most impacted
* Stop a breach of 1.5c
* Rich countries do be at zero emissions by 2030
* The climate crisis is already happening & poorest are most impacted
* Stop a breach of 1.5c
* Rich countries do be at zero emissions by 2030
*Food is a basic human right & public good to be enshrined in every national constitution
* Land & agrarian reform - land belongs to people who work the land
* Stop subsidies to industrial agri-business
* Break up industrial food giants
* Stop supermarkets control of food retail
* Land & agrarian reform - land belongs to people who work the land
* Stop subsidies to industrial agri-business
* Break up industrial food giants
* Stop supermarkets control of food retail
*Fix our trade system - we need trade justice
* Stop speculation & trading on food
* Promote agro-ecology - it can cool planet & feed world 3 times over
* Stop the failed policies of the WTO, World Bank, World Bank
* Democratic control of food decision making especially women
* Stop speculation & trading on food
* Promote agro-ecology - it can cool planet & feed world 3 times over
* Stop the failed policies of the WTO, World Bank, World Bank
* Democratic control of food decision making especially women
* Stopping land grabs for mining, agro industrial plantations & biofuels
* Banning land speculation by big financial institutions on land
* Land and food are part of the global commons like energy. They need to be regulated & shared equally & fairly
* Banning land speculation by big financial institutions on land
* Land and food are part of the global commons like energy. They need to be regulated & shared equally & fairly
* end neo-liberal capitalism. The thing that no NGO dare utter (apart from @WarOnWant) - its a systemic problem of a global economic system. One that impoverishes the poor to make the elite rich. Its not compatible with tackling climate change or ending globalisation of hunger
14. Join the bloody dots we cant stake our future on BECCs & negative emissions. Yes I know you know but those NGOs who darent say it because they think it might mean having to say capitalism & a safe & fair planet is incompatible.Go on you can tell the truth
15. For God's sake listen to the worlds farmers, peasants & indigenous peoples & half the world living on $5 a day. Stop this white supremacy & sacrificing the global South - Demand #FoodSovereignty & #ClimateJustice
Read this waronwant.org/food-sovereign…
Read this waronwant.org/food-sovereign…
I could go on - but thanks for those who have stuck with me.
Going to add rather than respond to individual Q’s. Caring about justice means not looking at emissions alone but about who controls the emissions & who profits. Simply swooping corporate control of current ‘meat’ prodn to corporate control of ‘plant based’ is no answer.
As @drvandanashiva says ‘Plant based hyper processed diets based on #GMO soya grown industrially with chemical fertilisers will contribute to emissions ,while also destroying our soils, killing insects , & increasing hunger
The solution is ecological,local,diverse fresh foods’
The solution is ecological,local,diverse fresh foods’
Look at how corporate control of avocados or soya etc. It’s about all about consumption - big business are just as happy to control vegetarianism as they are meat prodn. They changed the worlds diet for profit & happy to do so again if they can make ££ theguardian.com/environment/20…
If you only care about white skins & white life then Shell going from producing oil to renewables is a good thing. If you care about global south you ask who controls renewables, who benefits, who profits. And u never say 100 RE but peoples owned renewable & energy as public good
It’s exactly the same with food production. If you are happy trying to solve the climate crisis by keeping 1/2 world in poverty & inequality because all that matters to u is emissions then you aren’t an ally. Thats white privilege in the #ClimateEmergency
The sad thing is that most of the big NGOs, the climate movement, greenwashing big business & govts in north know this but will die in the ditch rather than tell the truth that’s it’s capitalism that’s the problem. But black/brown people aren’t going to accept climate colonialism
Going to end with this - those multi nationals that wrecked the planet, destroyed economies & profited from death are now claiming they are also the ones with the answers. Corporate greenwashing is still deadly for the poor. 
