Preserve the planet, eat fewer animals says... the UK government

Here's a not so new take on the animal ethics debate. What makes it newsworthy is that it is underwritten by the UK government. In a nutshell, the argument is that we should reduce the number of animals we produce in the context of generating food for us. The UK government experts conclude that a 30% reduction should have a significant positive impact on global warming. Here's the gist of the study as reported in today's Evening Standard:

'Scientists behind the report also hope the move will mean a dramatic reduction in the beef, lamb and pork consumed in households across Britain. It is aimed at helping to cut the UK's carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, in line with current targets.

Recent UN figures suggest that meat production is responsible for about 18 per cent of global carbon emissions, including the destruction of forest land for cattle ranching and the production of animal feeds such as soy.

On average, a British person currently eats 50g of protein derived from meat each day - the equivalent of a chicken breast or a lamb chop.

The report, entitled Health and Climate Change and which will be published in The Lancet today, says: "If [a 30 per cent reduction in livestock] translates into reduced meat consumption, the amount of saturated fat consumed would drop sharply, which would have positive effects on health through reductions in heart disease."'

So, even if you don't buy into the argument that we should not force sentient beings (such as higher mammals) unnecessarily (we can live healthier without eating them), there's an argument from environmental necessity and from moral responsibility to leave a livable planet behind for future generations.

In unrelated news, religious folks in Nepal - Hindus, I'm told - have begun their traditional animal massacre whereby about 250,000 (!!!) animals including sheep, goats, cows etc are being slaughtered in a major bloodbath for the purpose of ... well, something with Gods and blablabla.

ANC working tirelessly to render South Africa a true banana republic

Quite remarkable, South Africa's elite crime fighting unit, THE SCORPIONS, is going to be disbanded. The reasons are fairly simple, the crime fighters found too may senior ANC politicians with their hands in the till, showed them to be thieves, corrupt or worse. Among those investigate and prosecuted were Jackie Selebie (once the country's ANC appointed police commissioner), Jacob Zuma (currently the ANCs president) and many others.

The people of South Africa might want to read up on the history of Mexico's PRI to see what is going to happen to their society if they permit the ANC to continue down the path it so clearly has chosen.

So far for the 'new South Africa'. A less than convincing move from historically white-corruption to 'new South Africa' black-corruption. The masses remain as poor as they always were, service delivery is collapsing across the place (even the country's electricity supply is unreliable these days). Just think about it, the ANC cadres were given the amazing choice to stick to President Mbeki (a leader whose warped AIDS policies have cost hundreds of thousands of HIV infected South Africans their very lives!), or Jacob Zuma (a politician current prosecuted for corruption, and a guy who has a habit of sleeping around with plenty of women without using condoms, and who tends to have a shower as a means of post-exposure prophylaxis!). - How sad can it get? It surely looks like a second democratic revolution is called for.

The trouble for South Africans, of course, is that the country has no credible opposition party and, for that reason alone, the ANC is free to do pretty much anything it wishes. And so it does! Sad developments indeed.