Prominent vegan advocate: "I was wrong about veganism."

This is big.  George Monbiot has been one of the most vocal advocates of veganism for environmental reasons.  And he just changed his tune.   In a recent article for the Guardian, Monbiot now accepts a role for eating meat as part of a healthy food system and environment.  He admits that new calculations show the environmental impact of raising livestock is less than had been claimed, and that properly raising farm animals (not via our factory farm system) is not only benign, but worthwhile.

There's a temptation to gloat -- let's not do that.  Instead, let's take a moment to respect Monbiot's open-mindedness and the evidence-based way he changed his thinking.  It's not easy to write a column saying that you've been espousing wrong ideas for the past decade in pursuit of noble goals.

"This will not be an easy column to write. I am about to put down 1,200 words in support of a book that starts by attacking me and often returns to this sport. But it has persuaded me that I was wrong. More to the point, it has opened my eyes to some fascinating complexities in what seemed to be a black and white case."

Vegans have been the driving force in bringing awareness to the failings of our factory farm system -- both from an ethical and health perspective.  Respect that.  So they overshot a bit.
 
On to the guts of the article:
 
  • One of the key insights to efficient feeding of livestock is understanding the animals' natural diet.  Sounds a lot like paleo for animals to me.
"Cattle are excellent converters of grass but terrible converters of concentrated feed. The feed would have been much better used to make pork.  Pigs, in the meantime, have been forbidden in many parts of the rich world from doing what they do best: converting waste into meat. 
...
Feeding meat and bone meal to cows was insane. Feeding it to pigs, whose natural diet incorporates a fair bit of meat, makes sense, as long as it is rendered properly."
 
  • Frequently cited environmental stats on raising livestock are *way* off.

"Like many greens I have thoughtlessly repeated the claim that it requires 100,000 litres of water to produce every kilogram of beef. Fairlie shows that this figure is wrong by around three orders of magnitude."

"Similarly daft assumptions underlie the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's famous claim that livestock are responsible for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, a higher proportion than transport. Fairlie shows that it made a number of basic mistakes."

  • Vegan farming isn't a solution

"[Fairlie] also shows that many vegetable oils have a bigger footprint than animal fats, and reminds us that even vegan farming necessitates the large-scale killing or ecological exclusion of animals: in this case pests. On the other hand, he slaughters the claims made by some livestock farmers about the soil carbon they can lock away."

  • By not eating ethically and properly raised meat, vegans aren't influencing the debate...or the market. 

"By keeping out of the debate over how livestock should be kept, those of us who have advocated veganism have allowed the champions of cruel, destructive, famine-inducing meat farming to prevail. It's time we got stuck in."

Wow.  Sounds a lot like what former vegan Lierre Kieth passionately advocated in The Vegetarian Myth.  Read the whole article.

And here is the book that changed Monbiot's mind.  Meat: A Benign Extravagance by Simon Fairlie.

(Thanks to Lauri for the pointer.)

Comments

Wow... This is rediculous. I

Submitted by AJ on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 19:47.

Wow... This is rediculous. I am sorry but you are mislead regarding eatng meat and the environment. Watch "A delicate balance" it will show just how bad the meat and dairy industry is. In actual fact, the amount of animal protein and fats the human body should consume is "0".Read "The Engine 2 Diet" and research "The China Study" and studies conducted by Dr Neal Barnard; his books are also a great read. Maybe you could also take a look at chiphealth.com.I am sorry but vegan farming IS much better than farming animals, including fish. I would be here forever trying to explain why but all I suggest is watch and read the things I have mentioned above; it will give you your answers.

Thanks for stopping by our

Submitted by Alishahndra on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 23:03.

Thanks for stopping by our community. A lot of us have read up on veganism, and appreciate the focus on non-factory farming and the humane treatment of animals that vegan activists encourage in general.I was actually veg for 4 years and tried veganism on a cleanse but my body didn't like it...I started trembling and menstruating mid-cycle after eating a diet of greens and other real foods - as opposed to pastas and grains - so my body is not well-suited to being vegan...Anyway, John (Durant) has drawn attention to The China Study and a more recent look at the data: http://hunter-gatherer.com/blog/china-study-exposed-actual-data-does-not....Ignoring the "vegans = unhealthy people" arguments on topics like the French vegan/new mother whose milk was so nutritionally deficient that her child died because a single instance does not prove or create a rule... I'm interested to see what your thoughts are on creatine deficiencies (though to be fair, "deficiencies" is a biased word and I could probably have used a longer phrase...) in vegans and how that helps the human body to function...  http://evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com/2010/12/your-brain-on-creatin...Say what you will about the paleo crowd, but we always welcome the vegans to the conversation and the table!

 ...also you can get by on a

Submitted by AJ on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 20:13.

 ...also you can get by on a natural creation of creatine through plant-derived amino acids. There are also many vegan fighters who have said their performance has improved since they went on a strict vegan diet. Mac Danzig (UFC Fighter) is one of them - and there are many HUGE vegan bodybuilders who also state that their diet has improved their stamina and performance. They have no problem, so yes, it can be done!

 A vegan diet, when done

Submitted by AJ on Thu, 11/10/2011 - 19:53.

 A vegan diet, when done correctly, would not have any deficiencies - and if there are - it would only be due to the processing of foods and/or chemicals that are used on the food that kill half of the "Good stuff" found in plant foods. I suggest taking a look at the "Engine 2 Diet".  Vegans have a higher iron intake than meat-eaters; they get sick less and have less hospital stays; age better and they also live longer.You said that you tried veganism but your body didn't like it... did you ever think that your body was detoxing and getting rid of all the bad stuff you had stored up in your system? How long did you do it for? Yes your body goes through changes but it would have - more than likely - eventually settled down.

Ah yes, Monbiot,  the man who

Submitted by elora on Tue, 01/04/2011 - 15:44.

Ah yes, Monbiot,  the man who declared that all private fossil fuel vehicles should be banned because no matter who you are or what situation you are in, they are simply not needed...then moved to a rural area with no public transport and bought a ...CAR. Because he needed to get 20 miles to the train station. (motorbike, bicycle no good then?)As someone living where there is no public transport and in a wheelchair so car reliant...Oh I did scream "you bloody great hypocrite" at the article!

 First, is finding the flesh

Submitted by kifar on Mon, 01/03/2011 - 15:49.

 First, is finding the flesh which is not "factory farmed" and which is raised and slaughtered with compassion. Big prices and even more once demand sky rockets the flesh food up. Then, comes the fact that we are omnivores and can handle flesh BUT not very much of it. So you have flesh at very special occasions. Our bodies are essentially still cave-man, cave-woman. We roam around. We can catch very little flesh to eat, most are out to catch us. We do love insects, grubs etc... Fruit, yes. Tubers, yes. Certain digestible greens, yes. As our brains became more developed we learned to eat more of... well, everything. We learned to gather and cook grains. We even learned to eat each other. Heck if there is any perfect protein to consume it is HUMAN flesh... not animals. We have learned ways to kill, cook and prepare and eat anything and everything. The drug adrenalin is one powerful secretion from the fear of being hurt and killed. SO... let the hunter-gatherers show us the compassion. They can pretend to be a carnivore but they are fools. Drugged up fools whose brains are too small and they die.... probably from heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity.

Thanks for a great post. I am

Submitted by theYakRanch on Sun, 01/02/2011 - 14:05.

Thanks for a great post. I am just begining to learn about the paleo diet and this blog is a great resourece! http://www.theYakRanch.com

Oh, to heck with that.  I am

Submitted by Jill C on Sat, 01/01/2011 - 23:00.

Oh, to heck with that.  I am in FULL ON gloat mode.  I am doing a told ya so dance right here in my dining room.  Over a whole roasted pig.

 I wouldn't gloat over that.

Submitted by AJ on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 20:22.

 I wouldn't gloat over that. Do you know what that pig is doing to your insides right now?Also this article is not entirely correct so don't be too quick to start gloating; or after eating that pig should I say bloating? :)Funny how man kills and eats the animal but the animal kills the man in the end. As by the age of 65 (men) and 70 (women),  all have some form of heart disease. Then there is the prostate cancer, bowel cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer (and many more cancers), diabetes, cholesterol, obesity, erectile dis-function, bone diseases, rheumatic diseases, tumors, BSE and immune reactions, and .... wow, I am not even half way there yet....   Yes you have a lot to gloat about!Plant based diets have reversed and cured these conditions. So do we have a cure for cancer?? Yes we do! Just too many people are addicted to flesh and dairy and won't give it up, even if it means they live a healthier life cancer free. http://adelicatebalance.com.au/watch-now.html

Gloating is an immature

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 01/03/2011 - 01:02.

Gloating is an immature ego-based reinforcement  of your own feelings of lacking self-worth.  Maybe you will be abducted by an alien race that considers you food, and eaten like a piece of meat.  Animals have souls, and a gloater does not deserve to live more than a pig.

 Actually the pig deserves to

Submitted by AJ on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 19:51.

 Actually the pig deserves to live more! :) hehe

You are correct.  In fact,

Submitted by Jill C on Mon, 01/03/2011 - 09:20.

You are correct.  In fact, gloating is a lot like snarky and threatening replies to remarks that were clearly intended to be humorous, though they probably erred on the side of nerdy.  Clearly I would never roast a pig in my livingroom. For the record, I don't base my worth within my self, but believe it to be God-given and innate.  I am grateful to the animals which were given to me to sustain my life, and do my best to ensure they were raised humanely.  I put my money where my mouth is and raised my own hens this year, bought pork raised by my MIL and our red meat is venison, which enjoyed a wonderful life until we chose it to sacrifice.I don't know whether I agree that animals have souls, but I do believe that everything God has created had worth.  That includes you, upon whom I would never vocalize or print a wish to be cannibalized, nor state that your worth was equal to a pig's.  Say, if you were in a barn that was on fire, I'd do my best to get you out before the pig.May the new year bring you many blessings, particularly a sense of humor. 

I nominate this Comeback of

Submitted by Drew @ How To Cook Like Your Grandmother on Mon, 01/10/2011 - 10:53.

I nominate this Comeback of the Year. Sure, we're still in the first half of January, but it's going to be hard to top this one.

"I'd do my best to get you out before the pig." Priceless.

 I think one could say the

Submitted by Levi on Mon, 01/03/2011 - 02:21.

 I think one could say the same thing about anonymous trolling. Enjoy your brittle bones.

New to the post - Just

Submitted by Dino on Sat, 01/01/2011 - 14:45.

New to the post - Just signing on for nowHello veryone and Lets bring in MMX1 with some paleo lifestyle education ... rah rah raw!

 What he says about "keeping

Submitted by Levi on Fri, 09/17/2010 - 00:56.

 What he says about "keeping out of the debate" I've been saying this whole time as well! You can't convince people to stop eating meat, but you can change their viewpoint on how it should be raised from an ethical and scientific standpoint. And buying properly raised meat you contribute to better farming practices by voting with your dollars. Now we just have to keep BigAgro from obfuscating.

While Fairlies arguments

Submitted by MrChow on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 08:57.

While Fairlies arguments obviously speaks about the inefficiencies of not eating meat and animal products at all, i you dig into the numbers, you will find that it doesn't say at all that a paleo-style diet can be supported for the majority of people, rather a sharp reduction in the consumption of animal products.

I respect this guy immensely

Submitted by Dan on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 09:43.

I respect this guy immensely and he obviously has a lot of integrity. If he is publicly willing to change his mind, and possibly discredit himself, based on new information I think that is awesome.Personally I would trust this guy more knowing this.  

Couldn't agree more. Easy to

Submitted by John on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 22:21.

Couldn't agree more. Easy to say you're open-minded, hard to change your mind. Damn near impossible to change your mind publicly.

Thank you for reminding us

Submitted by Alishahndra on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 13:14.

Thank you for reminding us not to gloat; i remember when I went from being veg. to non-veg. and it involved eating a significant amount of crow.  Gloating doesn't help the dialogue.

Yep and Dr. Oz (eat fiber)

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 05:20.

Yep and Dr. Oz (eat fiber) had a Cancer Scare: "Dumb Luck...Saved My Life" CBS News reports : http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20015520-10391704.html Don Matesz at the Primal Wisdom has the scoop : http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2010/09/dr-oz-cancer-scare.html

Nice one John. Its often

Submitted by Alex Turnbull on Sat, 09/11/2010 - 07:46.

Nice one John. Its often forgotten that in places like Argentina and Australia factory farming is the exception rather than the rule. In Australia for example, the lack of water resources makes intensive agriculture very resource intensive and completely unsustainable compared to raising livestock.  

Good point, AT. Hope all is

Submitted by John on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 22:24.

Good point, AT. Hope all is well!

Great article. This reminds

Submitted by Colin S on Fri, 09/10/2010 - 03:14.

Great article. This reminds me of the BBC documentary which showed farms that were completely sustainable on their own with great bio diversity.  It pointed out that each feeds into the other nourishing the system.  The giant exception to this which killed the ground and threw the whole system off...Wheat.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Ez5ViYKYA&feature=related

oh, wheat, what are we going

Submitted by John on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 22:25.

oh, wheat, what are we going to do with you