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There is such thing as a free lunch!

Matt Banning | 29.05.2008 12:25 | Animal Liberation | Climate Chaos | Health

Free food stall and info day in Bath next week, as part of the Network for Climate Action days of action, on food and climate change:

MEDIA RELEASE – for immediate use
There Is Such Thing As A Free Lunch!

On Tuesday 3rd June, members of Bath Activist Network and Bath Animal Action will be holding a free food stall in Queens Square, from 1pm til 3pm, as part of a nationally co-ordinated day of action on the links between food and the environment. The day has been called by the Network for Climate Action to coincide with the beginning of the 3-day UN Conference on World Food Security and Climate Change, and groups elsewhere round the country will also be getting active. This event in Bath will be a repeat of a stall put on by Bath Animal Action last December, where free and delicious vegan meals were handed out to all.

Roughly speaking, for every 7 tonnes of grain we feed to livestock, only 1 tonne of animal product – such as meat, dairy, leather, and other products – is yielded. Bypassing the livestock industry would instead produce 7 tonnes of grain for human consumption instead, particularly in these times of rising food prices and hunger fears. Indeed, the global livestock sector is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, alone. Also, more than 1/3 of our planet’s agricultural land suffers desertification through clearing forests for grazing, overgrazing, poor irrigation techniques, and the over-cultivation of croplands. Considering the huge amount of water consumed in the livestock industry, and the water pollution caused by ammonia and nitrates from animal excrement – the average cow produces 23 kilos a day! – the group has decided to highlight the variety, tastiness, environmental benefits and nutritious value of the vegan diet.

The group will also be distributing information about allotment growing, food co-operatives, food-related humanitarian issues, the threat to food security from biofuels production, GM food, wild foods foraging, the dangers of the supermarket system, and freeganism – the recovery of waste food.

Matt from Bath Activist Network had this to say: “Climate action starts on your dinner plate, and now is the time to switch to plant-based, organic, seasonal and locally-produced food. In the meantime, why not join us for a fee lunch in the park?”

Including food transportation, the food we eat contributes up to a third of the emissions poisoning the planet. It’s time for a detox!

Matt Banning
- e-mail: bathactivistnet at yahoo dot co dot uk

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