Stop Extinction – Act Now

Stop Extinction – Act Now

A powerful new video message from Greenpeace to world leaders at the G7 summit features 300 illuminated drones creating moving images of iconic animals and childrens’ voices begging grown-ups to ‘Stop Extinction – Act Now’ to save wildlife and planet Earth.

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Corporate exploitation of our food system

This excellent and informative twitter thread from Stacy Malakan, founder of US Right to Know, sheds some light on corporate involvement in our food system, the upcoming UN Food System Summit and big business agendas.

“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent over $5 billion on its efforts to transform food systems in Africa… A growing chorus of critics say the foundation’s agricultural development strategies — based on the “green revolution” model of industrial expansion — are outdated, harmful and impeding the transformative changes necessary to feed the world and fix the climate.”

“The debate is now headed for a showdown at the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit. Rather than following the advice of their own expert panel, the UN has allowed what critics describe as an agribusiness takeover of the food summit, led by the Gates and Rockefeller foundations and the World Economic Forum (WEF). These groups want to ramp up industrial agricultural development models that critics say are harming the climate and failing to feed the hungry.”

Another misleading campaign from the pig industry

The National Pig Association (NPA) has launched a nationwide campaign #PutBritishPorkonYourFork. The campaign website misleads people by promoting Red Tractor with images and a video of happy outdoor pigs, when in fact only 3% of UK pigs spend their entire lives outdoors. The campaign misrepresents Red Tractor which allows its label to be used by cruel and unhealthy factory farms, many of which raise pigs below legal minimum welfare standards. Check out our Pork Labelling Guide for more information on welfare labelling. Boycott pork with the Red Tractor label and only buy pork labelled RSPCA Assured, Free Range or best of all Organic. #DontPutRedTractorPorkOnYourFork.

News round-up

? World Localization Day 2021 – Sign up for the online program from June 14th to 20th

‘It’s possible for humanity to thrive if we rebuild the fabric of intergenerational community and our deeper connections to nature.’

? Will Switzerland lead the world in banning toxic pesticides in farming?

Switzerland is holding a referendum that – if successful – would result in a total ban on all synthetic chemical pesticides. This would of course include in relation to prohibiting the use of all toxic pesticides in Switzerland’s farming and food production systems.

✅ EU lawmakers seek ban on caged farming, foie gras force-feeding

The European Parliament on Thursday called for the European Union to end caged farming of animals and ban force-feeding of ducks and geese to produce foie gras.

? JBS pays $11m cybercrime ransom

‘JBS, the world’s biggest meat processor, has paid an $11m (£7.8m) ransom after a cyber attack shut down operations, including abattoirs in the US, Australia and Canada.’

? The Pig Whisperer: the Dutch farmer who wants to end factory farming

“Factory farming of pigs in the Netherlands is a dead end,” he says. “We now know that a pig is not a thing: it is a sentient being with a high level of intelligence, comparable with the intelligence of a child. What I see worldwide is that many pig farmers don’t know any more what pigs are about. They just don’t have the skills to know what’s right and what’s wrong.”

⛔ Another Red Tractor pig farm has been dropped by supermarkets for abuse. Like we said, #DontPutRedTractorPorkOnYourFork

“Four supermarkets have suspended a pig-farming company after The Independent showed them footage revealing horrific neglect and abuse, including dying pigs left among the living and workers kicking animals too crippled to stand.”

?? UK livestock farmers fear the Australia trade deal will threaten their way of life.

‘While the World Organisation for Animal Health has noted Australia’s “high animal health status” and food safety standards, Australian farmers, like those in some other countries, are allowed to use techniques banned in the UK such as long-distance live animal transport and pesticides such as paraquat.’

? Watch: Join the AgroEcology Fund for the launch of their new Agroecology film; ‘Grassroots Solutions to Global Crises‘ on Friday June 11th.

‘From diverse perspectives within the agroecology movement, speakers from the AEF (AgroEcology Fund) community will discuss the strategies they use to communicate the impacts of agroecology, and why, in the context of Covid-19 and the intersecting crises of hunger, poverty and climate change, shifting the dominant narrative about food and hunger is more urgent than ever.’

? Thank you to Caspar in year 6 at Chingford C of E School who raised £145 for Farms not Factories. Caspar also gave a talk at the school about the horrendous conditions pigs endure in factory farms, and wrote to the school’s caterers asking whether the pork has been sourced from farms with high animal welfare standards. He has started a petition asking for only high welfare animal products to be served in schools. Nice one Caspar!