United Nations SDGs: If we’re not veganizing them, are they really sustainable?
Our current crisis of sustainability asks us to transform humanity from Earth’s incessant tyrant into a respectful contributor. Veganism is a unifying principle that enables us to consider all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals in a radical and yet practical way.
LEE HALL: For-profit companies and charities alike are jumping onto the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (#SDGs). We all want to self-identify as sustainable people. But most want to hang onto that good-ole biblical prerogative: human dominion. As long as we cling to our conceited attitudes about the living world, I’d posit, the SDGs will be a farrago of platitudes, not true human progress. Let me offer 17 reasons why.
On Sustainable Development Goal 1: No Poverty.
The UN calls out Covid as the latest global poverty driver. What lies at the roots of pandemics?
… Humanity’s encroachments into nature and our tendency to confine animals aren’t good for us. Disrespect for other animals undermines both conservation and public health. And if we want to talk about sustainably addressing poverty, we must get to the point and really start talking about animal-free agriculture.
On Goal 2: Zero Hunger.
An acre of land growing plants as food can produce more protein, by orders of magnitude, than grazing plots can. Bonus: Growing crops for direct food, not feed, is a matter of food sovereignty. Today, financially stressed regions devote vast resources to grow feed crops for wealthier buyers…
On Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.
Water shortages and pollution alike are lessened where we eat non-animal foods. Raising farm animals takes a lot of water. So does sanitation to manage food-borne pathogens related to commercial animals. Contaminants from animal agribusiness can seep into groundwater, impacting drinking water systems. And as global warming drives flooding hazards, exposure to contaminated floodwaters increases. Imagine how much simpler sanitation would be without the heaps of manure and toxic sludge we add to our surroundings because we rear animals for no good reason…
On Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.
Authentic sustainability is about more than us. It respects the natural world, of which we are simply a part. The assumption that other beings are put on this planet as our resources ought to be obsolete; and in the vegan ethic, it already is. Veganism, by definition, would reintegrate other animals “within the balance and sanity of nature.” Animal husbandry — “whose effect upon the course of evolution must have been stupendous” — would become “almost unthinkable”…
On Goal 13: Climate Action.
Cattle farming emits about 10 times more greenhouse gases per piece of animal flesh than farming pigs and chickens. Pig or chicken farming, in turn, emits about 10 times more than growing lentils, peas, or beans. Meanwhile, our animal-breeding habit is a key driver of extinctions. In an obscene feedback loop, climate crisis is making remaining habitats inhospitable for free-living animals…
On Goal 14: Life Below Water.
Goal 14 aims to “conserve and sustainably use” the waters but we really need to stop touting so-called sustainable seafood and halt the looting and pillaging of the rivers, lakes, and seas. Where do we start on the global scale? End subsidies. Trawling, with its massive greenhouse gas emissions, is heavily subsidized. Spanish fleets in the Atlantic, Japanese firms in the tropics, trawlers from China, Taiwan, Korea — all subsidized… From sea turtles to penguins, non-target animals, too, would be spared if humans would stop thinking of aquatic animals as food…
On Goal 15: Life on Land.
The sheer weight of animal husbandry on the land is mind-numbing to contemplate. Our purpose-bred land mammals outweigh naturally evolving mammals many times over. And of the biomass of all the world’s birds, 71% are the property of poultry farms… The human quest to dominate the planet and its conscious beings caused our sustainability crisis. If we really want to address the crisis, animal-liberation thinking must inform our discussions of life on Earth…
On Goal 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions.
The UN endorses representative decision-making and reprehends “threats of international homicide, violence against children, human trafficking and sexual violence.” Right on. Can we also draw attention to the trafficking of, and violence against, nonhuman beings? Can we articulate a need for habitat-conscious institutions?..
On Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals.
Creating partnerships for the Goals means bringing governments, businesses, NGOs, teachers, students, and others together in collaborative work. The piece you are reading now is one starting point for communicating vegan values to those partners. Our current crisis of sustainability asks us to transform humanity from Earth’s incessant tyrant into a respectful contributor. Veganism is a unifying principle that enables us to consider all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals in a radical and yet practical way. To my mind, no blueprint for sustaining our fragile biosphere could have greater impact. SOURCE…
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