‘I told him I didn’t know if I could do what he was doing, having given up pork, beef and even chicken for the last 24 months and counting.’
IF the buying stops, the killing stops, too.”
This was a famous slogan launched by environmentalists and animal rights activists to convince women who loved fur and diners who loved shark fin soup to change their ways.
Furry animals and sharks were giving up their lives due to the demands of high fashion and high-end gourmet, so what better way to save the sharks and the various furry animals than to apply pressure on the demand side?
I particularly remember a moment in 1991 when I found myself sitting in a German opera house watching the German opera “Der Freishutz” of Carl Maria von Weber, and right in front of me was the head of a poor animal who had been killed so his pelt could drape the shoulders of some wealthy German frau who took the seat in front of me. It was the most uncomfortable opera I’ve seen not because the dialogue was in German but because the eyes of the poor thing was staring back at me as if to say, “Please help make sure my family doesn’t end up like me.”
Indeed, if the buying stops, the killing stops, too. And so it has, to a significant extent.
Fast forward to July 3 (yesterday, actually).
“If the eating stops, climate change stops, too.”
This seems to me to be the personal motto of my ex-Coke colleague, Jomel Mabalot, now a Singapore-based expat working with a global alcoholic beverages giant. We had breakfast at the coffee shop of the InterContinental Singapore, my favorite hotel in the city-state that some jokingly call “the red dot,” and during breakfast I had noticed how spartan his breakfast choices were.
“I’ve given up pork and beef, Sir JB,” he explained – and that in turn explained why he was much slimmer now, looking actually like a high schooler. I told him I didn’t know if I could do what he was doing, having given up pork, beef and even chicken for the last 24 months and counting.
But why he was doing it was what gave me pause for thought.
“It’s my personal commitment to help on climate change,” Jomel explained. And he didn’t have to continue – we have long been told that cows are one of the biggest generators of methane gas emissions. In fact, an article in the Guardian of 21 October 2021 written by Tom Levitt puts it very starkly:
“About a third of human-caused methane emissions come from livestock, mostly from beef and dairy cattle, produced in the digestive process that allows ruminants (hoofed animals, including cows, sheep and goats with four-part stomachs) to absorb plants.
“Cows and other farm animals produce about 14% of human-induced climate emissions, and it is methane from their burps and manure that is seen as both the biggest concern and best opportunity for tackling global heating.”
“Jeesas,” I told him, “Jollibee and McDonald’s and Purefoods and Swift will hate you. Then again you can be a walking ESG role model!”
I haven’t stopped thinking about Jomel’s rationale for his diet, mulling whether it’s compelling enough to move me to give up beef. (Note: just beef, oh, and maybe chicken, too.) But the science indeed seems to me to be behind this “beef against beef” (he-he), and so the next time I kneel down in prayer I will ask for guidance on this most crucial decision I will make in life
In the meantime, Jomel, let me raise a drink to your health!
(PS: Happy birthday, America!)
