Livestock industry in bed with Australian environment groups?

29 Aug 2016

We've all heard the messages from the large environmental organisations: turn off your lights for Earth Hour, use green energy, go solar, close dirty power stations. These are all very necessary: we need to reduce fossil fuel use to avoid the catastrophe of global warming.

But you never hear the large environmental organisations telling you about the huge impact that animal agriculture has on global warming. It is at least as significant as the energy industry and the evidence for this is clear and well known. The contribution of animal agriculture to Australia's greenhouse gas emissions is estimated to be 50%. The fact is that both animal agriculture and fossil fuel use must be addressed for there to be any chance of avoiding runaway global warming.

So, why do organisations like GetUp, 350.org and the Australian Conservation Foundation never mention "the cow in the room"? Why do they never campaign meaningfully on the issue of animal agriculture and climate change? Until now it has been a mystery. But new groundbreaking investigative research by Paul Mahony of Terrastendo has revealed the vast network of connections between the livestock sector, high profile environmental campaigners and Australian environmental groups. It is clear that the livestock industry has a strong influence on the Australian environmental movement. One example of the many found in this research is Mark Wootton, founder and chair of The Climate Institute, who is also a cattle and sheep farmer. Another is Tim Flannery, chair of the Climate Council, who describes himself as a "proud eater of flesh".

This new research may be the beginnings of Australia's "Cowspiracy".

Environmental organisations investigated include:

Australian Conservation Foundation
Australian Youth Climate Coalition
Beyond Zero Emissions
Climate Council Australia
The Climate Institute
Friends of the Earth
GetUp
WWF Australia
350.org
The Greens

All of these groups have links to some degree to the animal farming industry and none feature animal agriculture as an important part of their environmental campaigning work.

Please view this important presentation (also available as a video) here: "The link that too many ignore: Australian climate change campaigners and the livestock sector" and share the message widely.

Now these links are being revealed, we must do something about it. The future of the earth depends on it.