Extinction Realisation

Recent reports provide further evidence that the Earth may be undergoing a sixth mass extinction. In the previous mass extinction 66 million years ago, when a giant asteroid collided with Earth, killing the dinosaurs, around four-fifths of all animal species disappeared. Environmentalist George Monbiot describes mass extinction as “a symptom of Earth systems collapse.” This was certainly the case during the Permian-Triassic extinction event 252 million years ago, colloquially known as the Great Dying, when there was a massive increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration (to roughly six times the current level), and a staggering 90% of species were wiped out. So, what can we expect from the current increase in carbon dioxide concentration and concomitant rise in global temperature (to around 1.2℃ above the pre-industrial level)? Climate scientist Prof Michael Mann writes: “The IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] estimates as much as fourteen percent of species could be lost at 1.5℃ (2.7℉) warming, and eighteen percent at 2℃ (3.6℉). Tragic for sure, but greater rates of extinction are expected from other unchecked human activities, including habitat destruction and human exploitation of animals. However, the number climbs to twenty-nine percent at 3℃ (5.4℉), thirty-nine percent at 4℃ (7.2℉), and forty-eight percent at 5℃ (9℉). Half of all species would, by any reasonable standard, constitute a sixth extinction event rivalling the great extinctions of Earth’s geological past.”

According to a scientific paper published in November 2023, two million plant and animal species could be at risk of extinction now, twice as many as previously thought. The researchers conducted a comprehensive analysis of 14,669 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list assessments for European animal and plant species and found that 24% of insect species are at risk of extinction, together with 27% of plant species and 18% of vertebrate species. Such is the abundance of insect species (97% of all animal species are invertebrates, of which 90% are classified as insects), extrapolation of the figures suggests that two million plant and animal species globally are threatened with extinction. The expansion of agriculture resulting in the loss of natural habitats is the most significant driver of extinction, followed by the overexploitation of natural resources, pollution, and residential and commercial development. Anne Larigauderie, executive secretary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), observed: “We are losing biodiversity … at rates never before seen in human history.” For example, polar bears, one of the planet’s most iconic species, are listed as “vulnerable” by the IUCN. There are an estimated 16,000 to 26,000 polar bears left on Earth, where their biggest threats are climate change (causing a loss of habitat as sea ice melts), pollution and energy development.

Overall, more than a quarter of all the plant and animal species that have been the subject of in-depth conservation assessments are at risk of extinction, according to the IUCN red list of endangered species. Perhaps the greatest threat facing the natural world is our overconsumption; it has been estimated that humans would need 1.7 planet Earths to sustain the current level of consumption. Other major threats to biodiversity include the buildup of plastics, chemicals, pesticides and fertilisers in natural ecosystems, deforestation (the world has lost 72 million hectares of primary forest in the last 21 years), the effects of harmful ‘invasive’ (introduced) species spread by human travel and trade, and of course climate change.

The latest State of Nature report for the UK, published in September 2023, found that 16% of the 10,000 mammals, plants, insects, birds and amphibians that were assessed are threatened with extinction, including iconic species such as the turtle dove and hazel dormouse. Since 1970, the abundance of the species studied in the report has declined on average by 19%, and 26% of terrestrial mammals in Great Britain are facing extinction. There have also been declines in the distributions of more than half (54%) of flowering plant species. The report found that intensive farming and the continuing effects of climate change are the two biggest drivers of nature loss. In 2020, the UK government committed to protect at least 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030, a goal towards which it has so far made little progress according to the Wildlife and Countryside Link.

Bird populations are facing an accelerating decline in the UK according to data released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Their indicator of abundance shows that UK bird populations have fallen by 6% overall in the past 5 years and by 15% since 1970, with woodland birds faring the worst in recent times, with a 15% reduction in the past 5 years alone and a 37% decline since 1970. Farmland bird populations have seen a smaller decline of 8% decline in the past 5 years, but their numbers have fallen by a shocking 60% since 1970. Although conservation efforts to save Britain’s rarest birds, including the bittern and white-tailed eagle, are showing some success, Prof Richard Gregory, head of monitoring at the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, called on “the UK government to act urgently on its commitments to address wildlife decline, and for all politicians to stand up for nature while there is still time.”

It is no wonder that woodland bird populations are in steep decline; UK forests are heading for “catastrophic ecosystem collapse” within the next 50 years according to a study published in the journal Forestry. Disease, extreme weather, and wildfires are among the many threats facing Britain’s woodlands. Winter storms in 2021 destroyed 12,000 hectares of forest in Britain, and it is thought that the fungal disease ‘ash dieback’ will kill as many as 80% of the UK’s ash trees. The UK is one of the least forested European countries, with a total coverage of 13%, and a 2021 report from the Woodland Trust found that just 7% of the UK’s native woodland was in good condition. To help offset the losses, the UK government aims to plant 30,000 hectares of forest every year by 2025 – double the current planting rate. The governments of the world, and all of us, will need to redouble our efforts if we are to prevent a sixth, human-induced, mass extinction.

Paul Appleby

Sources and links:

• George Monbiot, The Flickering, 3/11/2023 (https://www.monbiot.com/2023/11/03/the-flickering/)
• Permian-Triassic extinction event, Wikipedia, accessed 7/12/2023 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event)
• Michael Mann, Our Fragile Moment: how lessons from the Earth’s past can help us survive the climate crisis, (Scribe, 2023; https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Our-Fragile-Moment-by-Michael-E-Mann/9781915590510)
• Number of species at risk of extinction doubles to 2 million, says study, The Guardian, 8/11/2023 (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/08/species-at-risk-extinction-doubles-to-2-million-aoe)
• Strobe lights, AI, shotguns: can anything help Canada’s polar bears and humans coexist?, The Guardian, 10/11/2023 (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/10/shotguns-ai-strobe-lights-the-hunt-is-on-to-help-polar-bears-and-humans-coexist-aoe)
• ‘A biodiversity catastrophe’: how the world could look in 2050 – unless we act now, The Guardian, 29/11/2023 (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/29/a-biodiversity-catastrophe-how-the-world-could-look-in-2050-unless-we-act-now-aoe)
• Nature crisis: One in six species at risk of extinction in Great Britain, BBC News, 27/9/2023 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66923930)
• Government has made no appreciable progress on its policy to protect 30% of the land and sea for nature by 2030, Wildlife and Countryside Link, 19/10/2022 (https://www.wcl.org.uk/progress-report-on-protecting-land-and-sea.asp)
• Woodland birds in quickening decline in UK, with risk of extinctions, say experts, The Guardian, 8/11/2023 (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/08/woodland-birds-face-accelerating-decline-uk-experts)
• UK forests face catastrophic ecosystem collapse within 50 years, study says, The Guardian, 8/11/2023 (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/08/uk-forests-face-catastrophic-ecosystem-collapse-within-50-years-study-says-aoe)

Dietary advice from the ‘experts’

An interesting article in The Guardian in mid-January explored 10 simple ways to revolutionise your diet, most of which were veg*n-friendly, with input from various ‘experts’. Among the contributors was genetic epidemiologist Tim Spector, author of Food for Life* and co-founder of the personalised nutrition programme Zoe. Spector recommends eating 30 different plants a week – not as daunting a prospect as it seems because this can include nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, and even coffee, which he classifies as a “fermented bean”. He advises: “Pick plants that taste bitter, are brightly coloured and high in polyphenols [natural defence chemicals our (gut) microbes use as fuel]: berries, nuts, seeds. A red pepper is more beneficial than a green pepper and a purple carrot has nine times more polyphenols than an orange one.” Spector also recommends nurturing gut microbes by regularly eating fermented foods, including the four Ks: kefir (plant-based varieties are available), kombucha, (sauer)kraut and kimchi.

If you don’t eat organic foods you might want to avoid the “Dirty Dozen” fruit and veg with the most pesticide residues on them, warned Nick Mole, policy officer at the Pesticide Action Network. However, “eating food cooked from scratch is more important than eating organic food” in order to avoid the “junk food cycle”, according to Henry Dimbleby, co-author Ravenous. Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People, warned of the risks posed by ‘ultra-processed foods’ (UPFs), which now account for more than half the energy intake of the average Briton and have been linked with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, inflammatory diseases, cardiovascular disease, obesity and dementia. However, a recent study found that neither ultra-processed breads and cereals nor plant-based alternatives were associated with cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes multimorbidity, whereas increased risks were found for ultra-processed animal-based products and artificially and sugar-sweetened beverages.

“We should be eating 90% more beans,” claimed Kimberley Wilson, author of Unprocessed, who reckons that “fibre and beans are so important for the integrity of your gut lining and blood brain barrier that there should really be a national campaign to bring back beans.” The importance of dietary fibre was also emphasized by Jessie Inchauspé, author of Glucose Revolution, who told readers: “Fibre fuels the good bacteria in our gut, strengthens our microbiome, lowers cholesterol and makes everything run smoothly.” She recommends eating “a healthy, vegetable-based starter of crudites – raw vegetable sticks of carrot, cucumber, baby (sweet)corn or peppers, with hummus or guacamole as optional protein and fat – or antipasti, such as olives” before meals.

So there you have it – sugar-free beans on toast made from wholemeal bread, served with a fresh salad of brightly coloured organic vegetables, and some raw vegetables or olives for starters – makes an ideal healthy meal! It sounds a lot like a plant-based diet to me.

Paul Appleby

* Food for Life was BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week in late January and early February.

Catering for Everyone

On 8 November 2023 I attended the launch of the Vegan Society report Catering for Everyone at a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Veganism and Vegetarianism in the Attlee Room of the House of Lords.

Who could resist the chance to get inside the House of Lords and eat vegan food there? Not me, especially as I also made time to take in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum in Kensington, which I highly recommend. (There are some gut-wrenching images in the photojournalism section, but plenty of beauty and wonder in the many astonishing pictures elsewhere.)

The Vegan Society’s report brings together the findings from Freedom of Information requests to every city, borough or county council in the UK, asking if and how they cater for vegans, and whether they incorporate a shift towards plant-based food in their climate strategy. It’s gratifying to find that Oxfordshire County Council is rated in the top five, largely thanks to the efforts of Cllr Ian Middleton, who was one of the speakers. We also heard from Cllrs Ria Patel, Croydon, and Marisa Heath, Surrey, who spoke of the difficulties for vegans and the obstacles faced in trying to persuade fellow councillors that veganism isn’t just for vegans. As I know all too well from my campaigning with Plant-Based Councils, many councils make no reference to food in their climate strategy beyond perhaps a mention of food waste. This must change.

The report calls on local and national authorities to guarantee a nutritious plant-based option on every public sector menu. “This option should be available to everyone, every day, without the need to make a special request” – wouldn’t that be something? Over the years several MPs have backed the call, including Caroline Lucas and the late Sir David Amess.

A searchable database on the Vegan Society website allows you to look up your local authority and read their responses to the questions. This is a great tool for campaigners everywhere, particularly those in areas with a red or amber rating, indicating that they have taken no or only limited steps to be inclusive of veganism and to address meat and dairy consumption. Indeed, more than a quarter of the UK’s local councils even failed acknowledge that veganism is a protected belief!

Oh, and the food? Many of those present fell upon the generous buffet, clearly relishing the chance to eat sandwiches, wraps and a range of tempting desserts without having to question the ingredients.

Linda Newbery

Extinction or Regeneration conference report

This must be the most inspiring conference I have ever attended with two packed days at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster. Organised by Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) and IPES-Food (the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems), Extinction or Regeneration: transforming food systems for human, animal and planetary health (11-12 May 2023) brought together speakers from around the world: academics, scientists, health professionals, Chatham House analysts, economists, caterers, animal behaviourists and more, all sharing the concern that we must urgently reduce our dependence on animal agriculture and the unsustainable demands it makes on the planet.

Olivier de Schutter of IPES-Food told delegates: “Social inequality is baked into our food system” and that in many countries “export-led food production is marginalising local producers to satisfy our needs in rich countries.” Consequently, we must challenge the power of big agri-food corporations that narrow down production and reduce biodiversity. Tim Benton of Chatham House criticised the concept of ‘sustainable intensification’ which assumes that markets will continue to drive the economy, telling delegates: “We could look at it differently – the market can change and adapt.” Environmentalist Vandana Shiva talked of “anthropocentric arrogance … the assumption of intensive agriculture that biodiversity is a trap.” Helen Harwatt, also of Chatham House, declared: “Anything less than a transformation of our food system is at odds with the need to meet climate targets.” Others spoke of the risks of antimicrobial resistance and the spread of pandemics from intensive animal units. Peter Stevenson, chief policy advisor to CIWF, spoke eloquently about the need to turn off the tap that funds factory farming, and the sleight of hand that conceals the real cost of cheap meat. Other speakers included Henry Dimbleby, author of the National Food Strategy, and (by video link) educator and academic Raj Patel and primatologist and anthropologist Dame Jane Goodall.

It was exhilarating to spend two days listening to such knowledgeable speakers, chatting to other delegates in the intervals and enjoying the fully plant-based catering. On leaving, though, there was the deflation of re-entering the outside world in which meat-eating is still the norm and attempts to challenge it are met with predictable resistance and derision.

But change is on the way. Dr Shireen Kassam of Plant-Based Health Professionals UK told us that plant-based diets offer clear health benefits, as opposed to the serious risks associated with red meat consumption, and that “national and international guidelines are catching up with the evidence.” The government of Denmark – a country known for its meat and dairy products – has issued health guidelines based on the EAT/Lancet Commission global planetary health diet, urging citizens to eat predominantly plant-based food, with only a little meat. As Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl of the Danish Vegetarian Society concluded: “If this can happen in Denmark, it can happen anywhere.”

CIWF’s new report, More Money More Meat, was launched in the same week as the conference, adding to the growing – and surely unignorable – body of evidence that the diets of wealthy countries aren’t sustainable. How long will it take for the UK government to follow Denmark’s lead and acknowledge the huge gains that could be made by adapting our food system?

Linda Newbery

Making an impact with Plant-Based Councils

The Plant-Based Councils project began during lockdown, devised by a small group of animal and climate campaigners as something they could work on from home – asking councils to commit to plant-based catering for their own events, to raise awareness of sustainable or ‘climate-friendly’ eating. When I attended an introductory Zoom talk in the early spring of 2021, I immediately saw this as achievable, and began to campaign in Oxfordshire.

I found a few others to join me, although it is possible for one person to campaign alone. We emailed all Oxfordshire County Councillors, providing statistics about the environmental costs of meat and dairy products and the health benefits of plant-based foods. Our campaign is backed by ProVeg UK and by Plant-Based Health Professionals, so we had good resources to draw on. Although a couple of councillors replied with a decided No,others (from various parties) were encouraging enough to make us feel that progress was possible. Then, in May 2021, Ian Middleton was elected to the County Council for the Green Party, and he needed no persuasion to take our case forward.

Those May elections had seen the Conservatives lose their majority in the County Council, and Ian took the time to ensure that his motion to Council would have full support from the progressive alliance. The motion was passed in December 2021, making Oxfordshire the first (and so far, only) County Council to have committed to plant-based food. Popular outrage followed, energetically stirred up by Jeremy Clarkson, who called the decision “madness, utter madness.” Opponents could only see it as a “ban on meat”, an “attack on farmers” and an “authoritarian council dictating what people can eat.”

Of course, it’s none of those things. The council has pledged to serve a plant-based meal to councillors at Council meetings, maybe six times a year. This is hardly “forcing vegan food down people’s throats,” as our accusers claimed, as if plant-based dishes are somehow alien or unrecognisable as food. Jeremy Clarkson’s posturing gave us the opportunity to speak on radio phone-ins to add a bit of sense and logic to the debate.

It is beyond dispute that we have to cut our consumption of meat and dairy in order to reduce carbon emissions and habitat loss. This means that we must shift our sense of what is normal, and to stop seeing meat as the centrepiece of every meal. Just as the public is being urged to insulate homes and swap to electric vehicles and green energy, plant-based food needs to be normalised. We are not demanding or expecting everyone to give up meat, but if people eat less meat, obtained from more humanely reared animals, they can support local farmers with higher standards of animal welfare. Farmers, of course, also grow cereals, fruits and vegetables, so we’re not attacking them: we need them.

Making a plant-based pledge means that councils can show their commitment to the Declaration of Climate Emergency that most have made, make an immediate cut in greenhouse gas emissions, and promote a diet that’s better for animals, better for the environment and better for individual health.

After the Oxfordshire County Council motion was passed, I joined the still small but dedicated team at Plant-Based Councils. We now support campaigners in all parts of the UK, and the Oxfordshire motion was followed by Cambridge, Exeter and Norwich City Councils. Councillors making this happen represent Labour and the LibDems as well as the Greens (but no Conservatives yet). Most recently, Oxford City Council has followed the County, voting unanimously on 20 March 2023 to promote plant-based food. The debate that evening was heartening: every councillor who spoke showed understanding and commitment, many adding extra reasons to those outlined by Cllr Paula Dunne, who proposed the motion. This is the sort of conversation councils everywhere should be having.

Many other county and city councils are discussing the issue, making it part of their climate, environment and sustainability policy, and we hope many more motions will be passed this year. My aim is to reach the point where we don’t need to campaign any more.

Locally in Oxfordshire, I hope some of the forward-thinking town and district councils will join county and city. Which will be the first – Abingdon? Witney? Wantage? Chipping Norton? If you’d like to add your voice and engage with your own local councillors, do come to one of our introductory Zoom talks – we have all the resources, support and encouragement you need! This is one campaign where your efforts really can make a difference. Find us at  www.plantbasedcouncils.org; Twitter: @PBCouncils.

Linda Newbery