Vegans have just 30% of the dietary environmental impact of high-meat eaters.

This is about cat owners becoming vegans as they should because they love cats and should love animals and if you love animals, you should love nature and if you want to protect nature and the animals that live in it you should do you bit to stop global warming!! Phew.

Vegans harm the planet a lot less than meat-eaters. No surprise, I guess. Here are some details from an Oxford University study: Low meat diets reduce environmental harm from food production.

• Vegans have just 30% of the dietary environmental impact of high-meat eaters;
• Vegans also had just 25% of the dietary impact for land use;
• Vegans have just 46% of the dietary impact for water use;
• Vegans have just 27% of the dietary impact for water pollution;
• Vegans have just 34% of the dietary impact for biodiversity (i.e. detriments to biodiversity).

The study concluded “that even the least sustainable vegan diet was still more environmentally-friendly than the most sustainable meat eater’s diet.” And that doesn’t include the abuse and killing of animals.

Deforestation for cattle farming. Image in public domain.

The researchers took information from over 55,000 individuals. The scientists are from the Livestock, Environment and People project at the University of Oxford. The participants classified themselves as vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or meat eaters.

Data on the environmental impact of their diets was assessed in relation to biodiversity loss, water pollution risk, water use, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions.

It took into account how and where the food was produced. There were substantial variations according to where and how the food was produced. But the relationship between environmental impact and animal-based food consumption is clear they said.

They want action to reduce production and consumption of meat. The report on the project is published in Nature Food.

RELATED: Be a better cat caregiver by being healthier in consuming olive oil and going vegetarian for 6 months.

The global food system as they called it is responsible for 70% of the world's freshwater. They also reported that around 75% of the land area of the planet excluding those areas covered by ice have been affected by human use primarily for agriculture and land use change such as deforestation causing biodiversity loss.

The lead author is Prof Peter Scarborough of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University.

He said:

Our dietary choices have a big impact on the planet. Cherry-picking data on high impact plant-based food or low impact meat can obscure the clear relationship between animal-based foods and the environment. Our results, which use data from over 38,000 farms in over 100 countries, show that high meat diets have the biggest impact for many important environmental indicators, including climate change and biodiversity loss. Cutting down the amount of meat and dairy in your diet can make a big difference to your dietary footprint.”

Past research would support this research and that plant-based diets have a much lower impact on greenhouse gas emissions, land use and water use and also reducing meat intake tends to be healthier.

17 cats mysteriously died on the way to a veterinarian from a San Bernardino County animal pound

Rescue cats. Image supplied.

NEWS AND VIEWS: This is a report from Nathan Winograd to me in an email. It is very disturbing. Nathan Winograd is America's greatest advocate for the No-Kill movement in animal shelters. He tells me that staff at the Devore pound (animal 'shelter') in San Bernardino County, California, USA, say that 17 cats on the way to a veterinary clinic mysteriously died. But there has been no explanation. 

No one believes the claim. Nathan Winograd hints in his email that the cats were killed deliberately because this particular pound has a record of killing animals unnecessarily.

He says that Devore staff routinely and systematically kill animals. And according to rescuers Devore killed 35 cats including young kittens in three days.

RELATED: Nathan Winograd’s No Kill Advocacy Center Reviews US Statistics on American Shelters.

Rescuers have accused the pound of the following:

• Routinely mislabeling friendly cats as “feral” to kill them because it does not have a community cat program;
• Allowing healthy cats to get sick because of poor protocols and filth and then killing them, even if the condition is treatable;
• Killing pregnant cats so as not to foster or provide veterinary care;
• Killing entire families of cats — mothers and young kittens together; and,
• Not providing prompt and necessary medical care “leading to suffering and even death.

And when rescuers complain about these unnecessary killings, the administrators of the pound retaliate by killing animals that the rescuers have offered to save. It seems extraordinary. This report indicates that there is a complete breakdown in the way this pound is managed.

And the pound is managed by Brian Cronin. And Winograd also reports that Cronin has been the subject of complaints dating back decades. For example, in 2006, it is said that he returned an abuse dog doused in gasoline and set on fire to the abuser who was awaiting trial at the time. This caused worldwide condemnation.

Winograd also accuses the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, who oversee the pound, of allowing the long-term neglect, abuse and killing of animals and the pound.

Porcupine parents protect their 2 babies from a leopard (video)

 

The parents defending their babies in this video do so with great effectiveness. Porcupine quills are deadly. There are many cases of leopards and for example lions dying after being harpooned by porcupine quills because they tried to attack the animal. 

Once the quills have been inserted into a predator like a leopard they are released from the porcupine and the barbs on the quill means that movement by the leopard forces the quill deeper into their body and they are impossible to extract. They can cause an infection.

A study published on the science.org website tells us that "a porcupine quill needs only about half the force of a hypodermic needle" to pierce skin. Interestingly, they studied porcupine quills to see if they could improve the design of medical instruments!

The tiny barbs (top) coating the tips of the quills from North American porcupines (bottom) make it more difficult to extract a quill from flesh, but they also help the quill penetrate the flesh. Image: WOO KYUNG CHO on science.org.

Porcupine quills are large stiff hairs. The North American porcupine has about 30,000 quills. Each one is adorned with between 700 and 800 barbs along the 4 mm of the tip. The barbs help the quill remain embedded in the victim's skin.

Barbed quills required about half the penetration force of quills that do not have barbs. And, as mentioned, 56% of the force needed for a hypodermic needle to be inserted into human skin.

The barbs mean that they are four times harder to pull out once they are embedded. The barbs located within the 1 mm tip of the quill contributed to about 50% of the pull-out resistance.

Porcupines do not shoot their quills at predators but they detached easily when touched. I have seen many pictures of large wild cats such as pumas with quills in their snouts. When that happens, they can't do a thing in terms of predation. The puma with a face full of quills is going to starve to death. This is why porcupines are very dangerous animals to wild cat predators and which is why the defensive measures put up by the parents and the video are so effective.

Pets at Home reports higher sales because of Covid

 

Pets at Home. Image in public domain.

UK - NEWS AND VIEWS: The Times reports that the pet products chain, Pets at Home, has reported higher sales because customers continue to splash out on cats and dogs that they bought during the Covid-19 pandemic and this applies despite the squeeze on incomes because of continuing inflation.

This is a reference to the fact that during Covid-19 a lot of people bought cats and dogs, mainly dogs, as companions during that long period of furlough when people were stuck at home, driven, you could argue, to adopting a companion animal to keep them company. They also have the extra time on their hands to go for long walks with their newly acquired dog!

And now of course these people need to purchase pet products for their newly acquired pet. The fact that they are spending money on their pets despite a squeeze on their income indicates that there is still a little bit of fat in the system in terms of family budgeting or they are prioritising the health and welfare of their companion animal over other expenditure.

The group reports that group revenue at the pet-care retailer, which also offers veterinary services rose 7.9% year-on-year to £436 million in the three months to July 20. Veterinary and retail sales rose by 16.3 and 7.1% respectively.

The group believes that they are acquiring new customers at an 'impressive rate' according to the chief executive.

2 indications that the world is conservatively not ready for the woke movement or tackling global warming

NEWS AND VIEWS: There are two diverse reasons why, I believe, that the world is not ready to deal adequately with the concept of inclusivity which is under the umbrella of the woke movement. And the world is not yet ready either to deal properly with global warming as indicated by another development which is entirely separate.

Sales blow to Bud Light

Yes, this is about beer. The manufacturer of Bud Light beer, Anheuser-Busch, employed Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, as Audrey Hepburn in its promotion of their beer. They wanted to show off their inclusivity which is trendy these days. 

It is companies jumping onto the woke bandwagon, in this instance, to try and improve their sales. But it backfired. Their partnership with Dylan Mulvaney did not pan out as they had thought. It sparked a boycott in parts of Conservative America where revenues dropped 10.5% in April to June compared to 2022.

A little 'c' conservative world is scared of change

The majority of the world is conservative at least with a little 'c'. They don't want to change. They want to maintain the status quo because it is calming to keep things as they are. Change is frightening to a lot of people. And so the little 'c' conservatives of the world don't accept a company promoting their product with the assistance of a transgender influencer.

World should be more enlightened about the spectrum of gender identities

That's one example of how the world is not ready as a unit to accept the idea of the woke movement and transgender people. It's a shame, because personally I am all in favour of inclusivity and the acceptance of transgender people and all people of all genders. There is a wide range of genders I believe although biologically there are only two types of human: males and females!

Ethical funds suffer backlash with £1 billion retreat

Entirely separately, British investors have pulled money out of funds in the sustainable or ethical marketplace. These are investment products weighted towards companies that trumpet environmental, social or governance credentials.

It seems that mainstream investors have rejected the idea of putting money into environmental projects partly because they've lost enthusiasm for them because of scepticism and accusations of green washing. They don't believe that companies that profess to be green are actually green. These companies are using the concept of being environmentally friendly to boost their profits.

Lack of genuine commitment to tackling climate change

And, personally, I believe that a lot of people including investors are retreating from making big efforts to curb climate change. There is a weakening of commitment towards efforts to stop global warming. The basis is probably because it is too expensive and people are yet to see the real dangers inherent with climate change. We see weather changes i.e. extreme weather but humankind needs more than that to commit trillions of dollars and burden the taxpayer to tackling climate change with real commitment.

Conclusion

These indicators of the mentality of mainstream life in both the USA and UK and I was would suggest in the wider Western world indicates a deep conservatism and the reluctance to change which is why global warming will get worse for a long time to come in my view and that affects us all including our cat companions!