Green Living: Meat is murder
By Andrew Williams
This has been a great week for music in the East End, with the return to these parts of Morrissey.
I never saw The Smiths - and the chances of them getting back together are about as high as Gordon Brown winning the next Eurovision Song Contest.
So going to see Moz is the only chance I'm likely to get to hear some of my favourite songs in a live setting. The fact that the Troxy Ballroom is a mere five minutes from my house along Commercial Road is an extra bonus.
One thing Morrissey has never been backward about coming forward on is his devotion to vegetarianism.
From The Smith's second album Meat Is Murder to his outspoken remarks about carnivores it's clear that this charming man is not a fan of the burger van. In Morrissey's case his crusade is a moral one, but there are clear environmental reasons for eating less meat too.
Meat consumption has hugely increased in recent years. According to the Vegetarian Society, people now eat on average twice as much meat as in 1961.
This in turn accounts for a big percentage of our overall carbon footprint. Nearly 10 per cent of human carbon emissions come from the livestock sector. Reducing our meat consumption, even by a little has a huge impact on our effect on the planet.
With delicious veggie treats such as Quorn mini kievs now available in stores everywhere, there are more reasons than ever to cut down on meat.
So - and stop me if you think you've heard this one before - it could be that rather than asking ourselves "What Difference Does it Make?" we should in fact be thinking that too much meat is a joke that isn't funny anymore.
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...and of course then he goes and cancels at short notice! Apologies for the slightly time-warped vibe of this week's column.
Of course it's always possible that Moz was in the east end anyway - just not singing.
Hopefully the message (bad puns notwithstanding) is still valid...
Since the UN released its study that revealed the instrumental role of meat production in climate change, there have been several efforts underway to cut meat consumption in our diets. Meatless Monday is one such group, a non profit with the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, dedicated to promoting less meat consumption for better physical health (through decreased risk of preventable disease) as well as reduced environmental impact (with lesser carbon emissions). The Youtube video explains the facts and figures behind the history and science of this campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpnKeYmR1NM.