Thank you

Many thanks for your enthusiasm for my blog series The Obstacle Is The Way (which started here).  This is the seventh and final post in the series, which has analyzed some of the rationales used by civil-society organizations that avoid the controversial issue of industrial animal agriculture. Those rationales include that people should be able to eat whatever they want, that critiquing meat will alienate supporters, and that veganism sounds vaguely elitist. 

It's just a matter of time until those kinds of rationales are widely seen as lame, and until most people recognize the ecological and moral tragedy of excessive meat production and consumption.  Already, more and more fearless researchers and organizations are talking about meat as the major climate and ethical problem that it is.  They’re actively grappling with the biggest obstacle to an ecological, climate-stabilizing, and fair food system — our reluctance to examine the devastating role of high-volume livestock in our food systems, cultures, and societies.

Fearless researchers come from many different camps — health, ecology, climate science, ethics, and justice.  Their tactics and goals are diverse. But they typically support a combination of:

• much-reduced meat consumption and production
• improved conditions for animals and the people who work with them
• food production that is local and accountable to the communities it’s in
• food production methods that work with nature and climate, not against it

Here are some of my heroes

I’ll conclude this series by introducing you to a few of my heroes on this front:

Food system researchers, such as Jan Dutkiewicz, Paul Behrens, Tim Searchinger, and Jennifer Jacquet. Community-based organizations like the VegTO (the Toronto Vegetarian Association). Advocacy organizations with a deep understanding of industrial animal farming’s impacts, like La Via Campesina, Food and Water Watch, The Food Empowerment Project, Greenpeace, Compassion in World Farming, World Animal Protection, Earthsave Canada, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth International, the Reducetarian Foundation. Reputable health organizations that recommend more plant-based eating, like Health Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. Governments like that of Denmark and the Netherlands, which . Food innovators like The Good Food Institute. Global research organizations, like World Resources Institute. International research initiatives like the EAT-Lancet Commission and Project Drawdown. And countless wonderful vegan chefs, like Nisha Vora and Derek Sarno, who show us how easy, affordable, and tasty plant-based food can be.

If there’s a person, organization, or initiative you think I should know about, please comment below or drop me a line. I love hearing from readers.

Lawyer-turned-bestseller-chef Nisha Vora, now contributing plant-based recipes to The New York Times cooking section

...and Derek Sarno, bringing 30 years of restaurant chef experience to always-entertaining plant-based cooking videos: