veganism

Blame and Prevention: Musings on Pandemics, Animal Agriculture, and Xenophobia

Cover Image is of a Pallid Bat [1]

The initial headlines most of us saw earlier this year probably still ring in our heads: “Novel coronavirus spreads throughout the world”, “COVID-19 pandemic reaches the United States”, “Global stock markets post biggest falls since 2008…”[2], “COVID-19 suspected to originate from a bat in a wet market in Wuhan” and even the infamous “China Virus” statements from the White House administration.

Underneath these headlines lie a number of implicit questions that are all an exploration of “how did this catastrophe happen?” Where did this originate and who is responsible? What could we have done differently and what can we do to prevent the next one? This piece will be an exploration of these questions and a meditation on the themes of blame and prevention in the narratives surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

2050: How Diet Causes Catastrophe

Image: NASA satellite image of the 2018 Camp Fire, currently the most destructive wildfire in California history. Image from https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144225/camp-fire-rages-in-california

If you are usually critical of veganism or feel apathetically hopeless regarding climate change, this is for you. I only ask that you hear me out and give me the benefit of the doubt and read through this piece. I know it is long, but I promise you that it will be worth it and that it could change your perspective on the environmental crisis, the next 30 years, and what you can do.

An Announcement

In the coming few weeks, I will be releasing a series of posts on veganism. 

(The first piece will come out on Sunday 🙂 so look out)

If you are against veganism, think it is crazy, something for people to be “cool” or “different”, or some weird hippie nonsense, this post is for you!