I was elected Chair of New Forest Transition around a year ago. Although the whole ethos of Transition is very much non-hierarchical I thought I might be able to bring to bear a little influence when it came to discussions about diet. The intimate connections we, as vegans, know about between the meat/dairy industry and environmental destruction are not so well known to mainstream omnivores. Alas, in common with many other veggies/vegans in the Transition movement I was sadly mistaken!
I drafted a set of suggested guidelines for how we should run meetings which included that where food was provided (we often meet at either the local authority or the National Park offices) it should be veggie or, preferably, vegan. The guidelines were accepted without murmur but then, as far as that bit was concerned, pretty much ignored. My choice of not eating animal products was largely seen as a bit of a joke. Ho hum.
So I was wonderfully surprised the other day, when I went to a meeting organised by one of the New Forest villages, to hear the speaker talking about the need to cut down our meat and dairy consumption. My surprise became even greater when one or two comments from the audience echoed this thought. Surprise turned to borderline incredulity when the audience members identified themselves as Beef Farmers!! The speaker was none other that Patrick Holden, Director of the Soil Association. We had all gathered to watch Rebecca Hosking's magnificent film 'A Farm For The Future'. This film makes the dire position of British farming abundantly clear and I would commend everyone to watch it if they can. I have it still my DVD hard drive and can dub off copies for anyone if they send me a blank DVD and an SAE.
Maybe, just maybe things are moving on and those of us who have seen the light already might be joined by many more in the months and years to come.
--
Richard Barnett
The Barn
112 Lyndhurst Road
Ashurst
Hampshire
SO40 7AU
023 8029 2531
07791 990351
"If you want to travel fast go alone, if you want to travel far go together" - African Proverb
