Remind me again why I don’t live in France? | Emma Beddington

Their bedbugs can be a little over-friendly, and the vegan food offerings could be improved. But the French have got a lot of things right‘Got my Covid jab, €7,90,” I texted my best mate last week, repulsively smug, plus some obnoxious photos of local …

Their bedbugs can be a little over-friendly, and the vegan food offerings could be improved. But the French have got a lot of things right

‘Got my Covid jab, €7,90,” I texted my best mate last week, repulsively smug, plus some obnoxious photos of local oysters, knobbly picturesque squashes and ceps at the market. I’m in France, évidemment. “Remind me,” she replied, back home in England. “Why do we live here?”

Last year, this conversation was prompted by French melons – so fragrantly delicious and treated so reverently – and we often have it about environmental matters. France is no green wonderland – as the recent shutting down of climate activists Les Soulèvements de la Terre (Earth Uprising) demonstrates – but there’s more appetite for radical change: a new 50-point plan to reduce emissions; €2bn on promoting bike use. Car ads urge you to use public transport where possible, and TV weather has become the “weather and climate forecast”, hammering home nightly how extreme temperatures, drought, floods and fires are the consequence of anthropogenic climate change.

Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist

Continue reading...

World’s dogs going vegan would save more emissions than UK produces, study shows

Study estimates cats and dogs consume about 9% of all land animals killed for foodIf all the world’s dogs went vegan it would save more greenhouse gas emissions than those produced by the UK, according to research advocating the environmental benefits …

Study estimates cats and dogs consume about 9% of all land animals killed for food

If all the world’s dogs went vegan it would save more greenhouse gas emissions than those produced by the UK, according to research advocating the environmental benefits of plant-based pets.

The study estimated cats and dogs consume about 9% of all land animals killed for food – about 7 billion animals annually – as well as billions of fish and aquatic animals. Plant-based diets lower greenhouse gas emissions and require less land and water.

Continue reading...

Think boxers need meat to succeed? Vegan fighter Bryant Jennings disagrees …

At least two vegetarians have captured world titles but meat has long been associated with vitality in the fight gameBoxing fans are used to idols with unusual eating habits. Former junior welterweight title-holder Ruslan Provodnikov went in for raw mo…

At least two vegetarians have captured world titles but meat has long been associated with vitality in the fight game

Boxing fans are used to idols with unusual eating habits. Former junior welterweight title-holder Ruslan Provodnikov went in for raw moose liver. Junior bantamweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai is partial to a spot of grilled rat. And Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez once ate a breakfast of two dozen raw quail eggs washed down with a glass of his own urine.

But to some, Bryant Jennings’ diet might seem even more unlikely: since 2015 the Philadelphia heavyweight has been a strict vegan.

Continue reading...