Eating Meat is the New Oil | Aaron Bastani meets George Monbiot | Downstream 

I'm the daughter of generations of farming and a business partner in the farm, and unfortunately, our business is the opposite of what's needed - we sell silage to feed our neighbours' dairy cows. We use the lowest nitrogen fertiliser available, but it's still not what's required to look after our soil. I would love to transition to rewilding, but how to fund that and do it properly is overwhelming. Calling for state assistance and cooperation! Looking forward to getting immersed in George's new book. Thank you George for your diligence, I'm with you in spirit, and wish to be with you in action.

This was my personal tipping point. Veganism here I come. Thank you George and Novara. The clearest argument against animal farming I've ever herd (....) and the final push I needed.

This is one of the best interviews I've ever seen. It's the combination of humanity, intelligence and insight that makes it so special. I recently stopped eating meat and dairy and have stopped flying. It seems like the odds are stacked but on an individual level we can all do something.

One of the best things Novara has done in ages. Aaron needs to do more long form interviews.

I think this is the best interview I have ever seen. Reaching from consumer environmental choices, to the environmental science of all aspects of society, economics, agriculture and technology, to political alternatives to humanitarian considerations. If everyone in the world saw this video I believe it could change the Earth’s future. Well done Novara, Bastani and Monbiot as always.

George Monbiot's capacity for articulating these complex interactions in ways that connect with ordinary folk is what make his lifelong contribution to progressive human evolution legendary. Well done Novara Media for facilitating that powerful interview, very informative.

Absolutely fantastic interview, George Monbiot is such a well-spoken and knowledgeable person.

Thank you so much Novara Media for putting this out! Have shared it with a lot of friends who eat animal products and has started a lot of really interesting conversations! Feel like this could be the rallying cry we need to actually support and ask for the change our species needs. Big up to George!

More people need to watch this. George is a luminary. May well also be my tipping point to veganism.

Genuinely one of the best interviews I’ve ever seen. The message about the social tipping point is exactly what I needed to hear. Fantastic stuff from Novara.

Here I am again listening to a very great conversation.This was 9 month ago. Why do I feel like we are going backwards . Have we already forgotten this" brilliant", "excellent, " and interesting interview?

I started going vegan this year strangely not because of videos like this, I've found these after starting the switch so found this very interesting from start to finish, thankyou novara

I have NOT eaten Meat for 50 years. I am 82 years old and in perfect health for my age. I still backpack the Olympic Mountains and kayak and biking.

It’s so wonderful to see George talking, with such great knowledge, about the horrifying effect we have on nature, and global devastation. Go vegan.

An excellent interview on this crucial topic. Thanks. I have now bought your latest book Mr Monbiot 👍 Beef is 26% protein. Beans are approx. 21% protein. The reliance on meat has been amendable for a thousand years or more.

Just wanted to say THANK YOU 🙏 to Mr. Monboit for his recent appearance on politics live & ALL THE AWESOME VIDEOS FROM DOUBLE DOWN NEWS!!! 👏🔥🥊

Thanks for this brilliant discussion / interview. I'm currently reading George's 'Regenesis' and I am amazed at how little I knew about soil and the effect of the destruction on nitrogen etc used by farming (even though I did know about toxic sludge lakes in the US etc). Personally I went plant-based a few years back for health reasons first and for the planet next. I've been reading George's articles in the Guardian for some time. I would use the term 'sleepwalking' regarding how the planet is going and the lack of action. The governments are doing so little (Costa Rica being an fantastic exception). There are enough good reasons to go plant-based purely based on health that have been known about from over 30 years. But the bigger problems of our house essentially 'burning down' around us while we are not paying attention.. it's astonishing. George has some great ideas in the book. Thanks for the great discussion and for giving him proper space and for a brief summary of some of his most important points in the book. It's the first time I've heard Aaron do and interview and I will definitely keep an eye out for more vids like this!

Bowel cancer is another reason to avoid dead animals!

A short rant from me on the big debate of plant based vs. omnivore. As someone not trained in science I have to go by what little I know. But from a layman’s perspective, after watching endless hours of debates between experts who recommend plant based vs. those advocating for omnivorous diets I have become convinced that a balanced whole food plant based diet is nutritionally complete (in conjunction with the appropriate supplementation such as b12 and omega fatty acid supplements.) In fact, if the likes of Dr. Gregor are correct, WFPB is very likely superior to an omnivorous diet. Mock meats are ok, but they are generally considered by health and fitness experts to be ‘transition foods’ for those who are transitioning from omnivore to vegan. I eat mock meats too often and it would help me lose weight if I stopped eating them so much. Are we hard-wired by evolution to enjoy the taste of meat? Perhaps, I don’t know. We are certainly hardwired to enjoy calorically dense foods, and animal products do tend to be ~1000kcal per pound, so it would make sense that we crave them. But there is a whole world or culinary delight to be enjoyed in lentils and beans. Skilfully cooked and flavoured tofu or seitan is extremely delicious and is usually healthier than mock meats (which tend to contain a lot of oil.) Culturally people’s culinary traditions mean they are understandably attached to the flavour and texture of meat. I enjoy meat but I chose not to eat it for ethical, environmental and health reasons. When I speak to people, especially older people, they say they don’t want to eat mock meats because they “don’t know what they are getting.” But then again, they haven’t always considered what is actually in their meat, for example, residues of antibiotics or harmful viruses and bacteria. And they often haven’t considered the advantages of mock meats, such as they contain no dietary cholesterol or heme iron. My observation is that people are very suspicious of mock meats, and especially suspicious of the idea of cultured meats. It will take a lot to convince them that it is better for their health to eat cultured meat than to eat real meat. And it will have to taste convincingly like real meat. I desperately hope that humanity will learn, before it is too late, to value the lives of the animals and the life support systems of our planet over taste pleasure. George Monbiot’s ‘Regenesis’and Ed Winter’s ‘Vegan Propaganda’ are IMO two important books that have come out this year. I’d recommend reading them. And it’s a good idea to read these books and give them some thought before dismissing them. For my part, I will try not to dismiss those on the opposite side of the argument. If we try to learn arguments for and against on both sides, then we will hopefully arrive at the best way forward. Let’s save the soil, the biodiversity, the animals, the oceans! Let’s grow our food in a truly sustainable way! Let’s stop supporting animal agriculture and fishing, lest the land become barren and the oceans empty! Thanks Novara, excellent interview 👍

Aaron, you steered this conversation beautifully. George is across all of it. You should be rightly proud of this interview. I’d love to learn of the research process behind an interview like this. I’m reading Less is More by Jason Hickel. That would be a good interview.

Just donated 15 quid to Novara. Keep bringing the quality stuff!!!!!

This was THE best interview/talk ive seen all year!

I'm vegetarian, and I don't drink milk and I am now planning to giving up cheese. Can I eat eggs from my own hens and is it still ok to use their manure on my compost heap. Fantastic interview. SO nice to hear a talk by a person who like me is questioning the systems we live by.

Brilliant conversation. Loved every minute of it. 👏👏👏

We need more George Monbiots in the world

"You could go on Joe Rogan and do three hours" And I'd listen to the whole thing. Great stuff as always.

Wow!! such a powerful discussion . As a family we went vegan 4 years ago and as George said, amazing how quickly you lose the taste for meat and dairy. I’ll be sharing with friends as so well explained . We need more of this thanks .

I come from a UK West Country farming family going back generations. We grow crops, we do not farm animals to be killed for food because of the cruelty involved.

So much interesting and useful learning here. Thank you Aaron and George. Key question: how do we keep precision fermentation open source? (Remember how 3D printers went)

An absolutely mind blowingly informative and inspiring interview.

This is amazing and not disrespectful common sense but UNFORTUNATELY most of the people on the planet don't have any. Great interview and this should be shown in schools and public tv warnings. My heart also sank over bojo and Madeley and I didn't have children precisely because of the state of this world/planet ✌

I want to know how many of the Novara media team are vegan?

His book Regenesis is one of the best I've ever read, both in form and content.

Hi George. Warmest regards. Tremendous work. Thank you.

One of the most interesting interviews I have ever seen. Well done yet again Novara!

Listen to this man… he has always been right.

WOW!!! Best information/ conversation/ interview I have heard since Cristopher Hitchens died.. George you are a breath of fresh air.

Honestly could listen to a 10 hour podcast!

Respect existence or expect resistance. Respect to any vegans out there, we are making progress.

Thank you. This message is so important.

Excellent interview. T,hank you Mr Bastani.

Great interview. Keep going with these long interviews. You give the interviewee time to give the detail, and not just looking for a soundbite.

Nobody I know in Scotland is or has ever been in favour of Grouse shooting. Land reform has been a political discussion since I was a boy and we call it a democracy!!! 🤣

Aaron, you say that there are so many compelling reasons to go vegan, then I guess the question is, what's stopping you from going vegan?

Thank you for doing this crucial interview, all vegans should be leftist and all leftist should be vegan. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'' - Dr. Martin Luther King

Thank you for your very interesting insights on the impacts of eating meat on the environment. Very enlightening.

This is the tastiest media I have ever consumed. In my view the lone thing left unsaid by this majestic interview is that many products consumed by animal agriculture are themselves fossil-fuel derived.

Loving the fact that in the background their are two wooden fan chairs peeking around the bookcase desperate to get validation for sequestering carbon and also this deserves a return visit.

Brilliant !!!

Haven’t watched the video yet but I’m loving the positive reactions in the comments. Hardly any anti vegan trolls

Also the WATER argument. When all those wells run dry, Animal Ag's stranglehold on WATER resources better become suspect.

By consuming enough calories from starches i.e. potatoes, beans, peas, lentils and minimally processed wholegrain products, one can easily get enough protein and fat and in a healthier way than eating highly processed vegan foods or animal products. It is important that minimally processed plant foods i.e. the foods that humans are well adapted to consuming are not out competed by "technological" food fixes which are ok for occasional use and for those struggling in their transition to a vegan diet.

Brilliant interview. 👏🏾

I hope this explores the way we fight against arbitrary discrimination on every level and recognise that exploitation of individuals is wrong, except when that arbitrary difference is species. Then the discrimination is somehow defended and financially supported. Why has it taken good people with kind hearts so long to realise that loving dogs and gassing pigs is hypocritical. That standing against misogyny but funding the artificial insemination of female cows is hypocritical. That saying you're an animal lover, but financially supporting an industry that abuses and slaughters billions of animals a year is hypocritical. Why has it taken us all so long to find the strength to be truly compassionate? And why when this is pointed out do we not immediately recognise the need for change and instead attack the messenger as being "radical" or "extremist"? The extreme position is maintaining the status quo. Hell is real, it's a factory farm and it's supplying your groceries. Pick up the exploitation free alternatives next time, it won't kill you. Actually, you'll feel better about yourself for making a stand against oppression.

george monbiot national treasure

Veganism truly is the revolutionary movement that tackles supremacy, sustainability, health and climate in one. Animals are treated horribly, objectified and exploited based on arbitrary supremacy. And in doing so humans are causing their own destruction. I’ve been a vegan (animal rights advocate) for nearly 7 years now and my view of the world has never been the same. I now see every individual as worthwhile, a pro-social obligation to progress society morally and materially, and am 100 times more knowledgable on health and climate science. It’s the world biggest shame that animal agriculture is so protected from critical questioning, and is almost never raised as a serious ethical or climate issue - when it is THE TOP ethical and climate issue.

That was worth listening to

Amazing interview.

Love George. Love Aaron. Love this book. Loved this interview. Please take note folks. This is the future of society at stake.

I love George so much, amazing man with so much knowledge. I could listen to him for hours and feel like it still isn’t long enough. Excellent interview

In 2008, over a weekend, his newspaper, the Guardian, and it's sister Sunday newspaper, the Observer, published a two-part booklet, entitled "The World's Healthiest People" about the monks of Mount Athos. Traditional Orthodox Christian diets and lifestyle are the healthiest to follow.

George Monbiot, you are doing maximum important work. Keep up spreading the word!!!!!!!!

Monbiot is unbelievably articulate on all this. The countryside and animal farming are sites of enormous cognitive dissonance. It's incredible to see so many parts of this being picked apart here. When we see more of these ideas practiced and alternatives to animal farming scale up, mentally something will switch in our minds collectively and we will see this era of food production for the shocking, barbaric madness that it is. Yet for now this barbaric madness is still, to the vast majority of people, totally normal. It's a tricky thing to think about and to bring others to think about because it implies accepting that we have been responsible or at least complicit in something truly hellish.

It could be worse, you could wake up to find that your SUV's tyres have been let down.

Thank you

How ironic that beef is considered greater protein, when the animal it comes from is vegetarian (unless fed animal bits).

As well as the positive points discussed about ways to improve food security and therefore ecological sustainability, the country of Wales has the right direction of travel with its One Planet Development policy. Basically, it makes it easier for people to live & work on a small amount of land (e.g., a few hectares) & grow more of their own vegetables using agroecological farming methods. Add this to the sources of protein & phat that George was talking about (win-win)

Wow that was so interesting, just ordered the book

Excellent, full stop.

I'm glad you cycled back to organic beef, I was quite surprised

If it wasn't destroying the earth, I wouldn't give a hoot what my dense family wants to eat, but it is killing us all. So, because I've changed and understand the problems and become plant based, I'm the dick. What a world.

No dig gardening is really amazing. The first time I looked into it it was a consciousness shift after years of learning otherwise. I've been trying to learn more about the wild plants that exist around me and I'm seeing plants in a new way

Money is worthless if the makert shelves are empty. Instead of buying me a house, I bought a 6km farm field 1 year ago. I' m growing my own potatos and ognions, not needing to buy them anymore. And it's being enough for my nuclear family. This second year I think of expanding it to other types of veggies. All this without using irrigation. I have natural lakes and i save rain water during the winter. Last year i haven't spent a cent in water. FYI I am a Portuguese guy living in Portugal...sorry for any english mistakes

Excellent. This is the man for PM.

I agree with the overall thrust of the argument, and it's easy to picture "farming" as being large machinery and wealthy, careless agro-barons, but there is no mention of the millions of people in majority nations whose livelihood depends entirely on extensive farming. This video is a fairly typical minority nations view of climate change with no thought for nations who are less privileged. How will the displaced global agricultural communities earn the money to pay for this artificially grown food?

George Monbiot is the environmental science journalist guru I listen to the most. He knows much more than I do about his field. Having lived in southern Europe for almost 2 decades where many local people had been producing their own local produce, knew every edible wild plant as well as any botanist, and living in sustainable ways for thousands of years it broke my heart when on my last visit I found the transformation of their economy following the adoption of the Euro had resulted in the best most valuable and wonderful aspects of their rich agricultural culture was being concreted over and replaced "with" mega-sized supermarkets.

Hugely insightful once again. George is very good at explaining these things. Cheers

Get George on for a mini-series please. Each of the topics he mentioned could surely be given an hour each. Some graphics on the cycles and connectivity etc. These long form interviews, where interviewees can talk at length without interruption, are so important. An antidote to the banal 'gotcha' style 'combative' journalism that's pervasive in the MSM - a style that inevitably puts the interviewees on the defensive from the start and never allows them room to expand beyond bitesize catchphrases (but maybe it creates a headline).

wonderful/thank you

Eating meat is definitely the new oil. However what has the world done recently about oil ??... subsidies are up. New pipelines are being built . New wells are being drilled.... it's business as usual and I fear that eating animal products will be treated exactly the same. Fortunately though it is a strictly personal choice and one that can be made regardless of government policies and one that I personally made 10 years ago

great vid!

I can relate to his comments about finding the readjustment to different foods quite straightforward. I changed to a vegetarian diet 4.5 years ago. I do not miss meat. I accidentally ate a bit of my son's chicken pasta one night while tidying up and thought I'd eaten a bit of poo! It was rank. It's dead easy to remove meat and cheese/milk from you're diet. I do eat eggs but I buy organic. It's not perfect...but don't let perfect be the enemy of the good. If everyone does something that's better than doing nothing. Unfortunately don't have the space to keep my own hens.

It's utterly disgusting that mainstream media is so pathetic at reporting on these issues. Many of whom are condescending and vilifying of experts that are providing the evidence of the devastating consequences of current farming methods. Nor are they reporting on the many solutions to these problems that don't need to destroy livelihoods

Please do another on soil. Fascinating, if somewhat terrifying.

Thank goodness you are bringing this up. Have you read Toxic Legacy?

Civilization is a heat engine. This brute datum won’t go away.

The biggest threat to the planet is billionaires who will never have enough.

OMG, I want elephants here! I love elephants! I want a herd of elephants living on the marsh nearby, much better than cattle.

I went vegan 6 years ago. Im so glad I did. Best decision i ever made ✌️🌱

This book is an absolute game changer ❤

Thanks

Please do "double that" .... Extremely interesting... Many, many thanks...

No thanks George. You're on your own. My niece, 7, broke her arm in the identical place twice end of last year. Her mum raised her on vegan food. Doctor read her the riot act - child needs cow's milk and meat. 8 months later, the girl is a different colour and her bone density has improved by 15%.

Excellent interview. Would you mind if we post this on Climate Healers' RU-vid channel?

Brilliant condensing of the vital information we, and the public need to know. Without the coreect balance of natural systems keeping out planet healthy, we will not be able to live. Simple as that.

Back in the eighties, when Limits to growth, Small is beautiful and The third wave were all still fresh in my mind, I'd advocate, that cattle slurry be controlled to produce a non-chemical fertiliser and while generating electricity to help power the farm, the same being said with our human waste product. Although the odd UK Steiner student shared this vision of the future, it never did catch-on in Europe, with respect to the urgent need. I also encouraged my family to be vegetarian, not particularly for the welfare of animals, but because of the current inefficient method of feeding us all, it also seemed appropriate seeing because there was six of us by then.

There needs to be a proper conversation about agriculture and how farming in a regenerative way needs animals as part of the system .

Can anyone direct me to more information on this yeast he refers to? I appreciate it sounds like early days but I'm sure there must be some literature on it somewhere.

At 1.11.00 or so - dangers of droughts in an arc from Portugal to Pakistan.

Great point about going on Joe Rogan at the end, although I don’t think he’d listen to someone who’s against eating a T-bone steak 3 times a day