Earlier this week I took a stand with Greenpeace. While the Amazon rainforest may feel like half-a-world-away, it turns out that chains like McDonald’s, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s are knowingly selling meat that is linked to forest destruction in the Amazon and around the world.
Yes, our supermarkets and fast food chains are contributing to the destruction of rainforest land – and they’ve known about it for years.
For example, Tesco promised to remove forest destruction from supply chains over 10 years ago, but still hasn’t done anything about it.
So, I decided to join Greenpeace UK’s #BreakTheChain campaign, and promote their petition calling for these businesses to re-evaluate their food supply chains and stop funding deforestation.
If you’d like to support the campaign, you can do so here: https://bit.ly/GreenpeaceBesma
How Is UK Food Causing Worldwide Deforestation?
You may be wondering how everything links up. How can fresh food on our supermarket shelves – or in our fast food chains – be linked to deforestation in far-flung countries?
This topic is one I discussed when visiting Joseph Gibson’s garden display at RHS Hampton Court flower show in 2018. Joseph himself had visited a number of South American countries and seen deforestation first-hand, witnessing big patches of rainforest being razed to make way for soya crops.
It’s these soya crops that are used to feed livestock, which in turn, feeds us.
Here’s a great video by Greenpeace that shows the issue even more clearly:
Why Deforestation Has To Stop
This campaign is important because deforestation goes far beyond simple wildlife preservation. The burning of forests for animal farming accelerates climate change, harms Indigenous Peoples, and increases the chance of future pandemics too.
So, if you have a spare few minutes, please sign the petition.
(And just so you know – I’m not here to judge your diet or to change your food choices. I simply want you to raise your voice if you care about this issue!)
