Protesters from the climate camp at Kingsnorth power station moved on to the infamous Smithfield Meat Market in London. On the 11th August, four protesters - two men and two women - climbed on to the roof of the market and unfurled a pro-vegan diet banner. The banner read '18% of greenhouse gases are produced by animal farming. Fight climate change - go vegan'.
Paul Jacobs, a spokesman for the protesters, said: '... Climate change is one of the greatest and most imminent threats that we face, and animal faming's role in that needs to be more widely known... We are asking the Government to provide information about farming's role in climate change, and to make it an issue... There has been no statement of the problem and the wider public have no idea of the statistics involved ... All the major political parties claim to be addressing climate change issues, but none of them has addressed this part of it at all ... '. The 2007 United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation report concluded that livestock farming and industrial fishing currently produces 18 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions; transport produces 13.5 per cent. Protesters at the climate camp at Kingsnorth in Kent attempted to block the opening of a new coal-fired power station and clashed with police at the weekend.
Smithfield has been a meat market for more than 800 years. It supplies butchers, shops and restaurants in London with meat and animal products - the meat market traders shouted abuse at the protesters.
In a pre-written statement, Clare Whitney, another of the protesters, said: '... An animal-based diet is no longer sustainable with climate change threatening the planet, its ecosystems, and the people who depend on them ...'. Police attended the scene.
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