The German Green Party is ruing the idea of a compulsory vegetarian day. They blame this on a turning away of the Greens from Environmentalism to "Social Justice".
I see several layers to this.
The first is compulsory vegetarianism. I think that is an incredibly bad idea. Aside from civil liberties, associating environmentalism with bossiness is extremely off putting. Far better to go for voluntary measures, perhaps encouraging people to give various vegetarian foods a try. Although I am very much a carnivore, even i find the vegetarian offers on Ealing Road tempting. Brent probably has some of the best vegetarian offers in the country. There is no need to force people.
The second is our own Martin Francis. Martin Francis has eclipsed other "green" campaigners to become Brent's leading Green Party representative. I also see him as our leading Looney Left representative. Martin is a keen advocate of the green movement leaving environmental issues to concentrate on "social justice", which he finds more absorbing. He has also argued that environmentalism is "not the main issue". Martin's position echoes that of the Green national leader. I regret that people who support the Greens on environmental grounds are being misled into voting for a party that actually has given up on the issue.
The third layer is the very idea of seperating social justice from environmentalism, which seems to me a false choice. Environmental problems like desertification, flooding and air pollution all have a disproportionate effect on the poor.
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