Tony Weis, Western University
Postponed until fall 2015
Sidney Smith Hall, rm. 2125, 100 St. George Street
ABSTRACT: The average person on earth annually consumes nearly twice as
much meat as occurred just a half century ago, during a period when the
human population leapt from roughly 3 billion to over 7 billion people. On
the current course, there will be more than 9 billion people by 2050
consuming an average of more than 110 pounds (over 50 kg) of meat per
year, with huge disparities between rich and poor and the fastest growth
occurring in the middle. Roughly 70 percent of global meat production by
volume comes from pigs and chickens alone, and the industrial production
of these two species, led by chickens, is expected to account for almost
all further growth. If this continues, the annual population of
slaughtered animals would soar from 70 billion today to 120 billion by
2050. The stunning rise in the population of individual animals
slaughtered reflects the absolute growth in the volume of meat production
and consumption, the quickening turnover time of livestock in industrial
systems, and the centrality of poultry to continuing growth, as birds have
smaller bodies and are more efficient– or better, less inefficient– at
converting feed to food than mammalian livestock.
This talk will explore the conceptual framework of the ‘ecological
hoofprint’ as a means to understanding the nature of the industrial
grain-oilseed-livestock complex, the crucial role that cycling feed
through livestock plays in the profitable absorption grain and oilseed
surpluses, and the destructiveness of this trajectory. In focusing on how
productive environments are organized, it also fixes attention on the
domination and suffering of animals and the degradation of agrarian
labour, and how these are intertwined.
**Lunch will be served. Please RSVP at
https://eventbrite.com/event/15953831339/ so that we know how much food to
order |
