Green Groups Disguise Opposition Research As Journalism

The war on meat is in full swing as far-left environmental groups engage in a coordinated effort to smear proponents of sustainable livestock as industry bogeymen seduced by corporate greed.

In October 2022, a coalition of over 1,000 scientists signed a declaration stressing that the optimal nutrition delivered by a meat-based diet was vital in alleviating world hunger.

The “Dublin Declaration of Scientists on the Societal Role of Livestock,” which advocates for a more “balanced view of the future of animal agriculture,” was written to push back against a highly funded, globally coordinated effort to discredit animal agriculture as antithetical to human health and environmental sustainability. “Livestock systems,” the coalition wrote, “are too precious to society to become the victim of simplification, reductionism or zealotry.”

The commonsense declaration, however, has now become the target of well-funded “green” advocacy groups masquerading environmental activism as critical journalism, primarily through The Guardian, one of Europe’s most influential papers.

The Guardian has become a conduit for far-left environmental interests to air opposition research. The paper shares some of the same funding sources as an animal activist group called “Sentient.” Initially established in 2018 as “Sentient Media,” the group is a 501(c)(3) advocacy organization with a mission to publish “stories and solutions to explain factory farms and their effect on climate, animals, public health, politics and more.” Founding donors include animal welfare groups such as the Järvenpää Foundation, the Effective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund, and the Open Philanthropy Project.

The Open Philanthropy Project was launched in 2014 with a co-founder of Facebook under the generic mission statement “to help others as much as we can with the resources available to us.” The group has become a close ally to the vegan food industry with investments made in Impossible Foods “to accelerate the development of plant-based meats.” In 2017, Open Philanthropy awarded theguardian.org, a nonprofit linked to The Guardian, with a nearly $900,000 grant “to support journalism on factory farming and farm animal cruelty.” The nonprofit was awarded with another $900,000 grant in 2020 to continue reporting on issues related to animal welfare.

Last fall, The Guardian published a supposed exposé on “industry figures behind” the Dublin Declaration.

“A public statement signed by more than 1,000 scientists in support of meat production and consumption has numerous links to the livestock industry, the Guardian can reveal,” the outlet reported in October. “The declaration was published a year ago but gave no information on its provenance. Its supporters appear to be overwhelmingly researchers in animal, agricultural, and food sciences.”

A page on the declaration’s website now outlines the potential conflicts of interest with the statement’s affiliated authors but makes clear “no financial funding or other material support has been received from any third-party source, whether private or public, to arrange, coordinate, co-author or publish the Dublin Declaration of Scientists on the Societal Role of Livestock.”

“For various reasons of either commercial or ideological profit, coordinated campaigns are disproportionately placing blame on animal agriculture for many of the ills of the global food system,” Frédéric Leroy, a lead organizer of the declaration, told The Federalist. “If we feel compelled to engage in this debate, and take the risk of being exposed to hostility and intimidation, it is because of our academic and civic responsibilities to scientifically counteract ideological radicalism that could result in irreparable harm when put into action. To be clear: the initiators of the Declaration are not benefiting financially from their efforts in any way.”

In September 2021, The Guardian published the piece headlined, “Livestock industry lobbying UN to support more meat production.” The article was authored by Sophie Kevany, a freelance writer who also writes extensively about animal agriculture for Sentient Media.

“Livestock groups have been lobbying the UN to support more meat and dairy production before a high-profile summit on food sustainability,” Kevany reported. “Documents obtained by Greenpeace Unearthed — the investigative arm of environmental NGO Greenpeace — and seen by the Guardian, show livestock industry bodies threatening to withdraw if others in their discussion group at the summit do not share their ‘common goal.’”

Kevany quoted New York University Environmental Studies Professor Matthew Hayek promoting the idea of a “scientific consensus” surrounding the purported ills of livestock consumption, the very consensus undermined by the existence of the Dublin Declaration. Hayek is a frequent commentator in Sentient whenever the group’s reporters need expert testimony to discredit meat-based diets.

“Studies in the highest-ranking scientific journals have concluded that cutting meat and dairy consumption in rich countries is the single best way to reduce a person’s impact on the environment and that the climate crisis cannot be beaten without such cuts,” The Guardian claimed in its reporting on the Dublin Declaration last year.

“People already eat more meat than health guidelines recommend in most developed nations,” read The Guardian.

Except American meat consumption has remained unchanged since the 1970s while more grains and seed oils are making their way into diet contributing to insulin resistance and chronic disease. And despite the fear-mongering over global livestock emissions, a study last year from a trio of Spanish researchers found that emissions from wildlife were comparable to domesticated animals raised in natural grazing systems. In other words, contrary to alarmists’ warnings that livestock capital will pollute the planet into an environmental apocalypse, the elimination of animal emissions requires the extinction of natural species.

Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at [email protected]. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.