“My suggestion was quite simple: Put that needed code number in a little capsule, and then implant that capsule right next to the heart of a volunteer. The volunteer would carry with him a big, heavy butcher knife as he accompanied the President. If ever the President wanted to fire nuclear weapons, the only way he could do so would be for him first, with his own hands, to kill one human being. The President says, “George, I’m sorry but tens of millions must die.” He has to look at someone and realize what death is—what an innocent death is. Blood on the White House carpet. It’s reality brought home.” - Richard Fisher, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (1981)
Never forget that part of the reason this system was never implemented was that when he presented it to his colleagues, their response was IIRC “George, that’s terrible! If he has to take an innocent life, he may never press the button.”
Tesco, Asda, Lidl, Nando’s, and McDonald’s were found to be sourcing chicken produced by agri business giant Cargill and fed on Brazilian soybeans.
The investigation, by Greenpeace’s journalism arm, Unearthed, has gained widespread media attention including on ITV and the BBC, and brings to light the issue of indirect deforestation impact through animal feed, and the lack of transparency in long supply chains. For example, soybeans are imported from Brazil to the UK by Cargill, processed in a plant in Liverpool, before being distributed as chicken feed to farms supplying several major food chains.
Cargill, which Forbes has ranked as America’s second biggest private company, is estimated to ship more than 100,000 tonnes of soybeans to the UK every year from Brazil’s threatened Cerrado savannah, Unearthed said.
Using satellite imagery from non-profit research firm Aidenvironment, the investigation found 800 sq km of deforestation on farms that supply Cargill in Brazil’s Cerrado and more than 12,000 recorded fires since 2015, a common way to clear land for agriculture.
In particular, footage showed huge fires on one farm owned by a Cargill supplier. Cargill told Unearthed it does not source from illegally deforested land and is aiming to build a deforestation-free soya supply chain.
The news builds on the growing awareness of the hidden cost in the long supply chains that provide meat to some of the UK’s largest retailers.
Indirect deforestation resulting from the production of soy has gained media attention this year. The WWF launched a campaign to show how consumers could be unknowingly part of it by eating chicken.
On a similar theme, Greenpeace’s animation on YouTube has gained over 1.7 million views in less than a month, featuring a cartoon jaguar fearing the loss of his habitat as a result of the destruction to make way for soybean cultivation used as feed for meat production.
Broadcaster and campaigner Chris Packham told Unearthed: “Most people would be incredulous when they think they’re buying a piece of chicken in Tesco’s which has been fed on a crop responsible for one of the largest wholesale tropical forest destructions in recent times.”
On this day, 28 November 1985, an internal document circulated within the Shell oil corporation stated that “there has been a global warming over the last 100 years, that the 0.5 degrees increase is a result of CO2 [carbon dioxide] buildup, that we will see a further 1-2 degree warming over the next 40 years… Such a rise would be greater than any change in the last 1,000 years… The global mean sea level has risen by some 15 cm over the last 100 years… By 2050, the range of uncertainty of the rise in global mean sea level is 20-120 cm.” It formed part of an extensive confidential internal report by the company produced in 1988 on the greenhouse effect which definitively showed that from at least 1981 Shell was aware of climate change, that it was man-made, that burning fossil fuels was its primary cause, and that it would have catastrophic effects. Despite this, for decades the company covered up its findings, sponsored fake public studies to try to deny climate change, and fought any government attempts to limit CO2 emissions.
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