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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that Green Party candidates should be vegetarian?

56 replies

TeddyBare · 04/05/2013 15:55

Given that the environmental damage caused by the meat industry is pretty serious and undeniable, aibu to think that someone trying to get elected for the green party should be vegetarian? I had lunch with some old friends, one of whom has a partner who ran in a council election for the Green party in England. The green party guy had meat for starter and main. Is it just me who finds this rather hypocritical?

OP posts:
TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 04/05/2013 15:57

Depends, if it was Findus Cheese & Bacon crispy pancakes followed by intensively farmed veal maybe but wouldn't bother me if it was organic, free range produce.

More importantly, I think the Green Party should stop supporting Homeopathy and vandalising GM research and then maybe I would think about voting for them.

aftermay · 04/05/2013 15:59

I think they should also wear long beards and wash with restraint. Saving water is important.

aftermay · 04/05/2013 16:00

I think they've changed their stance on homeopathy nowadays. They saw the (non-electrical, sustainable) light.

squoosh · 04/05/2013 16:01

Interesting question but no I don't think you need to be a vegetarian to be a Green. Anti factory farming certainly.

stargirl1701 · 04/05/2013 16:03

No. I think if you eat organic, locally produced meat then that is fine.

claraschu · 04/05/2013 16:04

YANBU

People are in denial about the environmental damage done by the meat industry. The Green Party should be fighting this difficult battle.

aftermay · 04/05/2013 16:06

OP, I think your standards are too high. It's like asking Tony Blair not to send his kids to private schools. I couldn't think of any more up to date example but I'm sure we can come up with a good list.

squoosh · 04/05/2013 16:06

They would remain a very niche party if they limited membership to vegetarians only. I think they have a bit too much ambition as a party for that.

HollyBerryBush · 04/05/2013 16:08

But they hug trees

Original poster
TeddyBare · 04/05/2013 16:09

I think organic, free-range, locally sourced meat is enough of an effort if you're an average person. But even that is worse for the environment that not eating meat, so I feel like someone trying to get elected on environmental issues should be making a bigger effort that everyone else. Lead by example and all that.

OP posts:
OttilieKnackered · 04/05/2013 16:11

Tony Blair didn't send his children to private schools.

JuliaScurr · 04/05/2013 16:12

the Greens should stop making cuts when they promised not to

Original poster
TeddyBare · 04/05/2013 16:14

Julia are you confusing the Greens with the Lib Dems?

OP posts:
ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 04/05/2013 16:16

YABU. Being vegetarian is just a pointless middle class way of feeling better, and being smug about, their choices.

A truly committed green party member should be vegan...

uncongenial · 04/05/2013 16:19

No, I don't think it's hypocrital at all.

uncongenial · 04/05/2013 16:20

hypocritical, even!

VerySmallSqueak · 04/05/2013 16:25

I think you make a fair point there.
I'm interested to see what others say while I sit on the fence.

WMittens · 04/05/2013 16:27

Given that the environmental damage caused by the meat industry is pretty serious and undeniable

Being...?

Beamur · 04/05/2013 16:30

YABU
It's not that simple. But I would agree that what kind of meat they choose to eat does matter.

k2togm1 · 04/05/2013 16:31

I thought they had also changed their gm stance???

Being vegan isn't so green either, not much soya being grown in the uk, and all those procesed imitation sausages are very carbon intensive.
I'd say a green candidate has to be vegetarian unless he eats the single pig that he breeds and slaughters once a year, and perhaps a chicken or two also from his own back garden. I'd be more inclined to say they had to cycle everywhere.

fubbsy · 04/05/2013 16:51

YABU The Green Party is just a political party like any other. Members don't have to all agree on everything. If someone is a member of the party and supports the points in party manifesto IMO they are not being hypocriticalto stand. In the material I saw for our local elections, there was no mention of farming or vegetarianism
But then again, I am a pragmatist Wink

SwishSwoshSwoosh · 04/05/2013 17:03

I think YABU. Living sustainably is not about a single issue or a single right decision on every issue. It is a whole-lifestyle thing. If you have ever measured your carbon footprint, small things like occasional meat consumption make a small difference. Flying even once a year makes a massive difference.

Meat production is an environmental issue but the answer is for everyone to reduce, not simply for green candidates to be vegetarian. It is ok for a green candidate to eat meat.

I would expect all green candidates in western societies to aim for sustainable lifestyles but they are still allowed to have a life, it is pretty hard to achieve zero carbon lifestyle whilst still being alive!

fubbsy · 04/05/2013 17:45

In most areas, the Green Party candidates will know they have no realistic prospect of being elected. If the people want to give up their free time (and probably spend their own money) to go out in public and talk to people about issues they care about, good for them. If they are my political allies, even better, but I still don't expect all my allies to be exactly like me.

StuntGirl · 04/05/2013 18:35

YABU. It's the Green Party not the Vegetarian Party.

loofet · 04/05/2013 18:45

Yanbu. I always find it extremely hypocritical and mildly amusing for anyone to claim to live a green lifestyle and be eco friendly but see no issue tucking into a plate of meat. It isn't the issue of whether it is organic or not, it's the fact meat is one of the largest destroyers of the planet- fact. So yes, I think you should be at least vegetarian but ideally vegan to be standing for the Green party.