to think that the McDonalds protest is a bloody stupid idea that will not get anyone onside?

[PyongyangKipperbang]

Protester are blockading Maccies distribution centres to try and get them to commit to be fully plant based by 2025.

Now I cansee the argument about meat production affecting the environment but.......McDonalds sell what people want to eat! They are a business and are not going to agree to do something that could decimate their customer base!

And this kind of protest just pisses people off, if you want to take the kids for a maccies on the way home from shopping because you cba to cook then finding out that they have no food in then you are hardly going to feel very well disposed to the people who have caused it are you?

@KaleSlayer

I’m vegan and McDonald’s is pretty shit. I just don’t eat anything from there, even the stuff classed as vegan as I don’t want to support them. As long as these people are protesting peacefully then it’s their right. I know people involved in the group that’s doing it and other groups like it and they’re not idiots. They’re just passionate about animal rights. Thats a good thing.

Animal rights and animal welfare are not the same thing. What exactly do you object to about McDonald's specifically?

Have you seen the massive fields arable crops grow in devoid of any life other than the crop. Or worse the huge swathes of plastic required to keep them in optimal growing conditions.
Meat production in the U.K. encourages bio diversity and is good for wildlife.

@QuestionableMouse where do you think the food comes from to feed those animals in the UK?

Not everyone can start up a restaurant! Animals suffering is at the heart of what they are fighting for.

Just one slaughter house can kill 10,000 chickens every hour and 9000 pigs a day. I could weep when I think of what they have to endure.

There are already some vegan fast food outlets (small scale companies and lots of vegan options (big name companies). But we will not get a McDonald scale company doing vegan, because there isn't the market for it. And when there is, we will. The model is there, it's just that the food really isn't. It's going to take at least a generation to alter out collective palette

Most people don't want to be vegans. It's very extreme, and their push on Mac Donald's will never happen

These people could work alongside veggie restaurants and sell/give away tasty food. Have conversations and give away leaflets.

We live in an age where some groups think they have a right to dictate how the rest of us live our lives. I am no fan of Maccies, and I am environmentally conscious, but dictating to us like this will be counter productive and just annoy people.

These people have scored several own goals here.

Firstly, nobody is going to be convinced to become a vegan if that’s what a vegan looks like.

It’s already the case that many people look at all vegans as militants because of the attitudes of the likes of the people out there today, and nobody wants to be associated with that. People who want to become vegans will become vegans, they won’t be convinced to become vegans because McDonalds didn’t have a Big Mac available today, they’ll just go to burger king or KFC instead.

Secondly, This has played right into McDonalds’ hands because people will now flock there in their droves. If not today, then next week, and beyond.

These woke vegan types don't do themselves any favours do they?

Also, I agree with the posters saying they don't understand why it's always McDonalds that get bashed. And yes, their food hygiene standards ARE good. Very good. Probably one of the best.

They're just an easy target aren't they? Because some people assume only fat people, who have one GCSE, and who live on an estate with a flat-roof-pub, actually eat there.

These protesters are pathetic, and need to get a fucking job. Who the fuck do they think they are, telling people what they can and can't eat? I bet these kind of wankers are the type who expect you to bend over backwards to accommodate them and their precious vegan food requests, but would never EVER return the favour when a non-vegan visits them, because it's against their 'beliefs.' 'Against their beliefs' my fucking arse.

Like some others have said, I will make a point of going to McDonalds tomorrow and will probably go twice a month now. Just to piss them off.

It comes down to numbers.

According to The Vegetarian Society "Our current position is that the number of people in the UK who maintain a vegetarian or vegan diet 100% of the time still holds at 2% – 3% of the population."

Protesting does not make me think yes I should just be vegetarian. My sister has been vegetarian for 30 years but she has never rammed it down other people's throats, she does make delicious food though. Supporting great vegetarian or vegan restaurants and getting publicity to get customers through the doors to try vegetarian or vegan food is the way to sway people over. Make fantastic veggie food. I do love veggie food but I also love meat, chicken and fish. Even the NHS recommends 2 portions of fish a week for a healthy diet.

Demanding McDonalds be plant based by 2025 is just ridiculous and makes the protesters looks stupid if they realistically think that will happen. I think protesters just piss people off, how many people from today will look at them stopping distribution and turn veggie/vegan?

@WomenAreBornNotWorn

Not everyone can start up a restaurant! Animals suffering is at the heart of what they are fighting for.

Just one slaughter house can kill 10,000 chickens every hour and 9000 pigs a day. I could weep when I think of what they have to endure.

Then you should have a solution / suggestion for me!

What should be done with all the animals currently in the animal husbandry business, globally?
How will those involved be supoorted to change their business to somehting that does not involve animals at all?
Assuming everyone agrees, what is your timescale for change?
What are the logistics of this change?

@ivykaty44

The ones who are meant to be driving the lorries which the activitists are blocking from leaving the depots

that is the point, to stop them leaving the depot

but they have clocked on and can clock off - nothing to stop them being paid for trying up to work

nothing to stop them going to or leaving the site - just the lorries that are being prevented

as for lions, as far as Im aware they don't contribute to climate change or deforestation, do they?

But some drivers could easily be 100s of miles from home, if they leave without their lorry they can’t go anywhere.

Disrupting the supply chain has massive knock ons way beyond one company

how many people from today will look at them stopping distribution and turn veggie/vegan?

Obviously no one will have exact numbers, but i'd wager the number turning veggie / vegan because of the protesters is a damn sight lower than the number of people who will go and order from McDonalds just to spite them.

[quote ivykaty44]@QuestionableMouse where do you think the food comes from to feed those animals in the UK?[/quote]
In my experience, the vast majority is produced along the animals in the UK. Hay, straw, cereals. The majority of beef cattle are on grass too which reduces feed requirements.

If these protesters trigger people to go to McDonald's, then what would they like to hear that would open then up to a plant based diet? What could we possibly say to change your mind?

@WomenAreBornNotWorn

If these protesters trigger people to go to McDonald's, then what would they like to hear that would open then up to a plant based diet? What could we possibly say to change your mind?

Why do you need to change my mind and alter my diet? Am I trying to encourage you to eat meat?

@WomenAreBornNotWorn

If these protesters trigger people to go to McDonald's, then what would they like to hear that would open then up to a plant based diet? What could we possibly say to change your mind?

Nothing, because I have made my own choice that I am happy to include meat in my diet. I will also eat vegetarian or plant based meals if it is something I fancy but I am not going to be persuaded to make a massive change to my diet and certainly not by some protesters

Curious All the animals currently cared for will be slaughtered and replaced. What do you want me to say? If we stopped eating meat at midnight tonight,they would be slaughtered and not replaced? Farmers could change their product line. It's been done before. It takes 11 bathtubs full of water to make just one hamburger patty. I don't want to argue with a body, but I won't shut up when I have seen first hand what this industry entails.

Soylent green burgers anyone?

The report details how the world's largest private company, the $70bn-a-year US agribusiness giant Cargill, has built a port and 13 soya storage works in the Amazon region. It provides farmers with seeds and agrochemicals to grow hundreds of thousands of tonnes of beans a year, which the company then exports to Liverpool and other European ports, mainly from Santarem, a city on the Amazon river.

From Liverpool much of the high protein soya, which is used as animal feed, goes to Hereford-based Sun Valley, a wholly owned Cargill subsidiary that rears chickens. The company provides McDonald's, the largest fast-food company in the world, with up to 50% of all the chicken it serves in Britain and across Europe.

@QuestionableMouse

@WomenAreBornNotWorn

Curious All the animals currently cared for will be slaughtered and replaced. What do you want me to say? If we stopped eating meat at midnight tonight,they would be slaughtered and not replaced? Farmers could change their product line. It's been done before. It takes 11 bathtubs full of water to make just one hamburger patty. I don't want to argue with a body, but I won't shut up when I have seen first hand what this industry entails.

I had an a hope for actual logistics, based in actual knowledge of the industry and realistic possibilities for decommissioning.

But carry on with the emotional stuff that won't change anything or even try to think of practical solutions other than 'someone else will do it'

Whinge I ask that because posters are saying that this is the wrong way to go about opening up discussion. Hence why I am asking.

@SheldonesqueTheBstard

Soylent green burgers anyone?

Only if Logan's great grandparents run the business!?

www.mightyearth.org/ukmeatinvestigation/

this isn't just about macdonalds, they've picked that store to raise awareness

its not as simple as eating meat or not but the consequences of whats happening due to us eating meat

Anyone who really, really, really wants us to stop eating animals needs to actually start investing their time, money and expertise into lab grown meat. This is where (very simplistic explanation) the meat is essentially cloned from animal cells. It's very likely to be the future of meat consumption for most of our meaty meals. Most certainly for our processed meats like meat patties, mince and sausages. It's not sausage/burger shaped mush masquerading as meat. It's actual, cruelty free meat and no slugs and greenfly are killed in it's manufacture (which happens on an enormous scale for our plant food production). We will all be eating it before too long, so this whole push to make us all vegetarian is utterly redundant. We're omnivores, we love eating meat. Enough people will, never, ever, ever be convinced to stop eating meat. However science has the means to reduce our consumption of animals, so stop fighting with people and start getting on board real change.