Gary-francione
Gary Francione
Ron-weiss
Ron Weiss
Nuala-mcgovern
Nuala McGovern

BBC World Service. Forward Thinking: Can Veganism Feed the World? (and Save the Planet in the Process)

Gary Francione and Ron Weiss talks to Nuala McGovern

Saturday, 23 March 2024

1:45pm

1 hour

Worcester College: Lecture Theatre

Free

Professor Gary Francione is a lawyer, philosopher and advocate of animal rights and veganism.  Dr Ron Weiss is a doctor and nutritionist. They consider whether veganism is a way to feed to world. While it might make sense from an ethical and climate change perspective, it’s a massive cultural leap for many, and there are also downsides like the growth of the unhealthy processed vegan food industry. However, low and no-meat diets are generally better for us and people have lived on them around the world for centuries.

The production of meat is hugely wasteful, harmful to the planet, and, in some societies, to ourselves. Worldwide vast agricultural lands are sown with crops grown specifically to feed to animals.  In the US, preventable heart disease is the biggest cause of death. Eating too much meat is a major factor in its occurrence.

Veganism is a fashionable solution, good for our health and the environment – but it’s fashionable in affluent societies where food is plentiful.  How appealing is veganism in places where food might not be so readily available? In such places meat is aspirational, an occasional luxury, and the traditional starchy no meat foods may be filling but lack nutrition.
However, what can we learn from cultures where veganism is not novel, where meat has played little or no part in the diet for thousands of years (ironically the health of such communities is being threatened by the coming of western diets)?

Vegan food has actually become a development tool in unlikely places, as a viable alternative to bushmeat amongst jungle dwellers in the Democratic Republic of Congo for example.

We’ll unpick this complex issue and discuss the dilemmas and solutions.  We can also engage the audience with this directly, run polls in the room and around the world.

Francione is a world- leading authority on animal rights and professor of law at Rutgers University. Weiss is a physician, farmer and founder of Ethos Primary Care, a farm-based healthcare system.

Forward Thinking is a series of 4 programmes for the BBC World Service presented by Nuala McGovern and recorded at the Oxford Literary Festival.
Audience questions will follow the initial conversation with the guests. 

If you are planning to attend the event there will be an opportunity for you to ask a question.  If you are unable to attend but might like to ask a question that the BBC then features in the broadcast, you can send those in advance to the producer of the shows julian.siddle@bbc.co.uk

Tickets are free but must be booked through the box office.

The recording will begin at 2pm in The Tuanku Bainun Auditorium located within the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre at Worcester College Oxford. If attending the recording, please arrive at least 15 minutes before the start time. The auditorium is a few minutes’ walk from the main Worcester College entrance.

Event in association with

The Telegraph Festival media partner University of Oxford Netflix European Union Supported by the Delegation of the European Union to the UK Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme BBC World Service International radio partner Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Oxford Mathematics Spanish Embassy The Spanish Embassy: supporters of the programme of Spanish literature and culture Cervantes Institute, London The Cervantes Institute, London Italian Embassy The Italian Embassy: supporter of the programme of Italian literature and culture The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Festival literary heritage partner Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Festival hotel Old Bank Hotel Five-star hotel partners of The Oxford Collection Old Parsonage Hotel Five-star hotel partners of The Oxford Collection Jim Mellon John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Tim and Marion Stevenson Martin and Elise Becket Smith Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson Pank Koria CEO of Project People Carole and John Allen David Isaac Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Rhys and Kerry Phillip Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival. Founded 1314 New College New College founded 1379 Worcester College Worcester College founded 1714 Lincoln College Lincoln College founded 1427 St Cross College St Cross College founded 1965 Trinity College Trinity College founded 1555 Magdalen College Magdalen College founded 1458 Critchleys Accountants to the festival Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Human Ecology Project MACROVegan Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner. Celebrating 25 years in Europe in 2024 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Sponsor of the EBRD Literature Prize since 2018 ROOMS Georgia's leading lifestyle hotel brand since 2012. Supporters of the programme of Georgian literature and culture Jewish Book Week Partner of Oxford Literary Festival Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Goldmoney Properties Project People Oxford Brookes University Oxford International Centre for Publishing Confucius Institute Pusey House British Academy Festival academic partner Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Oxford United Football Club Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Oxford Georgian Translation Project Supporter of the programme of Georgian literature and culture Force4Good Consultancy Corporate communications OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders Windrush Group James Currey Society

The Oxford Literary Festival sponsors, donors & partners

The Telegraph Festival media partner University of Oxford Netflix European Union Supported by the Delegation of the European Union to the UK Cultural Relations Platform Supporter of the festival's Voices of Europe programme BBC World Service International radio partner Owen Mumford Supporter of programme of science and medicine and annual science and innovation award Bodleian Libraries Festival cultural partner Oxford Martin School Festival ideas partner Oxford Mathematics Spanish Embassy The Spanish Embassy: supporters of the programme of Spanish literature and culture Cervantes Institute, London The Cervantes Institute, London Italian Embassy The Italian Embassy: supporter of the programme of Italian literature and culture The Dorchester Hotels Collection Festival London hotel partner International Literary Properties Festival literary heritage partner Blackwell’s Festival on-site and online bookseller The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels Festival hotel Old Bank Hotel Five-star hotel partners of The Oxford Collection Old Parsonage Hotel Five-star hotel partners of The Oxford Collection Jim Mellon John Roberts Lady Hatch Patron donor for the programme of Irish literature and culture Tim and Marion Stevenson Martin and Elise Becket Smith Miles Young Masumi and Jonathan Dobson Pank Koria CEO of Project People Carole and John Allen David Isaac Mary and Cecil Quillen Supporters of the programme of American literature and culture Anna Hunter Rhys and Kerry Phillip Exeter College Exeter College: college home of the festival. Founded 1314 New College New College founded 1379 Worcester College Worcester College founded 1714 Lincoln College Lincoln College founded 1427 St Cross College St Cross College founded 1965 Trinity College Trinity College founded 1555 Magdalen College Magdalen College founded 1458 Critchleys Accountants to the festival Pasture to Plate Compassion in World Farming Human Ecology Project MACROVegan Symington Wines of the Douro Valley Princeton University Press Prestige publishing partner. Celebrating 25 years in Europe in 2024 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Sponsor of the EBRD Literature Prize since 2018 ROOMS Georgia's leading lifestyle hotel brand since 2012. Supporters of the programme of Georgian literature and culture Jewish Book Week Partner of Oxford Literary Festival Foodbuy Thje Menu Partners Institute of Hospitality Goldmoney Properties Project People Oxford Brookes University Oxford International Centre for Publishing Confucius Institute Pusey House British Academy Festival academic partner Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Oxford United Football Club Racalia Olive Oil Olive oil from Sicily BBC Radio Oxford Local radio partner Bear Ram Elk Festival Digital Strategy & Web Design Paul Bloomfield Ltd University of Oxford Alumni Office Alumni Office Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Conference Oxford Felicity Bryan Associates CAV Oxford The Sheldonian Theatre Oxford University Images Oxford University Images Oxford University Department for Continuing Education Oxford Georgian Translation Project Supporter of the programme of Georgian literature and culture Force4Good Consultancy Corporate communications OX magazine Ox in a Box K T Bruce Photography K T Bruce Photography The Litmus Partnership Schoolreaders Windrush Group James Currey Society