Flaws in Arguments Against Measure J
Thousands of words have been written in the press, social media and by local political bodies to oppose ballot Measure J, authored by the Coalition to End Factory Farming. I have 550 words in this column. First I must disclose that I have been a vegetarian for 28 years.
When I first heard of J, I leaned strongly to voting yes. I began to read masses of dire predictions in social media and the press, urging a “no” vote. What really influenced me to look more carefully at J, and do some research, were the dire economic predictions, misinformation and name calling I was reading. Here is just a small sampling:
The goal is to mandate everyone become vegan. If concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in Sonoma County close or downsize it will eliminate all animal agriculture in Sonoma County. J was created by Direct Action Everywhere (DXE). Protesters from DXE brought bird flu to two poultry CAFOS, causing the euthanizing of 250,000 birds. J will cause all meat to come from China or be lab grown. A vegan diet makes you sick, meat is necessary for survival. Some writers cried over the death of their cats, fed a vegan diet, rather than blaming themselves for not researching and understanding that cats are carnivores, while humans are omnivores.
Misinformation, drove me to extensive research and reading the entire ballot measure. The growing mass of No on J press and social media, with little or no commenting from yes on J, grows and grows and feeds on itself. I had to ask myself why those voting yes had so little to say. Detailed facts support J, but it is hard to create titillating sound bites from facts and data. With 550 words, I can’t print all the data here. I believe people are swayed by emotion, not spending hours on research and fact checking.
I have seen this dynamic before. My father was a hunter and gun owner and an excellent trap shooter until he was in his 90s. He was the lone advocate of gun control in his group of friends. He laughed at them when they said they needed to keep their AK47s. He said you can’t use them for hunting, they are for killing people, and no one is going to take your hunting and home-protection guns away from you. Another instance was a local political official citing that she did not know enough about an issue (not J) to make a decision on it. \When I sent her a link to a presentation by a PhD historian on the issue, she told me, “I don’t need some academic to tell me what to think, I have my lived experience.”
I urge you to read the ballot measure for yourself, research and visit the Yes on J website.
Jon Haveman, an economic analyst at Marin Economic Consulting, points to the flaws and omissions in No on J economic studies.
That includes the reports from Sonoma County’s Economic Development Board and Chico State’s Agribusiness Institute via the University of California Cooperative Extension, which use the shutdown of all animal agriculture in Sonoma County to compute economic impact, rather than the impact of elimination or downsizing 21 existing CAFOS.
I believe we eat way too much meat. To save our planet and mitigate climate change, that must change.
