Don’t Shoot the Messenger – an admonition I’m invoking right off the top of this episode of The Big Middle.

The messenger is my guest Jayne Buxton – journalist-author of The Great Plant-Based Con: Why Eating a Plants-Only Diet Won’t Improve Your Health or Save the Planet.

As you might guess, Jayne’s been shot and trolled multiple times on the socials since her book launched three months ago (June 2022). But she’s also been praised for her courage in stomping on the equivalent of the third rail of the nutrition wars between those who eat meat along with their plants and those who don’t.

“Somebody on Twitter likened the treatment of me to the stoning of a heretic. So that was interesting. But I have to say that hasn’t been the entirety of the experience. There’s been a lot of positive response to the book as well. A lot of people seem to have been waiting for somebody to open up this discussion and to bring a new narrative to the table because it’s been far too one-sided for far too long.”

We’re bombarded with the seemingly incontrovertible message to reduce or quit consuming meat or dairy to stand a chance of saving our melting planet from imminent collapse. But that prevailing consensus is at odds with the facts Jayne found in her forensic search for the truth about the environmental and health impacts of food.

Jayne stresses that she’s not anti-plants or anti-vegan. She’s an advocate of ethical, regenerative farming and real food to benefit human, animal and planetary health. Her sole – and fully-independent – motivation is to reveal facts and evidence to counter nutrition propaganda, sloppy journalism and the hidden agendas of powerful stakeholders.

I’ve learned so much from this conversation and guarantee you will too. More learning to be had in the many links below. Enjoy!

Links

• Jayne’s bio
• Buy Jayne’s book 
• Geosystem Science Prof ​Myles Allen​ of Oxford University on how current metrics exaggerate the warming impact of biogenic methane​
• and writing in Nature on same
• Soil ecologist Dr ​Christine Jones on soil biology and the role of ruminants​
• Real Food advocate ​Belinda Fettke on the influence of the Seventh Day Adventist Church​
• Seventh Day Adventist Church ​leaders writing about church influence ​on ​dietary policy
• Cult American livestock farmer Joel Salatin Ted talks Cows, Carbon and Climate
• “The chickens have a whole new salad bar” in 30 seconds – Joel interviewed about his mobile chicken structures 
• Jayne on Twitter

Follow The Big Middle

• Website I Twitter I  Instagram I YouTube
• Hosted + produced by Susan Flory
• Music: “Beautiful Day” by Sahin Koc

Support The Big Middle