New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker is not only a potential 2020 presidential candidate; he’s a vegan who says the world “can’t sustain” people eating meat.
Booker told the February issue of VegNews that he became a vegetarian in 1992 when, after a few days of trying the new lifestyle, he said, “Oh my gosh, I will never go back to eating meat.” He made the decision to go vegan in 2014.
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) speaks after the Democratic policy lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 10, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
“I remember my last non-vegan meal was Election Day, November 2014,” Booker told the vegan news source. (RELATED: Meat Disappears From Trudeau Government’s Vegan Like Food Guide)
If Booker manages to win the Democratic Party presidential nomination and then the general election, he’d be the first vegan to do so.
The potential candidate is also a fan of New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, which would like to eliminate “farting cows” from the American landscape. He compared the widely lampooned and sweeping environmental plan to winning WWII.
In their response to the the Green New Deal, the Food & Environment Reporting Network favorably mentioned the document’s commitment to ”investing in sustainable farming and land use practices that increase soil health” and “building a more sustainable food system that ensures universal access to healthy food.”
The progressive senator doesn’t think veganism is just appropriate for his private life; he’d like everyone to embrace the diet because he believes the world can’t keep providing enough beef and pork to satisfy meat cravings.
Shutterstock/ NEW YORK CITY – Sept. 2 2017: More than 1000 animal rights activists gathered for a rally & march for animal rights in Manhattan
“You see the planet earth moving towards what is the Standard American Diet,” he told VegNews. “We’ve seen this massive increase in consumption of meat produced by the industrial animal agriculture industry.” (RELATED: Vegans Scream For Animal Liberation At Toronto Restaurant)
“The tragic reality is this planet simply can’t sustain billions of people consuming industrially produced animal agriculture because of environmental impact. It’s just not possible, as China, as Africa move toward consuming meat the same way America does because we just don’t have enough land.”
In addition to convincing the masses to give up meat, Booker has other legislative goals that would interfere with America’s eating habits.
“Legislatively, I want to continue to be a part of a movement of folk who are fighting against corporate interests that are undermining the public good and the public welfare,” he said.
Booker went on to explain that he aims “to continue supporting bills that are about public health, whether it is pumping in all these antibiotics into animals that are literally threatening the safety of Americans.”
He also believes cramming too many pigs into barns “is harmful and violates our collective values as a country.”
