Welcome to the newest miniseries from the Poor Proles Almanac, The Gastropocene, a collaboration between Andy from the Poor Proles Almanac & Dr. Ayesha Khan, known on social media as @WokeScientist. In this multipart series, we're exploring the relationships between food systems, place, history, and colonization all within the framework of climate change and acceleration. How do these overlap, how do we engage with it comprehensively, and how do we move beyond this current intersection?

This audio series is part of a multi-sensory delivery process in an attempt to bring folks into the dialogue with us, not simply listening or reading our content. The series begins as a zine chapter, available at wokescientist.substack.com which is then extrapolated into meme form on Instagram both @WokeScientist & @PoorprolesAlmanac, and from there we take the feedback received to develop the audio, which is livestreamed on Twitch.tv/poorprolesalmanac where you can join in on the conversation. Building content in this format is complex, nuanced, and allows for a more meaningful discussion around solutions to our current system that any of these formats alone falls short.

In the first chapter of this miniseries, we discuss one of the most common solutions espoused on the left, and that is around the idea that a solution to address our current food system problems stems in meat consumption. We must stop eating meat in order to address climate change. But; is this argument framed in real evidence? We discuss soy production, militant veganism, the role of social media in the perpetuation of myths around meat production, and much, much more in this first chapter!

You can support Dr. Khan on substack and the Poor Proles Almanac on Patreon.com/PoorProlesAlmanac

Sources:

http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_soy_report_final_feb_4_2014_1.pdf (page 15 is of particular interest in decoupling soy and meat production)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7721174/ (on soy breeding for oil)

https://www.soyinfocenter.com/HSS/production_and_trade1.php

https://ncsoy.org/media-resources/history-of-soybeans/

https://foodinsight.org/soy-series-part-3-soybean-oil/#:~:text=Soybean%20oil%20is%20used%20in,corn%2C%20safflower%20and%20sunflower%20oils.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9781893997646500226

https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/soy

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/where_do_all_these_soybeans_go

https://www.allergicliving.com/2010/09/02/the-scoop-on-why-soys-in-so-many-products/