Environmental groups returned today to Tesco Hereford for the third time in recent months, accusing the supermarket chain of being complicit in an act of ‘ecocide’ namely the killing of the River Wye ecosystem.
Dressed in white ‘hazmat’ suits, a group of ‘environmental investigators’ tasked with tracking down the culprits responsible for death of the Wye marked off an area near the Tesco entrance with police-type tape reading “Crime Scene” over graphic images of the river and its endangered life-forms, while others dressed as chickens deposited ‘hazardous material’ in the form of artificial chicken poo.
Organised by Marches Climate Action (MCA – a division of Extinction Rebellion Marches) today’s protest followed previous ‘New Year’s Resolution’ and ‘Valentine’s’ events when the group collected 250 signed messages from concerned shoppers calling on the supermarket giant to stand by its own environmental policies and cease purchasing poultry from local processor Avara.
“The impending death of the Wye is not some terrible accident” explained MCA spokesperson and local business-owner Tara Heinemann, “but the predictable result of reckless profiteering: partly by multinational Cargill which created Avara as its subsidiary and imports Brazilian soya to feed their millions of chickens, and partly by Tesco whose poultry-purchasing contract drives this murderous supply-chain.” Poultry manure is responsible for much of the phosphate pollution which has been a principal cause of the dramatic deterioration in the health of the River Wye, now said to be near the point of ecological death.
For the past two years MCA have been investigating the Cargill-Avara-Tesco supply chain, initially focusing on Cargill’s importation of soya from Brazil where soya-farming has contributed significantly to massive deforestation. Subsequently attention turned also to destruction of the River Wye by the overstocking of the catchment with 20 million chickens, whose manure exceeds its carrying-capacity. As part of MCA’s campaign more than 650 letters have been sent to Avara’s chief executive calling on the company to cease using Brazilian soya and to decrease poultry numbers, but with no response.
A further campaign dimension was added recently, when a US court found Cargill guilty of causing damage to the River Illinois by phosphate pollution from its intensive poultry operations there prior to 2005, with the company now required to pay damages.[5] Court submissions revealed that Cargill had been aware from the late 1980’s of the connection between poultry manure and river damage. MCA says this clearly indicates that both Cargill-Avara and Tesco had reason to know long ago what the effects would be of their intensified poultry operations in the Wye Catchment.
“We therefore have every reason to identify this trade as a form of wilful ecocide, knowingly killing the River Wye and its ecosystems, so Tesco is effectively a crime-scene” said Tara Heinemann, continuing “As Hereford Tesco simply carry out orders from head office, we’ll be looking for an opportunity to take these messages to Tesco senior management, possibly at their AGM, demanding they take their own environmental promises seriously and cancel their contract with Avara.” MCA events receive support from other groups concerned over the Wye notably Save The Wye Coalition and River Action UK whose chair Charles Watson during the last event recorded a video citing Tesco for ecocide.
During today’s event in only one hour a further 150 shoppers young and old signed the group’s message to Tesco, making 400 so far to have supported MCA’s ‘Cheap Chicken Ain’t Cheap’ campaign. This aims to raise public awareness as to just how costly the Tesco-Avara-Cargill supply-chain really is in environmental damage, globally as well as locally: with soya sourced in Brazil damaging tropical forests which are ‘the lungs of the earth’, in turn causing global climate instability; and how this soya, fed to millions of Cargill-subsidiary Avara’s chickens, causes environmental destruction here in the River Wye.
Tesco’s Willow brand chickens are purchased from Avara and campaigners say these are sold at a low price which does not reflect the true costs of what they deem “a toxic chain of destruction trashing local ecosystems to profit US billionaires.” Last year Avara-owner Cargill, which boasts 14 billionaires on its board, saw revenues increase 23% to a record £134 billion. [2]
Anyone interested to find out more from MCA about why they say ‘Cheap Chicken Ain’t Cheap’ and ‘Cargill Knew’, and the Tesco-Avara-Cargill supply chain, or to join the Marches Climate Action campaign to change this, is invited to email MarchesClimateAction@gmail.com
