Joanne Kong

This month's Sustainability Champion is Director of Accompaniment and Coordinator of Chamber Ensembles Dr. Joanne Kong. Read about Joanne's expertise in plant-based diets, her perspective on the ethical and environmental implications of food, and her international advocacy work in our full interview below.

How long have you been at UR and what does your role involve? 
I have been here for 20 years. I'm a pianist and a harpsichordist, and I work one-on-one with students to prepare them for performances, accompany student performances on the piano, and coordinate chamber ensembles. My main focus is helping students improve their performance abilities and preparing them to be performing artists. 
 
What sparked your interest in plant-based diets?
I first became vegetarian 35 years ago after my husband brought home a groundbreaking book called "Animal Factories" that explained what happens to animals in factory farms. The details of industrial animal agriculture are invisible for most of the public and, while that's changing with the internet, many people are disconnected with where their food comes from. After reading that book, we were stunned that we had never thought about it before, and I decided that I could no longer contribute to the suffering and cruelty experienced by billions of animals every day. My motivation was and is primarily ethical. 
 
I believe that humans are innately good and that it's in our nature to care for others. We care for our pets, but cats and dogs are really no different from cows and pigs. We're all sentient beings, but I think we tend to numb ourselves to that innate connection with animals.  I have been fully vegan for the past five years, and about five or six years ago, I also began doing more research into what animal agriculture is doing to the environment. 
 
How does animal agriculture impact environmental health?
In many ways, animal agriculture is one of the most destructive activities humankind engages in. It contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss, habitat loss, and erosion. 90% of deforestation in the Amazon is due to clearing land to graze cattle and grow animal feed. Runoff from farms leads to ocean dead zones. Greenhouse gas emissions related to the livestock industry are 4 times larger than emissions from transportation. Animal agriculture is also very resource intensive. It takes 16 times more land to raise beef than plant-based food, and farming cattle requires a lot of water.  Raising animals for food is very inefficient and over half of the crops raised on the planet go to feed animals rather than people.
 
Unfortunately, this isn't at the forefront of public awareness and it is a blind spot in discussions about climate change. I read through the Paris Climate Accord twice, and there was not a single mention of the destructive nature of animal agriculture. Recently, there was also a global climate summit in Poland and there was lots of meat on the menu at the event. If we're going to deal with climate change, we have to be willing to look at how we feed ourselves and make changes.  
 
What kinds of advocacy work are you involved in?
A few years ago, I decided that as a professor, I needed to take on some advocacy work and educate others about vegan and vegetarian diets. Now I do a lot of public speaking around the country and internationally at vegan and vegetarian festivals, and at universities. Many people who attend these events may not be vegan or vegetarian, but they are interested in learning more. I speak on a variety of topics related to food, including environmentalism, sustainability, compassion, and health in a general sense. I'm not a medical doctor, but there are health benefits associated with a plant-based diet and that is what many people are initially interested in. I've spoken in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain, and last summer I got to do a 10-city speaking tour of India.  
 
Sometimes my presentations incorporate music and, in a lot of ways, being a performing musician and a vegan advocate have a lot in common. As a musical performer, you create this unique public space for people to reflect and get in touch with their emotional core. It's the same with vegan advocacy, because you're trying to connect with people in a deep way, especially when talking about compassion. 
 
What are some barriers to eating plant-based food?
We grow up disconnected from what we eat and we grow up in a culture where almost everyone eats meat. As a child, I never thought about it, I just ate what my parents served. So we need to recognize the social and cultural traditions that influence our choices. There's also a lot of marketing and advertising power influencing us; 63% of government subsidies go to the meat and dairy industries. 85% of the Standard American Diet consists of processed food and animal products, only 11% consists of whole grains, and just 4% consists of fruits and vegetables. There's a misconception that if people go vegan, they have to buy special expensive ingredients. But really it's about simplifying what you eat and consuming food in a more natural state. 
 
How can people educate themselves about food and sustainability?
Many people have never come face to face with a farm animal, so one way to cultivate compassion and awareness is to visit an animal sanctuary. That's an environment where you can interact with an animal as an individual. There are also a number of fantastic documentaries including Cowspiracy, Earthlings, Dominion, Prayer for Compassion, and one coming out soon that I was interviewed for called Eating our Way to Extinction. There are also many great organizations you can access online to learn more. Some that I would recommend are Mercy for Animals, Nutrition Facts by Dr. Michael Greger, and Challenge 22, which connects people with mentors and dietitians to help them explore what it means to be vegan. Also, "World Peace Diet" is an amazing book by Dr. Will Tuttle that looks at how we've been conditioned as a society to exploit animals and gives the reader a holistic sense of the place of consuming animals in cultural development. 
 
One important thing to remember is that the path to plant-based nutrition is a unique journey for everyone. It's often a gradual transition and everyone has unique motivations. It's important for me that what I put in my body aligns with my core values. Eating vegan reduces unnecessary suffering and is the single most powerful thing that I can do as an individual to reduce my carbon footprint and help with sustainability. Climate change is still often seen as something distant that someone else will take care of, but as more and more lives and resources are impacted, people are becoming aware that what they do as an individual really makes a difference. 

Thank you, Joanne for all you do to support sustainability on campus. Do you know someone who should be featured as a Sustainability Champion? Let us know at sustainability@richmond.edu.