Scientists discuss the need for a greener diet. In order to avoid runaway climate change, industrialized countries have agreed to a 2050 goal of a 90% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions compared to pre-industrial levels.
Toward this end, scientists are emphasizing the need for behavioral, rather than technological, approaches for faster results. This is especially true in the area of food.
Multiple studies have suggested that reducing or eliminating meat consumption would be more cost effective and quicker in reducing greenhouse gas emissions than attempting to develop technologies to capture the large-scale emissions involved in meat production.
Dr. Juha-Matti Katajajuuri, senior researcher at MTT Agrifood Research Finland, evaluated the climate impacts of various typical Finnish meals, ranging from meat-based to vegan.
He found that vegetarian main courses had a 50-60% smaller climate impact compared to their meat-based counterparts. Dr. Katajajuuri also highlighted the likelihood of obtaining more immediate results from a behavioral approach.
Dr. Juha-Matti Katajajuuri – Senior researcher, MTT Agrifood Research Finland (M): It is a lot more challenging to find easy and new technological solutions by which we can reduce the environmental effects of food production.
VOICE: Industrial ecologist and climate scientist Dr. Peter Tom Jones of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, agreed, saying that personal human action rather than technical change is the key for greener food consumption.
Dr. Peter Tom Jones – Industrial ecologist and author, Vegetarian (M): This entails: more local chains, more organic food, less dependence on oil.
In that manner you can drastically reduce the environmental impact of the production issue.
But then a second essential component of the reduction in the food sector has to do with our meat and fish consumption.
VOICE: Dr. Jones, a vegetarian himself, stated that if governments encouraged the consumption and production of organic vegan foods, the international reducing of emissions by 90% would be attainable, with added health benefits.
Peter Tom Jones, PhD (M): We can easily go to a reduction of 90% if associated with the agro-ecological food model, with even much healthier nutrition.
So there would be less nutritional disease, less cardiac and blood vessel disease, less diabetes, less obesity, etc.
VOICE: Our sincere appreciation, Dr. Katajajuuri, Dr. Jones and associates for your research in the crucial area of food production emissions.
May all governments and co-citizens start now to eliminate costly animal products and switch to organic plant-based fare to halt climate change. Supreme Master Ching Hai has often emphasized the priority of dietary change needed to save the planet, as during a September 2009 videoconference in South Korea.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: In order to call ourselves a low-carbon or carbon-free society, we must eliminate our meat consumption, because that is the number one cause for climate change – that is, our meat consumption.
In fact, if we focus on shifting people to be vegan, it will save us much more money than green technology, and of course it’s much more effective.
And I urge you, the government leaders, because our time is running out, we have to act on this now. Please explain to your co-citizens this important truth and tell them we must work together to become animal-free consumers.
We have a very short time to save our planet. We have a great planet to save. We have a great precious treasure, that is, our children, to save.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=limits-on-greenhouse-gas-emissions http://www.mtt.fi/english/http://www.se2009.eu/polopoly_fs/1.24468!menu/standard/file/Juha-Matti%20Kkatajajuuri.pdf http://www.petertomjones.be/content/blogsection/6/27/ Extra NewsA Canadian study reports that levels of toxic mercury, PCBs and banned insecticide DDT in fish have doubled in certain waterways since 1985 due to global warming-related melt and algal blooms that collect more of the toxins, which are then consumed by the fish.
http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/mar15_10sf.htmlWith the worst drought in a century still ongoing in China’s Guizhou and other southwestern provinces, more than 4 million acres of crops have been affected, with meteorologists saying no significant rain is likely until May.
http://en.ce.cn/National/Local/201003/15/t20100315_21120179.shtmlhttp://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-03/10/content_9567448.htmThe Norwegian Polar Institute reports that atmospheric CO2 levels are still on the rise, with recent measurements showing an increase during the first two weeks of March 2010 compared to the same period last year.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62E2KJ20100315 US and Canadian researchers warn against fertilizing oceans with iron to remove atmospheric CO2, stating that the iron encourages growth of the harmful algae Pseudonitzchia, known to have already caused the demise of thousands of marine mammals and birds.
http://www.physorg.com/news187896509.html
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