http://www.brinknews.com/curbing-meat-consumption-and-putting-the-bite-on-climate-change/?utm_source=BRINK+Subscribers&utm_campaign=04d10b3b6a-BRINK_Daily_Insights_26_07_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c3639d7c98-04d10b3b6a-109862333
Here are a few highlights:
The world’s current appetite for meat is excessive and constitutes a pattern of overconsumption that is neither healthy nor sustainable. A growing global population cannot converge around the levels of meat consumption seen in industrialized economies without huge social and environmental cost.
Global consumption of meat is expected to increase 76 percent by 2050. Consumption in emerging and developing economies is rising fast and shows no sign of slowing, while meat-eating in industrialized countries has plateaued at excessive levels.
Among industrialized countries, the average person consumes around twice the maximum amount recommended by health experts. In the United States, it’s three times as much.
Excessive consumption of animal products—in particular, processed meat—is associated with obesity and an increased risk of non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer. Meanwhile, livestock production is often a highly inefficient use of scarce land and water. It is also a principal driver of deforestation, habitat destruction and species loss.
Crucially, these consumption trends are incompatible with the objective of avoiding dangerous climate change. The livestock sector is already responsible for 7.1 Gt CO2e a year of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, just less than 15 percent of the global total, which equals the tailpipe emissions from the global transport sector.
A report by Chatham House and Glasgow University published last year concluded that because governments are afraid to tell people what to eat, they are missing an opportunity and not doing enough to change diets to address climate change. The dilemma, however, is that people want government guidance and won’t change their behavior without it. The need is urgent: Governments must break the cycle of inertia and encourage people to eat less meat, partly by highlighting the health and other environmental benefits, but also by implementing new policies that strongly incentivize behavior change.