Select Page

Move Away from Animal Agriculture

by | Apr 15, 2023 | A Sustainable Future, Featured, Footprints of Everyday Life

Move Away from Animal Agriculture

Why it’s essential to move away from a
reliance on animal agriculture.

Plate and Planet:  Why it’s essential to move away from a reliance on animal agriculture.

A quote by Jonathan Swift – (1721) – “You cannot reason someone out of something he or she was not reasoned into”, is often presented as a rational for avoiding conversations around politics and religion. I wonder if diet would also be among topics to ‘steer’ (pun intended) away from. Consider the boycotts and law suits that Oprah Winfrey (in Texas) and KD Lang (in Alberta) encountered for negative comments about the beef industry. The issues associated with diets forms a hard topic to consider let alone fully accept. But the facts about food are well documented and sobering. At the same time – there is good news. What is good for the planet is also good for our personal health.

I grew up becoming totally accustomed to meals centered around meat. I am certain this applies to many or most citizens in developed countries. Ask the question – “What’s for supper tonight?” and the likely reply would be – “Pork Chops” or “Roast Chicken” – or some other meat dish. Potatoes and vegetables would be side dishes, hardly worthy of mention unless it was a Sunday night that involved roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Over the past number of decades, “western diets” also included more and more processed convenience foods that contain refined carbohydrates, unhealthy fats, added sugars and salt.

Unfortunately, as many developing nations become more urbanized and citizens incomes have increased, traditional diets are transitioning towards this so-called western diet. This transition is enhanced by well financed marketing campaigns by major consolidated global food corporations.

Along with the well documented negative human health impacts associated with this nutrition transition, this dietary pattern is also completely unsustainable. Current food production is driving climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and drastic changes in land and water use.

Move Away from Animal Agriculture

Please Click to Enlarge

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF ANIMAL AGRICULTURE

 The meat industry has an outsized impact on the environment and the global use of resources. Some of this was noted in my previous article. https://environmentmatters.ca/global-food-supply-a-growing-crisis/

Here are some notable facts:

  • Livestock (including the growing of feed) takes up nearly 80% of global agricultural land yet produces less than 20% of the world’s supply of calories and only 37% of total protein.
  • Almost 90% of all land mammals are humans or livestock.
  • Vegan-organic agriculture can be over 4000% more productive than animal-based agriculture in the amount of food produced per acre.
  • Without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% – an area equivalent to the US, China, European Union and Australia combined – and still feed the world.
  • Percentage of grain harvest used to feed cattle – 38% of the world’s harvest, 60% of Brazil’s harvest, 70% of America’s harvest.
  • 50% of all the water used in the USA is devoted to livestock farming.
  • One pound of beef requires 2500 gallons (9500 liters) of water. One pound of potatoes requires only 24 gallons (90 liters).
  • The entire system of food production, is responsible for about 35% of all greenhouse gas emissions from human activity.
  • A football pitch-sized tract of forest is lost every second somewhere around the world (or over 5 million acres per year) because of agricultural expansion; meat production is the single biggest cause.

The following graphic clearly demonstrates the differences in resource use and environmental impacts of the various food groups and clearly demonstrates the heavy toll of animal agriculture.

HUMAN HEALTH IMPACTS OF ANIMAL AGRICULTURE

Consider the diet fads over the years (mostly directed towards weight loss) – the Grapefruit Diet, the Scarsdale Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Keto Diet, etc. The amount of information – (books, articles, documentaries, and lectures) pertaining food is overwhelming, controversial, and contradictory. Many studies are rife with confirmation bias (the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior belief); many are funded by the various food industry groups. The dairy industry for instance will promote milk and cheese as healthy food choices despite well documented findings to the contrary.

The subject is extremely complex, with a wide variety of viewpoints and strong emotions. Clearly, people’s choice of diet is highly personal even if certain risks are known.  It is though, becoming increasingly clear, that that a diet centered around meat, dairy and processed foods significantly increases the risk of a variety of diseases including cancers, diabetes, heart disease and strokes. Conversely, the more fruits and vegetables we eat, the lower our risk for these diseases. In short – plant-based foods are healthier. That is certain. Rather than delve into more detail, I have added some references below for those that may be interested.

In terms of human health associated with animal agriculture, there is another major factor to consider – ZOONISIS. A zoonosis is an infectious disease that has jumped from a non-human animal to humans. Zoonotic pathogens may be bacterial, viral, or parasitic. They represent a major public health problem around the world due to our close relationship with animals in agriculture. Up to three-quarters of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, or come from human-to-animal contact, according to the CDC.

 

Move Away from Animal Agriculture

The great flu of 1918 to 1920 was caused by a virus likely of avian (bird) origins. While there is an ongoing debate about the origins of Covid 19, zoonosis is the predominant consensus.

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS

The good news – human diets that link health and environmental sustainability will nurture both. In other words – by transitioning towards a diet that is beneficial to the planet will most certainly be the most beneficial for human health.

Consider the graphic below showing the association between a food group’s impact on mortality and its environmental impact. The y axis is plotted on a log scale associated with 5 environmental outcomes relative to the impact of producing a serving of vegetables (not including starchy roots and tubers). The x axis is the relative risk of mortality, – taken from “The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the US National Academy of Sciences 

Move Away from Animal Agriculture

In 2019, the United Nations sponsored the EAT-Lancet Commission that brought together a commission of experts from 16 countries. This commission developed the world’s first scientific targets for healthy and sustainable food systems, including a “planetary health diet” with defined daily consumption ranges for each food group. https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/

This dietary pattern—characterized by a variety of high-quality plant-based foods and low amounts of animal-based foods, refined grains, added sugars, and unhealthy fats—is designed to be flexible to accommodate local and individual situations, traditions, and dietary preferences.

Compared with current diets, this shift will require global consumption of foods such as red meat and sugar to decrease by 50%, while consumption of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and legumes must double. That said, the Commission emphasizes the importance of tailoring these targets to local situations.

In terms of human health associated with the planetary diet, – modeling studies show that between 10.9 to 11.6 million early deaths could be averted each year—a 19% to 23.6% reduction from current adult mortality rates.

In terms of environmental sustainability, it is estimated that if North Americans were to reduce meat intake by merely 10%, 100 million people could be fed using the land, water and energy that would have been used for livestock production. At present North American countries consume almost 6.5 times the recommended amount of red meat. Countries in South Asia eat only half the recommended amount. 

SUMMARY COMMENTS

Far be it for me to provide advice to anyone concerning what to eat and what not to eat. Diet choice is highly personal. I will say this though. When speaking about climate change and habitat loss, the comment I hear the most is an expression of helplessness in terms of how to make a significant difference as an individual. I even wrote an article about that – https://environmentmatters.ca/how-can-we-prevent-a-climate-disaster/ 

It’s clear from reviewing the information above, that THE MOST significant contribution people can make, short of major items such installing solar panels to a home, is to reduce or even eliminate the consumption of animal products – with the added benefit of improving individual health.

In terms of my own experiences – it’s not that difficult – at least to reduce meat and dairy. I’m not vegan (yet) – but I must say, some of the most delicious meals I have had lately are vegan. My meat and dairy consumption is significantly reduced. I will continue this journey.

What is also encouraging – plant based eating is growing significantly around the world – even in North America. https://foodrevolution.org/blog/vegan-statistics-global/

OTHER REFERENCES

https://josephpoore.com/Science%20360%206392%20987%20-%20Accepted%20Manuscript.pdf

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/sustainability/

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(22)00243-1/fulltext

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1906908116

Some good references to consider on the health impacts of food sources. These are articles that refer to books – so can be read on line right away. It is easy to buy the books online.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/books/article/5-blue-zones-where-the-worlds-healthiest-people-live

https://nutritionstudies.org/the-china-study/

https://www.wholly-plants.com/the-cheese-trap/

 

Global Food Supply – A Growing Crisis

by | Feb 6, 2023 | A Sustainable Future, Climate Change, Featured, Footprints of Everyday Life

Global Food Supply - A Growing Crisis

Global Food Supply – A Growing Crisis

Global Food Supply – A Growing Crisis

There is no escaping the reality that the cost to feed a family has risen significantly over the past year or so. Food prices along with energy costs are now the major drivers of inflation. In fact, food is becoming unaffordable for many even in developed countries – but it’s much worse for poorer nations. For years, it looked as if hunger around the world was declining. But in 2015, the trend began to turn. The number of people suffering from chronic hunger worldwide has climbed to 811 million as of 2021. Approximately 50 million people are facing emergency levels of hunger across 45 countries. What is going on?

All our food systems – agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and aquaculture – are buckling under the stresses of climate change (floods, droughts, fires, and more), lack of crop diversify, supply chain issues and waste. Consider the information presented below and then ask – is our global food supply stable – and sustainable in the coming decades? The facts are discouraging but having the facts is a starting point. With the requisite investment along with bold leadership, the situation is solvable. The main vulnerabilities of the global food supply are discussed below. More specifics and solutions will then be presented in the next series of articles.

MUCH OF THE PLANET’S LAND IS NOW FARMED

The graphic below clearly depicts the global situation. Seventy-one percent of the land on earth is theoretically habitable for humans. A massive fifty percent of that habitable land has already been converted for agricultural use. This includes – 70% of the world’s grasslands, 50% of the savannah, 45% of the temperate deciduous forest, and 27% of the tropical forest, according to a report by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

This conversion of land accelerates the loss of biodiversity. As areas of grasslands and forests and other wild ecosystems are cleared to create farmland, there is continued loss of crucial habitat, making agriculture the most significant driver of wildlife extinction. Recent research has revealed that humans have wiped out 70% of the animal population in the last 50 years. Livestock animals now make up over 60% of all mammals on earth.

Global Food Supply - A Growing Crisis

Making matters even more untenable, livestock (including the growing of feed) takes up nearly 80% of global agricultural land yet produces less than 20% of the world’s supply of calories (as shown in the visualization). This means that what we eat is more important than how much we eat in determining the amount of land required to produce our food. If people all over the world were to adopt the average diet of the United States and Canada (due to high meat consumption), we would need to convert all our habitable land to agriculture, and we’d still be 38% short.

Farming methods along with increasing frequencies of drought and flood episodes are also greatly impacting crop yields. A recent report has revealed that soil is vanishing ten times faster than it can be naturally replenished. As a result, 500 million people are now living in regions that are essentially transforming into desert.

THE MEAT INDUSTRY – AN OUTSIZED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

The entire system of food production, including the use of farming machinery, spraying of fertilizer, emissions from animals, and the transportation of products, is responsible for about 35% of all greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. This is more than double the entire emissions of the United States. Currently, meat production produces twice the carbon emissions than growing and processing plant-based foods. Beef is the worst – responsible for 8.5% of human-induced climate emissions. To quote an editorial in the Guardian – “By cooking meat, people are cooking themselves”.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/21/the-guardian-view-on-earth-friendly-diets-cooking-animals-is-cooking-the-planet

The meat industry - and outsized environmental impact

click image to enlarge

The overall impact of the industrial meat industry is made even worse because of its association to deforestation. A football pitch-sized tract of forest is lost every second somewhere around the world because of agricultural expansion; meat production is the single biggest cause. These forests are ‘the lungs of the world’ given their ability through photosynthesis, to sequester carbon dioxide.

DIMINISHING CROP DIVERISTY (MONOCULTURE) 

Can we learn from history? The Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, began in 1845 when a mold known as Phytophthora infestans caused a destructive plant disease that spread rapidly throughout Ireland. The infestation ruined up to one-half of the potato crop that year, and about three-quarters of the crop over the next seven years. This crisis was the result of mono-culture – the reliance on one plant species as a food source that was nearly wiped out from plant disease.

Since the start of the Agricultural Revolution, scientists believe that humans have cultivated more than 6,000 different plant species. Over time though, farming practises gravitated toward planting those with more desired properties such as yield, appearance, taste, growth rates, etc. Today – just four crops – wheat, rice, maize and soy – account for almost  60% of the calories grown by farmers.  

Global Food Supply A Growing Crisis

As learned from history, such a reliance on a small number of crops has made global agriculture vulnerable to pests, plant-borne diseases, and soil erosion, which thrive on monoculture. It has also meant losing out on the resilience of other crops that may have a better ability at surviving drought and other natural disasters.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/20/ancient-crops-climate-crisis-amaranth-fonio-cowpeas-taro-kernza

The production of these crops is now highly concentrated in a handful of “bread-basket” nations. These include Pakistan – where one-third of the land has been flooded, along with Russia and Ukraine, now at war.

Adding to the concern of the global food supply is consolidation of corporate control – and thus the lack of competitiveness. These few monopolies seem to be a powerful, unique, and poorly understood sector. There are four major corporations (Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus), that control as much as 90 per cent of the global grain trade.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/19/banks-collapsed-in-2008-food-system-same-producers-regulators

It’s clear that the global food supply is vulnerable to system failures.  The production of food world-wide is a significant contributor of carbon emissions, but also drastically impacted by the resulting climate change. There are solutions – and these will be addressed in the next series of articles – that will cover:

  • How reducing meat consumption will be one of the most significant ways to reduce global carbon emissions with the added benefit of better health outcomes.
  • Changing the approach to agriculture – soil management, reduced use of fertilizers etc.
  • Water issues – sustainable food production requires much better water management systems.
  • Food waste – About one-third of all food produced worldwide goes to waste.

A GREEN RECOVERY – THERE IS NO CHOICE

by | Jul 26, 2020 | A Sustainable Future

BY – Allan Maynard – July 24, 2020

The international CoVid-19 crisis demonstrates – in real, fast forward time, stark lessons about the consequences of unsustainable development, the limitations of our economic systems and the critical need for informed, evidence based leadership. We have learned the harsh lesson that our dependence on animal protein has placed humans and animals (farmed and in some cases wild) in close proximity allowing viruses to jump from animals to humans who have limited immunity to the new (novel) infections. We have also learned that air pollution is an important contributor to deaths from respiratory viruses such as Covid-19. 

On the positive side, we did observe, for short time – that the tragic pandemic that is causing so much human misery did indeed give Planet Earth a much-needed “breather”. Air pollution levels, especially oxides of nitrogen and fine particulates, were drastically reduced around the world. In Beijing, residents were able see the stars at night, an impossibility for the past number of years. 

We also have seen how rapidly some governments were able to mobilize human resources, infrastructure and financial measures in response to a crisis whilst simultaneously gaining the confidence of their citizens to ensure full cooperation. But, unfortunately we have also seen the dire consequences of bad leadership that has resulted in deadly delays and muddled communications. 

RECOVERY – BUSINESS AS USUAL IS NOT AN OPTION –It is clear that we cannot, in recovering from this pandemic, go back to ‘business as usual”. It was business as usual that got us into this mess. 

The ever changing nature of the CoVid crisis and the politics involved has, for the past number of months, pushed news about a host of environmental crises (climate change, accelerated extinctions, toxic exposure, micro-plastic pollution and more) off the front pages. This is understandable but also unfortunate. Environmental issues are, and will continue to be, orders of magnitude greater in terms of overall human cost. For example, the combined effects of ambient (outdoor) and household air pollution cause about 7 million premature deaths every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections (WHO – 2019 report). The numbers associated with climate change due to drought, hurricanes, wild fires, land use degradation and massive human migrations and more are even more worrying but harder to quantify.  

Some facts re climate change:

Carbon Dioxide 280 PPM in 1970 // 420 ppm in 2020
Temperature 1 degree C higher globally since 1900 / over 7 degrees warmer in parts of the Arctic
Sea Ice Shrunk by over 1,000,000 sq. miles (2.6 million sq. km)
Sea levels Have risen over 20 cm since 1900 – flooding in many cities
Fires 2019 – tens of millions hectors lost – unprecedented – each year is worse
Heat waves Each year – more days of extreme heat and more deaths due to the heat
Ocean acidity Increasing due to carbon dioxide dissolving – threats to sea life / coral bleaching

There are many more stark examples. The main point – we are seeing dramatic levels of damage and health consequences due to environmental degradation and it’s getting worse each year. 

Despite the mountains of evidence, there is still significant denial and/or ignorance of climate change and environmental degradation. In fact we are seeing some governments moving 180 degrees in the wrong direction. In Brazil, President Bolsonaro has decided that it’s a good idea to burn precious Amazon forests to make way for beef farming. In the US, the Trump administration is weakening a host of air, water, land-use and climate change regulations. Around the world, many industries are advocating for even more reductions in health, safety and environmental regulations citing economic “emergency factors” due to the lockdowns.  Moreover, the fossil fuel industry is lobbying for significant portions of economic stimulus funds despite having been heavily subsidized and raking in enormous profits for decades. Unfortunately, some poorly led governments will comply without a consideration for more sustainable options. It does not have to be this way.

A SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY IS POSSIBLE – I am not an economist, but as an environmental scientist, it is clear to me that our conventional economic orthodoxy is failing us in so many ways in terms of addressing the environment (climate change, mass extinctions, water quality and quantity, habitat loss, air quality, etc.), human wellness (health, equality, access to healthy food, happiness), and a sustainable use of resources. 

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the monetary value of all finished goods and services made within a country during a specific period. GDP provides an economic snapshot of a country and thus used to estimate the size of an economy and growth rate. However, GDP does not provide information about the overall wellbeing of a country since activities that are detrimental (like deforestation, strip mining, over-fishing, prison populations, terrorism) actually and strangely increase today’s GDP.

Jonathan Aldred, an economist from Cambridge states that “conventional economic theories have had little to offer. On the contrary, they have acted like a cage around our thinking, vetoing a range of progressive policy ideas as unaffordable, counter-productive, incompatible with free markets, and so on. Worse than that, economics has led us, in a subtle, insidious way, to internalise a set of values and ways of seeing the world that prevents us even imagining various forms of radical change.

Since economic orthodoxy is so completely embedded in our thinking, escape from it demands more than a short-term spending splurge to prevent immediate economic collapse, vital though that is. We must dig deeper to uncover the economic roots of the mess we’re in. Putting it more positively, what do we want from post-coronavirus economics?”

Fortunately – there are many economic thinkers proposing sustainable ways of moving forward. A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life.

A related but even more progressive concept is the doughnut economy described by Kate Raworth, an English economist working for the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. Doughnut economics, is a visual framework for sustainable development – shaped like a doughnut or lifebelt – combining the concept of planetary boundaries with the complementary concept of social boundaries. The name derives from the shape of the diagram, i.e. a disc with a hole in the middle. The centre hole of the model depicts the proportion of people that lack access to life’s essentials (healthcare, education, equality, etc.) while the outer crust represents the ecological ceilings or planetary boundaries that life depends on and must not be overshot.  See visual below.

The framework was proposed to regard the performance of an economy by the extent to which the needs of people are met without overshooting Earth’s ecological ceiling. In this model, an economy is considered prosperous when all social foundations are met without overshooting any of the ecological ceilings. This situation is represented by the area between the two rings, as the safe and just space for humanity.

These types of progressive concepts are not “pie in the sky’. A growing body of technological achievements along with associated financial undertakings underpins them. However there is predictable pushback from those entrenched in the traditional linear economy. The upcoming US election is providing a clear case study about the opposing forces. A ‘New Green Deal’ however it might be finally laid out, is already being branded as ‘socialist’. It is a false narrative as is commonly the case when progressive programs are initially proposed. 

Make no mistake – despite ill-informed pushback, progress on many fronts is already occurring. The price of solar modules has plummeted 99% since the 1970s thanks to forward thinking research, public policy and increasing demand. According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, the fastest growing occupation over the next 10 years will be solar panel installer. The second: wind turbine technician. Major financial institutions have taken note with investments in renewables growing each year accompanied by decreasing investments in fossil fuels. 

Despite these good news stories, sustainability is nonetheless a political issue. Unfortunately, this is stalling progress. We have observed this exact outcome with the CoVid crisis. Politics lead to a denial followed by a delay in needed action with a deadly outcome.

Policy shifts at all levels of government are needed to speed our transition to clean energy, sustainable and safe food production, proper use of resources and greater equality. Political will and informed planning are needed more than ever now. These goals though can be met. We have the knowledge and the financial resources. Moreover, people can adapt quickly to change once convinced that the change is necessary and even useful.