08/12/11 00.34 UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet | Environment | guardian.co.uk Pagina 1 di 17 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/02/un- report-meat-free -diet UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet Lesser consumption of animal products is necessary to save the world from the worst impacts of climate change, UN report says Felicity Carus guardian.co.u k, Wednesday 2 June 2010 18.09 BST An cattle ranch in Mato Grosso, Brazil. The UN says agriculture is on a par with fossil fuel consumption because both rise rapidly with increased economic growth. Photograph: Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel povertyand the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said today. As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable, says the report from United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) international panel of sustainable resource management. It says: "Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth increasing consumption of animal products. Unlike fossil fuels, it is difficult to look for alternatives: people have to eat. A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products." Professor Edgar Hertwich, the lead author of the report, said: "Animal products cause more damage than [producing] construction minerals such as sand or cement, plastics or metals. Biomass and crops for animals are as damaging as [burning] fossil fuels." The recommendation follows advice last year that a vegetarian diet was better for the planet from Lord Nicholas Stern, former adviser to the Labour government on the economics of climate change. Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has also urged people to observe one meat-free day a week to curb carbon emissions. The panel of experts ranked products, resources, economic activities and transport according to their environmental impacts. Agriculture was on a par with fossil fuel
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8/3/2019 UN Urges Global Move to Meat and Dairy-free Diet
08/12/11 00.34UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet | Environment | guardian.co.uk
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lagrandeflaneuse
2 June 2010 6:43PM
They can talk all the sense they like, but who's listening? Not the greedy, not the climate
change deniers, not all the people who firmly believe that science will come up with
some sort of answer and in the mean time they can carry on doing whatever they want.
Bets on the numbers of people who are going to come on to this thread and say: 'I likemy meat and I'm going to carry on eating it, so ner!'
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fishsnorkel
2 June 2010 6:46PM
“If everyone became vegan and so ate only fruit and vegetables, then the reduction ingreenhouse emissions for the whole of food consumption would be a mere 7%. The
widespread adoption of vegetarianism would have even less impact, while organic food
production actually leads to a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Those are the
conclusions of a research paper published in the journal Progress in Industrial Ecology.”
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Synchronium
2 June 2010 7:11PM
BUT WHO WOULD WANT TO LIVE IN A WORLD LIKE THAT?!
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toesion
2 June 2010 7:16PM
The joy of eating meat after living on rice for generations of Chinese will destroy the
world
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Capuchon
2 June 2010 7:16PM
Never mind i will just move onto Kangaroo meat...
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Babycart
2 June 2010 7:24PM
I also agree that the United nation should be looking to control world population rather
than trying to convert our diet. The only way global population could be controlled is
through a catastrophic natural disaster or global war. Both methods are fairly
indiscriminate and ostensibly achieve the same goal.
Overconsumption is a problem in the West, or any country which has an emergingmiddle class. The lack of association with everything we consume means that we can't
place any value on food other than immediate gratification. If people try to grow some of
their own food, made home-made yoghurt, some jams, and even cheese then value of
those goods will have greater meaning. I'm not advocating that we go back to a hunter
gatherer society squeezing your own orange juice rather than purchasing a pasteurised
package from supermarkets not only tastes nicer but avoids any additional packaging.
There has been a food revolution going on whereby people are more concerned about
where their food comes from and when they realise that most of the meat they eat comes
from an industrialised process it makesthem question why should they eat chicken 5
nights a week, when they could eat a good quality chicken maybe once a week.
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yangzone
2 June 2010 8:45PM
Oh and yes lagrandeflaneuse... all that vegan cheese and vegan sausage is BS food... fake
and your body will soon agree. These imitation foods are to appeal to emotions. Theseneed to be left behind with the animal products. When going vegan is is imperative to
refer to the universal combination sanctioned by many cultures over time as a reference:
rice and beans. From there it becomes apparent how to sustain ones self. Then there are
many tools that can be employed to guide a person to a good eating regime and IMHO
nutritionism is of little use - in fact it needs to be left behind with the animal products.
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yangzone
2 June 2010 9:03PM
@CaitrionaNicThamhais the discussion here is about an ecological disaster that IS the
meat and dairy industry. Maybe a sudden shift by most of the planet's population to a
vegan diet might look like another disaster on paper... . While you are inclined to believe
a story you are being told... a quick look at the factory animal farms of the world will be
an eye opener for you... and as for "nutritionally unsound" - if you want to believe the
stuff put out in the name of nutritionism, go ahead... but I can tell you that at 56 years of
age after 32 years without meat or animal products I'm getting by just fine... and that
nutrition stuff got in the way for a while.Recommend (9)
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lagrandeflaneuse
2 June 2010 9:07PM
CatrionaNicThamais:
I looked up 'The Vegetarian Myth' on Amazon, and read quite a few of the reviews. The
author would seem to be promoting a Utopian ideal which is pretty well impossible in
the present state of the world. Perhaps if the world's population was that of the UK, 65
million, rather than the six and a half billion and rising, which it currently is, her ideas
might be workable. And some of her nutrional ideas would seem to be a bit suspect. And
no, I didn't read any one or two star reviews - the criticisms came from readers who said
they liked the book.
yangzone:
You're quite right of course. Sadly, I'm not quite as evolved as you, and I do like a veggie
banger occasionally...
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Aenn
2 June 2010 9:18PM
I already eat less meat (=5 vegetarian days a week, so I won't be joining the pledge). It's
better for my health, and it probably does have some environmental impact...but do youever get the feeling that your individual actions are quite meaningless? Until we curb
population growth, there's no improving things. Until politicians are willing to
undertake unpopular measures because of a long-term vision, nothing will happen. Both
of these things seem more likely than a significant majority of people willingly cutting
back--and they aren't likely at all.
Or perhaps I'm just glum today because it seems like the majority of people are capable
of holding not just distant contradictions (i.e. I recycle but I go on long-haul flights) but
even contradictions which should be obvious. Today's example came from the woman
who took her moped to the recycling bins and left it running while she emptied her bags.
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eleanargh
2 June 2010 9:21PM
Perfect timing for me as I'm becoming gradually vegan this month! I'm finding out
about lots of exciting foods and recipes that I wouldn't have learnt about were I
omnivore or veggie. It is hard to begin with and I need to work out how much of what I
should eat to not feel tired, but I think I can do it with not too much trouble. I may endup being vegan most of the week and veggie a couple of days, once I've found out about
more ethical, and close-to-home, sources of dairy. Giving up cheese is a tough one;
mmmm, halloumi.
Good luck to anyone else who tries to go veggie/vegan - and don't be scared to try being
half and half, or have meat occasionally, even though people will say you're an awful
hypocrite. Surprisingly I've found the people who do this most are the omnivores - the
holier-than-thou vegan seems to be a bit of a myth. Possibly because they know how
hard it is to make the change.
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TimH
2 June 2010 9:36PM
eleanargh
... don't be scared to try being half and half, or have meat occasionally, even though
people will say you're an awful hypocrite.
If what you're against is excessive meat consumption, then there's nothing at all
hypocritical about eating a little bit of meat. Everything in moderation, and all that.
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dukkagirl
2 June 2010 9:37PM As a vegan, it's really amazing to see articles like this, I would never have imagined the
UN would be saying things like this. As some people have said, going vegan isn't
enough. But I'd still argue it's a huge step towards unwesternising our lifestyles. Not
only do we need to eat a lot less animal food, but it needs to be as local as possible and
minimally processed. It's ridiculous to use so much energy altering food in such a way
that its nutritional value (in terms of micronutrients) actually decreases! Of course,
these changs are only dietary. There are loads of other things that we need to change-
buying things meant to last when we must buy things, sharing expensive to produce
items like eg cars, gardening equipment, recycling as much as possible, wearing
practical long lasting clothes, not cheaply made fashion items, walking, cycling and
using public transport as much as possible. And flying less! Airports are no fun anyway,and the ash just adds another element of uncertainty and stress to air travel.
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yangzone
2 June 2010 9:38PM
2Aenn dont despair.... in 1977 when I took the plunge... so many years went by when Ithought nothing was happening... now I am in a world with a huge organic movement
and a whole foods movement to go along with it... and I know I helped in a tiny way to
make this happen... there are break throughs everywhere... India as well. And dont
worry about how you fail or how anybody else fails... just keep your eye on the prize and
the rest will come.
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yangzone
2 June 2010 9:59PM
2lagrandeflaneuse I did not mean to come across all evolved... that is something I am
working on. I enjoy veggie burgers too. I meant that those veggie cheese and fake meat
things like vegan sausages are no replacement for the real thing: meat and dairy are
major power foods with all kinds of energy to sustain a human body. For instance cow's
dairy designed by nature that can raise the weight of the infant from 20lbs to 400lbs in
a year... hoofs, horns, thick skin, big teeth and muscle... it's overconsumption probably a
factor in today's alarming rise in (human) obesity.
[We have a bumper sticker in California: "Pray for Evolution" - though it's a dig at a
woman from Alaska.]
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lagrandeflaneuse
2 June 2010 11:27PM
sunmoon:
I suspect you might not live in Europe. The vegan cheese you mention does sound nice,
but I've never seen it. Perhaps someone should tell Daiya about the possiblity of an
export market.Recommend (1)
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mostardaverde
3 June 2010 12:25AM
i'm brazilian. i'm so sorry about this situation. actually, we're one of the most exporters
of meat on the world, this mean that we're cutting off many forests like amazon forestfor the cattle (but the truth, is not for the cattle,indeed for the consumers of meat) , and
other green areas like this one in this reporter(Mato Grosso). I was a vegetarian, but
now, i really have pride of my effort to be a vegan. i like to ask you ppl, pls revise your
own thinking, it's possible to live without eat meat, you can have a healthy life, live
better. the animals dont need to suffer, having so brutal death in the slaughters, we can
rise up our condition like human being, and that way save our planet. There's a
interesting site, a positive TV channel, with a lot information about global warming,
climate change and vegetarianism. Try: www.suprememastertv.com
BE VEG. GO GREEN. SAVE THE PLANET.
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Monkeybiz
3 June 2010 6:40AM
@Pearl999 - don't forget the imported grains that are brought in to the USA from Brazil
and elsewhere to feed cattle and poultry. That adds to the 302m.