Our diet plays a crucial role in countering climate change

 By Robert McLean

Diet and its impact on climate change are remarkable.

The cover of Dr Moses
 Seenarine's revelatory book.

Our fossil fuel driven, energy-rich materialistic consumptive behaviour draws the most criticism for the damage we are doing to our climate, as it rightly should, but our penchant for animal food products is frequently and conveniently overlooked.

More than a decade of following the climate change conversation has been almost exclusively populated by discussions about limiting or even eliminating our use of fossil fuels, but rarely, if ever, does the conversation consider our diets, particularly the animal food-rich western diet.

That changed when Dr Moses Seenarine’s book “Meat ClimateChange: The 2nd Leading Cause of Global Warming” found its way by chance onto my reading list.

Seenarine notes that the agricultural sector is responsible for at least 27 percent of manmade greenhouse gas pollution, which he points out comes from livestock production.

He argues that the most fundamental move individuals could make in mitigating climate change would be to become vegans, that is to entirely eliminate animal-based food products from their diet.

Inspired by Dr Seenarine’s book, I searched for references to meat and climate change and quickly found a plethora of articles from around the world, among them a story on The Guardian by Fiona Harvey from March last year – “Eat less meat to avoid dangerous global warming, scientists say”.

“Growing food for the world’s burgeoning population is likely to send greenhouse gas emissions over the threshold of safety unless more is done to cut meat consumption, a new report has found.

“A widespread switch to vegetarianism would cut emissions by nearly two-thirds, the story said.

Another story from April this year on the Scientific American headed, “People Still Don't Get the Link between Meat Consumption and Climate Change” said the media has slowly but steadily fed the public information about the staggering impact of our meat-eating habits on the environment and on climate change in particular.

In a story from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), headed “Fight Climate Change by Going Vegan” discusses the positive benefits of driving more fuel-efficient cars and using energy-saving light bulbs, but then points out the “going vegan is one of the most effective ways to fight climate change”.

And then an April 20 Climate Central story – “Studies Show Link Between Red Meat and Climate Change” – says, “Shifting diets away from meat could slash in half per capita greenhouse gas emissions related to eating habits worldwide and ward off additional deforestation — a major contributor to climate change, according to scientific findings published this week.”

National Geographic buys into the conversation with Robert Kunzig’s story – “Carnivore’s Dilemma” that delves into many-sided debate – “Unhealthy. Nutritious. Cruel. Delicious. Unsustainable. All-American. In the beef debate, there are so many sides.”

Britain’s The Independent chimes in with its story – “World Meat Free Day 2016: Would eating less meat really combat climate change?”

The story by Mike Berners-Lee says: “With the food system accounting for up to a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, anything that reduces its impact will make a big difference to the climate.”