Saving the planet can be little like having our cake and yet eating it

Brian Kateman speaking on TedX.

You'd have to be living under a rock to have missed the memo: Too much meat is bad for your health , responsible for immense animal cruelty on factory farms, to blame for speeding up climate change, at fault for squeezing out rare species and more.

Yet despite increased pressure to eliminate meat from our diet, consumption rates have been slow to budge. Americans are eating less beef, but chicken sales are on the rise. China has committed to cutting its meat consumption in half, but other developing nations are expected to eat more meat and dairy in coming years. With rising incomes, population growth and the spread of Western diets, the trend toward heavily animal-based diets looks as though it's here to stay.

So how do we move the needle on meat consumption - can we do it in one fell swoop? Will extreme approaches succeed in making a lasting change? While the determination of vegans and vegetarians is laudable, too often the "all-or-nothing" message turns people away from reducing meat in whatever style or at whatever pace feels most comfortable - in fact, those in the vegan community can feel uncomfortable or even threatened by their compatriots if they stray from the no-meat path.

Read comment in today’s Melbourne Age by Brian Kateman from the Reducetarian Foundation - “We can save the earth without giving up bacon.”