Two-third Vegan to Fix the World

When the Socialist Party explains its proposals to halt and eventually reduce carbon emissions we always refer to the temporary need to increase production and hence possibly for a time add to Greenhouse Gases levels. We are seeking what some call a "steady-state economy" or "zero-growth", a situation where human needs are in balance with the resources needed to satisfy them but we cannot ignore the misery and suffering of people that is presently going on around the World. 

Firstly, we would prioritise the urgent action to relieve the worst problems of food shortages, health care and housing which affect billions of people throughout the world. Then, secondly, there will be action to construct means of production and infrastructures such as transport systems, the re-planning of cities and the manufacture of durable consumption good using materials that whereever possible can be re-cycled and would require minimum maintenance.

As these objectives are achieved there would begin a fall in the level of production, and society could start moving into a stable mode, where a rhythm of daily production is in line with daily needs with no significant growth. On this basis, the world community could live in material comfort while at the same time caring for the planet.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University developed a model looking at how changes to dietary patterns across 140 countries would impact greenhouse gas emissions and freshwater use at the individual and country level. They used the model to determine the per capita and countrywide climate and water footprints of nine "plant-forward" diets, which included no red meat, pescatarian, vegetarian without eliminating eggs and dairy, vegan, and others. 

The scientists reported that achieving a nutritious diet with adequate calories in developing countries will require a substantial increase in greenhouse gas emissions and water use and called on highly developed countries to accelerate the adoption of plant-heavy diets.

Keeve Nachman, the study's senior author, told AFP that much of the conversation about mitigating the effects of climate change "fails to recognize that many parts of the world are dealing with undernutrition."

“In order to get them to a place where they are not experiencing chronic undernutrition, they'll need to eat more, and accordingly, they'll need to increase their carbon footprint," he said. "What that says to us is that in many high-income countries around the world, where we're consuming far more animal products than the global average, there's an increased urgency to start transitioning sooner rather than later towards some of these more plant-forward diets."

The scientists' findings was that this goal does not necessarily require individuals to give up certain foods entirely. Their modeling showed for example that a diet in which animal protein came mainly from low food chain animals, such as small fish and mollusks, had nearly as low of an environmental impact as a vegan diet. They also found that reducing animal food consumption by two-thirds, termed going "two-thirds vegan," generally had a lower climate and water footprint than a traditional vegetarian diet which includes dairy and egg consumption. Two-third vegan assumes a vegan diet for two out of three meals per day, with each meal providing equal caloric content. Some describe it as the flexitarian diet.

"Some of the biggest barriers, speaking more as a person and less as a scientist, I think it can be difficult to grapple with the notion that I'm going to have to give up a single food forever," said Nachman. "So I think what's exciting about some of the diets that we've modeled is, There are diets that don't require you to fully eliminate any particular animal products, it's all about more nuanced approach."

The study also found that a food's country of origin can have huge consequences for its climate impact. For example, one pound of beef produced in Paraguay contributes nearly 17 times more greenhouse gases than one pound of beef produced in Denmark, a disparity linked to deforestation as a result of grazing land.

A separate report by the Food and Land Use Coalition as explained by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, an ambassador for the coalition"You can both have a better climate and better growth. We don't simply say to stop eating meat, moving towards a healthier, more plant-based diet is one of the transitions that we talk about. But another is practicing productive and regenerative agriculture" that rebuilds soil organic matter and restores biodiversity.