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An appetite for change

Republished By Plato
Republished By Plato

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Around 80 per cent of that land is used for livestock for consumption, but this livestock, though taking up roughly 80 per cent of agricultural land, only gives us 37 per cent of our protein. The end doesn’t justify the means in the case of meat production. 
 
To put this into perspective, if cows made up a country, it would be the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, overtaking India by some margin.

The four greatest contributing factors are: methane from cattle’s digestion, nitrous oxide from fertilizers, CO2 from deforestation, and the use of fuel on farms for several uses. We must take deforestation out of the supply chain. It’s representative of a short-sighted and outdated model. 

Regenerative
 
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the current food industry is unsustainable and has already contributed to land degradation, nutrient losses, loss of biodiversity, and water scarcity. The European Environment Agency (EEA) says that food production accounts for around 10 per cent of all emissions in the EU and warn that it could be out of hand by 2030. 

And to add strain, the UNDP predicts that food demand globally will increase by 50 percent by 2050 – not only affecting land and soil degradation, but also increasing the carbon emissions involved in food production. Such predictions have been proved right in the past. 

But, despite all of this, agriculture is the highest-emitting industry without a low-carbon plan. McDonald’s, Starbucks, Greggs, and other major chains need to make sure their suppliers practice sustainable farming. 

Two years ago, Nestle – the world’s largest food company – committed to investing $1.3 billion over five years to help farmers transition to regenerative agricultural techniques. A small step towards greater efforts. 

Destruction

What is less clear are the tangible efforts being taken to alleviate food and water shortages for the most vulnerable people. A conservative estimate suggests that over 400 million people have no access to safe drinking water or the most basic of diets needed to live.

And the World Food Programme reports over 900,000 people worldwide living in famine-like conditions. Ten times more than five years ago. A further 828 million don’t know when they will next eat, and the climate crisis – not conflict – is the leading cause of these extreme food shortages.

The responsibility must lie with the richest nations and corporations to work hand in hand to address this appalling inequality and to take a large part of the financial burden involved in investing in new sustainable models for the food supply chain. There is money for other things at short notice, there’s certainly money for this.

According to the World Bank, the support provided to agriculture and food far exceeds $700 billion annually on mitigating the effects of climate destruction as a direct result of the food industry. Instead of their reactive approach, that money would be better spent on preventative measures and on sustainable farming. 

Politicians

Whereas the transport sector measures its emissions, only one in four meat, fish and dairy producers measure theirs, and only about half of those who do act to reduce them. No one knows exactly how damaging the food industry is to the environment, but transport makes up a large percentage of the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions and it’s probably higher than that. 
 
Food retailers know that it’s unusual for a customer to complain about the low cost of a piece of meat, the same has been true throughout history. And yet we cannot go on acting like cheap meat is only that, cheap meat. The true cost is visible in the large-scale farms and industrial agricultural technology wreaking unimaginable damage on animals, our ecosystem, and us.

Today, there are no legal incentives for large food corporations to act responsibly. They can sign onto as many net-zero, low-carbon emissions as they like, but until there are laws protecting our planet from one of its most destructive industries, the change that is necessary will never come. 

What can be done about this? Get involved in politics. We all need to be more political; writing letters, signing petitions, and sharing important climate news as widely as possible. Politicians and lawmakers need to feel the pressure of people breathing down their necks, asking them to make the necessary changes and start effectively regulating sectors such as the food industry.

This Author

Joshua Lizarraga Curiel is a UN speechwriter and communications adviser.

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