{"id":1567,"date":"2021-09-07T07:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T07:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farmforward1.wpengine.com\/?p=1567"},"modified":"2022-11-22T02:27:47","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T02:27:47","slug":"un-scientists-sound-alarm-change-what-is-on-your-plate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/news\/un-scientists-sound-alarm-change-what-is-on-your-plate\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Scientists Sound Alarm: Change What is on Your Plate"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

United Nations scientists warn that a climate catastrophe is coming, and a leaked UN document urges a shift to plant-based proteins as a strategy to stave off the most dire scenarios.<\/p>\n

Read on to learn about political, institutional, and individual remedies already underway. Though it can feel like actions of an individual, institution, or state do not matter, when it comes to climate change, the opposite is true. Every bit of climate change mitigated matters, so every meal matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cCode red for humanity\u201d<\/h2>\n

Released last month, part one of the UN\u2019s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u2019s (IPCC\u2019s) sixth\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0(AR6) pulls together findings from more than 14 thousand peer-reviewed studies. In the strongest language the IPCC has ever used, and for the first time, the IPCC\u00a0stated<\/a>\u00a0that it is \u201cunequivocal\u201d that humans have caused \u201cwidespread and rapid\u201d changes to ocean, land, and atmospheric temperatures, and that many of these changes are \u201cirreversible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report says that because climate change is cumulative, we will see unavoidable intensification over the next 30 years. That is, even if the world dramatically cut emissions starting today, a hotter future is certain. In all scenarios, by \u201cthe early 2030s,\u201d average global temperatures will rise 1.5\u00b0C over preindustrial levels.<\/p>\n

That kind of temperature change may not sound like much, but it brings with it cataclysms and catastrophes. As the New York Times explained upon the release of the report,<\/p>\n

\u201cAt 1.5 degrees of warming, scientists\u00a0have found<\/a>\u00a0\u2026 Nearly 1 billion people worldwide could swelter in more frequent life-threatening heat waves. Hundreds of millions more would struggle for water because of severe droughts. Some animal and plant species alive today will be gone. Coral reefs, which sustain fisheries for large swaths of the globe, will suffer more frequent mass die-offs.\u201d1<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unless we dramatically cut emissions, we can expect additional degrees of warming over 1.5\u00b0C as the century progresses, bringing more wildfires, floods, rising sea levels, and animal and plant extinctions.<\/p>\n

UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres says that AR6 is nothing less than \u201ca code red for humanity<\/a>. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable.\u201d2<\/a><\/p>\n

Humanity must act decisively, now, if we are to limit average global temperature rise to just 1.5 degrees. Thankfully, the report states, there is still time to act.<\/p>\n

Leaked UN report urges switch to plant-based protein<\/b><\/h2>\n

Not scheduled for public release before March 2022, the\u00a0leaked<\/a>\u00a0third section of AR6 focuses on ways to reduce human impacts to the climate. It reads in part, \u201cA shift to diets with a higher share of plant-based protein in regions with excess consumption of calories and animal-source food can lead to substantial reductions in emissions, while also providing health benefits \u2026\u201d3<\/a><\/p>\n

The recommended shift to plant-based proteins builds on a 2019 IPCC\u00a0special report<\/a>\u00a0that stated that plant-based and sustainably produced animal-sourced food \u201cpresent major opportunities for [climate] adaptation and mitigation.\u201d4<\/a><\/p>\n

This is because of industrial animal-sourced food\u2019s disproportionate impact on climate. For example, in 2018 Oxford University researchers published in the journal Science a study of nearly 40,000 farms in 119 countries that found \u201cmeat, aquaculture, eggs, and dairy use ~83 percent of the world\u2019s farmland and contribute 56 to 58 percent of food\u2019s different [greenhouse gas] emissions, despite providing only 37 percent of our protein and 18 percent of our calories.\u201d5<\/a><\/p>\n

According to AR6, “strong, rapid, and sustained reductions” in methane emissions are critical if we are to limit global temperature rise to 1.5\u00b0C and thereby prevent the worst climate scenarios. This is no surprise: over the first 20 years after methane is emitted, it is over 80 times more\u00a0potent<\/a>\u00a0a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Anthropogenic methane is the cause of more than 25 percent of today\u2019s global warming.6<\/a>\u00a0Meat and dairy production is the largest source of human-caused methane, from enteric fermentation (a digestive process of ruminants like cattle) and manure emissions.7<\/a>\u00a0In fact, if cattle were their own nation, they would be the world\u2019s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases.8<\/a>\u00a09<\/a><\/p>\n

Following the release of the 2019 IPCC report, Hans-Otto P\u00f6rtner, an ecologist who co-chairs the IPCC\u2019s working group on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, said,\u00a0 \u201cWe don\u2019t want to tell people what to eat, but it would indeed be beneficial, for both climate and human health, if people in many rich countries consumed less meat, and if politics would create appropriate incentives to that effect.\u201d10<\/a><\/p>\n

The political and personal: every change matters<\/h2>\n

Some US politicians have put forward policy options that take seriously industrial animal agriculture\u2019s contributions to the climate catastrophe.<\/p>\n

In July 2021,\u00a0Senator Cory Booker<\/a>\u00a0(D-NJ) and Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) reintroduced the\u00a0Farm System Reform Act<\/a>\u00a0(FSRA), which would place an immediate moratorium (pause) on construction of new and expanded large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and phase out the largest CAFOs by 2040.11<\/a>\u00a0The Act is the boldest vision for American agriculture that we have ever seen put forward on a national policy stage. Federal legislation related to animal farming more typically reflects the vision of a small number of corporate meat companies\u2019 lobbyists and advocates in government. In contrast, the vision outlined in the FSRA contains several first steps toward Farm Forward\u2019s own vision for agriculture\u2014ending factory farming, leveling the playing field for independent farmers, and raising fewer animals for food.<\/p>\n

Another example: In June 2021, Reps. Nydia M. Vel\u00e1zquez (D-NY) and Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D (D-NY) introduced the \u201cHealthy Future Students and Earth Pilot Program Act,\u201d which would fund healthier, climate friendly, culturally appropriate plant-based entr\u00e9e options for public school students. \u201cAt the same time as we invest urgently in the transition to renewable energy, we must build sustainable food systems at every level of our society\u2014and our public education system can lead the way,\u201d said Rep. Bowman.12<\/a>\u00a0He noted that the bill would advance food justice in marginalized communities and support local farmers of color while fighting the climate crisis with healthier, plant-based food. The bill would fund $10 million in grants for a voluntary pilot program to help school districts address challenges in transitioning to plant-based meals, such as lack of culinary training.13<\/a><\/p>\n

While politicians debate, it is incumbent that individuals and institutions take their own steps to mitigate climate change. Farm Forward has long supported efforts to reduce meat consumption, and recently began promoting\u00a0DefaultVeg<\/a>, an approach to dining which uses simple behavioral \u201cnudges\u201d to encourage institutional and home diners to choose more climate-friendly foods, without restricting anyone\u2019s choices. The use of plant-forward defaults is enormously effective: for example, making plant-based meals the default menu option while giving people the choice to opt in to meals with animal products (an approach called \u201cGreener by Default<\/a>\u201d) can increase the selection of more sustainable plant-based options by an average of 60 percentage points and\u00a0up to 80 percentage points<\/a>. Dozens of institutions are adopting plant-based nudges, from Harvard recommending them in its catering guide to organizations like Climate Nexus and the American Lung Association committing to use them for their events.<\/p>\n

Sometimes when facing a problem as vast in scope as the climate crisis, it feels like actions of an individual, institution, and even a city, state or nation do not matter. In fact, when it comes to climate change, the opposite is true. Every fraction of a degree of temperature rise in the decades ahead will have consequences, particularly for the world\u2019s most vulnerable. So every action matters, every bit of climate change mitigated matters, and every meal matters.<\/p>\n

And they matter, too, because individual and institutional decisions often ramify: they influence and motivate other individuals and institutions, redefining what is \u201cnormal\u201d and even eventually leading to political change. Decisions made for dining room tables, offices, schools, hospitals, and university departments become the social norms that change society and eventually change politics.<\/p>\n

The good news embedded in the IPCC report is that there is still time to act to avoid the worst scenarios. No one person, institution, or country can do everything. Still, we can each do something. Do what you can, knowing that every day, more and more people are doing the same. And please\u00a0donate to Farm Forward<\/a>\u00a0so that we can keep this good work going.<\/p>\n

Header image:\u00a0Food photo created by freepik –\u00a0www.freepik.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n\n\n\t

\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
Last Updated<\/h6>\n\t\t\t\t

September 7, 2021<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":1568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,24,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-and-environment","category-food-policy","category-food-system-solutions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}