UK Govt’s Insane Carbon Mission to Teach Brits Meat is a ‘Treat’
Image: Kensington Company
Last month the British government said it would cut carbon emissions by 78 percent by 2035 and would hit the net-zero target before 2050. The government says there will also be a need to reduce meat and dairy consumption.
The British government’s advisory body, the Committee on Climate Change, is driving this effort to remove meat from our diets.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will be hosting the UN’s annual climate gathering COP26 in November, said last month: “We want to continue to raise the bar on tackling climate change, and that’s why we’re setting the most ambitious target to cut emissions in the world.”
But what is the problem with meat and dairy consumption?
Friends of the Earth says: “The production of meat and dairy, particularly in intensive systems, causes 14.5 percent of global climate changing emissions. Cattle ranching and the production of animal feed in South America is driving massive biodiversity loss as forests and cerrado are cleared for soy plantations. Vast amounts of soy feed are imported into the UK and EU to prop up industrial livestock production, particularly chicken and pork.”
In January this year Humane Society International/UK published research which highlighted the high levels of meat and dairy was on sale in the House of Commons canteens.
Claire Bass, the executive director of Humane Society International/UK, said at the time: “Our analysis found that animal products served in canteens and restaurants in the Commons account for an astonishing 72 percent of the total food greenhouse gas footprint. With the UK hosting COP26 in November… It is essential that we get our own house in order.”
Humane Society International/UK’s Forward Food Programme Manager, Sean MacKenney, said there needed to be a fundamental “culture shift” in attitudes towards food in Europe and North America.
He told Sputnik: “The Global North needs to make changes in their diet. Right now there is far too much meat in it. In other parts of the world there is not a culture of eating meat every day with every meal. It’s not sustainable. In other cultures meat is seen as a treat or as a celebration.”
Mr MacKenney argued: “Meat should not be as cheap as it is. You should not be able to go to a fast food restaurant and get a beef burger for £1. It is not sustainable. If the cost is that low it means that corners have been cut in animal welfare. If people were to have the mindset that they were to eat less meat and treated it more as an occasion then that would allow them to spend more on high quality meat that you know has been farmed in a way that is healthy both to you and the animal.”
But Mr MacKenney said: “Our general approach is pragmatic. We understand not everyone is going to go plant-based, at least not overnight…We don’t expect everyone to become vegans but just to eat less meat.”
He said people can make small changes which have big benefits – for example using oat milk instead of cow’s milk.
Mr MacKenney said people often assume a diet of tofu, lentils and beans is bland and unfulfilling but he said: “Once you enter into exploring plant-based foods you realise how diverse and delicious it can be…There are all these different ingredients and flavours which will allow you to prepare plant-based foods into something delicious and satisfying.”
But what is the point of making the change?
Mr MacKenney explained: “Animal agriculture is one of the leading drivers of climate change. It is estimated between 14.5 and 16.5 percent of all global emissions are attributed to animal agriculture, which is basically the same as every car, train, ship and aircraft on Earth.”
He said: “Every animal has a different footprint and cattle and lamb have much higher footprints than chicken and pigs. But factory farming is extremely costly and inefficient when it comes to land and water use and is a driver of ocean acidification, water pollution and a loss of biodiversity.”
Emissions from UK farms amount to a tenth of Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions – 40 percent of which was nitrous dioxide and 50 percent was from methane.
In 2019 the National Farmers’ Union published a report on how Britain’s farmers could reach the net-zero goal by 2040.
But on Tuesday, 4 May, an NFU spokesperson said: “It’s crucial people are making informed diet decisions based on accurate information, when people buy British meat and dairy they are buying sustainable, local food, produced in areas often where it is difficult to grow other foods. The same cannot always be said for some highly processed alternatives.”
“People should be reassured that if they want to enjoy meat and dairy products and at the same time reduce their carbon footprint – they can. In the UK, greenhouse gas emissions from beef production are half that of the global average. At a time when we know the entire nation should also be eating more fruit and veg, there is also an abundance of home-grown, seasonal and nutritious fresh produce available.”
Mr MacKenney praised farmers like Hodmedod’s who are producing beans, pulses and even quinoa in the UK for the growing vegan market.
In July the government will publish its National Food Strategy and the Humane Society International/UK said it was hoping to see “tangible” steps taken to reduce meat and dairy consumption and reduce the footprint of animal agriculture.
Mr MacKenney concluded: “We are hoping animal agriculture will be prominent on the agenda at COP26 in November. But the plant-based movement is not trying to put farmers out of business. It’s not us against farmers. We are just against factory farming which is wholly unsustainable.”
See more here: sputniknews.com
PSI editor’s note: Yet another article conflating carbon and carbon dioxide. Also, ‘Ocean acidification’ is just one of the many myths surrounding so-called ‘climate change’. The oceans have a pH of between 7.9 – 8.3, which makes them an alkaline. You cannot increase the acidity of something which isn’t an acid to start with. The pH scale is also logarthmic, with each number being ten times the previous, so for the oceans to become even the mildest acid, the pH level would have to reduce by a factor of 20.
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very old white guy
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It’s official, they are all nuts. It is a sad observation that these fools talking about reducing CO2 seem not to realize that if CO2 get too low we will all die.
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Guido FORRIER
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[email protected]
Any food production needs CO2 water and sunshine and we are lucky there is enough CO2 to produce our food . Now the earth is a bit to much populated by humans and this humans needs lots of food and water . Please not that some animals can live on biomass only (cattle …) , but not humans : as we are apes we need also meat .In the past there were much less humans on earth but probably much more “cattle” ( bisons , mammoths , wildebeest …).
I agree that many people eat to much meat and that meat is not always well produced ( overpopulated staplers , use of antibiotics ..) . So we can do better , but this is not done by eliminating the hole meat production .
I am now 73 years old and I never saw a so foolish world as now : Climate change , culture change , and most of all a handfull of psychopaths with deep pockets and very weak politicians .
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Chris
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Here is a link to the best ever (my opinion) climate change video (8 mins)
It dismantles the myth that global warming is caused by CO2:
https://youtu.be/n-W76C0kkwc
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Wisenox
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Good video. I’m glad to see someone bring the electrical aspects into the discussion.
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Chris
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I think this attack on meat production has nothing to do with methane or Co2 as both gases are released into the air by inactive volcanos, whether humans are on the planet or not. Methane is converted to CO2 and H2O by sunlight , and CO2 is the major building block for all life. From rocks to shells to plants. This is an attack on protein production ,humans need good quality protein.as history shows that poor access to quality protein means people are smaller, live shorter lives with many health problems. What vegans and vegetarians don’t tell you is that millions of animals and birds die annually by poisoning and shooting to protect farm crops such as soy beans . Kilo for kilo it is more efficient to produce beef on rangelands than it is to grow vegetable protein crops ( which maybe deficient in certain amino acids – known as incomplete proteins ) on prime land . It’s time we started holding politicians to account for dangerous and wasteful decisions.
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Chris#
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The Chris# at 1:31pm is Chris # not Chris. 1::10pm
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Andy
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Removing mear from our diets, and this limiting our protein intake, is quite obviously how the globalists will weaken the human population, to make us easier to subjugate.
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Wisenox
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I agree. The whole thing is like a regression to the middle ages.
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Chris @1:10pm
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To Chris @1:31pm
😊
It appears to me that this planet’s architects use red herring trojan horses to get the populations buy-in before invoking a control item from the agenda.
CO2 = bad, is one and public health emergencies is another. Just my opinion obviously.
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Charles Higley
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Removing the main sources of complete protein, which contain appropriate proportions of the eight essential amino acids. They are also our main dietary source of cholesterol, which is a healing chemical is just wrong.
However, if the goal is to create a malnourished, weak population, this is the way to do it. Dairy products are also a target as it means having cattle and chickens.
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