We must face facts - meat is the problem

[mspohr]

‘Bewildering’ to omit meat-eating reduction from UN climate plan

Academic experts also criticise UN Food and Agriculture Organization for dismissing alternative proteins

www.theguardian.com

The omission of meat-eating reduction from proposals in a UN roadmap to tackle the climate crisis and end hunger is “bewildering”, according to academic experts. The group also criticised the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s report for “dismissing” the potential of alternative proteins, such as plant-based meat, to reduce the impact of livestock on the environment. In a commentary published in the journal Nature Food, experts said the FAO’s failure to include a methodology on how the 120 actions it did support were chosen, or a list of authors, was “concerning and surprising”.

In October, the Guardian revealed claims made by former FAO officials that its leadership censored and undermined them when they highlighted how methane from livestock was a major contributor to global heating. Scientists have shown that the international climate target, of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, cannot be met without major changes in food production. Animal farming produces 12%-20% of total global greenhouse gas emissions and uses 83% of farmland to provide 18% of calories.

 

[mspohr]

‘People mustn’t feel meat is being taken away’: German hospitals serve planetary health diet

A group of hospitals serve up a menu rich in plants – and say they have had few complaints

www.theguardian.com

From an industrial park on the outskirts of Berlin, Burrichter and his team cook for a dozen hospitals that offer patients a “planetary health” diet – one that is rich in plants and light in animals. Compared with the typical diet in Germany, known for its bratwurst sausage and doner kebab, the 13,000 meals they rustle up each day are better for the health of people and the planet.

Getting people in rich countries to eat less meat is one of the hardest tasks in the shift to a cleaner economy. In Burrichter’s kitchen, the steaming vats of coconut milk dal and semolina dumpling stew need to be more than just cheap and healthy – they must taste so good that people ditch dietary habits built up over decades. The biggest challenge, says Burrichter, is replacing the meat in a traditional dish. “The bite is the most important, and the flavour comes after that.” Moderate amounts of meat can form part of a healthy diet, providing protein and key nutrients, but the average German eats twice as much as doctors advise – and many times more than the climate can handle. The meat and dairy industry pumps out 12% to 20% of the pollutants baking the planet and making weather more violent.

The Johannesstift Diakonie, a Christian social enterprise that runs the kitchen and several of the facilities it serves, estimates it saves 500 tonnes of CO2 a year by cooking less meat – about as much as it saved from a recent shift to renewable energy

 

[P90D]

Notably, this is psyops to cajole the uneducated into doing what's best for them. Whether it's reducing global pollution or eating less meat to improve their health, people neither think globally or act locally.
So "meat is the problem" should read "meat is a problem, people are the problem."
The solution is education, starting with educating parents and young families … an "anti-indoctrination" indoctrination process that empowers future generations with skills in:
1) critical thinking
2) science
3) objective atheism
4) ethics and morality
5) civics and citizenship

At present, politicians go into politics to pursue power and wealth, they are the weak-minded, failing in all these 5 categories of basic human intelligence and character. Politicians do as their masters command; the industrial lobbyists dictate policy and literally write the laws to enact those policies. The politicians are the face of corruption, the corporations are behind the curtain of artificial democracy hiding the oligarchy.

The solution for those of us already on this planet, aside from preparing for those generations to come, is to overcome criminality in politics. Removing money and religion from government would instantly change the world for the better. Wars would stop overnight for lack of a profit source in the form of taxpayer funding, and absence of emotional belief in a god-given purpose to battle other religions.

Along the way, you'd probably convince a few middle-aged men to quit eating animal fat and animal protein because it's killing them, one tasty pound after another hardening their arteries, overtaxing their ticker, and accumulating as undigested meat in their bowels.

 

[mspohr]

Hay grown for cattle consumes nearly half the water drawn from Colorado River, study finds

Much of the Colorado River's water is used for agriculture. A new study shows 46% of the water that is diverted is used to grow hay to feed cattle.

www.latimes.com

With chronic water shortages afflicting the Colorado River, discussions about how to cut usage have increasingly focused on a thirsty crop that consumes an especially large share of the river’s water: hay that is grown to feed cattle and produce beef and dairy products. In a new study, researchers found that alfalfa and other cattle-feed crops consume 46% of the water that is diverted from the river, accounting for nearly two-thirds of agricultural water use. The research also shows that agriculture is the dominant user of Colorado River water, accounting for 74% of the water that is diverted — about three times the combined usage of all the cities that depend on the river.

 

[mspohr]

The case for paying ranchers to raise trees instead of cattle | Patrick Brown and Michael Eisen

Reducing cattle populations and restoring native ecoystems is our best chance to tackle global heating. Here’s one way to do it

www.theguardian.com

There is a simple, cost-effective and scientifically sound way to turn back the clock on global warming and reverse the catastrophic collapse of biodiversity: pay ranchers to raise trees instead of cattle. By mass, the world’s 1.7 billion cows are the dominant animal species on Earth, far outweighing the human population, and outweighing all the wild terrestrial mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians left on Earth by more than 15-fold. More than a third of Earth’s land is used to feed livestock.

Although many people are aware that reducing consumption of animal products would help combat the climate crisis, the size of the effect is deeply underappreciated. Our peer-reviewed research estimated the climate impact of reduced emissions from livestock and recovery of plant biomass on the land they occupy. It showed that a global phaseout of animal agriculture over 15 years would unlock “negative emissions” sufficient to bring about an urgently needed 30-year window of “net-zero” greenhouse gas emissions – even if all other emissions continued on their current trajectory

About half of the climate benefits of this phaseout would come from a drastic reduction in emissions of two highly potent greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide – by one-third and two-thirds respectively. The rest would be achieved by the capture of enormous volumes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, using the best, cheapest, “greenest”, most scalable carbon capture technology on Earth – photosynthesis – proven over 3.5bn years, as forests and native grasslands recover on the land now used to feed or graze livestock. And the overwhelming majority of these benefits would come just from curtailing cattle production.

 

[mspohr]

Person diagnosed with bird flu in Texas, health officials say

Patient who is being treated with an antiviral drug had been in contact with dairy cows presumed to be infected

www.theguardian.com

A person in Texas has been diagnosed with bird flu, an infection tied to the recent discovery of the virus in dairy cows, health officials said on Monday.

The development comes after milk from dairy cows in Texas and Kansas tested positive for bird flu last week and federal agriculture officials confirmed infections in a Michigan dairy herd that had recently received cows from Texas.

 

[P90D]

The case for paying ranchers to raise trees instead of cattle | Patrick Brown and Michael Eisen

Reducing cattle populations and restoring native ecoystems is our best chance to tackle global heating. Here’s one way to do it

www.theguardian.com

There is a simple, cost-effective and scientifically sound way to turn back the clock on global warming and reverse the catastrophic collapse of biodiversity: pay ranchers to raise trees instead of cattle. By mass, the world’s 1.7 billion cows are the dominant animal species on Earth, far outweighing the human population, and outweighing all the wild terrestrial mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians left on Earth by more than 15-fold. More than a third of Earth’s land is used to feed livestock.

Although many people are aware that reducing consumption of animal products would help combat the climate crisis, the size of the effect is deeply underappreciated. Our peer-reviewed research estimated the climate impact of reduced emissions from livestock and recovery of plant biomass on the land they occupy. It showed that a global phaseout of animal agriculture over 15 years would unlock “negative emissions” sufficient to bring about an urgently needed 30-year window of “net-zero” greenhouse gas emissions – even if all other emissions continued on their current trajectory

About half of the climate benefits of this phaseout would come from a drastic reduction in emissions of two highly potent greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide – by one-third and two-thirds respectively. The rest would be achieved by the capture of enormous volumes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, using the best, cheapest, “greenest”, most scalable carbon capture technology on Earth – photosynthesis – proven over 3.5bn years, as forests and native grasslands recover on the land now used to feed or graze livestock. And the overwhelming majority of these benefits would come just from curtailing cattle production.

Trees instead of cows is happening in Finland. The expectation is 10x and 100.
10x increase in dairy food prices
100 years to impact global climate
Finland has already reversed the law, creating a windfall for the farmers who delayed complying and selling their cows.
I think it's a good thing to grow "food forests" and an even better thing to educate people to understand the harmful effects of animal protein and animal fat. I think we need something bigger and faster acting to reverse the accumulated pollution of the industrial era.

 

[mspohr]

Trees instead of cows is happening in Finland. The expectation is 10x and 100.
10x increase in dairy food prices
100 years to impact global climate
Finland has already reversed the law, creating a windfall for the farmers who delayed complying and selling their cows.
I think it's a good thing to grow "food forests" and an even better thing to educate people to understand the harmful effects of animal protein and animal fat. I think we need something bigger and faster acting to reverse the accumulated pollution of the industrial era.

Well, a 10x increase in dairy food prices should be a good thing for those who believe in the "free market" to fix problems.
Re-wilding pastures and farmland has immediate impact and it only takes a few years to reach full effect.
The sooner we give up meat and stop burning and clear cutting and allow nature to reclaim the land, the better.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Trees instead of cows is happening in Finland. The expectation is 10x and 100.
10x increase in dairy food prices
100 years to impact global climate
Finland has already reversed the law, creating a windfall for the farmers who delayed complying and selling their cows.
I think it's a good thing to grow "food forests" and an even better thing to educate people to understand the harmful effects of animal protein and animal fat. I think we need something bigger and faster acting to reverse the accumulated pollution of the industrial era.

The Finns do love their milk. They're #1 per capita in the world.
With increased prices it'd be a good target market for artificial milk.

 

[mspohr]

The Finns do love their milk. They're #1 per capita in the world.
With increased prices it'd be a good target market for artificial milk.

Oatly oat milk is popular in Finland.

 

[CyberGus]

Oatly oat milk is popular in Finland.

I'll drink oat milk when you can show me the oat's nipple.

 

[P90D]

I'll drink oat milk when you can show me the oat's nipple.

I drink oat milk because I've seen a cow's nipple.

 

[mspohr]

US banks ‘sabotaging’ own net zero plans by livestock financing, report claims

Lending to meat, dairy and feed corporations led to ‘significant proportion’ of banks’ emissions, Friends of the Earth found

www.theguardian.com

The report further warns that the “extent of meat, dairy and feed corporations’ contribution to the banks’ GHG emissions footprints may remain obscured”, even to the banks themselves, because animal protein and feed companies “commonly underreport their emissions”.

The report further warns that the “extent of meat, dairy and feed corporations’ contribution to the banks’ GHG emissions footprints may remain obscured”, even to the banks themselves, because animal protein and feed companies “commonly underreport their emissions”.

 

[mspohr]

Animal farmers in Europe are upset at regulations aimed at improving the environment.

Angry Farmers Are Reshaping Europe https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/31/...unlocked_article_code=1.iE0.eiAv.J3cti5Y2T5Fa

 

[mspohr]

UN COP greatest failure

US meat lobby delighted at ‘positive’ prospects for industry after Cop28

Livestock bosses ‘enthusiastic’ about summit, while critics condemn vague language around meat and dairy consumption

www.theguardian.com

But while more than 130 governments vowed to tackle agriculture’s carbon footprint, a slew of announcements and initiatives failed to set binding targets, or to broach the question of reducing herds of ruminant livestock such as cattle and sheep, which are agriculture’s largest driver of emissions.Outcomes at the summit were characterised as “far more positive … than we anticipated” by Constance Cullman, the president of the Animal Feed Industry Association (AFIA), a US lobby group whose members include some of the world’s biggest meat and animal feed producers.

According to a March paper, which surveyed more than 200 environmental and agricultural scientists, meat and dairy production must be drastically reduced – and fast – to align with the Paris agreement. The report concludes that global emissions from livestock production need to decline by 50% during the next six years, with “high-producing and consuming nations” taking the lead.

The long-awaited FAO roadmap followed. While it proposed a 25% reduction in livestock methane emissions by 2030 to put the agriculture sector on track to reach global climate goals, it again failed to explicitly recommend a cut to meat and dairy consumption.

A spokesperson for the Global Alliance for the Future of Food said the argument that industrial agriculture is “critical to address hunger” is one of the greatest “myths” shared by the industry. As well as helping to drive global heating, which is undermining food security worldwide, the meat industry is also the leading driver of deforestation and ecosystem loss, while the overconsumption of animal products has been linked to a greater likelihood of developing illnesses such as heart disease.

 

[mspohr]

https://research.wri.org/wrr-food

Just stop eating meat.

 

[mspohr]

Culture Wars

‘Political efforts’: the Republican states trying to ban lab-grown meat

Florida is on track to ban cell-cultivated meat while three others float it – but experts say the reasoning has little to do with safety, ethical or environmental questions

www.theguardian.com

A few weeks later, a Republican member of the Florida legislature – and cattle rancher – Dean Black took to the House floor, saying, “Cultured meat is not meat … it is made by man, real meat is made by God Himself … If you really want to try the nitrogen-based protein paste, go to California.” In March, Florida passed the legislation both men had been addressing: making it the first state in the nation poised to ban “lab-grown” meat. (DeSantis still needs to sign the bill.)

But experts say these new laws sweeping red states aren’t so much about the many safety, ethical and environmental questions lab-grown meat pose – they’re about the culture wars. “These are political efforts to rile up voters,” says Sparsha Saha, a lecturer on meat politics at Harvard, who notes that cell-cultivated meat is a long way away from being produced on scale to reach most consumers. “Meat is inherently political. We know that meat attachment is higher on the right. We know that masculinity norms tend to be stronger among conservative men – and meat is associated with masculinity … If you’re a politician and you want to make sure that conservative men are getting mobilized to come out and vote, this is a really good political strategy.”

We want to protect our cattle and our ranches,” said Arizona representative Michael Carbone. The US Cattlemen’s Association, the main lobbying group for American beef producers, is also pushing back against lab-grown meat, saying in 2022 that “cell-cultured products cannot be independently produced – the technology is shrouded in intellectual property protection and requires intensive capital resources” which “could lead to the monopolistic control of America’s sovereign food supply”. While defenders of these bills say they’re concerned about the safety of new techniques, experts say there’s also a politicized fear of science at play. “Historically, science has been a friend to agriculture. And instead of us being accurate about that relationship in the past, I think what we’re seeing on the right is this undermining of science that perhaps started with Covid, if not earlier with vaccines,” said Saha

 

[mspohr]

Swapping red meat for herring, sardines and anchovies could save 750,000 lives, study suggests

Switch could also reduce prevalence of disability linked to diet-related disease and help tackle the climate crisis, researchers found

www.theguardian.com

Swapping red meat for forage fish such as herring, sardines and anchovies could save 750,000 lives a year and help tackle the climate crisis, a study suggests. Mounting evidence links red meat consumption with a higher risk of disease in humans as well as significant harm to the environment. In contrast, forage fish are highly nutritious, environmentally friendly and the most abundant fish species in the world’s oceans.

Our study demonstrates that the adoption of forage fish as a red meat alternative would potentially offer substantial public health benefits (with the avoidance globally of 0.5–0.75m deaths from diet related NCDs), particularly in terms of reducing ischaemic heart disease.” Forage fish are rich in omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, the intake of which may prevent coronary heart disease, as well as being abundant in calcium and vitamin B12. They also have the lowest carbon footprint of any animal food source, the researchers said.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Swapping red meat for herring, sardines and anchovies could save 750,000 lives, study suggests

Switch could also reduce prevalence of disability linked to diet-related disease and help tackle the climate crisis, researchers found

www.theguardian.com

Swapping red meat for forage fish such as herring, sardines and anchovies could save 750,000 lives a year and help tackle the climate crisis, a study suggests. Mounting evidence links red meat consumption with a higher risk of disease in humans as well as significant harm to the environment. In contrast, forage fish are highly nutritious, environmentally friendly and the most abundant fish species in the world’s oceans.

Our study demonstrates that the adoption of forage fish as a red meat alternative would potentially offer substantial public health benefits (with the avoidance globally of 0.5–0.75m deaths from diet related NCDs), particularly in terms of reducing ischaemic heart disease.” Forage fish are rich in omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, the intake of which may prevent coronary heart disease, as well as being abundant in calcium and vitamin B12. They also have the lowest carbon footprint of any animal food source, the researchers said.

You had me at sardines. You lost me at anchovies.

 

[mspohr]

Metabolite in Red Meat Increases Kidney Disease Risk - Medscape - April 11, 2024.

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is a gut microbiota-derived metabolite generated by metabolism of dietary L-carnitine, primarily from red meat, and choline, from a variety of animal source foods. TMAO has been shown to cause kidney injury and tubulointerstitial fibrosis in experimental models.

In this study, TMAO was independently associated with higher risks for incident chronic kidney disease (CKD) and faster kidney function decline in humans.

The findings suggest that TMAO may be a novel risk factor and intervention target for CKD prevention and treatment.