If only tackling the void between what the world population wants to consume and what the planet can deliver was this simple. If we removed a range of food providing animals from the planet what would be the environmental justification for pets?
The Independent carries an article about an interview with Professor Stern ahead of current climate talks. The reduction in the impact of humans on the planet will be addressed by social measures and accepting responsibility for the food we eat is one of those social measures, as well as, reducing the waste we produce, and also looking at the way we support the human population in the lives that people strive for whilst making sure that we can provide that with best use of natural resources. The solutions require empathy and understanding for individual and community motivations and effective communication with the message delivered by people we believe in and trust.
The challenges will be met not just product labelling, but by a two-way discussion on nutrition and health and well-being all of which is addressed by a balanced and varied diet. I have written about the barriers to this many times including the transition of diets across the world to dairy and meat based diets and the limiting access to vitamins due to the cost of fruit and vegetables. In the UK, I can buy ten apples for around £4 or a kilogramme of blueberries or I can buy 5kg of dried pasta - if I am on a limited income which will I choose?
There are a billion people who are vegetarian through necessity, because they can't afford meat, in fact they don't have secure access to food period. This is a complex mesh of issues which will be addressed by a multilayered approach and I believe will ultimately succeed from a ground up not a top down movement.
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