Animals
In an Octopus’s Garden
All may not be well. These highly intelligent animals could become the next target of intensive aquaculture. Half of the “seafood” market in many richer nations is farmed (over 500 different aquatic animal species). Apart from the welfare issues associated with captivity, there’ll be more pressure on already depleted global fisheries as 1/3 of the global catch is already converted to feed other animals. www.faunalytics.org
Food
Planetary Health? All Plant Milks Beat Dairy
An Oxford University study says even the worst example i.e., almond milk, emits 3 x less GHGs than dairy. And while rice milk is a water hog and coconut milk impacts tropical rainforests, these sustainability shortcomings are a drop in the bucket compared with the environmental harms of dairy which also uses 3 x more land than plant milk. The best? Oat milk. And organic soy is joint winner on sustainability.
Climate Change
Can I Have My Beef and Eat it Too? Nope
Research from Harvard and Boston University concludes that the much-touted, “entirely grass-and-forage-raised beef scenario” can only be sustainable if overall beef consumption is cut way back. “Only reductions in beef consumption can guarantee reductions in the environmental impacts of US food systems”, says Dr. Tara Garnett, of the Food Climate Research Network.
speaking words of wisdom
“For many consumers, especially the younger generations, politics have failed to provide an adequate response to the climate crisis. While governments face their electorates once every few years, food service providers face their customers every day. And customers are expecting industry to step up .”
— Prof. Sylvain Charlebois, Dalhousie U.
Commenting on the climate crisis, “Inaction and complacency are the privileges of yesterday.”
— Prof. Mike Wang, Chair of the Association of Clinical Psychology, UK.
perspective
Photo: Ina RH on Unsplash
Eager to Tackle the Climate Crisis but Not Sure How?
Little wonder. A toxic combination of how our brains deal with big crises, an overload of contradictory — sometimes misleading — information, and mental shortcuts to simplify complexity can sometimes leave us in a state of paralysis.
The reality is when faced with a threat, our brains crave a simple solution. But the climate crisis is a complex, multi-variable calculation as illustrated by the chart below from researchers at Oxford University. It details the environmental footprint of our food choices across seven stages of the farm-to-fork food chain. The chart reveals the complexity of the science behind the climate consequences of what we put on our plates. But it also reveals a guiding principle for our choices. Contrary to all the “food miles, 100-mile diet and eat local” arguments, the research shows that transportation is a small part of the carbon footprint of our food. What you eat matters more than where it comes from.
The thing is our reactions are typically binary and we are hardwired to take mental shortcuts: good/bad, black/white, either/or. This built-in short circuiting of our critical thinking has been exploited by those pushing huge amounts of information either as click bait to generate revenue or by vested interests seeking to sow confusion to advance a particular agenda. The sophisticated campaign by the fossil fuel industry to create doubt about the science of climate change is a case in point. Harvard professor Naomi Oreskes is an expert on these disinformation campaigns. See Why Trust Science?
These waves of disinformation, especially on social media, follow the “Russian firehose” strategy — to flood the environment with so much false information that it becomes very difficult to discern fact from fiction and fabrication.
No one solution or silver bullet is going to solve the climate crisis but our brains want one. As a result, when searching for solutions, we are prone to fall into certain traps including the lure of oversimplification, false equivalence and falling prey to simple, but misguided, answers.
For example, some commentary has suggested that the environmental consequences of the dairy industry are similar to plant-based milks because some of them rely on monoculture crops. This is a false equivalence trap if there is no explanation of the relative merits — the environmental footprint of dairy is significantly more damaging than any of the plant-based milks. As a result, consumers may throw up their hands not knowing which to choose. But the key is that it’s not as simple as good or bad but rather which choice has the least negative impact on the environment i.e., the lesser evil becomes the good choice.
Air travel offsets are another false equivalence trap. Paying someone to plant trees does not negate the emissions from our plane trip or give us a free pass to keep flying guilt-free in a “business as usual” world. If we are truly serious about addressing the climate crisis, we need to fly less or not at all. It’s not about “balancing out” but lowering emissions overall.
Another trap is a tactic straight out of the climate denier’s toolkit. Finding one drawback or selective inconsistency in an argument and then throwing out the whole concept. We can see this in criticism from the meat industry that plant-based burgers are not a health food. But they are not meant to be, they are designed to offer meat eaters tasty alternatives as well as a product with a lower carbon footprint, no cholesterol, antibiotics, or animal suffering.
We can fight back and avoid these traps by validating the sources of the information we consume and recognizing the tricks that our brains or others play that can confuse us and delay action. To fight the climate crisis, we need to make informed choices with the lowest impacts on the environment and our collective future.
is it time for zoos to evolve?
Zoos are becoming increasingly controversial as attendance drops and claims of their value as educators and promoters of conservation are shown by studies to be less effective than we think. There are also reported incidences of animal suffering due to confinement and lack of enrichment. A possible path forward is to focus on rescue and rehabilitation, including releasing back into the wild. And, where this is not viable, to act as sanctuaries and providers of life-long care. Some zoos are already starting to adopt this new role. www.faunalytics.org.
Photo: Tobias Tullius on Unsplash
Good news
A recent Gallup poll says six out of 10 Americans are “very” or “somewhat likely” to continue eating plant-based burgers. And Numerator reports 80% of consumers will replace a portion of their meat consumption with plant-based meat over the next year.
A UK survey asked 1,000 meat-eaters about their beliefs and attitudes towards vegetarian and vegan diets. 73% agreed the diets are ethical; 70% thought they are good for the environment; over half thought they were healthy; and 60% viewed them as socially acceptable. However, they also believe the diets are difficult, not as enjoyable, and expensive – all of which is becoming less true as more choices become available. Attitudes
Eager to combat the climate crisis? There’s a great road map to guide you on your way. “9 Things You Can Do About Climate Change”, from The Grantham Institute on Climate Change and the Environment in the UK, features actions we can all take to make a difference and slow down global heating. Check it out 9 Things
Action to address the climate crisis is sure to follow when central bankers raise the alarm about the threat to the global financial system from the “Green Swan”. The Bank for International Settlements warns that the Green Swan – unpredictable shocks to the financial system as a result of the climate crisis – must be addressed now by the banking system to avoid future financial calamity. Green Swan events include the potential radical loss of value of fossil fuel assets as we transition to a low carbon economy.
data points
To keep global warming under 1.5C, we have 420 gigatons of CO2 left in the carbon “budget”. At our current level of emissions, we’ll have spent the budget in 8.5 years.
Only 14 countries have met the Paris goal to communicate their long-term strategies to achieve a low-carbon economy by 2050. These countries represent 22.9% of global emissions. www.climatewatchdata.org
Few countries are on track to achieve a zero-carbon energy system by 2050 but China, UK, Costa Rica, Denmark, and Ethiopia are further along than many.
Energy production and usage account for about 75% of global GHGs. Solutions to lower emissions include: investing in energy efficiency, hydropower, renewables (wind, solar, photovoltaic, geothermal); electrification; and decarbonization (using zero-carbon technologies to generate electricity). www.climatewatchdata.org
Dining on “surf and turf” is worse for the environment than driving across the US because many shrimp farms occupy coastal land created by draining mangrove swamps.
climate connection
These articles are adapted from The Climate Beat, the weekly newsletter of Covering Climate Now, a global journalistic initiative committed to more and better climate coverage.
Last month, Antarctica recorded its warmest temperature on record, surpassing the old record set in 2015 by nearly a full degree Centigrade. The Guardian reports that this is further evidence that Antarctica is among the fastest-warming places on earth — a fact with enormous consequences for everywhere else on earth, given the sea-level rise and carbon release into the atmosphere that will follow melting ice.
A new study shows that nearly one-fifth of the Amazon rainforest is now emitting more carbon than it absorbs, according to the BBC — meaning that one of the earth’s essential tools for slowing climate change may instead be turning into a carbon source. With deforestation on the rise in Brazil and a government in the country that is hostile towards conservation efforts, experts warn the forest may reach a “tipping point.”
The New York Times has a deeply reported and visually rich tale of sea level rise in two metropolitan areas: the San Francisco Bay Area and Manila, Philippines. In both places, “climate change has magnified years of short-sighted decisions,” the Times writes. Now, with more water inevitably on its way over the course of this century, people are left only to cope. How they do so will depend “mostly on the accident of your birth: Whether you were born rich or poor, in a wealthy country or a struggling one, whether you have insurance or not, whether your property is worth millions or is little more than a tin roof.”
charting our path
An Environmental Tax on Meat to Help Save the Planet
Food production in developed countries is a major contributor to the climate crisis but Dutch researchers have a plan. It’s currently being considered by policy makers and it would move EU producers and consumers to a more climate friendly system. Numerous scientific studies say we need to radically reduce our consumption of beef, lamb and dairy while eating more plant-based foods. But our current farming and food systems have billions of dollars invested in the status quo, supported by huge government incentives. How do we engineer the changes?
The above chart summarizes a plan by the True Animal Protein Price (TAPP) Coalition to transition to a greener food system. A “fair meat price” is a tax and incentive system to support farmers moving to more sustainable methods of raising meat while making fruits and vegetables more affordable. This sustainability charge on meat, increasing gradually over time, reflects the environmental costs of production, including CO2 emissions and biodiversity loss. The charge would increase the cost of a steak by 25%, with a lower levy on other meats that have a smaller carbon footprint.
“Including the environmental cost of animal protein in the price is a crucial element of meeting EU targets for climate, biodiversity, public health, farming and animal welfare,” said Pier Vellinga, a leading climate expert and professor at Wageningen University and TAPP Coalition Chair. Studies show the majority of Dutch consumers support the proposal.
Editor’s note: It’s been a year since we launched www.planetfriendlynews.com and now nearly 4,500 people in more than 85 countries have visited the site. Our four largest audiences are in Canada, US, UK and China. That said, people on every continent and in both hemispheres are reading our stuff. Thank you!