10/16/16 Less Meat for Less Hunger and Poverty
On the occasion of World Food Day on October 16, the United Nations advise: Less Meat for Less Hunger and Poverty
- FAO: Nearly two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions and 78% of methane emissions are due to livestock farming
The whole world celebrates October 16th as World Food Day. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) marks this year's World Food Day with a message: "The climate is changing. Food and agriculture has to change too." FAO advises people to eat less meat because nearly two-thirds of greenhouse gases and 78% of methane emissions are due to livestock farming. The FAO proposes we should all be conscientious, ethical consumers and change daily decisions in order to throw away less food and eat less meat. Doing so will reduce our impact on the environment and make a significant difference.
In marking this day, it is logical for FAO to warn of the impact of climate change on agriculture and food production -- by 2050, it's predicted the world population will grow to over 9 billion people. The increase in population will have an impact on the global food and water supplies, jeopardizing the wellbeing of the ecosystem and further increasing emissions. This danger requires urgent action on the State level and on the level of individual, personal habits.
This issue was highlighted by the former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, while holding a speech in late September at the One Young World Summit in Ottawa, Canada. She addressed 1,300 participants, who were composed of young leaders from 196 nations, and asked them to consider their impact on the environment and change their eating habits. "Each of us should think about our carbon footprint," said Robinson. "Eat less meat, or not meat at all. Become vegetarian or vegan." The agreement on climate change in Paris, signed in April, is asking nations around the world to reduce their carbon emissions. All of this precedes the next UN conference on climate change which will take place from November 7-18, 2016 in Morocco.
On the occasion of World Food Day (October 16th) and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (October 17th), the Animal Friends association draws attention to the connection between the completely unnecessary production of meat, milk and eggs, and poverty and hunger in the world. Every year, 60 billion animals are brutally slaughtered for hamburgers and other meat products. Enormous natural resources are consumed for their cultivation, causing the biggest source of environmental pollution and the greatest impact on global warming. Meanwhile, the fact that people can live without meat is hidden and ignored. The fact that living on plant food leads to more vitality, less disease and longer lifespans is also ignored.
The average input for 1 kg of meat protein is 10 kg of vegetable proteins. Production of meat consumes five to ten times more water than the production of plant food. The current, mainstream diet based on the cultivation of crops for animal fattening and slaughter is not sustainable. Rather, it leads to catastrophic food shortages and more hungry, poor people around the world. The price of 1 kg of animal protein is twenty times greater than the cost of the same amount of vegetable protein. That leads to the subsidization of the meat, milk and egg industries, which also work to conceal these problems.
By switching to a meatless diet, it becomes possible to use a rational amount of our natural resources. Therefore, Animal Friends invites citizens to reflect on adopting a healthy diet of plant food which doesn't kill animals, affect world hunger or destroy the environment.