The report which will serve as a basis for the full report to come out in 2019 underscore what we, Greenpeace and many others have been saying: A sustainable future must include a significant reduction in animal agriculture. The report conclude:
Countries currently relying on significant amounts of food imports will have to attain a high degree of food self-sufficiency, with international food trade regaining its position as a crucial component of food security rather than serving as a commodity market. With regard to both production and consumption practices, dairy and meat should make way for largely plant-based diets
They go on to further highlight the problem of our current economic system to properly account for externalities, as we bring ourselves to the brink of mass extinction while we cheer our GDP growth. If we take into account all the externalities of our current system it is likely that we have been experiencing zero or negative GDP growth for many years already. The current system of carbon pricing is problematic, the report conclude:
A key problem with carbon pricing has been that states, federations, or unions have not implemented it on a sufficiently high level, fearing industrial leakage to less environmentally-regulated countries. For this reason, many economists and politicians hope for global carbon pricing. But if we return to the four examples above, energy, transport, food, and housing, we can see that it would be highly unlikely that even global carbon pricing would guide economic activity in the right direction – at least with sufficient speed and breadth
It is unlikely our current framework will guide us toward the right direction, but with pointing at the massive wall in front of us we hope we can change in time. Going vegan will not address the energy, transport and housing issues raised in the report, but it will take care of the food aspect. Therefore, save and simplify your life and those of countless other animals, fight climate change, the overuse of antibiotics, deforestation and many other issues being going vegan. Join one of our local community in your area or contact us for help on how to get started.
