(bbc.com/news/science); Crystal Q., Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
"Flexitarian" diets key to feeding people in a warming world
If the world wants to limit climate
change, water scarcity, and pollution then we need to embrace
"flexitarian" diets, say scientists.- What does "flexitarian" mean? "We can eat a range of healthy diets, but what they all have in common, according to the latest scientific evidence, is that they are all relatively plant-based," says lead author at Oxford Dr. Marco Springmann. "You can go from a diet that has small amounts of animal products, some might call it a Mediterranean-based diet, we call it a flexitarian diet, over to a pescatarian, vegetarian , or vegan diet. We tried to stay with the most conservative one of these, which in our view is the flexitarian one. But even this has only one serving of red meat per week."
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| Be flexible: Eat the rainbow! |
This means eating mainly
plant-based foods. It is one of three key steps towards a sustainable
future for all by 2050, they say.
Food waste will need to be halved and farming practices will also have to improve, according to the study.
Without action, the impacts of the food system could increase by up to 90%.
Fast
on the heels of the landmark report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) comes this new study on how food production and
consumption impact major threats to the planet.
- Final call to halt "climate catastrophe"
- Q&A: Climate change questions answered
- 5 things we have learned from the IPCC report
The authors say that the food system has a number of significant
environmental impacts including being a major driver of climate change,
depleting freshwater, and pollution through excessive use of nitrogen
and phosphorous. More
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