{"id":1359974,"date":"2023-11-29T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=623930"},"modified":"2023-11-29T09:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T09:30:00","slug":"what-would-happen-if-everyone-stopped-eating-meat-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/11\/29\/what-would-happen-if-everyone-stopped-eating-meat-tomorrow\/","title":{"rendered":"What would happen if everyone stopped eating meat tomorrow?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Humans eat a stunning amount of meat every year \u2014 some 800 billion pounds of it, enough flesh to fill roughly 28 million dump trucks. Our carnivorous cravings, particularly in industrialized, beef-guzzling<\/a> countries like the United States, are one reason the planet is warming as fast as it is. Raising animals consumes a lot of land that would otherwise soak up carbon. Cows, sheep, and goats spew heat-trapping methane. And to grow the corn, soy, and other plants that those animals eat, farmers spray fertilizer that emits nitrous oxide, another potent planet-warming gas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For all those reasons, and many more, activists and scientists have called for people to eat less meat or abstain altogether. At last year\u2019s United Nations climate conference in Egypt, activists chanted slogans like \u201cLet\u2019s be vegan, let\u2019s be free<\/a>.\u201d At this year\u2019s conference, which starts November 30, world leaders are expected to talk about ways to shift diets<\/a> toward plant-based foods as a way to lower animal agriculture\u2019s climate pollution, the source of 15 percent of the planet\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cutting out meat can be an effective tool: The average vegan diet is linked to about one-quarter the greenhouse gas emissions of a meat-intensive one, according to a paper<\/a> published in Nature in July. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But what would happen if everyone actually stopped eating meat tomorrow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt would have huge consequences \u2014 a lot of them probably not anticipated,\u201d said Keith Wiebe, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Such a quick shift probably wouldn\u2019t cause the sort of turmoil that would come if the planet immediately ditched<\/a> fossil fuels. But still, the upshot could be tumultuous, upending economies, leaving people jobless, and threatening food security in places that don\u2019t have many nutritious alternatives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Livestock accounts for about 40 percent<\/a> of agricultural production in rich countries and 20 percent in low-income countries, and it\u2019s vital \u2014 economically and nutritionally \u2014 to the lives of 1.3 billion people across the world, according to the United Nations\u2019 Food and Agriculture Organization. One-third of the protein and nearly one-fifth<\/a> of the calories that people eat around the world come from animals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Researchers say the economic damage caused by the sudden disappearance of meat would fall disproportionately on low-income countries with agrarian economies, like Niger or Kenya, where farming and raising livestock are critical sources of income. Niger\u2019s livestock industry makes up about 13 percent<\/a> of the country\u2019s gross domestic product; in the U.S., the entire agricultural system accounts for only around 5 percent<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n