In the NY Times today there's an article about emissions from farm animals, which emit 18 percent of the emissions that are raising global temperatures. More than from all forms of transportation.
The head of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, says we should eat less meat. Yet the UN also expects beef and pork consumption to double between 2000 and 2050, as developing nations become wealthier and can afford what previously would have been a delicacy.
A lot of people tell me they'd like to eat less meat, but they like the taste too much to give it up. I have no sympathy for this argument. There are dozens of non-meat substitutes out there, available everywhere, that taste perfectly fine. My Dutch friend showed me a vegetarian protein option available in The Netherlands, Valess. It uses protein from dairy—not ideal—but still an option for those wishing to cut out meat. The company estimates 40 percent of the population fit this category.
At a party I held last year, I served Quorn "chicken tenders" for the youngsters, who gobbled them up not knowing they weren't made from flesh. In fact, there's a study that says that people can't tell the difference between vegan sausages and the "real" thing. Other taste experiments prove that people can't tell the difference between other flavors, such as strawberry and chocolate, or expensive and cheap wine.
The NY Times article talks about the efforts, including research costing tens of millions of dollars in New Zealand alone, that meat producers are going to in order to produce "green" meat. It would be much simpler to encourage people to give up meat altogether, or at least reduce their consumption sharply, than to try to capture manure emissions or breed less belching cows.
While environment ministers from 187 nations are meeting this week in Poland, I hope they give some thought to reducing, rather than greening, meat consumption. If they act now, they may can save what's left of South American rain forests.
I also hope their dinner plates contain meat substitutes, rather than real beef and chicken and pork. I bet they wouldn't know the difference either.
UPDATE: Oh, wait, someone else has already said this.