Tackling Climate Change Through Plant-based Products

Climate change can be reduced if the amount of animal-based product consumption is also reduced. Promoting an alternative to meat-consumption with plant-based products is vital to fighting climate change. Although Veganism may seem like the best solution, not everyone can make this change. Instead, if every individual reduced their meat-based products intake it would also be very beneficial.

Allow me to share with you some statistics in regards to the link between animal-based products and increased climate change.

• To produce one kilogram of beef it requires 25 kilograms of grain and roughly 15,000 litres of water.
• Around 30% of the earth’s land surface is currently used for livestock farming — plant-based agriculture is more efficient and generates around 1.5 trillion more pounds of “product” than animal agriculture, this is because plant-based agriculture uses 115 million acres less land.
• In Europe, 73% of water pollution was due to livestock farming

Did you know that you could still eat delicious meals like burgers with the same taste without actually consuming meat? Companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger created beef patties and other meat products which consist of a combination of ingredients like soy, pea protein, potato starch and et cetera. These companies use a biomimicry approach to create plant-based versions of meat products with a very similar taste and flavour to meat. Plant-based milk and cheese is also popular.

These vegetarian products are mass produced and businesses can achieve huge successes. SPINS, a retail consumer analytics company for natural products, reported that grocery sales of plant-based foods have grown 29% in the past two years to $5 billion in the U.S as of March 2020.

On a national level, the following steps can be taken:

• Increasing the range of plant-based meat meals sold in supermarkets from different food brands
• Increasing the variety of plant-based meat meals sold in supermarkets from different food brands, this will allow room for different tastes and needs to be met (Tesco in Britain has increased its variety of plant-based meals)
• Putting plant-based meat in the same section as the meat section in supermarkets to encourage people to buy plant-based meat rather than having them go all the way to the vegetarian/vegan section
• The creation of more vegan supermarkets (Green Common in Hong Kong is a great example)

Plant-based products are predicted to be more and more popular as an increasing number of food companies have started to invest in the industry. Without a doubt, it is important for us to play our role, in saving the planet.

References:

Francis Vergunst-Julian Savulescu- Postdoctoral Fellow in Developmental Public Health — https://theconversation.com/five-ways-the-meat-on-your-plate-is-killing-the-planet-76128. Accessed 18 Apr. 2020.

Lor, Jenny Star. “Green Queen Guide: Hong Kong’s Best Vegan Grocery Stores.” Green Queen, 26 Mar. 2019, www.greenqueen.com.hk/best-vegan-grocery-stores-hong-kong/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2020.

“About Us.” Green Common, www.greencommon.com/hk/en/about-us/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2020.

“Plant Based and Vegetarian.” Will Open in a New Tab or Window, www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/zone/plant-based-and-vegetarian. Accessed 18 Apr. 2020.

“We Make Groundbreaking Good Food a Reality.” The Good Food Institute, 11 Jan. 2016, www.gfi.org/what. Accessed 18 Apr.2020.

Leip, Adrian, et al. “Impacts of European Livestock Production: Nitrogen, Sulphur, Phosphorus and Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Land-Use, Water Eutrophication and Biodiversity.” Environmental Research Letters, vol. 10, no. 11, 2015, p. 115004., doi:10.1088/1748–9326/10/11/115004. Accessed 18 Apr. 2020.

Zee, Bibi van der. “What Is the True Cost of Eating Meat?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 7 May 2018, www.theguardian.com/news/2018/may/07/true-cost-of-eating-meat-environment-health-animal-welfare. Accessed 18 Apr. 2020.

Cameron Brianna, O’Neill Shannon “Plant-based Meat, Eggs and Diary” The Good Food institute, June 2019, https://www.gfi.org/non-cms-pages/splash- sites/soi-reports/files/SOI-Report-Plant-Based.pdf Accessed 18 April 2020.

Getty. “Tesco Doubles Vegan Food Range as Demand Soars.” Mirror, 1 Feb. 2019, www.mirror.co.uk/money/tesco-doubles-vegan-food-range-13424290. Accessed 18 Apr. 2020.

“U.S. Plant-Based Market Overview — New SPINS Retail Sales Data.” The Good Food Institute, 27 Nov. 2018, www.gfi.org/marketresearch. Accessed 18. Apr. 2020