tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/sustainable-diet-50544/articlesSustainable diet – The Conversation2024-03-18T13:44:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2254042024-03-18T13:44:30Z2024-03-18T13:44:30ZFour ways to eat less meat that are better for the planet, your health and your bank balance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582064/original/file-20240314-24-maslyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Making a few simple eco-friendly food choices can be healthy and cost-effective too. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/female-stall-holder-farmers-fresh-food-267549425">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Do I choose the meat in my local store or drive out of town for tofu instead? Shall I add honey to my winter porridge or would strawberries or mango be better? Should I choose to drink oat milk or organic goat’s milk?</p>
<p>Most people are familiar with the idea that food consumption will affect their health. But food consumption also contributes between 20% and 30% of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2013.09.046">environmental footprint</a> from daily life, with impacts from production, processing, transport and retail. For many of us, our diet could be <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/i3004e/i3004e00.pdf">healthier and more sustainable</a>, but it can be hard to know which options will have the biggest positive effect. </p>
<p>As part of our research into healthy and sustainable eating, interviews with predominantly young adults found that UK consumers are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2022.106388">willing to make small changes</a> that would improve the health and environmental footprint of their diet, if these changes will have some benefit and are of little cost to them. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1159/000345030">Small dietary changes</a> tend to be easier to maintain in the longer term than larger changes, but the small changes to make for greatest benefit, for health and the planet, are not well known.</p>
<p>To provide this advice, we <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2023.107194">compared</a> the health-related, environmental and financial effects of a number of sustainable dietary actions that have previously been proposed. We applied 12 sustainable actions to the dietary data of 1,235 UK adults in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-diet-and-nutrition-survey">National Diet and Nutrition Survey</a>. </p>
<p>We investigated differences between the new diet and the original diet for six dietary markers (protein, saturated fat, sugars, salt, iron, calcium), three environmental markers (greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater withdrawals, land use), and dietary cost. There were some limitations – we couldn’t quantify the impacts of reducing food waste, for example. </p>
<p>But our research showed that four simple switches resulted in the greatest benefits for your diet, the planet and for your pocket. These changes won’t be small or simple for everyone, but you don’t need to try them all. Every switch will benefit both your health and our home, and lots of small changes will soon add up. </p>
<h2>1. Replace meat items with pulses</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.113.071472">Beans, chickpeas and lentils</a> are high in protein, fibre and are low in fat. They have low environmental impacts and can even benefit the growth of other crops, plus they are very inexpensive. Barriers that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/jns.2023.119">prevent people consuming pulses</a> tend to focus around their taste or texture. And pulses can be perceived as inconvenient, effortful or difficult to cook. </p>
<p>Start with houmous – a tasty pre-prepared chickpea spread or dip. Including more pulses in your diet is made easier and quicker by using pre-prepared and canned pulses or by batch cooking dishes and freezing portions for another day. Try incorporating canned beans into your favourite soups and stews. Add lentils to your bolognese sauce. If you’re feeling more adventurous, experiment with some <a href="https://pulses.org/recipes/worlds-greatest-pulse-dishes">tasty new recipes</a> from cultures that traditionally use pulses, such as Mexico, the Middle East or India. </p>
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<span class="caption">Replacing the meat in your diet with a diverse array of pulses is good for your health as well as for the planet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/collection-variety-cereal-food-wooden-equipment-1341145883">Nopparat Promtha/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>2. Replace meat items with eggs</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/ingredient-focus-eggs">Eggs</a>, like pulses, are highly nutritious. They provide protein and many micronutrients, have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0216">low environmental impacts</a>, and are good value for money. Choose free-range eggs for added animal welfare benefits. </p>
<p>Eggs can be easy to prepare. They are soft and can be easier to eat for those who may have difficulties chewing, swallowing or cutting up foods. Eggs can add <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980020002712">taste and flavour</a> to your diet. Eggs can be consumed at any meal. Poached or scrambled, they make a great high-protein breakfast, hard-boiled eggs are a filling on-the-go snack, and sous-vide (slow-cooked) eggs can impress guests at dinner parties. </p>
<h2>3. Replace meat items with hard or soft cheeses</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-types/milk-and-dairy-nutrition/">Cheese</a> is another nutritious food, full of calcium and other micronutrients, good for strong bones and teeth. Often considered a food with high environmental impacts, cheese typically has a lower environmental footprint than meat, even more so for soft cheeses. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://profilebooks.com/work/how-bad-are-bananas/">environmental impact of dairy foods</a> increases with the processing needed, predominantly as a result of the waste created at each stage of manufacture. Milk has the lowest environmental impact, yoghurt slightly higher, soft cheeses, such as cream cheese, slightly higher again, and hard cheeses such as Cheddar are higher still. </p>
<p>Try switching your pepperoni pizza for four cheeses pizza, replace the meat in pasta dishes for soft blue cheese to retain flavour, and use soft cheeses in sandwiches. </p>
<h2>4. Reduce meat consumption by 20%</h2>
<p>Meat production, particularly for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0216">beef and lamb</a>, has high environmental impacts. Consuming a lot can be unhealthy, but <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-types/meat-nutrition/">meat consumption in small amounts</a> can offer a valuable source of protein and micronutrients, including iron, zinc and B vitamins. Try consuming smaller portions, increase the quality of meat you buy to gain the health benefits while eating less, or aim to have regular vegetarian days, such as meat-free Mondays. Choose the meat option when you’re eating out, make it a treat for special occasions, and eat more plant-based dishes at home.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Appleton currently receives funding from the EU for a project (FoodMAPP), which aims to encourage the consumption of local food and reduce food waste, and she has previously received funding from the EU for a project on vegetable consumption (VeggiEAT) and from the British Egg Industry Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Danielle Guy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From replacing meat with pulses to eating more eggs, these top tips will reduce the environmental impact of your diet while improving the nutritional value and cutting costs.Katherine Appleton, Professor of Psychology, Bournemouth UniversityDanielle Guy, PhD Candidate in Psychology, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1940762023-03-30T02:22:47Z2023-03-30T02:22:47ZHow eating a local diet can help Indonesians live healthier and more sustainable lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509405/original/file-20230210-27-9mcpe0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C80%2C3000%2C1841&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Muhammad Haris/Wikimedia Commons)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Indonesians are consuming more and more <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-42468-2_9">processed foods,</a> including sugary drinks, salty snacks, junk food, and unhealthy fats. </p>
<p>These changes take a toll on people’s health, as well as the environment. </p>
<p>There is growing evidence consumption of highly processed and preserved foods is linked with <a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/fo/d2fo02628g/unauth">poorer health outcomes</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916522105241">higher risk of mortality</a>. A 2019 study using national health data found consuming sugary drinks is associated with an increased risk of excess weight and obesity <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/11/2813">among children and adolescents.</a> </p>
<p>A 2021 research has predicted the growing consumption of sugar and meat in Indonesia will <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-020-00887-7">impact the environment</a>.</p>
<p>As food system and sustainability researchers, we recommend Indonesians look back at our local food biodiversity for a healthier and more sustainable way to eat.</p>
<h2>What healthy local foods do we have?</h2>
<p>Indonesia’s <a href="https://journalofethnicfoods.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42779-019-0009-3">rich mix of cultures</a> is reflected in the variety of its food habits and dishes. A study by <a href="http://www.opi.lipi.go.id/data/1228964432/data/13086710321320841770.makalah.pdf">the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of Indonesia</a> showed that Indonesians consume at least 100 types of carbohydrates, 100 types of legumes, 450 fruits, and 250 types of vegetables and mushrooms. </p>
<p>For example, some Indonesians eat <a href="http://jurnal.lppm.unsoed.ac.id/ojs/index.php/Prosiding/article/view/564/0">beans</a> and <a href="http://article.scholarena.com/Indonesia-Local-Beans-and-Its-Benefit-as-Functional-Food.pdf">seeds</a>, such as red beans mixed with sorghum, cooked and pressed using banana leaves and served as local staple food. </p>
<p>Some Indonesians even eat <a href="https://smujo.id/biodiv/article/view/5113/3686">insects</a>. <a href="https://medium.com/the-nature-of-food/the-eat-lancet-diet-is-it-all-nuts-2db9b0d7579f">Studies show</a> insects have high levels of protein and micronutrients, making them a great source of nutrition. Scientists around the world are studying insects for their potential to be low-carbon animal source foods, even named it as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772566921000033">“future food”</a>. </p>
<p>Indonesia’s seascapes is also the home of the largest marine biodiversity in the world, with <a href="https://www.aciar.gov.au/publication/books-and-manuals/market-fishes-indonesia-jenis-jenis-ikan-di-indonesia-bilingual-publication-english">almost 3,000 species found in the markets</a> of Java, Bali, and Lombok alone.
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1592-6">Fish</a> from warm tropical seas like Indonesia contain high calcium, iron and zinc.</p>
<p>There are many regions in Indonesia that have <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42779-019-0002-x">diverse locally produced foods</a> that are healthy, yet underutilized.</p>
<h2>Why the local foods?</h2>
<p>Focusing on local foods is a beneficial approach to achieving healthy and sustainable diets, for the following reasons:</p>
<p><strong>First,</strong> the diversity of Indonesian local foods, <a href="https://www.cifor.org/knowledge/publication/8070/">is a gateway to diverse diets</a>. When people eat a diverse range of foods, it helps them get all the nutrients they need and can better <a href="https://doi.org/10.6133/apjcn.012016.01">reduce the risk of child stunting.</a> </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1709194115">Recent studies</a> have shown that consuming a variety of species daily also promotes <a href="https://www.cifor.org/knowledge/publication/8070/">better micronutrient adequacy.</a> Look no further, Indonesia’s megabiodiversity holds the key to a more nourished country.</p>
<p><strong>Second,</strong> indigenous plant-based and animal-source foods that suit local conditions tend to be more resilient to climate shocks, such as extreme weather or floods. </p>
<p>One example is <a href="https://ecsdev.org/ojs/index.php/ejsd/article/view/407/404">sago,</a> which can grow in prolonged droughts and floods in areas such as Sulawesi, Papua and Maluku. </p>
<p>Additionally, sago is considered a healthier carbohydrate option because it has <a href="https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=pjn.2016.667.672">lower glycemic index</a>, and can function <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955286318305989">as a prebiotic,</a> which means they stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut.</p>
<p><strong>Third,</strong> eating local food could cut back carbon emissions from packaging and distribution. This is particularly important for items that are easily spoiled, like fish and vegetables, and for highly processed foods that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00225-9">contribute 10% of emissions in the food sector.</a> </p>
<p><a href="https://kemlu.go.id/vancouver/en/pages/indonesia_at_a_glance/2016/etc-menu#:%7E:text=INDONESIA%2C%20the%20largest%20archipelago%20in,which%20about%206%2C000%20are%20inhabited.">As an archipelagic country with about 6,000 inhabited islands,</a> a shorter and more efficient food distribution system could cut back food loss and waste along the supply chain.</p>
<p><strong>Fourth,</strong> promotion of eating local food has the potential to increase environmental awareness and social justice by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016702000402">increasing interaction between producers and consumers</a>. </p>
<p>In some cases, such promotion supports producers in growing underutilized food species. We can link efforts to conserve biodiversity with the nutritional benefits of the food we eat. This can be achieved by promoting the consumption of locally sourced food, which not only improves people’s diets but also helps preserve biodiversity by encouraging them to protect their food sources.</p>
<p>It could also help boost <a href="https://journalofethnicfoods.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42779-019-0009-3">culinary tourism,</a> which is increasingly popular in Indonesia. Additionally, local food are also part of local cultures and practices. Promotion of healthy and sustainable diets through foods they are familiar with, promise a better uptake by the local communities.</p>
<h2>How to promote healthy and sustainable diets through local foods</h2>
<p>To promote healthy and sustainable diets in Indonesia, we need to consider global, national, and local factors. </p>
<p>We can draw inspiration from global initiatives like <a href="https://eatforum.org/learn-and-discover/the-planetary-health-diet/">the Planetary Health Diet,</a>– a global reference diet made by group scientists from many countries. However, we should not apply such references rigidly, as Indonesia has its own unique characteristics.</p>
<p>Fortunately, the Indonesian government has dietary guidelines called <a href="https://panganbijak.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Strategy-Paper-ISFS-ENG-0510-min.pdf">Isi Piringku or “My Plate Initiative”</a> that help people balance their diets by eating the right amount of carbohydrates, protein, fruits and vegetables. <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m2322.long">A study</a> published in the British Medical Journal found “Isi Piringku” was not only one of the healthiest global dietary guidelines, but also among the most environmentally sustainable out of 85 evaluated.</p>
<p>At the local level, we need more efforts to use traditional food cultures to implement the “Isi Piringku” concept in each area of Indonesia. Nutrition experts can make a big difference by using knowledge of local food to create healthy “Isi Piringku” meals. </p>
<p>People may think local foods aren’t nutritious because we don’t know enough about them and all the different options available.
This is where research and documentation of local foods come in - to show the variety and true value of local foods to health and culture.</p>
<p>We need to gather more information about the rich food biodiversity and local food practices in different parts of Indonesia. We need to learn more about how these plants grow, where they are usually found, who consumes them, how to prepare them for consumption, the cultural significance, nutritional value, and health benefits.</p>
<p>This pool of knowledge will provide a strong basis for healthy and sustainable national dietary programs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194076/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mulia Nurhasan menerima dana dari berbagai organisasi non profit dan atau pemerintah. Mulia Nurhasan tidak memiliki konflik kepentingan dalam penulisan artikel ini.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Romauli Panggabean menerima dana dari organisasi profit, non profit dan pemerintah </span></em></p>Indonesians are consuming more and more processed foods, including sugary drinks, salty snacks, junk food, and unhealthy fats. These changes take a toll on people’s health, as well as the environment…Mulia Nurhasan, Food and Nutrition Scientist, CGIAR System OrganizationRomauli Panggabean, Environmental Economist, World Resources InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1920352022-10-26T14:41:35Z2022-10-26T14:41:35ZEating lots of meat is bad for the environment – but we don’t know enough about how consumption is changing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491310/original/file-20221024-1583-zazmtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Contrary to official estimates, Britons may still be consuming too much meat.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/butcher-shop-654313183">ALPA PROD/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Responsible for roughly <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34813623/">a third</a> of the UK’s diet-related carbon emissions, the consumption and production of meat is a substantial contributor to climate change. A <a href="https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/">report</a> commissioned by the government last year reflects this, finding that people must eat 30% less meat by the end of the decade to reduce the environmental impact of food production.</p>
<p>Research indicates that meat consumption habits have changed. <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00228-X/fulltext">One study</a> reports that the amount of meat eaten each day per person fell by 17.4 g on average in the UK between 2008 and 2019. </p>
<p>This result has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/oct/08/cuts-uk-meat-consumption-doubled-health-researchers-food">widely reported</a> and was obtained by analysing the meat consumption data published in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-diet-and-nutrition-survey">National Diet and Nutrition Survey</a>. By asking participants to record how much of a certain food they have eaten over a given time period, the survey captures nationally representative data on the food people are eating in the UK.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/6-350/v2">research</a> compared this trend to other datasets and instead suggests that the reduction in meat consumption could be far smaller. Britons may still be consuming too much meat, with profound environmental consequences.</p>
<h2>Recording meat consumption</h2>
<p>Trends in food consumption are estimated using three types of dataset: dietary recall surveys (which include the National Diet and Nutrition Survey), household budget surveys and food balance sheets. Each dataset is constructed using a different type of information and the accuracy of each is unclear.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491315/original/file-20221024-25-9gb235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman selecting a packet of meat from the meat section of a supermarket." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491315/original/file-20221024-25-9gb235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491315/original/file-20221024-25-9gb235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491315/original/file-20221024-25-9gb235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491315/original/file-20221024-25-9gb235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491315/original/file-20221024-25-9gb235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491315/original/file-20221024-25-9gb235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491315/original/file-20221024-25-9gb235.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Household budget surveys can be used as an indirect measure of food consumption.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-purchasing-packet-meat-supermarket-1109534852">LADO/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Household budget surveys ask participants to record how much of a particular food item they have purchased. Fewer meat purchases tends to mean less household meat consumption. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-food-statistics">Household budget surveys</a> show just a 3% decline (-4.6 g) in meat purchases in the UK from 2008 to 2019.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FBS">Food balance sheets</a> instead measure how much food is available to buy and are constructed using industry data. In practise, a rise in meat supply suggests that an increasing amount of meat is being consumed. Meat supply increased by 5% (10.9 g) in the UK over the same period.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A graph showing the reduction in meat consumption between the three datasets between 2008 and 2018." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510836/original/file-20230217-18-wwl3re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510836/original/file-20230217-18-wwl3re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510836/original/file-20230217-18-wwl3re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510836/original/file-20230217-18-wwl3re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510836/original/file-20230217-18-wwl3re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510836/original/file-20230217-18-wwl3re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510836/original/file-20230217-18-wwl3re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The levels of of meat reduction vary between the three datasets. PHD = Planetary Health Diet recommendations of 43g of meat per.
day.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although neither household budget surveys or food balance sheets directly measure consumption, they are often used to approximate changes in consumption patterns. Compared to the trends captured by the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, household budget surveys imply a smaller decline in UK meat consumption while food balance sheets imply an increase in meat consumption. </p>
<p>This variation means that we cannot be certain about which dataset provides the closest approximation of actual meat consumption. Two factors are responsible for the wide range in consumption estimates.</p>
<h2>1. Underreporting</h2>
<p>Surveys often depend on inaccurate data. As they rely on <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/130/8/2049/4686379">individual reporting</a>, both household budget surveys and dietary recall surveys are subject to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nutrition-research-reviews/article/assessing-dietary-intake-who-what-and-why-of-underreporting/BE3AD33BD7839172C1C7E8D9FE5EC98B">underreporting</a>. This can occur when respondents accidentally forget to record the food that they have eaten or do not wish to declare it. </p>
<p>Underreporting seems to be <a href="https://www.bi.team/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/16-07-12-Counting-Calories-Final.pdf">increasing over time</a>. This could be the result of many factors, but <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17433123/">some studies</a> have found that underreporting is significantly higher in overweight and obese individuals.</p>
<p><a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn03336/">Rising obesity rates</a>, increased snacking outside the home, and falling survey response rates have all interfered with the accuracy of dietary data. According to the Office for National Statistics, the National Diet and Nutrition Survey may have underestimated calorie intake <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/methodologies/agovernmentstatisticalserviceperspectiveonofficialestimatesofcalorieconsumption2019update">by as much as 34%</a> in 2019. </p>
<p>Even if there has been no change to actual consumption, the large fall in meat consumption estimated by the National Diet & Nutrition Survey could be due to increased under-reporting.</p>
<h2>2. Waste</h2>
<p>As food balance sheets rely on industry data, they are less subject to underreporting. But the amount of food that is wasted can also interfere with the accuracy of dietary data.</p>
<p>As indirect measures of consumption, food balance sheets and household budget surveys incorporate food wastage. Food on the supermarket shelf can either be bought or wasted, just as food that has been purchased can be consumed or thrown away. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491318/original/file-20221024-25-yfnpwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pile of plastic bags on the pavement with a blue car parked on the road in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491318/original/file-20221024-25-yfnpwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491318/original/file-20221024-25-yfnpwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491318/original/file-20221024-25-yfnpwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491318/original/file-20221024-25-yfnpwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491318/original/file-20221024-25-yfnpwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491318/original/file-20221024-25-yfnpwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491318/original/file-20221024-25-yfnpwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Waste can also interfere with the accuracy of dietary data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pile-black-plastic-bags-that-contains-2130194213">tawanroong/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Changes in waste can therefore result in apparent (but not actual) changes in consumption. A reported increase in consumption could actually be masking an increase in food waste.</p>
<p>Change in the quantity of food wasted will affect the difference between true consumption and apparent consumption, measured using household budget surveys or food balance sheets. If meat waste increased and actual meat consumption decreased by the same amount: apparent meat consumption would not change.</p>
<p>This could conceal trends in declining consumption. An increase in the quantity of meat wasted could potentially be responsible for the differences in trends between the three types of dataset.</p>
<p>As a direct measure of consumption, dietary recall surveys do not include waste. Unlike household budget surveys and food balance sheets, their accuracy will not be affected by changes in the quantity of waste.</p>
<p>Some datasets suggest that UK meat consumption is declining, while other datasets suggest that uk meat consumption is on the rise. </p>
<p>Our research suggests that the decline in UK meat consumption could be much less than officially estimated. Further steps must be taken to ensure we meet the targets for a healthy and sustainable food system.</p>
<p>Better data collection on food waste and underreporting is needed. Data on the extent of underreporting in dietary datasets and the proportion of food wasted at each stage of the production chain would be a start, providing consistency in long-term dietary trends. This would allow the use of multiple different dietary datasets to more accurately approximate consumption. </p>
<p><em>This article was updated on January 20th 2023 to incorporate updated data from the FAO and to adjust for methodological changes.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Garnett is a member of the Green Party of England Wales.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kerry Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Official estimates indicate that meat consumption is falling in the UK – but not all of the data agrees.Kerry Smith, PhD candidate in Biological Sciences, University of ReadingEmma Garnett, Researcher in the Health Behaviours Team, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1827932022-05-11T18:07:07Z2022-05-11T18:07:07ZClimate change: carbon labels and clever menu design can cut the impact of dining – new study<p>More people cutting back on meat would be <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-ways-the-meat-on-your-plate-is-killing-the-planet-76128">good news for the planet</a>, but humans have ingrained habits that are tricky to change. Fortunately, a growing body of research suggests that making changes to the places where we all pick what to eat – such as supermarket aisles, takeaway apps and restaurant menus – can nudge us towards the more sustainable options without us needing to really think about it. These kinds of changes may also attract <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494422000627">more public support</a> than policies such as taxes.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000028">a new paper</a>, psychologist Ann-Katrin Betz and her colleagues at the University of Würzburg in Germany studied the design of restaurant menus. They tested how adding carbon labels indicating the greenhouse gas emissions per dish and changing the default menu options (those featured most prominently) to foods with a lower impact on the climate affected the choices people make when eating out.</p>
<p>The online study’s 265 participants were asked to select one dish from each of nine hypothetical menus, which featured different selections of options of dishes with high, medium and low emissions. Some had a default option of either the highest- or lowest-emission dish. For instance, on one menu the participants could order a coconut curry with either beef (high emissions), chicken (medium emissions) or tofu (low emissions).</p>
<p>Participants were also randomly assigned menus with or without carbon labels which showed the emissions involved in producing one portion of each dish alongside a traffic light-coloured signal to indicate high, medium or low emissions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tied bundle of asparagus with a cardboard label denoting the environmental impact of producing it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462454/original/file-20220511-16-57hma3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462454/original/file-20220511-16-57hma3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462454/original/file-20220511-16-57hma3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462454/original/file-20220511-16-57hma3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462454/original/file-20220511-16-57hma3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462454/original/file-20220511-16-57hma3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462454/original/file-20220511-16-57hma3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carbon labels could help inform people about the climate consequences of their food choices.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sustainability-rating-label-on-organic-asparagus-2079388099">HollyHarry/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When people were given menus with the low-emission option as the default, the share of high-emission choices decreased significantly – equating to an average of 31.7% lower emissions per dish. Similarly, when people were given menus with carbon labels, the emissions associated with their dish choices were on average 13.5% lower per dish compared to when no carbon labelling was used.</p>
<p>When the menu displayed a high-emission default option but no carbon labels, 59% of participants selected the dish with the highest emissions attached to it, while 12% chose the low-emissions option. But when they were shown a low-emission default option first, 45% of participants went for it and only 21% of participants chose the option with the greatest climate impact.</p>
<p>When carbon labels were present, the number of people choosing the default high-emission dish, marked with a red icon, fell to 36%, versus 30% who opted for the low-emission one. And 52% chose the default low-emission dish when it was accompanied by a green label.</p>
<h2>So what?</h2>
<p>The results of this study are promising, as they suggest designing restaurant menus differently may have a considerable effect on the emissions attached to dining out. In particular, combining carbon labels with prominent placing for low-emission options appears to have the greatest effect.</p>
<p>However, it’s important to note that this was an online study investigating hypothetical dish choices, and so it’s possible these measures would work differently in a real restaurant setting. After all, the survey participants did not pay for, or eat, their choices. They may have simply picked the dish they thought researchers wanted them to go for. In the carbon label portion of the experiment, it’s particularly clear what the study’s aims were.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A chef tosses kale in a wok over an open flame." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462445/original/file-20220511-20-ko3e51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3070%2C2048&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462445/original/file-20220511-20-ko3e51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462445/original/file-20220511-20-ko3e51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462445/original/file-20220511-20-ko3e51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462445/original/file-20220511-20-ko3e51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462445/original/file-20220511-20-ko3e51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462445/original/file-20220511-20-ko3e51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Will diners behave the same way in a real restaurant?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/motion-blur-chefs-pours-oil-cook-1848971635">Chatchai.wa/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But if data from restaurants and cafeterias does show similar results, interventions like carbon labelling and low-emission default options should form part of a wider shift to making sustainable food more prevalent, prominent and ultimately popular. Other strategies might include:</p>
<p><strong>1. Increasing the availability of plant-based options</strong></p>
<p>In both cafeterias and in online surveys, we have found when people are offered a greater proportion of meat-free meals (from one in four, to two or even three in four), the number of people opting for the vegetarian choice <a href="https://theconversation.com/offering-more-plant-based-choices-on-menus-can-speed-up-diet-change-177297">can increase substantially</a>.</p>
<p><strong>2. Making plant-based options more prominent elsewhere</strong></p>
<p>With a retailer partner, we found that sales of meat alternatives increased when they were <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003715">moved to the meat aisle</a> in stores.</p>
<p><strong>3. Re-naming veggie options to make them sound more appealing</strong></p>
<p>Other research suggests that, instead of calling something vegetarian or vegan, describing the provenance, flavour, or look and feel of food <a href="https://www.wri.org/insights/its-all-name-how-boost-sales-plant-based-menu-items">can increase sales</a>. Would you rather buy a “vegetarian lasagne” or a “slow-roasted, butternut squash and seasonal vegetable lasagne”?</p>
<h2>A smorgasbord of options</h2>
<p>Changes to restaurants and supermarkets can help everyone make more sustainable choices by helping people overcome the barriers which currently limit the uptake of low-emission food, such as limited information or time to properly consider which options are best for the climate. </p>
<p>Each of the changes suggested above could contribute, but they may make a relatively small difference if implemented in isolation, as this new study indicates. Betz and colleagues found that their effects in combination supported the greatest degree of behaviour change. </p>
<p>Multiple strategies are ultimately needed to support more people to adopt sustainable diets.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182793/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cristina Stewart receives funding from the Wellcome Trust.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Pechey receives funding from the Wellcome Trust. </span></em></p>A traffic light labelling system and making sustainable dishes the default menu option boosted their popularity.Cristina Stewart, Health Behaviours Researcher, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of OxfordRachel Pechey, Research Fellow in Behavioural Science, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1772972022-03-29T14:11:26Z2022-03-29T14:11:26ZOffering more plant-based choices on menus can speed up diet change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454987/original/file-20220329-13-dpwjgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cheerful-couple-menu-restaurant-making-order-674037814">UfaBizPhoto/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rearing meat contributes more <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652616303584">greenhouse gas emissions</a> than the production of any other foodstuff. And eating red and processed meat can increase your risk of developing <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)32225-6/fulltext">colorectal cancers</a>.</p>
<p>If eating less meat is good for you and the planet, then <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00228-X/fulltext">recent research</a> has some good news: meat consumption – particularly red meat – is <a href="https://theconversation.com/meat-eating-drops-by-17-over-a-decade-in-the-uk-new-research-168626">slowly falling</a> in the UK. But for diet changes to really pick up the pace, it needs to be easier for everyone to make more sustainable and healthy choices. </p>
<p>Surveys suggest that despite <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2017/04/06/over-half-happy-have-meat-free-meals">increasing support</a> for the idea of eating less meat, the UK public has <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/food/articles-reports/2019/01/18/one-four-britons-want-cut-back-red-meat-year">little appetite</a> for interventions by the government to achieve this, whether that might be taxes, labelling or a media campaign.</p>
<p>So what if shops and restaurants took the lead by providing more meat-free options to choose from? Would this make people more likely to eschew meat? It’s not guaranteed – there are strong social influences and cultural norms that reinforce the appeal and habit of eating meat. For example, when asked why they eat meat, people often tend to describe meat as being “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195666315001518">necessary, natural, normal and nice</a>”.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, in three studies, my research team and I tested the effect of <a href="https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-021-01239-z">increasing meat-free options</a> on the meals people choose.</p>
<p>First, we looked at sales in a university cafeteria that changed the menu to offer two plant-based and one meat option, instead of one plant-based and two meat options, for four months. When a third of the options were meat-free, around 40% of the meals diners bought were meat-free. This rose to around 60% when two-thirds were meat-free.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A gloved hand reaches for broccoli at a cafeteria serving hatch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Making plant-based options more prominent on menus makes them seem less niche.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chef-standing-behind-full-lunch-service-1090719347">PJjaruwan/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>In the second study, a nationwide catering company put more plant-based options on their list of meals for cafeteria managers to create their menus with. We analysed sales in 18 worksite cafeterias supplied by this company for the eight weeks before and eight weeks after the new list of meal options was available. Where there was a small increase in the number of plant-based meal options, sales of plant-based meals overall increased by a small amount, but only around half of the chefs took up the new menu options.</p>
<p>In the third study, we recruited 2,205 UK adults to take part in an online questionnaire. We divided them into three groups, each having four main meals to choose from. Of these four options, either one, two or three were meat-free. Faced with three meat options, just 12% chose the meat-free meal, but when there were three meat-free options, 48% made that choice. Where options were equal, 28% opted for the meat-free choice.</p>
<h2>Less meat or meat-less</h2>
<p>To identify interventions that could help everyone eat less meat and not just those who already eat less than most, we looked at whether increasing meat-free options in our online study had a different effect on particular groups.</p>
<p>Regardless of their usual meat consumption, everyone ate less meat when there were more meat-free options. This is encouraging, as it’s possible to reduce meat consumption the most when everyone can cut back a bit, instead of a few people cutting back a lot or becoming vegetarian (though one person being vegan could potentially offset others taking no action).</p>
<p>Having more meat-free meals on menus or in stores may have other benefits too. Without a wide enough range of meat-free options in shops and restaurants, other measures such as ecolabels – labelling food with its environmental impact to help people buy more sustainable products – may lose their bite. After all, how much can we expect labelling to change food choices if all the options have low ratings? We have research on this topic in the pipeline.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/food-and-drink-products-with-pro-environment-ecolabels-are-more-appealing-to-shoppers-new-research-157260">Food and drink products with pro-environment 'ecolabels' are more appealing to shoppers – new research</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Making plant-based options more prominent may also begin to reverse public perceptions of meat-eating as the norm. Increasing the number of vegetarian options may signal that choosing a vegetarian meal is more commonly done by others and subconsciously nudge people to follow the trend. If just one of four options is meat-free, this could be seen as an option just for vegetarians. If half are meat-free, people have a choice of dishes which suggests plant-based food is in demand more generally, rather than being a niche choice. Of course, there is also a greater chance of there being one they would like.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A refrigerator section in a supermarket with meat and plant-based meat alternatives." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plant-based meat alternatives are increasingly popular.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/alameda-ca-july-28-2020-grocery-1786349348">Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Meat the deadline</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/the-report/">National Food Strategy</a> recommended that people in the UK eat 30% less meat by the end of the decade to reach net zero by 2050. People have ingrained habits, so it’s important to find ways to help them make more sustainable food choices and to keep making them.</p>
<p>Nearly <a href="https://www.food.gov.uk/research/research-projects/healthy-and-sustainable-diets-consumer-poll">three in four people</a> believe it’s important to buy sustainable food. Simple changes, such as providing more plant-based options in shops and restaurants, could help people to meet this goal. </p>
<p>Adding appealing plant-based or vegetarian options to menus could get the ball rolling on the urgent changes needed, as well as enhance the impact of promising, but perhaps harder-to-implement measures, like ecolabels.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177297/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Pechey receives funding from Wellcome Trust. </span></em></p>In three different experiments, plant-based meal sales rose when there were more menu options.Rachel Pechey, Research Fellow in Behavioural Science, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1791342022-03-24T11:31:44Z2022-03-24T11:31:44ZOctopus farms raise huge animal welfare concerns - and they’re unsustainable too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453018/original/file-20220318-19-1hj1836.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-view-common-octopus-vulgaris-1340447465">Henner Damke/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you imagine an octopus’s world, you might well see a curious creature in a complex undersea environment. </p>
<p>Yet the reality of life for <a href="https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/7447198/161421_ciwf_octopus-report-_21_aw_web_hybrid.pdf">some octopuses</a> is existence within a barren tank, inescapably surrounded by humans and other octopuses. This is the bleak world of octopus farming – and soon there could be new commercial farms on the horizon.</p>
<p>Recently a Spanish company announced its intention to open a new industrial octopus farm, with a goal of producing <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59667645">3,000 tonnes</a> of octopus a year. This raises huge concerns for animal welfare – because there can be no doubt that octopuses are complex and intelligent animals. </p>
<p>Wild octopuses are masters of camouflage, rapidly changing their skin patterns to blend in with their backgrounds. Sometimes they cover themselves with shells or even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2009.10.052">carry coconut shells</a> to hide from predators. And they are well-known <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/13/the-great-escape-inky-the-octopus-legs-it-to-freedom-from-new-zealand-aquarium">escape artists</a> in captivity, able to squeeze through extraordinarily small spaces. </p>
<p>They may even have a mischievous streak, with frequent reports of octopuses squirting water at unsuspecting visitors and caregivers. <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96476905&t=1647282014096">One octopus in Germany</a> was renowned for repeatedly squirting water at the lights, seemingly aware that this would short-circuit the electricity and cause a commotion. </p>
<p>In a laboratory setting too, they have shown themselves adept at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1997.tb00163.x">solving mazes</a> and <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152048">other puzzles</a> to acquire a food reward.</p>
<p>And octopuses are not only intelligent. They are also sentient, capable of experiencing feelings such as pain and pleasure. </p>
<p>We recently produced a <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/News/News-Assets/PDFs/2021/Sentience-in-Cephalopod-Molluscs-and-Decapod-Crustaceans-Final-Report-November-2021.pdf">report</a> for the UK government, after analysing over 300 scientific studies. We found strong evidence in <a href="https://theconversation.com/octopus-crabs-and-lobsters-feel-pain-this-is-how-we-found-out-173822">favour of sentience</a> in cephalopod molluscs (including octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) and decapod crustaceans (such as crabs and lobsters).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Common octopus swimming in the sea" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Octopus have different moods and can be playful and mischievous.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/common-octopus-vulgaris-wildlife-animal-290669537">Vladimir Wrangel/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>For many scientists, our findings merely reaffirmed what they <a href="https://fcmconference.org/img/CambridgeDeclarationOnConsciousness.pdf">already believed</a>: that octopuses are conscious animals with feelings and inner lives, just like vertebrates.</p>
<p>For us, all of this sits uneasily with the idea of octopus farming. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/octopuses-are-super-smart-but-are-they-conscious-57846">Octopuses are super-smart ... but are they conscious?</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>While octopus has long been an occasional menu item for many, demand for octopus meat is <a href="https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/7447198/161421_ciwf_octopus-report-_21_aw_web_hybrid.pdf">growing rapidly</a>. And that has led to the proposals to start farming octopuses on an industrial scale. As well as Spain, there are <a href="https://issues.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Jacquet-et-al.-The-Case-Against-Octopus-Farming-37-44-Winter-2019.pdf">similar efforts</a> in Mexico, Chile, China and Japan.</p>
<h2>Huge ethical concerns</h2>
<p>Octopuses are attractive candidates for commercial aquaculture, due to their high value, fast growth and rapid breeding. </p>
<p>But when working on our report, we assessed some of the greatest risks to the welfare of octopuses, and octopus farming was high on our list. The possibility of poor welfare is extremely concerning, especially as there are <a href="https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/7447198/161421_ciwf_octopus-report-_21_aw_web_hybrid.pdf">no protections</a> for farmed octopus under animal welfare legislation anywhere in the world.</p>
<p>Octopuses have several characteristics that make them particularly ill-suited to intensive farming. </p>
<p>They are soft-bodied, with skin that damages easily through rough handling or collisions with tank walls or furniture, particularly when jetting away from perceived threats – their usual escape response. They are a vulnerable animal that prefers to hide and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2004.05.018">requires shelter to feel safe</a>.</p>
<p>As solitary animals (with very rare exceptions), they are often aggressive and territorial, meaning they tend to react badly to the company of other octopuses, with <a href="https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/10074/4/Pierce_2010.pdf">cannibalism common</a> for many octopus species. Stress from overcrowding can even lead octopuses to resort to <a href="https://assets.speakcdn.com/assets/2332/giant_pacific_octopus_care_manual_final_9514.pdf">self-cannibalism</a> – they literally eat their own arms.</p>
<p>And since they are behaviourally and cognitively complex, they <a href="https://issues.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Jacquet-et-al.-The-Case-Against-Octopus-Farming-37-44-Winter-2019.pdf">require complex environments</a> that provide stimulation and opportunities to perform natural behaviours.</p>
<p>To make matters worse, there are currently no recognised methods of humane slaughter for octopus that would be feasible at a large commercial scale. For these reasons, we concluded in our report that we have “very high confidence that high-welfare commercial farming of cephalopods is currently impossible”.</p>
<p>In short, we had little doubt that it is a bad idea.</p>
<h2>It’s unsustainable too</h2>
<p>Proponents of octopus farming claim the practice has environmental benefits. They say that it is a sustainable method of production that will reduce pressure on wild populations of octopus. </p>
<p>Currently, it is the case that around <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59667645">350,000 tonnes</a> of wild octopus are harvested annually. And if demand continues to increase, this harvest will also be expected to rise. </p>
<p>But we are not convinced by this claim of sustainability. </p>
<p>One problem is that octopuses are carnivores, which means they require fish or other seafood products such as fishmeal or fish oil in their diet. These products are still frequently harvested from the ocean. And as octopuses have a food conversion ratio of <a href="https://issues.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Jacquet-et-al.-The-Case-Against-Octopus-Farming-37-44-Winter-2019.pdf">around three to one</a> (meaning it takes roughly three kilograms of feed to produce one kilogram of octopus), this is a highly inefficient use of resources.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Boiled octopus tentacles on a stone plate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reducing consumption of octopus is the sustainable choice – not farming.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/boiled-octopus-tentacles-on-stone-plate-1482977357">YARUNIV Studio/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>A second problem is that it is not by any means clear that shifting to aquaculture will reduce pressure on wild stocks. It is just as likely that octopus farming will simply reduce prices and increase demand, as has been seen in <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-02-aquaculture-wild-fisheries.html">fish aquaculture</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/octopus-crabs-and-lobsters-feel-pain-this-is-how-we-found-out-173822">Octopus, crabs and lobsters feel pain – this is how we found out</a>
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<p>So, if we really want to protect wild octopus populations we need to move beyond a false choice between devastating overfishing and industrialised farming.</p>
<p>The emphasis should be on decreasing consumption rather than on trying to shift demand from wild to captive stocks – and to do that, we need to be wary of quick fixes such as artificially raising prices. That can lead to unwanted effects, such as creating perceived scarcity that drives up consumer desire – think here of “luxury” goods such as shark fin. </p>
<p>To find the best ways of profoundly changing our eating habits, they need to be designed and tested by behaviour change experts so that we can robustly shift demand. And there may be no single solution. Approaches might need to vary across different cultures and consumer groups.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179134/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Schnell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Browning receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Grant Number 851145.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Birch receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Grant Number 851145.</span></em></p>A proposed new large-scale octopus farm in Spain is a huge risk to the welfare of this sentient and intelligent animal.Alexandra Schnell, Research Fellow in Comparative Psychology, University of CambridgeHeather Browning, Postdoctoral Research Officer, Foundations of Animal Sentience, London School of Economics and Political ScienceJonathan Birch, Associate Professor of Philosophy, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1778712022-03-01T19:04:00Z2022-03-01T19:04:00ZSwap salmon for sardines to keep four million tonnes of fish in the sea<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448381/original/file-20220224-50602-8dsgfm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3594%2C2193&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/fish-can-metallic-aluminum-3287443/">Monicore/Pixabay</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cutting down on meat and dairy is one way to make your diet better for the planet. But when it comes to sustainable seafood, buying sardines instead of salmon for your sandwiches and salads should be your first port of call. </p>
<p>A third of fish stocks are being harvested at rates that exceed what these populations can replenish, and 90% are fished right up to their sustainable limit, according to the UN <a href="https://www.fao.org/publications/sofia/2020/en/">Food and Agriculture Organization</a>. A leading cause of overfishing is, ironically, the demand for fish feed. Over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000005">one-third</a> of all fish caught worldwide are fed to farmed animals instead of people. Fish farming, or aquaculture, is the world’s <a href="https://www.fao.org/publications/sofia/2020/en/">fastest growing</a> food sector. <a href="https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/statistics">Most</a> of the Atlantic salmon sold in supermarkets in the UK is farmed. </p>
<p>Rearing these large, predatory fish involves feeding them a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids and protein, nutrients that are also essential to humans for brain development and nerve function. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000005">new study</a>, my colleagues and I found that if people ate the wild-caught fish, such as sardines, which are usually destined for salmon farms, it would leave nearly 4 million tonnes of fish in the sea and provide an extra 6 million tonnes of seafood.</p>
<h2>Feed people, not fish farms</h2>
<p>The sea provides humanity with a bounty of nutrient-rich food, which we have benefited from for thousands of years. Seafood is one of the most easily absorbed sources of key nutrients such as omega-3 and vitamins D and A that humans need. It is believed that a diet that included seafood may have helped humans develop <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/107/22/10002">bigger brains</a>. There is a global responsibility to sustainably use this resource, as over <a href="https://www.fao.org/publications/sofia/2020/en/">3.3 billion people</a> rely on it as their source of animal protein.</p>
<p>Salmon raised in coastal farms off Scotland is the UK’s <a href="https://www.salmonscotland.co.uk/news/economy/salmon-consumption-rises-by-nearly-8-in-the-uk">largest food export</a> by total annual economic value (followed by bread and pastries). Our research team carried out a thorough assessment of the Scottish salmon industry, collecting data on fish nutrient content, fishmeal and fish oil composition and examining the transfer of micronutrients from feed to fish.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A circular pen containing swimming fish seen from above." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449201/original/file-20220301-4202-1l09gji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449201/original/file-20220301-4202-1l09gji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449201/original/file-20220301-4202-1l09gji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449201/original/file-20220301-4202-1l09gji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449201/original/file-20220301-4202-1l09gji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449201/original/file-20220301-4202-1l09gji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449201/original/file-20220301-4202-1l09gji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coastal salmon farms produce a lot of effluent pollution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-salmon-fish-farms-grand-manan-1112269721">Russ Heinl/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that by removing wild-caught fish from salmon feed and only using fish byproducts instead – such as trimmings and offcuts from the filleting of farmed fish – 3.7 million tonnes of fish could be left in the sea and global annual seafood production could increase by 6.1 million tonnes. Over half of the essential dietary minerals and fatty acids available in wild fish are currently lost to human mouths when these fish are fed to farmed salmon.</p>
<p>By comparing salmon with other options, our research also highlighted the health and environmental benefits of eating more sustainably farmed seafood, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00423-5">mussels</a>. Mussels belong to the bivalve class of molluscs that include shellfish like clams and oysters (but not prawns, lobsters or crabs). <a href="https://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/david-willer">Our research</a> has shown that mussels are one of the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-0116-8">most sustainable foods on the planet</a>, more so than any other meat, fish, and most land-based crops like soya, wheat and rice. </p>
<p>Mussels require no feed, they simply eat algae in the water. The reefs they create act as nurseries where young fish can develop to full size, helping to regenerate wild fish stocks. Bivalve farms use up no land and no freshwater. They actually act as a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/raq.12465">carbon sink</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A crab rests on an underwater rope covered in mussels." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449204/original/file-20220301-21-2xsmtu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449204/original/file-20220301-21-2xsmtu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449204/original/file-20220301-21-2xsmtu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449204/original/file-20220301-21-2xsmtu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449204/original/file-20220301-21-2xsmtu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449204/original/file-20220301-21-2xsmtu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449204/original/file-20220301-21-2xsmtu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mussel farms can provide habitat for other species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/carcinus-maenas-known-green-crab-captured-1494248843">A Daily Odyssey/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what if you like eating salmon? The use of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03308-6">alternative feeds</a> in salmon farms is growing, but some are better than others. Feeds made from crops like soya and corn need a lot of land and water to produce, but those made using <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-0078-x">algae</a> are richer in omega-3 and use up sea space (of which there is plenty) instead of land. We need more research and investment to produce nutritious seafood while reducing pressure on marine ecosystems.</p>
<p>If you’re ever unsure, there are two simple mnemonics to guide what fish you should buy:</p>
<p>ECOME - Eat clams, oysters and mussels everywhere</p>
<p>SMASH - Sardines, mackerel, anchovies, sprats and herring</p>
<p>So enjoy your moules frites and barbecued sardines. Eat small, oily fish and bivalve shellfish. Eating more of these tasty foods, and foregoing the salmon and tinned tuna, can make a real difference to the ocean.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177871/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr David Willer is funded by a Henslow Research Fellowship at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge.</span></em></p>Farming shellfish instead of large, predatory fish, is also better for the planet.David Willer, Henslow Research Fellow, Sustainable Seafood, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1735952022-01-25T19:02:55Z2022-01-25T19:02:55ZWe asked hundreds of Aussies whether they’d eat insects, and most said yes – so what’s holding people back?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441905/original/file-20220121-8990-itwz9n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C15%2C5264%2C2966&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Insects are sustainable, nutritious and delicious. They’re eaten by more than two billion people worldwide, mostly in the tropics, and have been a staple in Indigenous Australians’ diets for tens of thousands of years. </p>
<p>Yet eating insects isn’t mainstream in Australia. Why? </p>
<p>We surveyed 601 Australians on their experience with, and attitude towards, edible insects. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019566632100739X">Our findings</a> offer insight into which factors might convince people to add edible insects to their diet.</p>
<p>Importantly, we found Australians are not deterred by the “ick” factor of eating insects, and would be willing to try them as a protein alternative if not for a “lack of opportunity”.</p>
<p>Of the adults we surveyed, 56.2% reported they would be “likely” to eat insects in the future (a much more promising result than that from a recent <a href="https://www.beuc.eu/publications/beuc-x-2020-042_consumers_and_the_transition_to_sustainable_food.pdf">European Union survey</a>) – and this figure increased to 82.2% among those who had already tried them.</p>
<h2>Missed opportunities</h2>
<p>Although insects don’t commonly feature on Aussie menus, there are <a href="https://research.csiro.au/edibleinsects/wp-content/uploads/sites/347/2021/04/CSIRO-Edible-Insect-Roadmap.pdf">60 insect species</a> which have been recorded as a traditional food source for Indigenous Australians, including witjuti grubs, bogong moths and honey pot ants.</p>
<p>The ancient Romans and Greeks <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/eating-bugs-cultural-cuisine#">ate insects</a>, too. It’s <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/emma_bryce_should_we_eat_bugs/transcript?language=en">thought Westernised countries</a> may have lost their taste for edible insects during the shift from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture and urbanisation. </p>
<p>Insects went from fulfilling the role of a staple food to being pests that destroy crops, and this may have prompted a shift in our attitudes towards eating them. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0963996917307160?casa_token=f90svpCrhAEAAAAA:QxhZeguNbgpWhI8pt9FVmnCzL6Vllkf9IOf-MGwMH77gKsJnd-kX5M3caq0EaoRMJQCdnGu7vw4">Research conducted</a> with older Australians has revealed a tendency to view the practise as disgusting and incompatible with their personal beliefs, raising concern there may be reluctance for edible insects to return to being a normalised and viable protein alternative.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441906/original/file-20220121-8785-uyd4dr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441906/original/file-20220121-8785-uyd4dr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441906/original/file-20220121-8785-uyd4dr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441906/original/file-20220121-8785-uyd4dr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441906/original/file-20220121-8785-uyd4dr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441906/original/file-20220121-8785-uyd4dr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441906/original/file-20220121-8785-uyd4dr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441906/original/file-20220121-8785-uyd4dr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The edible witjuti grub is the larva of the large cossid wood moth (Endoxyla leucomochla), native to Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>As it turns out, most people aren’t that squeamish</h2>
<p>But our research (mainly with participants aged 25 to 44 years) shows Aussies have begun to adopt a more positive outlook towards insect-based foods. </p>
<p>Of those surveyed, 35% had previously tried insects, most commonly crickets and grasshoppers. And people who had already tried them were also more open to eating them again, which suggests a “taste” for bugs can be developed. Of those who hadn’t tried insects, only 16% reported “disgust” was holding them back.</p>
<p>This paradigm shift may be linked to people expressing more concern for the environmental cost of their food, and a greater interest in adopting healthy dietary habits. </p>
<p>Participants also reported they would be willing to eat insect-based products if it was easier to find out how such foods are beneficial, both from a nutrition and sustainability standpoint.</p>
<p>They said endorsements from governing bodies, as well as more prominence of edible insects in mainstream media, would boost their interest in eating insects – as well as “try before you buy” promotions. </p>
<p>For those willing to give insects a go, insect-based flours (such as bread and biscuits), chocolate-coated ants and crickets were the top choices. Not all species were received the same way, however, with moths and fly larvae not generating such a buzz.</p>
<p>Still, the shift towards a willingness to try insects is promising for Australia’s <a href="https://www.fial.com.au/blogs/post/protein-market-size-of-the-prize-analysis-for-australia">growing edible</a> insect market.</p>
<h2>Embracing future foods</h2>
<p>With the global population still growing, we will need alternative sources of protein to sustainably meet future food production requirements.</p>
<p>The demand for protein is on the rise and, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, will have to <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/i6583e/i6583e.pdf">increase by 76%</a> by 2050. But production is restricted due to Earth’s finite resources. </p>
<p>Edible insects have potential as an important future food, offering a nutritious protein source that’s more sustainable to produce – using less land, energy and water.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173595/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Insects have long been identified as a protein-rich and nutritious food, and are eaten across various cultures outside the West – including across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.Jessica Danaher, Lecturer in Nutrition, RMIT UniversityLisa Newman, Lecturer in Nutrition, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1279412019-12-03T15:25:06Z2019-12-03T15:25:06ZClimate crisis: six steps to making fossil fuels history<p>In shouting “system change not climate change”, young people understand that the <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/global/cat-thermometer/">3-4°C warmer world we’re headed for</a> would be <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2018/06/benefits-of-curbing-climate-change-far-outweigh-costs/">far more painful, costly</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-convinced-on-the-need-for-urgent-climate-action-heres-what-happens-to-our-planet-between-1-5-c-and-2-c-of-global-warming-123817">disruptive</a> than any short-term costs or inconvenience we face from taking rapid, bold action.</p>
<p>But the who, what, when, where and how of systems change can seem overwhelming. How do we transform a society whose fossil fuel habits have been entrenched for decades?</p>
<p>The next step is to get smarter in telling governments precisely what we want. System change doesn’t need to be daunting, or politically difficult. We just need to focus on the pinch points that will allow us to rapidly replace fossil fuel technologies. Here are six steps to decarbonising the system for good.</p>
<h2>1. Stop wasting energy</h2>
<p>We could power the planet <a href="https://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/research/Flagship-Projects/Global-Energy-Assessment/GEA-Summary-web.pdf">two times over</a> with the energy we waste burning fossil fuels each and every day. Even our most modern gas-fired power stations still waste around <a href="https://www.iea.org/etp/tracking2017/naturalgas-firedpower/">40% of the gas they burn</a>. The poor design of our transport systems, buildings, and appliances also waste <a href="https://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/research/Flagship-Projects/Global-Energy-Assessment/GEA-Summary-web.pdf">vast amounts of energy</a>.</p>
<p>It is possible to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032115001471">dramatically reduce this wastage</a>, and therefore our global energy consumption, within decades. Roughly 70% of global energy consumption is <a href="https://www.iea.org/newsroom/news/2017/may/commentary-the-untapped-potential-of-energy-efficiency-.html">not subject to mandatory efficiency standards</a> – there’s huge untapped potential in merely regulating energy efficiency more effectively.</p>
<p>Shifting away from thermal power to renewables eliminates the vast quantities of gas that ends up as thermal waste heat. We can also design and retrofit buildings to <a href="https://www.ashden.org/sustainable-energy/ashden-guides/low-energy-buildings">capture and conserve energy</a>, shift to public transport, and invest in <a href="https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/Completing_The_Picture_How_The_Circular_Economy-_Tackles_Climate_Change_V3_26_September.pdf">energy efficient circular economies</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304900/original/file-20191203-67034-1qs0jfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304900/original/file-20191203-67034-1qs0jfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304900/original/file-20191203-67034-1qs0jfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304900/original/file-20191203-67034-1qs0jfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304900/original/file-20191203-67034-1qs0jfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304900/original/file-20191203-67034-1qs0jfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304900/original/file-20191203-67034-1qs0jfg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Electricity demand will skyrocket as we replace fossil fuels – so we need to be careful not to waste it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/7e2pe9wjL9M">Riccardo Annandale/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These two elements are interlinked. The more we reduce our energy consumption, the faster our renewable energy systems will be able to replace fossil fuels. This will help the one billion people who still <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg7">don’t have access to mains electricity</a>, and the nearly three billion that <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg7">still cook on open stoves with wood and cattle dung</a> – as well as the additional two billion people who will be <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/world-population-prospects-2019.html">joining the human population by 2050</a>.</p>
<h2>2. Tax greenhouse gases</h2>
<p>We waste energy because it’s far too cheap. Prices are key to <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/05d7e7e6-56bd-11e9-91f9-b6515a54c5b1">changing behaviour and investment decisions</a>. We need to raise the price of fossil fuels so that polluters pay. Governments could introduce a US$100 per ton CO₂ tax now, <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/05/SR15_Chapter2_Low_Res.pdf">rising as necessary to limit global heating</a> below dangerous levels.</p>
<p>Such taxes, combined with the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies, could <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/01/4-ways-shift-fossil-fuels-clean-energy">raise trillions of dollars</a> for governments to put to great use. We could spend this money on accelerating climate action – improving energy efficiency, scaling renewable energy, and restoring natural habitats.</p>
<h2>3. Make local public transport free</h2>
<p>Our private car culture has devastating impacts on society and the planet – <a href="https://theconversation.com/electric-cars-might-not-yet-be-green-but-we-should-buy-them-anyway-127932">even if they’re electric</a>.</p>
<p>We can change the travel patterns of every generation to come. As well as massive investment in safe walking and cycling routes, we should campaign to make local public transport free.</p>
<p>We also need to reduce how much we fly. A <a href="https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/Carbonoffset/Pages/default.aspx">business class round trip from London to New York</a> can cause as much global heating as a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378018306101">year’s worth of a flexitarian diet</a>. We should learn to fly only as last resort, and invest the money we save to connect with people and places in other ways.</p>
<p>Of course, many people are already doing this. Roughly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/25/1-of-english-residents-take-one-fifth-of-overseas-flights-survey-shows">1% of people in England take 20% of overseas flights</a> – so we should pressure governments to introduce a frequent flyer levy that makes sure that those who pollute the most pay the most.</p>
<h2>4. Quit trading cheap stuff</h2>
<p>Much of the stuff we buy isn’t fit for purpose. Many clothes are made with fabric so thin that they only last a few months, while electronics are often <a href="https://www.theengineer.co.uk/planned-obsolescence-saving-planet/">designed to fail after a few years</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304977/original/file-20191203-67007-1ka8ore.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304977/original/file-20191203-67007-1ka8ore.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304977/original/file-20191203-67007-1ka8ore.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304977/original/file-20191203-67007-1ka8ore.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304977/original/file-20191203-67007-1ka8ore.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304977/original/file-20191203-67007-1ka8ore.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304977/original/file-20191203-67007-1ka8ore.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How often has this happened to you?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hole-stitch-black-trousers-1211023975">icedmocha/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These poor quality products waste energy and carbon, and pollute our environment when we inevitably throw them away. We need <a href="https://www.retaildetail.eu/en/news/electronics/eu-aims-abolish-planned-obsolescence">strong new regulations</a> based on life cycle analysis that prevent companies from selling substandard stuff in search of profit.</p>
<p>We also don’t need half the things we’re encouraged to buy in the first place. While its governments that are responsible for implementing system change, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-focusing-on-how-individuals-can-help-is-very-convenient-for-corporations-108546">corporations that pollute the most</a>, people still have power – even beyond voting or marching. As well as governments strongly regulating advertising, we can choose to stop contributing to a consumer culture.</p>
<h2>5. Planetary diet, rewilded grasslands</h2>
<p>The livestock industry currently accounts for about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/11/meat-tax-inevitable-to-beat-climate-and-health-crises-says-report">15% of global emissions</a>. It’s also an inefficient use of land – meat, aquaculture, eggs, and dairy use 83% of the world’s farmland, despite providing only <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987">37% of our protein and 18% of our calories.</a></p>
<p>To redress this balance and cut emissions, we can shift to a diet rich in vegetables and grains, where sustainable meat is an occasional treat. Carbon taxes could also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/opinion/sunday/carbon-tax-on-beef.html">cover meat and dairy production</a>, with funds used to help farmers transition as the global grazing stock falls.</p>
<p>For example, we could subsidise farmers to <a href="https://theconversation.com/rewild-25-of-the-uk-for-less-climate-change-more-wildlife-and-a-life-lived-closer-to-nature-123836">rewild newly freed up grasslands</a>. This would create new valuable carbon sinks, and help threatened wildlife recover.</p>
<h2>6. Keep shouting for a new political economy</h2>
<p>We need to give our political leaders the courage to make bold decisions. Above all we must ask for specific things of our political leaders – and direct our energies towards those that will make the biggest difference. We must be clear in our demands for a new low-carbon political economy that makes fossil fuels history and renewable energy the future.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1127941">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Peake does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To get ‘system change not climate change’, we need to start making specific demands. Here’s where to start.Stephen Peake, Senior Lecturer, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/535462019-06-11T14:59:59Z2019-06-11T14:59:59ZFarmed salmon is now a staple in diets – but what they eat matters too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249331/original/file-20181206-128208-1lepxpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We're fish fanatics, with salmon in our sights. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/raw-salmon-fillets-pepper-salt-dill-566639671?src=A3PzR-ethcb0KJSd0JdPAQ-1-2">Marian Weyo/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Salmon is not only tasty but is prized for being low fat and high in rich omega-3 oils. In recent times, salmon has been a staple of the national diet, so much so that wild salmon has given way to a huge global farmed industry, <a href="https://sjomatnorge.no/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ISFA-Report-2018-FINAL-FOR-WEB.pdf">worth US$15.4 billion</a>. Salmon are farmed in net pens suspended from floating collars in the sea. Like other types of farming, quality varies and the industry has sometimes come in for criticism <a href="https://theferret.scot/halt-salmon-farming-expansion/">over the health and welfare</a> of fish. </p>
<p>Given the size of the market, criticisms have included the amount of wild fish it takes to rear one salmon – if you’re eating farmed salmon for sustainability reasons, for example, you might worry that it takes 1.3kg of wild feed to produce one kilogramme of salmon. </p>
<p>Environmental campaigners have long made the case that the growth of cage farming salmon results in a net loss of fish because they are fed “marine ingredients”, which includes fishmeal (rendered down low-value fish) and increasingly, processing offcuts from the fishery industry – fish oil that is pressed out of the same fish and more specialised high-value protein ingredients.</p>
<p>But this aquaculture as a whole is <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/insight/feeds-aquaculture">a net producer</a> of marine ingredients. Carps – which make up by far <a href="http://www.fao.org/fi/static-media/MeetingDocuments/WorkshopAMR17/presentations/28.pdf">the largest proportion</a> of global aquaculture – are fed diets with little or no marine ingredients. Sometimes they are even cultured using no feed at all, instead relying on the natural productivity of ponds, encouraged by fertilisation. Advances in nutrition, together with a rising price, has also led to a decline in the levels of marine ingredients fed to salmon, with protein and oils replaced by vegetable substitutes <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pbi.12608">such as soy</a> and rapeseed oil. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249334/original/file-20181206-128202-oa06fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249334/original/file-20181206-128202-oa06fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249334/original/file-20181206-128202-oa06fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249334/original/file-20181206-128202-oa06fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249334/original/file-20181206-128202-oa06fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249334/original/file-20181206-128202-oa06fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249334/original/file-20181206-128202-oa06fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249334/original/file-20181206-128202-oa06fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A commercial fish farm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cages-fish-farming-392723464?src=eIeQMGD-LmavBV4zMkd1jw-1-78">Ranko Maras/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Between the 1970s and 1990s there was a peak in production of “marine ingredients” – used in trans-fats for margarines, and meals for a wide range of livestock, especially pigs and chickens. But as aquaculture grew fast, more of the global supply of fishmeal and oil was directed to feeding farmed fish and shrimp – an increasingly lucrative market. In 2010, aquaculture was taking <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/i2727e/i2727e01.pdf">around 75% of the global supply</a>. </p>
<p>But the rapid growth in demand for marine ingredients coupled with fluctuating supplies led to price hikes that stimulated the development of alternatives. Comparatively little is now used for pig and chicken diets as companies have <a href="https://globalpets.community/article/fishmeal-and-fish-oil-in-pet-food">become more strategic</a> with their use. </p>
<p>But marine ingredients are still important in maintaining the health of fish in aquaculture, especially in early development. And in the case of salmon, they are important in maintaining the quality of the fish, which provide consumers with high levels of omega-3 fatty acid. Indeed, the fastest growth in marine ingredients sales are for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jul/25/fish-oil-hype-health-planet-supplements-study-no-benefit">high omega 3 oily capsules</a>, taken as dietary supplements.</p>
<h2>Finding alternatives</h2>
<p>As farmed fish gets relatively cheaper but the price of marine ingredients to feed them continues to climb, the pressure to find alternatives is likely to continue.</p>
<p>Various plant sources such as processed soy and wheat products have emerged as major substitutes for fishmeal but as much of this has to be imported, local alternatives <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/635209/Future_of_the_sea_-_trends_in_aquaculture_FINAL_NEW.pdf">such as field beans</a> are being researched and trialled in Europe. Outside of Europe, it is still very common to use byproducts from livestock production to feed farmed fish in aquaculture diets such as poultry byproducts, which are regarded as a highly nutritious and cheap protein resource. </p>
<p>Replacing marine oils – which are the only source of long chain omega-3 fatty acids – is a bigger challenge. Initiatives <a href="https://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/sites/default/files/project-files/GM%20Camelina%20Q%26A.pdf">such as GM Camelina</a>, a “transgenic” vegetable oil crop created by transplanting marine plankton genes into oil-seed rape, and which could help cut use of marine ingredients as feed, is likely to remain an issue given public acceptance of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). </p>
<p>Major fish stocks used to produce marine ingredients, however, are now subject to much more intense scrutiny, as are the fish farms that use the feeds, which <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10641262.2011.597890">is leading to</a> both better efficiency and practice.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249335/original/file-20181206-128196-7huhh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249335/original/file-20181206-128196-7huhh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249335/original/file-20181206-128196-7huhh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249335/original/file-20181206-128196-7huhh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249335/original/file-20181206-128196-7huhh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249335/original/file-20181206-128196-7huhh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249335/original/file-20181206-128196-7huhh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249335/original/file-20181206-128196-7huhh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Trout also farmed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/trout-fish-farm-293313236?src=eIeQMGD-LmavBV4zMkd1jw-1-48">Kosin Sukhum/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The <a href="http://www.iffo.net/">Marine Ingredients Association</a> itself has introduced a certification system for fisheries that produce marine ingredients, and the eco and social certification of farms has created competing bodies such as the <a href="https://www.aquaculturealliance.org/">Global Aquaculture Alliance</a> and the WWF-inspired <a href="https://www.asc-aqua.org/">Aquaculture Stewardship Council</a>, whose own independent certification schemes have reducing marine ingredients as a central theme.</p>
<p>The use of byproducts from sustainable fisheries is also encouraged by all major certification schemes. It is estimated that <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305784301_Aquaculture_a_rapidly_growing_and_significant_source_of_sustainable_food_Status_transitions_and_potential">over a third</a> of the global fishmeal and fish oil supply now comes from byproducts such as herring and other oily fish trimmings. </p>
<p>The potential for increasing the proportion of marine ingredients from these sources is substantial. More than half of a fish <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258632818_Perspectives_on_the_Utilization_of_Aquaculture_Coproduct_in_Europe_and_Asia_Prospects_for_Value_Addition_and_Improved_Resource_Efficiency">often becomes byproduct</a>, and much of this is often wasted. There is also an increased trend towards processed fish in regions, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6218/133.full">such as in Asia</a>, that have generally preferred to buy whole fish. As demand for farmed fish grows alongside the pressure to limit wild catches, these byproducts will increasingly be required.</p>
<p>A combination of market forces, self-regulation and engagement by environmental groups supports the evolution towards more sustainable aquaculture and better managed fisheries. And it is increasingly something consumers can look out for when they are buying fish. Technologies such as Blockchain, linked to QR codes, and databases accessible through apps, will increasingly allow consumers to dig down into ever more detail of how their food is produced.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dave Little is a member of the Standards Oversight Committe of the Global Aquaculture Alliance and the Aquacultue Technical and Governance Committees of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Programme. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Newton receives funding from IFFO, Marine Ingredients Association</span></em></p>Fish farming has been criticised for a lack of sustainability – here’s what has been changing and what still remains a challenge.Dave Little, Professor of Aquatic Resources Development, University of StirlingRichard Newton, Research Fellow in Aquaculture, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1058842018-10-30T17:27:43Z2018-10-30T17:27:43ZEating less meat is a climate priority, whatever the sceptics say<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242813/original/file-20181029-76390-1g4910t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">life_in_a_pixel / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Here we go again. The “sceptical environmentalist”, Bjorn Lomborg, has <a href="https://nypost.com/2018/10/22/no-giving-up-burgers-wont-actually-save-the-planet/">returned</a> to warn against the excesses of an impending green dictatorship. The latest threat: taking away our burgers!</p>
<p>Yes, you’ve heard correctly. According to Lomborg it could even go as far as the “UN dictating what people eat”.</p>
<p>A well-known provocateur who now runs a think-tank in his native Denmark, Lomborg first made his name in the early 2000s with a series of outspoken but attention-grabbing attacks on mainstream environmentalism. He argued that the climate is changing but <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/aug/15/highereducation.climatechange">less dramatically than most suggest</a>, and that there is no urgent need for action. He also claimed that forests aren’t disappearing and that species extinction has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2001/aug/16/g2.globalwarming">wildly exaggerated</a>. </p>
<p>Lomborg walks the line between sensible liberal thinking and outright denialism by cherry-picking or misrepresenting statistics. Though <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19438150903533730">widely criticised</a> by most scientists, Lomborg retains a large following today. </p>
<p>This is why his typically contrarian take on climate change and food attracts so much attention, and why it is worth responding to.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1054736764546568192"}"></div></p>
<p>Lomborg, a vegetarian for animal welfare reasons, explains that: “Almost all articles on this topic suggest going vegetarian could achieve emission cuts of 50% or more.” But apparently none of them have taken the time to “dig deeper”.</p>
<p>As researchers who work in environmental impact analysis, we are acutely aware of the limitations of “food footprinting” studies and the danger of taking figures at face value.</p>
<p>So, let’s dig deeper into his claims.</p>
<p>Take the “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652614012931?via%3Dihub">systematic peer review</a>” he cites which found that going vegetarian cuts personal emissions by around 5% rather than 50%. He’s correct that the cuts aren’t close to halving a person’s overall emissions, but there is good reason to believe it is double what Lomborg claims.</p>
<p>Only two studies in the review he uses look at the major effect of meat consumption on emissions from deforestation, even though <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/10/12/125012">millions of hectares</a> of forest are cleared each year to satisfy the world’s appetite for beef. As forests act as a carbon sink, while beef farms emit lots of greenhouse gases, this has a huge impact on net emissions. Meat consumption is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11382">incompatible</a> with limiting deforestation and encroachment into natural land. Hence, we must take into account “deforestation emissions” when tallying the environmental burden of eating meat.</p>
<p>Taking the more realistic figure from these studies we arrive at a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421513009701?via%3Dihub">10% cut in personal emissions</a> from going vegetarian. To put this into context: a shift to vegetarianism in the UK would be the equivalent of taking 8m (or one in four) cars off the country’s roads. The impacts of veganism would be greater still. In short, the impact of individual actions really does add up.</p>
<p>What about Lomborg’s second claim that vegetarians take the money they save from “eating carrots instead of steak” and spend it on other things which have their own environmental impact, offsetting part of the benefits of giving up meat?</p>
<p>We dug deeper and found that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800915002153?via%3Dihub">the paper</a> he cites relies on <a href="https://www.foi.se/report-search/pdf?fileName=D%3A%5CReportSearch%5CFiles%5Cd9da78fd-ab76-4e35-9fb5-f4c1f2436ebd.pdf">data from 2006</a> and also does not factor in emissions from changing land use, linked to deforestation. The paper is a microeconomic analysis of what consumers in Sweden, specifically, might spend their extra cash on if they went vegetarian. Its author warns that her work must be “interpreted within a relatively narrow topical and temporal scope”, and that unrealistic market assumptions concerning fixed supply, demand, and pricing could lead to completely different conclusions when relaxed.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Lomborg does extrapolate the paper’s findings, against its author’s own suggestion, to trivialise the impact of vegetarianism on emissions across the industrialised world.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242970/original/file-20181030-76408-q4qw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242970/original/file-20181030-76408-q4qw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242970/original/file-20181030-76408-q4qw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242970/original/file-20181030-76408-q4qw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242970/original/file-20181030-76408-q4qw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242970/original/file-20181030-76408-q4qw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242970/original/file-20181030-76408-q4qw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242970/original/file-20181030-76408-q4qw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deforestation and land use change is a major cause of emissions from livestock production.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rich Carey/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Clearly, this is not just about the environment. It’s about our ability to choose. Lomborg prioritises the right to eat meat over our collective responsibility not to. Many of the world’s poorest are involuntary vegetarians, he argues. Our duty, he implies, is to support their “right to meat”. However, poorer countries stand to benefit from widescale adoption of a plant-based diet. Mortality linked to strokes, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer could fall by <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/113/15/4146">5m to 6m avoided deaths</a> and trillions of dollars could be saved in <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/113/15/4146">healthcare costs and by preventing productivity losses</a>. </p>
<p>Moreover, producing meat is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate2353">terribly inefficient</a> as animals consume <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969715306288">far more food than they yield</a>. If we grew crops for human consumption, instead of animal feed, we could increase available food calories by as much as 70%, which could feed an additional <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034015/meta">4 billion people</a>, ending global hunger and reducing emissions, one carrot at a time.</p>
<p>Lomborg summarises his argument: “Climate change is both trivialised and hampered by unrealistic senses of magnitude, and by silly suggestions that your or my actions can transform the planet.”</p>
<p>To suggest you and I can do nothing to help prevent climate change is surely defeatist. This climate defeatism is the new climate denial. Lomborg offers techno-fixes where effective measures already exist. Although he knows consumers will fry the planet before they do lab-grown burgers, prescribing artificial meat helps kick the can further down the road.</p>
<p>Although we need systemic change, the climate is also in our hands. Perhaps the only meaningful contribution Lomborg makes to avoiding climate breakdown is choosing carrots over steak.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105884/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors would like to thank Makoto Takahashi, University of Cambridge, for his comments and suggestions. Oliver Taherzadeh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benedict Probst does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Don’t let Bjorn Lomborg’s cherry-picked statistics fool you.Oliver Taherzadeh, PhD Researcher, Department of Geography, University of CambridgeBenedict Probst, PhD researcher at Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/923142018-03-06T13:48:02Z2018-03-06T13:48:02ZWhy I’m obsessed with making the most sustainable burger possible<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209101/original/file-20180306-146671-6c0stu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maria Medvedeva / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the lead up to barbecue season, I have become obsessed with making the most sustainable burger possible. This started when I decided to calculate the environmental impacts of a burger for a sustainable lunch I was hosting. I research this sort of thing for a living yet even I found it eye-opening to realise just how much the emissions that ultimately went into a burger patty could differ, depending on the ingredients used.</p>
<p>The main environmental impacts of a beef burger are caused by the large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions generated <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-reduce-your-kitchens-impact-on-global-warming-68484">in the production of meat</a>. This means that any beef – be it a prime cut or ground beef – has a high environmental impact. How high? Around 260g of greenhouse gasses per burger patty, which is the equivalent in carbon emissions of driving 2.5km in an efficient car. Fortunately, we can reduce this impact. </p>
<p>In the UK, a shop bought beef burger must contain <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449706/minimum_percentage_of_meat.doc">62% beef</a>. The other 38% of a shop bought burger is typically made up of onion, flour or breadcrumbs, fat, and seasoning. At home we can do better than this, so why not replace some of that remainder with either minced offal or beef leftovers? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209110/original/file-20180306-146694-16pa94x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209110/original/file-20180306-146694-16pa94x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209110/original/file-20180306-146694-16pa94x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209110/original/file-20180306-146694-16pa94x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209110/original/file-20180306-146694-16pa94x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209110/original/file-20180306-146694-16pa94x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209110/original/file-20180306-146694-16pa94x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209110/original/file-20180306-146694-16pa94x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Don’t let me go to waste.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DanVostok / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Adding offal such as minced <a href="https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/pgvd9y/beef-heart-has-been-allowed-in-burgers-for-decades">heart</a> or <a href="https://blog.radiantlifecatalog.com/bid/68271/Secret-Liver-Burgers-An-easy-and-tasteless-way-to-eat-organ-meat">liver</a> has always been a chefs’ trick to increase the “beefy” flavour of a burger. Adding beef leftovers from a previous meal is a burger hack that can help combat the problem of food waste and get you a great tasting burger.</p>
<p>About 13% of beef purchased in the UK never reaches a human stomach. In other words, UK homes throw away <a href="http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Product-focused%20report%20v5_3.pdf">56,000 tonnes of beef per year</a>, that’s 1.4m tonnes of pointless extra greenhouse gases. More than a third of household beef waste is down to cooking too much, a waste of 19,000 tonnes. If <a href="https://www.food.gov.uk/science/microbiology/cooking-burgers-at-home">handled, stored and cooked</a> correctly, beef leftovers could be minced and mixed to make a burger. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209117/original/file-20180306-146650-jthp35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209117/original/file-20180306-146650-jthp35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209117/original/file-20180306-146650-jthp35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209117/original/file-20180306-146650-jthp35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209117/original/file-20180306-146650-jthp35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209117/original/file-20180306-146650-jthp35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209117/original/file-20180306-146650-jthp35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kangaroo burgers – an alternative to beef?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Edward Westmacott / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You can also make sure that your burger patty is the right size for you and your appetite. Yes, the quarter pounder (114g) may be the traditional size for a burger – but a 70g patty is more manageable, and decreases greenhouse gas emissions and calories by 38%. This reduction in portion size is also good for your health. UK dietary guidance suggests eating less than <a href="http://www.fao.org/nutrition/education/food-based-dietary-guidelines/regions/countries/united-kingdom/en/">70g of red and processed meat per day</a>. To make up for the slight reduction in patty you can always super size the toppings, adding more delicious vegetables and pickles to make it a fully-loaded sustainable burger.</p>
<p>You can further reduce the environmental impacts of your burger by replacing beef with other meats and plant-based offerings that taste just as good. An Australian burger company, <a href="https://burgertheory.com/">Burger Theory</a>, recently removed beef burgers from their menu, and replaced them with a blend of 80% kangaroo and 20% fatty beef. The resulting burger is much better for the climate as beef emits six times more greenhouse gases <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652616303584">than kangaroo</a>. My friends in Adelaide report that it tastes great.</p>
<p>One of the tastiest burgers I have eaten recently was at Google in Washington DC late last year. I was served their <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40435050/the-newest-burger-at-sonic-will-be-part-beef-part-mushrooms">blended burger</a>, a mushroom-beef combination with less fat and fewer calories than a beef burger, but still packed full of flavour. The secret is the mushrooms’ meat-like texture and umami taste, which enhances the burger’s flavour. What’s more, a <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2018/02/flavor-packed-burger-saves-many-emissions-taking-2-million-cars-road">burger containing 30% mushroom and 70% beef</a> has a 29% lower greenhouse gas emission than a standard burger, and uses 29% less water and 29% less land. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209116/original/file-20180306-146675-1ppmsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209116/original/file-20180306-146675-1ppmsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209116/original/file-20180306-146675-1ppmsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209116/original/file-20180306-146675-1ppmsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209116/original/file-20180306-146675-1ppmsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209116/original/file-20180306-146675-1ppmsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209116/original/file-20180306-146675-1ppmsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Compared to beef, the environmental impact of mushrooms is almost negligible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gita Kulinitch Studio / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition, a recent <a href="http://www.blonkconsultants.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Milieueffecten-van-vlees-en-vleesvervangers-3-8-2017-Eindrapport-v1.2.pdf">Dutch study</a> found that other plant-based and blended burgers also had much lower environmental impacts than their 100% meat counterparts. These blended and fully plant-based options are just starting to be stocked by supermarkets – examples include the <a href="https://www.impossiblefoods.com/">Impossible Burger</a> and <a href="http://beyondmeat.com/">Beyond Burger</a>, while <a href="https://www.quorn.co.uk/">Quorn</a> was one of the first. However, you cannot make these from scratch at home as all of them require some serious lab equipment to produce the final burger.</p>
<p>For the moment, if you want to make a sustainable burger at home, your current best bet is to reduce your portion size, and to blend your beef with leftovers, offal, other meats, mushrooms or other plant-based ingredients. And if you do manage to create an environmentally-friendly burger – <a href="https://twitter.com/sartorialfoodie">tweet me a picture</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92314/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christian Reynolds is currently on a NERC Innovation Placement at Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) (Grant Ref: NE/R007160/1). Outside of his NERC Innovation Placement, he receives funding from HEFCE Catalyst-funded N8 AgriFood Resilience Programme and matched funding from the N8 group of Universities.
</span></em></p>Burgers have a surprising environmental impact – but it can be reduced.Christian Reynolds, Knowledge Exchange Research Fellow (N8 Agrifood), University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/923862018-03-01T14:21:31Z2018-03-01T14:21:31ZSustainable diets will remain a minefield until we change the way we approach food<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208479/original/file-20180301-152564-f7ewfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-young-brunette-looking-product-label-376099492?src=91PPLlJitghe7IoKDk8mOQ-1-12">antoniodiaz/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’re one of the millions of people concerned about the growing pressures that our food habits are placing on the environment, then you’ve probably felt confused, conflicted or downright overwhelmed by your own food choices on more than a few occasions.</p>
<p>Is quinoa <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/jul/17/quinoa-threat-food-security-improving-peruvian-farmers-lives-superfood">good</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans-stomach-unpalatable-truth-quinoa">evil</a>, or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jan/25/quinoa-good-evil-complicated">somewhere in between</a>? Were the coconuts in my coconut milk <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-j-winograd/did-an-abused-monkey-pick_b_8341554.html">picked by a monkey</a>? Am I a bad person if I <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/news/why-your-avocado-toast-could-be-destroying-mexican-forests/">eat an avocado</a>?</p>
<p>In the drive for change, it’s vital for consumers to use their purchasing power as discerningly as they can. But with profit-making still at the top of the food industry agenda – and the environmental costs of many food products hidden by complex supply chains – we need more than consumer power alone to achieve a truly sustainable food system.</p>
<p>The global population continues to grow in a world with limited resources, <a href="https://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/challenge/">increasing the pressure on producers</a> to maximise the amount of food that can be grown on existing land. As the long tentacles of transnational corporations seek the most cost-effective and efficient supply chains to feed these extra mouths, the environment has often had to take the strain. A billion tonnes of top soil vital to crop quality <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Agri-environmental_indicator_-_soil_erosion">are lost every year through erosion</a> in the 28 EU states alone, while land use change has driven a <a href="http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/lpr_living_planet_report_2016_summary.pdf">58% decline in vertebrate abundance</a> since 1970.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AL9am66wOMU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Food supply chains are now often so complicated and opaque that consumers are rarely — if ever – presented with a comprehensive picture of the journey their food has been on. Instead, we have to rely on businesses and individuals at each stage to act ethically – and on supermarkets to provide the information necessary for us to make sustainable choices. </p>
<p>But our trust is tempered by the <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/IJRDM-02-2014-0013">opposing pulls of supermarkets’ interests</a>. To satisfy customers, they need to make sure that their food is safe to eat and has been produced in a sustainable way – but their first responsibility is to turn a profit for shareholders.</p>
<h2>Hidden costs</h2>
<p>The pitfalls of this conflict are clear. Rarely a day seems to go by without a story pointing out the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/31/consumers-betrayed-over-sustainability-of-worlds-biggest-tuna-fishery">flaws in certification schemes</a>, or the concealed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/01/slavery-warning-uk-scallop-fisheries">social</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180125085116.htm">environmental</a> costs of seemingly harmless supermarket food.</p>
<p>Often, the food labels and ingredients lists that consumers rely on to make purchasing decisions are wholly inadequate. Take meat production, where many of the true costs of production are hidden. We’ve been conditioned by the industry to look out for the “Red Tractor” or “organically certified” symbols as a <a href="https://www.redtractor.org.uk/what-we-do/what-does-the-logo-stand-for">sign of quality</a>. But where, for example, is the label indicating what the animal was fed on?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208487/original/file-20180301-152581-jesvcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208487/original/file-20180301-152581-jesvcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208487/original/file-20180301-152581-jesvcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208487/original/file-20180301-152581-jesvcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208487/original/file-20180301-152581-jesvcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208487/original/file-20180301-152581-jesvcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208487/original/file-20180301-152581-jesvcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Could the meat you eat be contributing to deforestation?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/deforestation-brazil-aerial-view-large-soy-19735894?src=xLKGlSQ85vNS7wdndMgCCg-1-0">Frontpage/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The chances are that soybeans were a large part of your former cow, pig, or chicken’s diet. Often, this soy will be <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/agriculture/soy/consumers/">linked to deforestation</a> of ecologically important landscapes. In some cases, the soybeans might have been sourced ethically, but a lack of information means that as consumers we simply don’t know.</p>
<p>In the fresh fruit and vegetable aisles, consumers have become used to being able to purchase any food item that they desire throughout the year. Consumers are not provided with the information, though, to decide whether the benefits to overseas farmers who produce this food <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/mar/23/food.ethicalliving">outweigh the environmental costs</a> of eating foods out of season. Collectively, this fosters food habits that are fundamentally incompatible with sustainability.</p>
<h2>Systems change</h2>
<p>In many cases, retailers have little power to provide the information consumers deserve. Half of the food consumed in the UK today is classified as “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/02/ultra-processed-products-now-half-of-all-uk-family-food-purchases">ultra-processed</a>”, passing through multiple factories and using industrial ingredients a far cry from the fresh produce associated with home cooking. These complex supply chains are often impenetrable from the outside, meaning that often even retailers don’t know the source or even contents of their products – as was the case when UK supermarkets unknowingly stocked “beef” lasagne products <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21375594">containing 60-100% horse meat</a>.</p>
<p>Because of this, we cannot depend on food retailers alone to promote genuinely sustainable consumption. They are, after all, just the visible endpoint of a food system with problems at every stage of the chain.</p>
<p>It’s time to bring more voices to the table and take a system-wide approach. The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/649906/Transparency_in_Supply_Chains_A_Practical_Guide_2017.pdf">Modern Slavery Act</a>, <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">Sustainable Development Goals</a>, <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climatechange/">Paris Climate Agreement</a>, and <a href="http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/sustainable-development/natural-capital-and-the-environment/biodiversity-and-ecosystems-management/new-york-declaration-on-forests.html">New York Declaration on Forests</a> have all enshrined grand shared ambitions for society and development. New policy initiatives such as <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/research/bioeconomy/index.cfm?pg=policy&lib=food2030">FOOD 2030</a> are now drawing from these frameworks in an attempt to define the collective roles and responsibilities of producers, manufacturers, retailers and consumers in delivering sustainable food.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208483/original/file-20180301-152584-1elrvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208483/original/file-20180301-152584-1elrvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208483/original/file-20180301-152584-1elrvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208483/original/file-20180301-152584-1elrvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208483/original/file-20180301-152584-1elrvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208483/original/file-20180301-152584-1elrvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208483/original/file-20180301-152584-1elrvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Expect to see more of these popping up on Paris rooftops.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/urban-farm-growing-vegetables-on-roof-453003445?src=iXAUm4RwyYtLLQLmKMLzkA-1-14">Alison Hancock/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Food “pacts” are already helping to align international, national and local policy. For example, more than 100 cities have signed up to the <a href="http://www.milanurbanfoodpolicypact.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/MUFPP-15-October_press-release.pdf">Milan Urban Food Policy Pact</a>, while New York has adopted regulations to benefit local producers, and Paris has developed plans to develop 33 acres of urban farmland by 2020. <a href="https://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/">Inter-disciplinary research activities</a> are also bringing producers, suppliers and consumers together to work out practical solutions to key problems such as <a href="http://www.farmingmonthly.co.uk/news/arable/10951-farming-and-scientific-leaders-discuss-challenges-facing-uks-crop-production/">maintaining soil health</a>.</p>
<p>In the past few years, social and environmental issues have even become among <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/07/the-fastest-growing-cause-for-shareholders-is-sustainability">the biggest concerns of shareholders</a>. This new-found conscience in investors could play a big role in bringing about meaningful change across the food supply chain – although we must remain vigilant to <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/greenwashing-green-energy-hoffman/">greenwashing</a>, a marketing strategy aimed at portraying a company as environmentally friendly when they are not.</p>
<p>Of course, consumers and retailers still have a role in driving change towards a more sustainable food system. Supply does follow demand – and we mustn’t shirk our own responsibilities. But we must also band together to ensure that there are structures in place that stop food choices from being such a minefield. Only then will consumers be given the choice that they – and the planet – deserve: one that is ethical and sustainable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris West receives funding from BBSRC, Formas, SIDA, Collaboration for Forests and Agriculture. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Heron receives funding from BBSRC, Nuffield Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bob Doherty does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Food chains are often so complex that it’s too hard to make the right choices.Chris West, Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute, University of YorkBob Doherty, Professor of Marketing, University of YorkTony Heron, Professor of International Political Economy, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.