What can fight climate change and antibiotic resistance? More sustainable meat
Given the breadth and depth of the harms caused by current meat production, public investment in plant-based and clean meat should be a top priority for everyone concerned about the future.
JESSICA ALMY: ‘The United States government has addressed many threats and met many challenges in the past… The US government has a long history of solving problems and creating entire fields… Today, climate change is drowning cities, generating killer heatwaves, burning forests, wiping out crops and spreading diseases – and getting worse every year. The scope and severity of this threat requires a new moonshot.
Yet, according to a review by the UK government, global warming may not even be the greatest threat to humanity. We are staring down the barrel of antimicrobial-resistant superbugs. These superbugs already kill hundreds of thousands of people around the world every year and are projected to soon kill many millions…
Globally, livestock is responsible for 14.5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. And the vast majority of antibiotics don’t go to making sick people healthy. Rather, they are fed to chickens, pigs, cows, and turkeys at subclinical doses – the perfect approach for creating antibiotic-resistant superbugs…
For decades, many have argued that the solution to the problems caused by industrial animal agriculture is for people to give up sausage and steak for beans and greens. Yet, per-capita meat consumption continues to go up, both nationally and globally. The world’s human population is projected to reach nearly 10 billion by the year 2050, with total meat consumption expected to nearly double by then.
Given this reality, we need to find a way to produce the meat people want without endangering humanity. Luckily, we have two things going for us: 1) We already know how to produce meat more efficiently and sustainably: directly from plants (plant-based meat) or directly from cells (cell-cultured meat). 2) Government research has already furthered the fields of plant-based meat and cell-based meat (also called clean meat)…
Given the breadth and depth of the harms caused by current meat production, public investment in plant-based and clean meat should be a top priority for everyone concerned about the future… The U.S. government currently puts $3 billion a year into agricultural research. China puts in even more. Imagine if the United States funneled these resources into plant-based meat and cell-based meat research…
Powerful solutions are right in front of us. It’s time for our government to mobilize resources and talent to make plant-based and clean meat production optimal, cost-effective, and widely undertaken, thus providing a safe, secure, and sustainable food system’. SOURCE…
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