STUDY: Meat-Eating And The Environment: What Do Consumers Think?
Reducing meat intake was usually the least chosen option to curb climate change. Only 13% to 26% of people were willing to stop or reduce meat consumption based on environmental concerns.
STUART BABCOCK: ‘Meat consumption is a major contributor to environmental degradation. Production of meat leads to contamination of water sources, loss of biodiversity, and is a leading contributor to climate change. Despite these realities, global demand for meat is increasing due to a number of factors, including rising incomes and a growing population in countries around the world. As increasing demand yields increasing environmental impacts, the state of meat consumption has become a food security issue, a public health issue, and an environmental issue.
The authors of a research study… aimed to understand three questions related to meat consumption: Are people aware of the environmental impact of meat production and consumption? Are people willing to stop or reduce meat consumption based on environmental concerns? Have ecological/environmental concerns been the motivation for people who have altered their meat consumption? To do this, they performed a systematic review of 34 quantitatively-focused peer-reviewed articles and government reports…
Across studies, the authors found that approximately 25% to 35% of people were aware of the environmental impact of meat. Approximately 18% to 29% of people believed that meat consumption reduction is an effective way to help the environment… Approximately 13% to 26% of people were willing to stop or reduce meat consumption based on environmental concerns. Reducing meat intake was usually the least chosen option to curb climate change when compared to others. When presented with evidence showing the negative environmental impacts of meat consumption, approximately 5% to 18% of people were “certainly willing” to reduce their consumption, while approximately 41% were “maybe willing”…
The summary of findings reveals that in Western industrialized countries, those who are aware of the environmental impact of meat, as well as those who are willing to stop or reduce consumption based on environmental concerns, constitute small minorities of the general population. Those who are motivated to alter their meat consumption based on ecological / environmental concerns even constitute a small minority of vegans/vegetarians/semi-vegetarians’. SOURCE…
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