Food, health and climate

A shift to mostly plant-based diets and new food technologies could address some of the most critical global issues: climate change, hunger, freshwater shortages, the Sixth Extinction, antibiotic resistance, and the threat of new pandemics. These profound challenges might dissipate with the advent of the new food revolution. This chapter explores the reasons and potential behind favoring plant-based foods and highlights approximately thirty innovative solutions that are transforming our food systems.

According to GlobalData, nearly two-thirds of the global population plans to reduce or eliminate meat consumption in favor of plant-based alternatives. Traditional vegetarian diets are being enhanced by novel proteins derived from plants, fungi, bacteria, and lab-grown artificial meats produced using cell culture technology. This chapter examines how these advancements could revolutionize the food industry and tackle our most pressing problems.

Animal agriculture contributes significantly to global warming, far exceeding the acknowledged 18-20% of humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions. This chapter delves into underreported sources of emissions, such as methane from eutrophication and carbon losses from agricultural soils, and explains why reducing meat consumption is critical to halting climate change.

Deforestation in the Amazon has drastically reduced rainfall, transforming large portions of the rainforest from carbon sinks to carbon sources. This chapter explores how grazing lands and fodder crops for animal factories have driven this destruction and examines the potential consequences of releasing up to 260 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the region.

Transitioning to a plant-based diet could free billions of hectares of land from animal farming, enabling reforestation and ecological cultivation. This chapter discusses how these changes could contribute to carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and the production of sustainable biomass-based materials.

Animal farming is a primary driver of freshwater depletion, pollution, and the loss of estuaries and river valleys. This chapter details how plant-based diets could alleviate freshwater crises by reducing the demand for water-intensive livestock production.

The crowded conditions in animal factories have historically bred new viruses, including those responsible for major pandemics such as COVID-19. This chapter explores the connection between animal farming and zoonotic diseases, emphasizing the urgent need to prevent future pandemics through dietary changes.

An estimated 77% of the world’s antibiotics are used in animal farming to prevent disease and promote growth. This chapter highlights the alarming rise in antibiotic resistance, its potential consequences for modern medicine, and how plant-based diets could mitigate this global health threat.

Plant-based diets can lead to longer and healthier lives. This chapter compares the detrimental effects of the American Standard Diet to the healthier dietary habits of countries like Bangladesh and parts of Asia and Europe, where life expectancy surpasses that of the U.S. due to reduced consumption of animal-based fats and proteins.

This chapter synthesizes the arguments made throughout the book, presenting around a hundred compelling reasons to adopt a mostly plant-based diet. Approximately thirty of these are innovative or newly recognized, providing a comprehensive case for embracing this dietary shift to save the planet and improve personal health.

Food, Health, and Climate outlines a transformative path forward—a rationalization of our eating habits that could simultaneously save the world and enhance our quality of life.