Fonte:Sustainabilityforum.com
Serious problems sometimes require innovative solutions. More and more, western food consumption habits are becoming a serious environmental problem. I was keen to hear some of the (not always serious) solutions offered at a workshop run by the Sustainable Consumption Institute (Manchester University). What can we do to make sure people eat healthier and less meat (the latter being a huge problem in terms of gas emission and devouring much of our water and land resources)?
Sustainable food = use of less finite resources in food production, emit less greenhouse gases (environmental), treat those in food chain better (social), make money for further investment (economic).
The workshop started with a breathtaking presentation on sustainable food policy by Professor Tim Lang. Apart from being the world's only professor of food policy (City University), I learned, Tim Lang is also the Natural Resources and Land Use Commissioner within the UK Government's Sustainable Development Commission. He fears that many governments and businesses believe that sustainability means merely to reduce carbon emissions. This is complete rubbish, as Tim pointed out. Sustainability is about much more. It is the conviction that only when ecological, social and economic principles work hand in hand, lasting success will be achieved. He also outlined how slow public institutions are in analyzing the effect of meat consumption or any other food policy issue in the UK. Sometimes it would take years for think tanks or government to come up with the right methodology for their research. Even the European Commission would generally keep very silent about ecological food policy. So, who is in charge – government, companies or consumers? "I will if you will". We are trapped. What can we do?
Eat less meat.
Following up on Tim Lang, Dr Unni Kjaernes from the National Institute for Consumer Research in Oslo, Norway, raised the so important question: "Should we eat meat in the future?" Neo-liberals would probably say yes and advocate for technocratic fixes to the meat production system. After all, animals could be bread that fart less (no joke, that is a big issue as those gases go right into the atmosphere). However, Unni fears that modernization (new farming methods, new "production" technology etc.) would only augment demand for meat and hardly reduce it (rebound effect). On the other side, the state could step in and control meat production through regulations, quota, taxes etc. That might help to reduce meat consumption (or make the black market expand...). Just, who would vote for a party, which advocates for unpopular tax and meat restriction? Unni finished her presentation saying that there is no obvious solution to the problem of excessive meat consumption (and its consequences to the environment), although some promising development is taking place in terms of consumer awareness and strategic consumption.
After a short coffee break that I used to digest some of the theory confronted with, Professor Jukka Gronow (Uppsala University), Dr Johanna Mäkelä (National Consumer Research Centre, Finland), Professor Elizabeth Shove (Lancaster University), Dr Dale Southerton (Manchester Uni) and Professor Alan Warde (Manchester Uni) went on to present some innovative ideas for reducing meat consumption on a practical level. Proposals went from subsidizing Italian restaurants in the UK (Mediterranean cuisine is healthy!) to abolishing the main plate (as it is usually meat) and fostering urban gardening + community eating-places. The winning idea came from Dale, who suggested only refunding people's lunch expenses (particularly in the public sector), if they went to a green-labelled restaurant or shop! To his horror, Dale then learned from Tim that such initiatives were already under way.
Conclusion: Excessive meat consumption does not only harm your personal health but society as a whole. There is no easy solution in sight to change people's behaviour (political parties will not) but increasing awareness is there. Strategic consumption, consumer choice. And: Don't forget to ask your favourite Italian restaurant for an extra bowl of soup next time you're there!
Sustainable Consumption Institute: http://www.sci.manchester.ac.
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