James Grant, the late director of UNICEF, warned of the ‘vicious spiral’ of population growth, poverty, and environmental degradation; each component exacerbating and accelerating the trend toward destruction of the biosphere. Finding sustainable solutions to what we eat, how we produce our food, and how we consume natural resources is of paramount importance. Consider these interlocking relationships:
Diet and Health: Increasing consumption of saturated fat by people in the developed and developing world, mainly from animal sources, is linked to a growing incidence of cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions. The growing demand for meat is also changing agricultural systems, and the natural resources on which they depend, in dramatic ways. Agriculture and the Environment: Modern food production systems often have negative impacts on the environment: pollution of rivers, streams and groundwater with animal wastes, chemical fertilizers and pesticides; soil degradation; and depletion of aquifers for crop irrigation. Meat production intensifies these impacts because, pound for pound, production of animal protein requires far more resources --- water, energy, fossil fuels and chemicals --- than a pound of plant protein. Even apart from the dangers to human health of a polluted environment, the loss of natural resources makes current production practices unsustainable. Equity: Of the 6 billion people currently on earth, 1 billion do not have enough to eat and 1 billion are either overweight or obese. A sufficient amount of food is being grown now to adequately feed the world’s population. The problem is one of equitable distribution. Population: Increasing population and high per capita consumption puts additional pressure on the environment, strains the capacity of the food production systems, and further depletes non-renewable resources. |
