Friday News And Notes From The Anthropocene
Earth limits; Plant-based solutions; Gas and Social Media-Powered Manatee Harassment...
FAFO: Scientists have determined that humanity has now pushed beyond six of the nine boundaries that are crucial to the stability and resilience of our Earth system. We continue to fu*k around, and we will undoubtedly find out (in fact, we are already finding out). I think humans collectively will be shocked at the strife and conflict which will result. Yet one more urgent signal. How many are required?
—Plant-Based Power: one of the most effective ways any individual can ameliorate the destructive trajectory our species is currently on, is to cut back or eliminate animal protein (meat, dairy, and fish). To me, the logic of going fully vegan is overwhelming, in terms of the benefits to the environment, animals, and human health. So that is a choice I make with perhaps 98% success. But it is also true that every incremental shift away from animal protein is an incremental benefit. And researchers recently modeled what would happen if humanity could somehow replace 50% of meat and dairy consumption with plant-based foods. The results are striking:
If the world adopted such a diet, the net loss of forests and other natural lands would almost fully be halted, with enough land currently in agricultural use to meet the world’s meat and dairy needs under that global half-measure diet, the study found.
And greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and land use would fall by 31 percent in 2050 compared with 2020, a reduction equal to shuttering more than 500 coal-fired power plants. There is potential for even greater cuts if farmland is turned back into forest, according to the analysis.
Such a switch would also help the nations meet global habitat restoration goals laid out in an international agreement brokered last December in Montreal.
To this, I say, just imagine what would happen if we could get to 100% plant-based (and let fish live as well). It just isn’t that hard. Really. But for all you meat and dairy-loving incrementalists out there, how about at least setting a 50% target?
—Jet Ski Jackass: what manatees in Florida have to put up with from boaters and social media morons (click on image). I doubt this guy is a plant-based eater:
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