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Farm Institute Insights Vol. 7 | No. 1 | January 2010

Farm Institute Insights - January 2010

FEATURE ARTICLE : Will Eating Less Meat (and Ice-Cream) Cool the World?

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, vegetarian (head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)) is doing it. Sir Paul McCartney is doing it. Lord Stern of Brentford (author of the Stern Report on climate change) says we should all do it. Al Gore agrees but hasn’t quite got around to it yet, and Professor Peter Singer (Australian philosopher, vegetarian and animal rights advocate) thinks we should all do it. The ‘it’ they are all advocating is to reduce or stop eating meat, and the reason (amongst others) is because they claim meat production is a major source of greenhouse gases, and reducing meat production will lower the risk of dangerous climate change.

The advocacy of influential individuals, such as those listed above, has obviously convinced many in the community that meat production is a major source of greenhouse gases, and the anti-meat bandwagon seems to be quickly gaining new passengers, many of whom are already anti-meat for a range of different reasons, and who obviously see meat’s purported greenhouse footprint as further reinforcement of their views.

Irrespective of an individual’s cultural, health or ethical reasons for not eating meat, the notion that reducing meat consumption will reduce global atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations is not supported by available data and scientific information, including that published by the IPCC. This suggests that those advocating ‘less meat means less heat’ may have allowed their personal beliefs about meat consumption to over-ride objective analysis of this issue.

REGULAR FEATURES

Institute Activities

A brief overview of the Institute’s key activities from November 2009 to January 2010. The Institute is now on Twitter.

Following on 

A look at further developments on issues the Institute has researched. In this edition, we review the scientific valuation of ‘environment’ and environmental assets.

Farm Policy Progress

A review of farm policy developments within Australia and internationally. In this edition: UK packaging, Mexican maize, Costa Rican bananas, Cuban food, US beef group challenges EPA, and the CIA spying on climate change.

Institute Research and Events

An overview of the Institute’s most recently completed research reports: Essential Services in Urban and Regional Australia – a Quantitative Comparison; FarmGAS Calculator: Final Report and Case Studies; Conference Proceedings: Agriculture, Greenhouse and Emissions Trading Conference 2009; and notification of the Institute’s upcoming Agriculture, Greenhouse & Emission Conference.

Farm Policy Journal

On the anniversary of Black Saturday, the February 2010 Farm Policy Journal casts a land manager’s eye over bushfire management policies.