Putting the Planet on a Better Diet

Civilization is in crisis, the Earth is at risk, and it’s time to put the planet on a better diet. So say Lancet editors Tamara Lucas and Richard Horton as they sum up findings of the EAT-Lancet Commission healthy and sustainable diets. They write:

The dominant diets that the world has been producing and eating for the past 50 years are no longer nutritionally optimal, are a major contributor to climate change, and are accelerating erosion of natural biodiversity.

Big Changes Needed

It’s hard to deny. We have a global system for providing food that simply isn’t working. While more than 800 million people suffer from too little food, an abundant supply of food surrounds many more people with far more calories than they need. That means that we get endless cues to eat – everywhere, all the time, in large portions.

As a result, more and more of the world’s people are poorly nourished. Hunger and food insecurity remains a serious problem. But at the other end of the spectrum, over-nourishment has brought a global pandemic of obesity, diabetes, and many other chronic diseases.

Meanwhile, agriculture is straining to meet the dietary needs of the world’s population. Meat production is straining the health of the planet itself.

Don’t Mess with My Food

On top of these very real issues rests an even larger issue. The many are in no mood to hear from the few about how they must get with the program to solve big problems. All over the world, we have populist demagogues peddling simplistic solutions to complex problems.

For example, the yellow vest protest movement is transforming politics in France. One of the sparks was a hike in fuel taxes intended to help save the planet. What might the reaction be to mandate for cutting back on pommes frites and brie? Needless to say, America’s red states like their red meat. You can be sure that this commission’s recommendation to have a steak no more than once a month will go over like a lead balloon.

Mary Allen at the Good Food Institute sums it up. “No one is going to follow this advice,” she says.

People do not like being told what to eat. Telling the whole planet what to eat will be a challenge. Allen praises this report as “magical.” But we’ll need more than magical thinking to solve these problems.

Click here for the commission’s report and here for the Lancet editorial. For further perspective, click here, here, and here.

Earthbound, painting by Evelyn De Morgan / WikiArt

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January 20, 2019