How much would the world save if people ate less meat? A recent report from the Oxford Martin Programme on the future of food estimates that changes in diets could save up to $1,000bn per year on healthcare. If the world went vegan, it could save eight million lives by 2050 and trillions of dollars.
The report states that simply cutting down meat consumption within accepted guidelines would cut emissions by a third by 2050. A widespread switch to vegetarianism would cut emissions by nearly 63 per cent and a similar adoption of veganism would reduce emissions by 70 per cent.
It’s easy to say “we are what we eat”, but what’s healthy for us, is it healthy for the environment too? Are production methods cost-effective or potentially counter-productive in the long term? Al Jazeera looked at the economics of food consumption, food security and the future of food.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
