Report warns milk and meat must be rationed to save planet

Humans must ration themselves to four small portions of meat and one liter of milk per week to save the planet from global warming according to a major new report. Currently people are consuming on average twice that amount of milk.

The report prepared by the Food Climate Research Network from the University of Surrey England claims other foods should be rationed in addition to meat and milk.

Low nutritional value items such as chocolates, alcohol, and candy should also be controlled.

The report goes on the warn against buying out of season items, cooking in bulk with pressure cookers, and walking to stores.

The report goes much further than any previous advice after mounting concern about the impact of the livestock industry on greenhouse gases and rising food prices. It follows a four-year study of the impact of food on climate change and is thought to be the most thorough study of its kind.

Tara Garnett, the report’s author, warned that campaigns encouraging people to change their habits voluntarily were doomed to fail and urged the government to use caps on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon pricing to ensure changes were made. “Food is important to us in a great many cultural and symbolic ways, and our food choices are affected by cost, time, habit and other influences,” the report says. “Study upon study has shown that awareness-raising campaigns alone are unlikely to work, particularly when it comes to more difficult changes.”

The report is similar to an October edition of the Ecologist magazine which suggested be go vegetarian and avoid milk and dairy products as well.

According to the report food production in the United Kingdom produces 33 million tons of greenhouse gases. When factoring in imports and other factors the total increases to 43 million tons, or a fifth of the total emissions in the UK. Indirect impacts of food production include transportation, refrigeration, clearing forested areas for cattle and crops.

Dairy and meat accounted for half of the emissions, fruits and vegetables 15%, sugary foods and drink 15%, and processed foods including breads, pastries, and flour 13%.

Instead, it recommended cutting meat consumption by at least half and making sure animals were fed as much as possible on grass and food waste which could not be eaten by humans. World population is estimated to grow to nearly 9 billion by 2050, and the UN is calling for a total reduction in emissions by 2050.

The NFU also called for government incentives to help farmers make the changes. “Farmers aren’t going to do this out of the goodness of their hearts, because farmers don’t have that luxury; many of our members are very hard pressed at the moment,” said Jonathan Scurlock, the NFU’s chief adviser on renewable energy and climate change.

Pat THomas the Ecologist’s editor said “The notion that cows and sheep are four-legged weapons of mass destruction has become something of a distraction from the real issues in both climate change and food production.”

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