I am concerned that the Radio Times recommendations for diet changes in the Earth Day Special 20th to 26th April edition, have not been thought through and could be misleading
The article talks about the eco costs of farming cows for milk and says we can reduce the amount of land use going into our breakfast and reduce the amount of fresh water used by swapping soya milk for cow’s milk. But there is nothing about the eco costs of growing soya which are huge, in some areas deforestation and land clearance have become a very serious factor in climate change. Fertiliser and pesticide production have eco costs and are not good for the land. There are eco costs too in substituting a highly processed food for a naturally occurring one.
I personally have no worries about the effect on salmon farming as I believe that there are issues here but what about changing to other more sustainable fish rather than a processed soy product.
Says that substituting pea protein based Facon for bacon will produce 92% fewer greenhouse emissions. Nothing is said about how this is achieved when pea protein is a highly processed food who’s production must also result in greenhouse gas emissions. Also says that substituting seitan for chicken results in massive decreases in eutrophication and gas emissions yet seitan is again a highly processed product with its own eco costs.
Beef and lamb are also vilified but the substitutes also need to be grown and though the resulting emissions may be less, land will still be needed and in much larger areas than are now given to the production of beans and vegetables. Farming methods for these products also need to be assessed for the use of fertilisers and pesticides.
As well as the eco costs to be considered there are also the human costs to be considered. Do we really want to change our farming methods and landscape to produce the quantities of processed plant food to feed us all. Alternatively, do we want to put our farmers, who are largely more eco friendly than in many other countries, out of business and rely on foreign imports even more than we do now.
These questions need much more in depth research to be sure that we move in the best direction for the climate, the environment and us.
I should be interested to hear what others thing of the recommendations?