Essay by Eric Worrall
According to Chinese Communist mouthpiece the South China Morning Post, labels reminding people of the climate harm could shift eating habits.
Fast food and climate change: ‘high impact’ labels could steer diners away from beef and towards greener alternatives, study finds
Nearly two-thirds of people who saw beef options labelled ‘high climate impact’ on menus chose more sustainable options such as vegetarian, chicken or fish
With more information, people could make better choices both in terms of healthiness and sustainability, a climate expert says
Bloomberg
Published: 12:08pm, 2 Jan, 2023…
As people look for climate solutions to rapidly cut down their greenhouse gas emissions, “one of the biggest changes we can make is reducing the red meat we consume”, says Julia Wolfson, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a former fine-dining chef, and one of the researchers behind the new study.
In search of ways to shift consumer behaviour, Wolfson and colleagues at Johns Hopkins, Harvard University and the University of Michigan created an experiment to test two types of climate labels on fast-food menus.
…
The group that avoided beef looked at menus with the high-impact label, with 61 per cent of them ordering a more sustainable option, according to the study in the medical journal Jama Open Network.
…
“This was an online study with a hypothetical food choice,” Wolfson says. “It will be really important to see in the future if these results and the magnitude of these impacts would be replicated in real-world settings where people are making real choices, they are spending their real money and they are then having to really eat the foods they select.”
…
Read more: https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3205279/fast-food-and-climate-change-high-impact-labels-could-steer-diners-away-beef-and-towards-greener
As the professors admit, the study was not a very realistic test of their ideas.
Nevertheless I suspect the scientists are probably right, to an extent. Climate food labels probably would have a significant impact, on people who still trust authority, even after all the fake climate scares and empty Covid panics of the last few years.
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Pasture for cattle is a greater CO2 sink than forest.
If grass lays on the ground and is broken down by soil microbes it emits the same amount of methane as it would if it was eaten by the cow.
I’m not sure about that. The methane is supposed to result from anaerobic digestion in aqua, so digestion in soil may tend more towards producing carbon dioxide.
It would be interesting to see a summary of research on breakdown paths.
From the article: “As people look for climate solutions to rapidly cut down their greenhouse gas emissions,”
I think the author is assuming too much. I’m not looking for climate solutions because I don’t think the climate needs any assistance and I don’t think greenhouse gases are a problem.
“High Climate Impact” my hindquarters!
I guess the Commies are trying to promote the continued destruction of the Western economies by lying about CO2.
By lying about CO2 AND methane.
From the article: “The group that avoided beef looked at menus with the high-impact label, with 61 per cent of them ordering a more sustainable option,”
As if beef isn’t sustainable. Does the author know how ridiculous she sounds?
The Climate Idiots need to be informed that wind mills, solar panels, and battery electric vehicles are not “sustainable.”
for some plant based maine humor , watch tim sample’s strict carnivore on you tube .
So this means that I will have to buy more prime rump and have the butcher cut it into 2″ slices and also suffer getting more Rib Eye Chops at least 1″ thick, just to cut back on the horrible green house gas these animal make.
Oh!!, I am going to suffer..
More beef please.
As for the Chinese how much pork and chicken vs. beef do they really eat?
If I were eating in a Communist China restaurant, where waiters can be expected to inform on citizens for any action or word that is not “approved” by the Party, I would not risk ordering red meat that the Party had ordered to be labeled as “the Party thinks you should not eat this”.
Fortunately, I’ve just eaten. The photo makes me want to eat something’s flesh again.
Save a Tree, eat a Vegan…Cows are Vegan
Beef is much less important as a source of protein or as an economic engine in China than it is in Western societies. Safer to discourage it’s consumption.
Don’t tell me Broccoli Beef is about to vanish from the Chinese Menu. Perhaps they should also consider Shark Fin Soup
Remember to force the labeling right before elections–if they still have those.
“Rice! It’s what’s for dinner.”
Do you really want to “return to nature” and have 20 million buffalo blocking your commute to work?
If enough of us “return to nature, there will be lots and lots of food, as we’ll all have to farm.
Beef is wonderful – we should have more in our diets – Vegans are living proof, albeit living with health issues and supplements, that a life without meats in general and dairy, is a miserable existence
That steak and asparagus looks damn good
How are sales of the McPlant burger going?