“We have to stop destroying the planet as we feed ourselves,” a World Bank official said, as red meat and dairy drive CO2 emissions.
Cows and milk are out, chicken and broccoli are in — if the World Bank has its way, that is.
In a new paper, the international financial lender suggests repurposing the billions rich countries spend to boost CO2-rich products like red meat and dairy for more climate-friendly options like poultry, fruits and vegetables. It’s one of the most cost-effective ways to save the planet from climate change, the bank argues.
The politically touchy recommendation — sure to make certain conservatives and European countries apoplectic — is one of several suggestions the World Bank offers to cut climate-harming pollution from the agricultural and food sectors, which are responsible for nearly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.
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The paper comes at a diplomatically strategic moment, as countries signed on to the Paris Agreement — the global pact calling to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — prepare to update their climate plans by late 2025.
I agree, let’s end subsidies for the industries that are fucking up the climate. Fuck all the weak snowflakes who don’t want to change their meat consumption. How hard is it to not eat beef? Not hard, people are just weak. So hit them in the wallet then, if that’s what it takes.
Honestly, it makes sense. Something’s gotta give or we’re all fucked. We should already be eating less red meat and dairy anyway since they’re less healthy than white meat and milk alternatives - adding the economic incentive would be a push in the right direction to be healthier and more eco-friendly.
Beans, chickpeas and lentils are my favorite daily superfoods. So cheap, so tasty, so healthy. Meat is so far in the rearview mirror I don’t even understand the concept anymore.
Any advice for a person who doesn’t really like the mushy texture of beans or chickpeas? I love hummus but I can’t do whole chickpeas.
You can roast them in an airfryer. Chickpeas in particular come out well that way.
Roasted chickpeas with cauliflower is the bomb, especially with some cajun seasoning
Care to share a favorite recipe or two? I’ve been meaning to step up my legume game for a minute.
Thanks in advance, but also no presh! 🤙
I like emerald dol.
Rinse, then soak 1.5 cups of dried lentils for at least 20 mins.
Bring to boil then cover and simmer for 15 minutes in 3.5 cups of water (I just soak them in the pot and turn on the burner). Add 0.5 tsp of salt, turmeric, and chili powder at start of simmer.
Add 1 lb of chopped spinach (I use the frozen blocks for this, basically leave it simmering while they thaw, stirring occasionally to break up the blocks quicker).
In a separate pan, melt 2 tbsp of butter (or whatever equivalent butter-like substance), I add a bit of coconut oil also because I don’t have coconut milk and generally use almond milk instead, so the oil gives it some if that coconut flavour. Chop up an onion and add it to the butter. I also add some fresh garlic and pickled minced ginger, but these are modifications I’ve made to the recipe.
Add 1 tsp of mustard seed and cumin (I use whole cumin seeds but powdered also works).
When the onions are done to your liking (recipe says when they are translucent, but I personally like fresh onions so don’t always cook them that much), add in 0.5 cups of coconut or almond milk (or whatever, even dairy milk would probably work well if we weren’t avoiding it), plus 1 tsp of garam masala and mix all that in to the lentil/spinach pot.
It’s pretty much done at this point, but I’ll keep the (low) heat going for a bit. Watch the moisture level, it should have a consistency of a thick stew.
Put some naan bread in the oven @400 F for ~10 minutes or to however cooked you prefer it. I like to break off pieces and spoon some dol on top as I eat. You can dip it, but it’s too runny to pick up a lot that way.
All measurements are suggestions; pretty sure I use more than that for the spices and one package of frozen spinach blocks is a bit less than a pound (500g).
It scales up pretty well (I usually do a double batch) and freezes well.
India has a lot of vegetarians and a lot of foods that don’t just try to be vegetarian versions of meat dishes, so I suggest checking out more Indian recipes if you’d like more options.
Chicken broth + lentils + whatever veggies you got lying around = tasty as shit soup
Just make sure to wash the lentils first
And to REALLY up your game use a mirepoix as the base.
Crazy how enthusiastic everyone here is about some rich guy telling us what we are allowed to eat.
He probably flies private and eats a steak every day.
While that needs to stop entirely, the 1%’ carbon footprint (yes, it applies to them too, this is what everyone here is actually pointing out) sums up to about 15% of global GHG emissions at the consumption level. Huge, but they are few, they aren’t “masses”.
We need GHG emissions to drop at least 100% (to 0%) and then we need to remove carbon (so that’s negative emissions) to get closer to the safer atmospheric CO2.
Hey, I have re read your comment a few times. Important info, but unsure how it relates to my comment. Rich people don’t contribute that much to C02? So they can tell me how to live my life?
Not to mention other things besides C02. Methane, garbage, water use
Hey, I have re read your comment a few times. Important info, but unsure how it relates to my comment. Rich people don’t contribute that much to C02?
There are 2 necessary changes as layers in this context:
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There are also studies that show the GHGs for “rich people’s investments”. This is important because they are in the way of necessary adaptation and mitigation. We can’t do anything meaningful about climate and biosphere because that would require ending profiteering from planetary destruction, it would require decommodification.
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Rich people’s consumption is excessive for anything. Not just their carbon footprint, but their ecological footprint. But they are a small minority, especially the richest. Being a small minority means that if they lose their… wealth and become wage workers, that’s going mean only a decrease of 15% GHGs. This 15% is not meaningful to avert ruining the planet’s surface. We need more than 100% (zero emissions and then removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere). This means that EVERYONE has to participate, which also means that we need cooperation. And you don’t have cooperation in a capitalist class society with all this “rat race” going on, you can’t, we’re literally all enemies (competitors) in this game.
So they can tell me how to live my life?
That’s one side of it, yes. To have any meaningful action, all sides of economic activity have to change, we need decreases in production (supply), but also in demand (consumption). If only production decreases, the demand side goes nuts and there’s hyperinflation and other problems. If only demand decreases (unlikely), the production side, which is owned by rich people, may decide to force and coerce an increase in demand somehow, as has been happening at least since the end of WW2.
Here, a game: https://play.half.earth/
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Red meat for the rich, white meat for the poor.
We need to reduce animal consumption across the board.
Rich people get stuff that the normals don’t. This isn’t new.
