WHATS THE PROBLEM
If you care about your own health and that of the planet, the single most effective action you can take is to eat less meat.
Not only does our increasing appetite for meat place enormous pressure on the environment, it is clearly linked to devastating health issues such as heart disease and cancer.
By participating in Banquet for the Planet, you can experience for yourself how easy and enjoyable it is to have a meat free meal, and play a role in alleviating some of the challenges below.
Q: Big on beef?
We love beef as much as the next person, but too much of anything can be bad.
- Did you know 80% of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture are produced from livestock?
- Did you know a farmer can feed up to 30 people a year with one hectare of vegetable products, yet the same hectare used for meet farming will only feed 5-10 people?
- Did you know the international health organisation released a report that labelled Beef consumption as cacogenic to humans?
As population growth continues, beef consumption will continue to increase ultimately leading to an increase in deforestation in order to meet farming needs. This situation will amplify our impact on climate change, and lead to an increase in 21 st century lifestyle cancers. This situation is indeed unsustainable.
Fish forever
- Did you know that in 2007, the average person consumed 17 kilograms of fishery products compared to 9.0 kilograms in 1961?
- Are you aware that at current fishing levels, stocks of all species currently fished for food are predicted to collapse by 2048?
- Did you know that billions (yes – billions!) of unwanted fish and other animals – like dolphins, marine turtles, seabirds, sharks and corals – die due to inefficient, illegal and destructive fishing practices.
It’s true that fishery product consumption has continued to increase each year since 1961. Concerningly, some consumers eat as little as 0.5kilograms of fish products per year, yet other consumers eat over 100kg of fish per year, a very unfair situation. This combined with the world’s population growth is leading to a depletion of fishery stocks and other marine populations. This is simply unsustainable.
Benefits of Vegetables
Vegetables are everywhere, and they are good for you too.
- Did you know that vegetarian diets have many health advantages?
- Did you know that eating more vegetables has been found to increase your lifespan?
- Did you know vegetables can be farmed as well as grown in our very own back yards?
Eating lots of vegetables has many positives, including lower blood pressure, decreased body mass index (BMI) and decreased risk of cancer. Importantly it has been proven that the more vegetables you eat, whilst decreasing beef and processed food consumption, will lead to a decrease in mortality rate, and therefore a longer life. This situation is indeed Sustainable.