A lecture by Kimberly Nicholas, professor of Sustainability Science at Lund University, summarizing recent research on the environmental impacts of food choices. The lecture was recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, then subtitled and shown at a youth leadership conference organized by a former student in Ukraine.

1. Dietary Choices and Climate Change
Photo: Matthieu Paley, National Geographic
Kimberly Nicholas
Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, Lund, Sweden
www.kimnicholas.com
@KA_Nicholas

2. 2

3. Which causes more global warming?
Photo: Jodi Cobb, National Geographic Photo: Lee Turmpore, National Geographic

4. Livestock are major greenhouse gas sources
Photo: Jodi Cobb, National Geographic Photo: Lee Turmpore, National Geographic
Total greenhouse gas emissions (CO2-equivalent):
18%
14%
• 37% methane (84x stronger than CO2)
• 65% nitrous oxide (264x stronger than CO2)
Sources: FAO, 2006, Livestock’s Long Shadow; 20-year global warming potentials: IPCC WG1 2013, Table 8.A.1; Transport: IPCC WG3 2014, SPM

5. 5 Things Everyone Should Know About Climate Change

6. We need a new food paradigm
real food production
total agricultural production
food security goals
environmental goals
minimum goals for 2050
food distribution and access
resilience of food system
greenhouse gas emissions
water pollution
biodiversity loss unsustainable water withdrawals
19
Slide from Jon Foley. Figure from Foley et al., 2011, Nature

7. Right now, we have too little food security…
Slide from Jon Foley. Figure from Foley et al., 2011, Nature

8. … and too much environmental harm
Slide from Jon Foley. Figure from Foley et al., 2011, Nature

9. We need more real, fair & resilient food
Slide from Jon Foley. Figure from Foley et al., 2011, Nature

10. … and less environmental damage
Slide from Jon Foley. Figure from Foley et al., 2011, Nature

11. Livestock has major environmental impacts

12. Domesticating the Planet
Science 2011, 334 (35)

13. Global meat consumption has
increased dramatically since 1960
Godfray et al., 2010, Science

14. Land is limited on the blue planet…
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NASA PPM

15. 15
12% ice-free land used for crops
(size of South America)
Photo: Reuters/Paulo Whitaker
Ramankutty et al., 2008; Leff et al., 2004

16. 22% ice-free land used for grazing livestock
16
Photo: Yann Arthus-Bertrand
(size of Africa)
Ramankutty et al., 2008; Leff et al., 2004

17. Humans farming the planet
17
Ramankutty et al., 2008; Leff et al., 2004
crops
livestock

18. Cassidy et al., 2013,
Only 59% of calories produced become food
Current crops could feed 4 billion more if fed directly to
people

19. Meat is inefficient to produce human nutrition
Slide courtesy Emily Cassidy. Source: Cassidy et al., 2013,
ERL.

20. Livestock are large greenhouse gas producers
Source: Meat Atlas 2014. Data: FAO

21. Water Resources Are Limited…
ALL water on Earth
(1384 km sphere)
Liquid fresh water
(270 km sphere)
Fresh water in
lakes & rivers
(56km sphere)
Data from Shiklomanov, In Gleick 1993,“Water in Crisis.”
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Visualization by USGS Water Science Photo Gallery

22. Agricultural production is 92%
of human water footprint
Hoekstra and Mekonnen, 2012, PNAS
Photos: National Geographic
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23. Traditional fertilizer
23
Photos: Peter Essick, National Geographic

24. Modern fertilizer
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Photos: Peter Essick, National Geographic Photos: UNEP 2011, National Geographic

25. Livestock “probably largest sectoral source
of water pollution”
(In US: 55% erosion, 37% pesticides, 33% N & P)
(FAO, 2006, Livestock’s Long Shadow)
Photo:
25
NASA

26. 26
Livestock manure:
from valuable nutrient to toxic waste
Photo: Mishka Hnner, 2013. Tascosa Feedyards waste lagoon, Texas. Compiled from Google Earth.

27. Beef uses 28x more land
Compared with dairy, poultry, pork, or eggs
Data are for USA. Source: Eshel et al., 2014, PNAS
beef

28. Beef uses 11x more water
Compared with dairy, poultry, pork, or eggs
Data are for USA. Source: Eshel et al., 2014, PNAS
beef

29. Beef produces 5x more greenhouse gases
Compared with dairy, poultry, pork, or eggs
Data are for USA. Source: Eshel et al., 2014, PNAS
beef

30. Beef produces 6x more reactive nitrogen
Compared with dairy, poultry, pork, or eggs
Data are for USA. Source: Eshel et al., 2014, PNAS

31. Beef has the largest footprint of
animal products
Data are for USA. Source: Eshel et al., 2014, PNAS

32. How much meat are we consuming?
Data: FAO 2013; map: chartsbin.com

33. How much meat is recommended?
~0.7 grams / kilogram
90 kilogram person (200
lbs)
63 grams per day = 23 kilograms per year
Otten et al., 2006.
Dietary Reference Intakes: The Essential Guide to Nutrient
Requirements. National Academies Press.
Slide from Emily Cassidy

34. Source: FAO Food Balance Sheets
Slide from Emily Cassidy

35. Most countries are consuming more meat than
recommended for health - and the environment
Source: FAO Food Balance Sheets
Slide from Emily Cassidy
Recommended
intake

36. How much meat are we consuming?
Ukraine: 48.5 kg/person Too much!
Data: FAO 2013; map: chartsbin.com
Recommended level

37. How can we do better?

38. Health and environmental goals align in
plant-based diets

39. Decrease meat consumption
“In terms of immediacy… and
feasibility… [reduced meat
consumption] is clearly the most
attractive opportunity. Give up
meat for one day a week initially,
and decrease it from there.”
Dr. Rajendra Pachauri
Chair of IPCC
Quoted in The Guardian, 7 September 2008
Photo: Elizabeth Ruiz

40. Data: Scarborough et al., 2014, Climatic Change. Graphic: Brad Plumer, vox.com

41. Smaller portions of meat, meat-free meals go a long way
Data: Scarborough et al., 2014, Climatic Change. Graphic: Brad Plumer, vox.com

42. Go further
“Meat is a wasteful use of water
and creates a lot of greenhouse
gases. It puts enormous pressure
on the world’s resources. A
vegetarian diet is better.”
Lord Nicholas Stern
Former World Bank chief economist
Quoted in The Daily Mail, 27 October 2009

43. Vegetarians had half the carbon footprint of heavy meat eaters
Fish-eaters and vegetarians had similar carbon footprints
Vegans go the extra mile
Data: Scarborough et al., 2014, Climatic Change. Graphic: Brad Plumer, vox.com

44. “We conclude that
reduced ruminant meat and
dairy consumption will be
indispensable for reaching
the 2°C target
with a high probability, unless
unprecedented advances in
technology take place.”
Hedenus et al., 2014, Climatic

45. Some exciting models
EAT Forum 2014
Picture from @kaityarnall

46. Figure 1 highlights just a few of the issues that may need considering in defining a
„sustainable diet.‟
“Figure What 1: Issues is to consider a sustainable when defining a sustainable healthy diet
diet?”
Garnett, 2014
The amorphousness of the word sits at the root of disagreements: stakeholders not only
define and use „sustainability‟ differently but, even when they agree about its components,

47. We vote with our forks three times every day
Photo: Seven Stans, National Geographic

48. If we’re serious about
addressing climate
change,
we have to get serious
about reducing meat
consumption.
Image: Bill Hogan on vox.com