not my presentation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

1. What is the link between our diets and
climate change?
1. What foods are the biggest part of the
problem?
2. What are the pros and cons of reducing these
foods?
3. What could we eat instead, and how can we
encourage people to change their diets?

2. What foods produce the most gases?
Red meat
Dairy
Fish
Poultry
Cereals and
potatoes
Fruit and veg
Fats and oils
Sugar
Other
% of our diets % of the emissions produced

3. How do emissions compare between
different UK diets?
High meat Medium meat Low meat Fish-eaters Vegetarians Vegans
Diet type 7.2 5.6 4.8 3.9 3.8 2.9
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Kilos
of
carbon
dioxide
per
2,000
calories

4. What about our health?
• Most people in the UK don’t meet dietary
guidelines (0.1% at last count!)
• Poor diet is responsible for about 10% of UK
illness and deaths (similar to smoking)
• It’s been estimated to cost the NHS £5.8
billion a year (more than smoking and alcohol)

5. What a healthy diet looks like

6. What if we just ate more healthily?
• We could reduce UK emissions from food by
17% just by meeting dietary guidelines
• This would also increase life expectancy by an
average of 8 months
• More health benefits if we replace red and
processed meat by fruit and veg

7. Are there limits to the benefits?
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Total mortality Coronary heart disease
Stroke Cancer
Type II diabetes
SIZE OF REDUCTION IN GREENHOUSE GASES
SIZE
OF
HEALTH
BENEFIT

8. What is the downside?
• Other environmental
impacts?
• Meat and dairy
industry?
• Animal welfare?
• Changes to our
landscape?
• Negative impacts on
people’s health?

9. Health benefits of meat and dairy
• Protein (50g per day) - we currently eat more than
we need
• Iron (50% of teenage girls and around 25% of adult
women aren’t getting enough) & vitamin B12
(around 10% of women are deficient)
• Calcium (around 10% of women and 20% of
teenage girls are deficient)

10. What else can we eat instead?

11. Emissions from different foods
(per 50g protein)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Beef Chicken Tuna Milk Soya Lab meat Quorn Seaweed Insects
Protein type 12 3 1 4 0.2 1.5 1 0.7 0.5
kg
carbon
dioxide
equivalent

12. Is it OK to try and change people’s diets?
• The food industry does
it all the time!
• Is it fair? Can everyone
afford to change?
• Danger of making food
in general more
expensive

13. Ways to encourage changes in diet
• Education and public awareness
• Labelling for greenhouse gases
• Reduce meat & dairy in meals provided by
schools, hospitals etc.
• Encourage more meat / dairy substitutes in the
food industry

14. Or change the prices?
• UK already has a soft drinks
tax which has reduced sugar
• Adding a meat or carbon
tax could reduce consumption & also raise
quality / animal welfare
• Could also raise money that could be spent on
making fruit & veg cheaper

15. Diets are already changing
"Meat
reducers"
Not meat
reducers
• Number of people willing to
consider reducing meat is
increasing
• Especially women and young
people
• Small changes can lead to
“tipping points” where larger
changes occur – but can we
get there by 2050?