BBC Focus - 04.2020_

“THE PROBLEM IS THAT

THE NUMBER OF

ANIMALS IN THE FOOD

SYSTEM RIGHT NOW IS

OVERWHELMING IT”

2 fractiongoesintobuildingthemuscleand
othertissueweconsumeasmeat,making
theprocessof‘growing’meatextremely
inefficient– althoughScarboroughsays
theproblemisn’tasbadforsmallanimals
likechickens.“Youdon’thavetofeeda
chickenanywherenearasmuch[asyou
mustfeeda cow] to get a kilogram of
meat,”hesays.
Evenso,allmeatcarriesa relatively
highcarboncost.Perhapsinrecognition
ofthisfacttherehasbeenanupsurgein
thenumberof vegansin the UK. According
tosomeestimates,
thereare600,000
Br it ish vega ns
today– fourtimes
as many as in
2014.Butvegans
in the UK are
stilloutnumbered
roughly 100 to 1
by non-vegans.
Evenif peopleare
convincedofthe
environmental
benefitsofgoing
vegan,theymaybe
reluctanttomake
that shift. They
might even balk at

theideaof replacinglamborbeefwithlow-carbonalternatives:

swappinga beefburgerfora locustburger,forinstance,ortrying

whatmightbethenextfoodtrend:lab-grownmeat.

ProfErmiasKebreab,a biologistandecologistat theUniversity

of California,Davis,thinksthattheremightbea wayto sidestep

thisreluctance.If weareunwillingtochangeourowndiets,

thenperhapsthesolutionis to change the diets of the animals

manyofuseatinstead.

Lastyear,heandhisteamdemonstratedthatbysupplementing

animalfeedwithabout1 percentbyweightofa particular

strainofseaweed,theycouldhalftheamountofmethanethat

cowsbelchintotheatmosphere– knownas‘entericmethane’.

Thisisbecausetheseaweedreducestheabilityofmicrobes

inthecow’sstomachtogeneratethemethane:theanimals

burpoutlargerquantitiesofhydrogengasinstead,whichhas

anindirect,smallerimpactonglobalwarming.“Mostofthe

emissions[associatedwithcattle]arefromentericmethane,”

Kebreabsays.“So,if youareabletoreduce the emissions by

50 percent– that’sabsolutelyhuge.”

Encouragingthoughthisis,it doesn’treducethecarbon

footprintofbeefandlambtothelevelofbeansorpulses,

saysScarborough.Supplementinglivestockdietwithseaweed

can’tchangethefactthatmostofthatanimalfeedconsistsof

grainwecouldeatourselves.Someconsumersmightprotest

thatthebeefontheirplatecomesfrom‘pasture-raised’cows

thatategrassratherthangrain– butScarboroughsaysmany

oftheseanimalsare actually brought into cow sheds at night

and given grain.

HAVEYOURSTEAKANDEATITTOO

At this point, one might be forgiven for concluding that

ABOVEInsectsarea

healthysourceofprotein

witha muchlowercarbon

footprint than meat