The Global Calculator is a free and interactive tool that helps you to understand the link between our lifestyles, the energy we use, and the consequences for our climate. It is aimed at anyone interested in exploring what a low-carbon world could look like in 2050. The Calculator shows that it is possible to prevent dangerous climate change and ensure people’s living standards continue to improve if we act now. See it here.
Here is a direct video link.
The bottom line: all the alternative energies in the world are great, but won’t be enough, if we don’t evolve our eating habits away from animals to a plant-based diet. Healthier for our bodies anyway. Win, win.
Meat production is, on average, associated with significantly higher greenhouse gas emissions than the production of grains, fruit and vegetables per unit of energy output. It also requires more land, as meat production is much less land efficient than growing crops. For example, in 2011 an area the size of a football pitch would typically yield around 25,000 kcal per year of pasture fed beef, 1,450,000 kcal per year of poultry, or 5,410,000 kcal per year of crops (for example, grains). A shift to lower levels of meat consumption could therefore help to reduce the greenhouse gas footprint of our diets, as well as produce surplus land that could be used for other purposes, such as growing bioenergy crops and establishing new forests.
