On this day in vegan history · August 8, 2019
The IPCC's Land Report Puts Diet on the Table
A hundred scientists produced a report on soil, forests, and food security; the sentence that traveled the world was about what's on your plate.
The facts
- Released
- August 8, 2019, after the IPCC's 50th session approved it in Geneva, Switzerland
- Authors
- 107 experts from 52 countries
- Diet finding
- Shifting toward plant-based diets could cut about 15% of current emissions by mid-century
- Land finding
- Human use directly affects more than 70% of the planet's ice-free land
On August 8, 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its Special Report on Climate Change and Land, written and reviewed by 107 experts from 52 countries and approved two days earlier at the IPCC's 50th session in Geneva. The report covered soil degradation, desertification, and food security, but one finding traveled further than the rest: shifting toward plant-based diets could cut roughly 15% of current greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. It also found that human use now directly affects more than 70% of the planet's ice-free land, mostly through farming. Pete Smith, a University of Aberdeen scientist and one of the report's lead authors, spent release day answering a simpler question than the one the report actually asked: was the UN telling people to stop eating meat? He said no, then explained what the data actually showed.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
-
We're not telling people to stop eating meat. In some places people have no other choice. But it's obvious that in the West we're eating far too much.
Pete Smith, University of Aberdeen, lead author of the report's Chapter 6, speaking to BBC News on the day of release
Source: Wikipedia
Why it still matters
It wasn't a call to go vegan, and the IPCC was careful to say so. But it was one of the first times a UN science body put a hard number on the climate case for eating fewer animals, and that number has been repeated ever since.
Sources
This history is still being written.
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