[GWSG] Planetary Health Diet study; a necessary dietary shift; COP 28 begins call for diet action; the diet in few words

[Tilley, Al]

1. A Harvard group has published a study of the planetary health diet based on records of more than 200,000 women and men over a period of up to 34 years. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/planetary-health-diet-associated-with-lower-risk-of-premature-death-lower-environmental-impact/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2zSuRJd-PIm4A2avoVJBqE3w08WNCIZxpPtraMLADXVrNrmxKqn4ngIKM_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw&sfnsn=mo
The new study, “Planetary Health Diet Index and risk of total and cause-specific mortality in three prospective cohorts,” appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition June 10, 2024. https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(24)00389-7/abstract The team divided the subjects into quintiles by the degree to which their reported diet conformed to the planetary health diet, a regimen first described in a Lancet article in 2019. The diet is meant to serve two purposes: to control agricultural emissions so as to make possible the goals of the Paris Accords, and to promote global health with a diet flexible enough to adapt to the broadest possible range of cultural and social contexts.
“The study found that the risk of premature death was 30% lower in the top 10% of participants most closely adhering to PHD compared to those in the lowest 10%. Every major cause of death, including cancer, heart disease, and lung disease, was lower with greater adherence to this dietary pattern.
“In addition, the researchers found that those with the highest adherence to the PHD had a substantially lower environmental impact than those with the lowest adherence, including 29% lower greenhouse gas emissions, 21% lower fertilizer needs, and 51% lower cropland use.
“The researchers noted that land use reduction is particularly important as a facilitator of re-forestation, which is seen as an effective way to further reduce levels of greenhouse gases that are driving climate change.” (From Harvard’s press release)
2. Peter Sinclair quotes a Washington Post article on the Harvard study in conjunction with the 50th anniversary edition of Diet for a Small Planet, which has text and recipes adjusted to planetary health. https://thinc.blog/2024/06/14/diet-for-a-small-planet-hey-that-could-be-a-title-for-a-book-about-oh-wait/
3. Livestock emissions are often trivialized as the methane burped by cows, cleverly controlled by seaweed in their feed. That is a small part of the picture. A Harvard study, Options for a Paris-Compliant Livestock Sector, found that cutting meat consumption is the best way to reduce the 11-20% of emissions which come from livestock farming. https://animal.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Paris-compliant-livestock-report.pdf  (March, 2024)
“To have any hope of meeting the central goal of the Paris Agreement, which is to limit global warming to 2°C or less, our carbon emissions must be reduced considerably, including those coming from agriculture. Clark et al. show that even if fossil fuel emissions were eliminated immediately, emissions from the global food system alone would make it impossible to limit warming to 1.5°C and difficult even to realize the 2°C target. Thus, major changes in how food is produced are needed if we want to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.” Science, 6 November 2020.   https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aba7357
The current consumption of meat is inconsistent with a livable future. Among livestock, beef is the greatest emissions source by far. Our diet accounts for as much emissions as air and ocean travel combined. Just as we cannot finally ignore air and ocean travel, we cannot achieve reasonable climate goals unless we control our diets. The fact that we will also be serving our health (and that the diet is easier, cheaper, at least as satisfying, and more fun) is as significant to this part of the climate challenge as the superiority of electric vehicles to those of the internal combustion engine (faster, cheaper, sturdier, quieter, and more fun all around).
We can promote the transition to renewable energy through regulation. The transition to a new diet, however, is probably beyond the power of the government to enforce. We must see the need to change our diet, and we must ourselves carry through the change.
I am now putting out this news list only when I think a truly significant issue or development is not being addressed widely enough. I do not believe we generally discuss dietary change as crucial, though it is. Of the things we can do, it is the most likely to make a difference, more significant than an electric car or a solar array on our roof. Only the general vote is in real competition for impact.
4. Food industry lobbyists tripled at COP 28. The industry regards the COP as a success in that it failed to address the need to reduce meat and dairy. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/08/us-meat-lobby-delighted-at-positive-prospects-for-industry-after-cop28
5. Even so, COP 28 indicates that we are beginning to move in the necessary direction. COP 28 adopted a roadmap on agriculture which leads to country-specific plans at COP 30 in 2025. The goal is to have a just and equitable food system providing a healthy diet accessible to all, eliminating chronic hunger and cutting gross greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2030. Agrifood systems are intended to become a net carbon sink by 2050. The program is intended to support limiting global heating to 1.5C.  https://www.fao.org/interactive/sdg2-roadmap/en/
The Guardian reports on this first move at the COPs to deal with agriculture. By the end of the conference more than 150 countries had signed the agreement to make food and agricultural policy part of their efforts to deal with climate. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/17/cop28-sustainable-agriculture-food-greenhouse-gases
Finally, it is up to us. We do not need to be vegans, though they are something like elite troops in this battle. The rest of us simply need to follow a plant-based diet with a little meat and dairy. The WA Post article linked in item 2 reports Walter Willet’s account of the Planetary Health Diet. Willett was the lead author of the original Lancet article and a senior author of the new study.
“He described it as an omnivorous diet that makes room for two servings a day of animal foods. A typical week on the diet, for example, might include one daily serving of dairy such as milk, cheese, or yogurt, a weekly serving of red meat, one weekly serving of eggs, two weekly servings of poultry, and two weekly servings of fish.
“The diet prioritizes generous amounts of fruits, nuts and vegetables and a variety of plant sources of protein such as beans, lentils and other legumes, which makes it relatively easy to follow, Willett said.”
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.unf.edu/pipermail/gwsg/attachments/20240615/3d5eef45/attachment.htm>