The Green New Meal

You may have heard of The Green New Deal. It is similar to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal - a series of domestic programs, regulations and public work projects, introduced during the Great Depression era of the 1930s to tackle the economic recession (Wall, 2016).

The Green New Deal is a 21st Century upgrade - introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the US House of Representatives and Senator Ed Markey in the US Senate. This transformative congressional resolution aims to address the climate crisis, as well as systemic  inequalities and injustices in society.

This includes protecting vulnerable communities already bearing the brunt of environmental degradation – ethnic minorities, indigenous populations and the poor – through including these groups in the planning processes to benefit from a greener economy.

Through bold policies of investment and regulation, it transforms America's economy away from reliance on fossil fuels and non-renewable resources, towards sustainable, renewable sources of energy, in addition to investments in zero-emission transport, healthcare, and housing, as well as public ownership of utilities.

Veganism

An alternative practice surging in popularity to tackle the climate crisis is the adoption of veganism. Going vegan was the biggest food trend in 2018 (Food Revolution, 2018) with almost half of UK vegans (42%) making the change in 2018 – this demonstrates that veganism is growing at an exponential rate (Vegan Trade Journal, 2018).

Veganism is a form of living which aims to exclude the exploitation and harmful treatment of animals as far as is both practical and possible, through various practices including diet and clothing (The Vegan Society).

In the UK, orders of vegan meals grew by 388% between 2016 and 2018 (Food Navigator, 2019). Mainstream veganism is a consumer-based strategy – individual choices of consumers to switch their diets from animal to plant-based. This varies across our diet (The Guardian, 2019) – including switching from meat-based to soy-based alternative main meals and from dairy to non-dairy milks, as shown (Figures 2 and 3).

So, where does this emergent trend of veganism tie into all of this? Whilst veganism is surging, livestock production has also increased massively – the tonnage of pigs produced has increased by 4 and a half times between 1961 and 2013, whilst chicken production has grown by almost 13 times (Vegan Society).

Animal agriculture has increased; consequently, demand for crops have significantly increased to feed these animals – this increased demand for land leading to deforestation, land degradation and endangered species facing extinction. One study found that a vegan diet could be the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on earth, reducing an individual’s carbon footprint from food by up to 73% (Nemecek and Poore, 2018).

There is a direct impact of cows producing and release methane into the atmosphere – one of the most potent greenhouse gases; 23 times more harmful than CO2 (CFAES, 2017). There is also a significant impact on water usage – it is estimated that a meat eater consumes at least 3 times the amount of water compared to a vegan. This is because animal products are incredibly resource-intensive, as shown in Figures 4 and 5.

Veganism could significantly reduce food’s land-use by 76% and food’s greenhouse gas emissions by 49% (BBC Food, 2018). This could help to protect endangered species as well as enable large-scale reforestation.

Two Paths Forward

The Green New Deal approach is very much focused on government intervention to transform the economy – through investment in renewable energy and public ownership of utilities, as well as increased government regulations (The New York Times, 2019). Vegans, on the other hand, actually offer a much more free-market friendly approach – working through the basic laws of supply and demand.

Significant spikes in demand for plant-based foods and meals haven't gone unnoticed, with food shops and restaurants responding with a huge increase in supply for these alternatives. As supply for vegan food increases, this greater choice and availability will continue to raise demand, thus the cycle continues.

Equally, veganism and the Green New Deal can also complement each other in many ways - both require mass social participation and offer systemic solutions (Le Monde Diplomatique, 2019). Both these factors will be necessary in our global attempt to address the common cause of protecting our environment and tackling the climate crisis.

If there is one thing vegans and climate activists can agree on it is that the status quo is an unacceptable offer, and change is desperately needed one way or another, and our planet cannot wait.

By Keval Shah

References

BBC Food. ‘Vegan v flexitarian – which will save the planet.’ Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/vegan_vs_flexitarian [Accessed Online: 3rd July 2020]

DeMartini, A. 2017. ‘Reducing the Environmental Impacts of Cow’s Waste.’ CFAES.

Available at: https://cfaes.osu.edu/news/articles/reducing-the-environmental-impact-cows-waste#:~:text=COLUMBUS%2C%20Ohio%20%E2%80%94%20No%20disrespect%20to,produce%20a%20lot%20of%20gas.&text=With%20every%20episode%20of%20gas,greenhouse%20gas%20in%20car%20emissions [Accessed Online: 2nd July 2020]

Duktiewicz, J. 2019. ‘What the Green New Deal will mean for your hamburger.’ The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/07/green-new-deal-clean-meat-hamburger [Accessed Online: 1st July 2020]

Holden, E. 2019. ‘What is the Green New Deal and how would it benefit society.’ The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/11/green-new-deal-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ed-markey [Accessed Online: 1st July 2020]

Morrison, O. 2019. ‘Vegan meals are ‘UK’s fastest growing take-away choice.’’ Food Navigator. Available at: https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2019/09/02/Vegan-meals-are-UK-s-fastest-growing-take-away-choice [Accessed Online: 3rd July 2020]

Nemecek, T., Poore, J. 2018. ‘Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers.’ Available at: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987 [Accessed Online: 2nd July 2020]

Oberst, L. 2018. ‘Why the Global Rise in Vegan and Plant-Based Eating Isn’t A Fad (600% Increase in U.S. Vegans + Other Astounding Stats).’ Food Revolution Network. Available at: https://foodrevolution.org/blog/vegan-statistics-global/ [Accessed Online: 6th July 2020]

Pierre-Louis, K. 2019. ‘No One Is Taking Your Hamburgers. But Would It Even Be A Good Idea?’ The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/climate/hamburgers-cows-green-new-deal.html [Accessed Online: 3rd July 2020]

Selwyn, B. 2019. ‘Combatting climate change: veganism or a Green New Deal.’ Le Monde diplomatique. Available at: https://mondediplo.com/outsidein/veganism-or-a-green-new-deal [Accessed Online: 2nd July 2020]

Specter, F. 2019. ‘Quarter of Brits are drinking plant-based milks, but are the dairy-free alternatives healthier?’ Yahoo! Style. Available at: https://uk.style.yahoo.com/plant-based-milks-are-milk-alternatives-healthier-092524708.html [Accessed Online: 2nd July 2020]

Switch4Good. 2020. ‘Planetary Reponsibility.’ Available at: https://switch4good.org/ [Accessed Online: 8th July 2020]

The Vegan Society, 2020. ‘Why go vegan?’ Available at: https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/why-go-vegan [Accessed Online: 2nd July 2020]

Vegan Trade Journal, 2018. ‘Almost Half Of UK Vegans Made The Change In The Last Year, According To New Data.’ Available at: https://www.vegantradejournal.com/almost-half-of-uk-vegans-made-the-change-in-the-last-year-according-to-new-data/ [Accessed Online: 1st July 2020]

Wall, W. L. 2016. ‘The New Deal.’ Oxford Research Encyclopedias. Available at: https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-87 [Accessed Online: 3rd July 2020]