Climate change, industrial animal agriculture, and the role of physicians – Time to act
Human population growth and development coupled with centuries of atmospheric colonization by the world's richest regions have now made evident a potentially irreversible disruption in the restoration capacity of the planet's ecosystems. The production, utilization, and consumption of anim...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-09-01
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| Series: | The Journal of Climate Change and Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667278223000603 |
| _version_ | 1797653913584795648 |
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| author | Nelson Iván Agudelo Higuita Regina LaRocque Alice McGushin |
| author_facet | Nelson Iván Agudelo Higuita Regina LaRocque Alice McGushin |
| author_sort | Nelson Iván Agudelo Higuita |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Human population growth and development coupled with centuries of atmospheric colonization by the world's richest regions have now made evident a potentially irreversible disruption in the restoration capacity of the planet's ecosystems. The production, utilization, and consumption of animal products has been closely intertwined to human biologic and social evolution. This relationship is now threatening human health and the equilibrium of the planet's ecosystem. Global food production is responsible for 35% of all greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) with the use of animals as a source for food, as well as livestock feed, responsible for almost 60% of all food production emissions. Consumption of a high-resource diet based on animal products without a reciprocal nutritional value while degrading the environment and animal and human health is unethical and no longer sustainable. Without a major and urgent transformation in global meat consumption, and even if zero GHGE in all other sectors are achieved, agriculture alone will consume the entire world's carbon budget needed to keep global temperature rise under 2 °C by 2050. In this viewpoint, we illustrate the impact our current food-production system has on resource utilization and human and animal health. There is an urgent need to shift to a predominantly plant-based diet to arrest and potentially revert the negative environmental, animal, and human health impact of industrial animal agriculture. Healthcare professionals have the ethical responsibility to provide evidence-based information to patients and their families for their health benefits. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:51:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c195c278429342188fb8fc7d47ea6db4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2667-2782 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:51:43Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Journal of Climate Change and Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-c195c278429342188fb8fc7d47ea6db42023-10-21T04:23:23ZengElsevierThe Journal of Climate Change and Health2667-27822023-09-0113100260Climate change, industrial animal agriculture, and the role of physicians – Time to actNelson Iván Agudelo Higuita0Regina LaRocque1Alice McGushin2Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 800 Stanton L. Young Blvd. Suite 7300, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA; Instituto de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Parasitología Antonio Vidal, Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Corresponding author at: Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 800 Stanton L. Young Blvd. Suite 7300, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA.Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Jackson Building Room 520. 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USAMRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, UKHuman population growth and development coupled with centuries of atmospheric colonization by the world's richest regions have now made evident a potentially irreversible disruption in the restoration capacity of the planet's ecosystems. The production, utilization, and consumption of animal products has been closely intertwined to human biologic and social evolution. This relationship is now threatening human health and the equilibrium of the planet's ecosystem. Global food production is responsible for 35% of all greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) with the use of animals as a source for food, as well as livestock feed, responsible for almost 60% of all food production emissions. Consumption of a high-resource diet based on animal products without a reciprocal nutritional value while degrading the environment and animal and human health is unethical and no longer sustainable. Without a major and urgent transformation in global meat consumption, and even if zero GHGE in all other sectors are achieved, agriculture alone will consume the entire world's carbon budget needed to keep global temperature rise under 2 °C by 2050. In this viewpoint, we illustrate the impact our current food-production system has on resource utilization and human and animal health. There is an urgent need to shift to a predominantly plant-based diet to arrest and potentially revert the negative environmental, animal, and human health impact of industrial animal agriculture. Healthcare professionals have the ethical responsibility to provide evidence-based information to patients and their families for their health benefits.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667278223000603DietMeatAnimal agricultureDairyClimate change |
| spellingShingle | Nelson Iván Agudelo Higuita Regina LaRocque Alice McGushin Climate change, industrial animal agriculture, and the role of physicians – Time to act The Journal of Climate Change and Health Diet Meat Animal agriculture Dairy Climate change |
| title | Climate change, industrial animal agriculture, and the role of physicians – Time to act |
| title_full | Climate change, industrial animal agriculture, and the role of physicians – Time to act |
| title_fullStr | Climate change, industrial animal agriculture, and the role of physicians – Time to act |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate change, industrial animal agriculture, and the role of physicians – Time to act |
| title_short | Climate change, industrial animal agriculture, and the role of physicians – Time to act |
| title_sort | climate change industrial animal agriculture and the role of physicians time to act |
| topic | Diet Meat Animal agriculture Dairy Climate change |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667278223000603 |
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