A new study published in October 2023 lays out a new strategy for addressing climate change with an emphasis on the need to transition to a plant-based food system. The study, titled “Proposed Solutions to Anthropogenic Climate Change: a Systematic Literature Review and a New Way Forward,” was published in the leading scientific journal Heliyon. It postulates that climate change solutions must include a shift to a more fundamentally plant-based diet and a global phaseout of industrialised animal farming.
Svetlana V. Feigin from the All Life Institute in Washington, D.C., US, and collaborators from other countries such as India, the UK, Thailand, Canada, Australia, Austria, New Zealand, China, South Africa, and Germany, have authored this study. Feigin said in a press release, “We must recognize that by solely focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming, we are treating the symptom of the cause, and the cause is major global unsustainability. To achieve long-lasting transformative change, which will benefit current and future generations (and save our planet), we need to change our mindset and behaviour as individuals, communities, businesses, governments, and global citizens.”
According to the authors, our planet is in a state of emergency and we only have a short window of time (7-8 years) to enact meaningful change to prevent an eventual global climate crisis that will impact every one of the Earth’s inhabitants, and the data indicate that we will not succeed in stopping this crisis without changes in the way that we eat and produce food.
The authors also recommend the adoption of an “All Life” approach that recognises the profound interconnectedness of all life on Earth, and a global standardization of climate change metrics. This “All Life” approach is centred on the protection of the “oneness of life” (humans, animals, plants, the entire planet), and emphasises that our health, and the health of our planet, are intimately intertwined with the health and wellbeing of all living beings. It highlights the interdependence and protection of all life forms and shifts away from a human-centric paradigm to an Earth-centric paradigm.
