#386: Meeting Wales' needs

Food and farming have an impact on biodiversity and the importance of farmers as stewards of, and creators of, the British landscape is something that any GCSE in Natural History would have to tackle. The approaches are different in the different UK countries. This item from WWF Cymru from 2022 is a reminder of the impact of farming in other countries... to meet the demand from the UK...

Wales & Global Responsibility - @WWFCymru

An area equivalent to 40% of the @sizeofwales is used overseas to grow commodities imported into Wales, having a catastrophic effect on the world’s forests & critical habitats! #DeforestationFreeNationhttps://t.co/wcEDYwZ2mu pic.twitter.com/DE4QzX8mKM

— Nigel Pugh (@nspugh) January 21, 2022

#318: LEAP - our diet and the environment

LEAP was involved in the creation of the Meat the Future exhibition at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in 2022.

The LEAP project (Livestock, Environment and People) at Oxford University studies the health, environmental, social and economic impacts of meat and dairy production and consumption.

The LEAP website includes an excellent image... Check the tabs to see more. 

The proposed specification was originally down to include something on the impact of our dietary choices on the environment e.g. meat eating has a high carbon footprint.

Image copyright: LEAP 

#293: Our diet and Climate Change

Our food has a dramatic impact on natural history at both local and national scales... and global too...

Elon Musk tweets, "Farming has no material effect on climate change."

This is wrong. If you look at the data, you find that a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions are due to food production, the majority of these from farming.https://t.co/D7X9tu5Pyg

— Max Roser (@MaxCRoser) February 12, 2024

How high our emissions from food production are depends primarily on what we eat.

If you would like to see the data on this, you can find it
— here: https://t.co/cdxtINqHzI
— and much more here: https://t.co/nxmzE3lAVK pic.twitter.com/yoXgrtyFUR

— Max Roser (@MaxCRoser) February 12, 2024

What we choose to eat has an impact because of the water and energy required to produce certain items, and the amount of land that is put aside for its production.

Food should be more of a priority than it is for the government - as should water... we can get by without most things, but not food and water. 

The original draft specification for the GCSE Natural History mentioned the impact of our diet on the countryside. Choices such as organic food, vegetarian diets and alternatives to milk from cows all have an impact on the landscape...

Image: Jersey Royals, Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license

#234: Meat - warning labels

An interesting piece on the use of warning labels on meat packaging. 

Published on The Conversation website.

Messages such as “smoking kills” and “smoking causes blindness” alongside a graphic image have been legally required on all tobacco products in the UK since 2008.

It will be interesting to see whether any of this sort of activity actually takes place.

The research referenced can be read here.

Meat consumption is deeply ingrained in Western societies. The United Kingdom is a good example, where according to a recent YouGov poll, 72% of the UK population classify themselves as meat eaters whereas only 7% of Britons classify themselves as either vegetarian or vegan (Dabhade, 2021).

The draft consultation of the specification mentioned the impact of our diet on the planet. This is one of the suggested themes which will be explored. I wonder whether this will survive to the next stage. 

My fear is that anything 'political' or 'meaty' (if you'll forgive the pun) will be removed.