Current methods "must change dramatically" to avoid catastrophic damage to the planet.
"Civilisation is in crisis."
So announces a new
study from the EAT-Lancet Commission, a collective of 37 world-leading scientists who are aiming to reach a consensus on what defines a healthy and sustainable diet.
To that end, the Commission has delivered the first full scientific review of a sustainable food system and what actions can be taken to support and speed up food system transformation.
The key takeaway is that human diets and the production of food must dramatically alter over the next 30 years, with the planet at critical risk of a major catastrophe.
"We can no longer feed our population a healthy diet while balancing planetary resources," offers the study's introductory notes.
"For the first time in 200,000 years of human history, we are severely out of synchronisation with the planet and nature.
"This crisis is accelerating, stretching Earth to its limits and threatening human and other species' sustained existence."
Global population is expected to shift from its current 7.7 billion to 10 billion by 2050, with no slowdown on the consumption of animal-based foods on the horizon.
In order to challenge this, those behind the EAT-Lancet Commission study argue that consumption of red meat and sugar must halve by that time, while intake of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes should double.
"There's tremendous variety there," offered Harvard-based professor
Walter Willet.
"You can take those foods and put them together in thousands of different ways.
"We're not talking about a deprivation diet here. It is healthy eating that is flexible and enjoyable."
Earlier this week, Kerry politician Danny Healy-Rae
denounced those who don't eat meat, claiming that such people "have never worked hard" in their lives.
You can read the EAT-Lancet Commission study in full
here.
