Industrial agriculture is a massive contributor to planetary destruction. It consumes enormous amounts of water and generates massive amounts of pollution. It is responsible for the rapidly growing dead zones in the oceans around the world. It is the primary cause of deforestation. It is the single greatest cause of anti-biotic resistance. It is also the primary cause of poor human health and that costs economies trillions of dollars every year in health care costs and lost productivity.
Yet, it is a very easy fix.
- End subsidies for meat and dairy.
- Shift those subsidies to local organic production of fresh produce, grains, legumes and nuts.
- Substantially tax junk food, meat and imported luxury food.
- End all destructive open-pen aquaculture operations.
- Require animal farms to recycle manure in effective systems that produce energy, nutrients and clean water.
- Ban the use of synthetic antibiotics in agriculture.
- Educate people on what a healthy diet really is.
- Educate farmers on regenerative agriculture.
- Stop pushing the idiotic consumption of insects.
There is no nutritional requirement for meat, fish, dairy or eggs in the human diet and every reason for humans to adopt a healthy, organic whole-food plant based diet. The trillions of dollars in annual savings from the mass adoption of intelligent and responsible food choices would change the world. It would save enormous amounts of greenhouse gases and enable our waterways and oceans to start healing. It would also enable massive reforestation. It would also substantially reduce poverty and could end hunger and malnutrition.
Fixing the food problem is the single most important and effective step to addressing the peril of global warming and climate change and it doesn't require any new funding or technology, just will and education.