I wrote about Global Warming and Factory Farming, and the problems of sustaining the demand for meat, for the FPJ on the 12th of July 2021

Last month temperatures across the world spiked. “Heat wave” screamed the headlines. In parts of Northern India, temperatures will almost 7 degrees above normal. In parts of the western world, people died, as temperatures soared. Death Valley, California, recorded a new high of 54 degrees Celsius.

Global Warming is real, as is climate change. As the world gets hotter, it is going to impact every nation. With changing weather patterns, parts of the grain producing world, are moving towards drought. Hunger seems imminent, coupled with water shortages. Nature’s wakeup call is loud. Drastic attempts have be made to look at the world’s population and how it consumes.

1951, was seen by many, as the start of a new era in the world. The second world war was over. There was relative peace in Europe. This was also the era of decolonisation. Former colonies in Asia and Africa overthrew their Imperial overlords to chart their own destiny. It was the start of an era of hope, and of growth, the world over.  The population of the world stood at 2.6 billion people. India’s population in 1951 stood at 361 million. Two very different things drove development. The first was a massive investment in infrastructure and development of cities. The second was agriculture and animal husbandry at an industrial scale. 

In the post war era, with the growth in state backed science, and public health – there were massive drops in death rates. In 1950, the world saw 146 infants die, per 1000 live births. That figure in India was almost 190 for every 1000 live births. Simultaneously green revolutions across the world ensured that those born, will not starve to death. Simultaneously, many countries adopted industrial livestock production – also known as factory farming. This enabled the world to beat the impact of droughts, and ensure that most people didn’t die of starvation when rains failed. 

In 2021, the problems we face are different. The first, very clearly in population. In the 70 years since 1951, world population has increased just over 3 times, to 7.9 billion people. India’s population stands at 1.39 billion people, an increase of almost 3.9 times. While there are those who insist that population sizes are not a problem, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

7.9 billion people of the world have to be fed, clothed, sheltered, and be allowed to access those tools and techniques that will enable them to meet their aspirations. And, all this costs the nations of the world, not just in terms of money, but in terms of energy expended. When we discuss climate change, it is impossible to discuss it without the impact of populations and their aspirations, on climate.  Our aspirations, our activities, our very existence gives rise to emissions that make the world warmer.

Everything that we do contributes to the increase in emissions. At a very basic level, we breathe in oxygen, and breathe out carbon dioxide. And given that there are 8 billion of us, that is a fair amount of carbon dioxide. Add to this, deforestation, and the chopping of trees that absorb carbon dioxide, and you are compounding the problem. Also, when you consider the emissions produced by all our industrial activity, including the rearing of animals on an industrial scale, you are looking at an even further increase in the increase in greenhouse gases (GHGs).

The message from nature is crystal clear. Stop messing around. The world has to pay heed, or we will be leaving wastelands for future generations. And therefore, we need to learn from how nations built back in the 1950’s. Once again, the focus has to be infrastructure. But this time it needs to be rebuilt in a manner that reduces GHG emissions. Every polluting part of our infrastructure must identified, studied, and replaced with more environmentally friendly operations. This will have an effect of reducing emissions over the medium run, at the same time as reviving economies in the short run.

The second, is to look at how we feed the world. With almost 80% of the world identifying itself as omnivore, the need for meat production is extremely high. Most of the western economies are built on factory farming. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that the total emissions form global livestock amounts to 14.3% of all GCH’s. Of this, cattle reared for both milk and meat is responsible for 65% of the livestock emissions.

The voices against industrial rearing of livestock have grown. What was initially the domain of animal rights activists, and animal lovers – has now been joined by the most influential billionaires in the world. Bill Gates and Richard Branson have begun investing in start ups pioneering lab grown meat. The move away from livestock slaughter to lab created meat, will not just solve ethical and moral issues around killing animals, but also alleviate the environmental disaster that arises out of ‘factory farming’.

Nations and people may not want to combat climate change by reducing aspirations or curtailing consumption. Science and technology will need to find solutions that create ‘clean’ variants of everything that we use today. And, one of them definitely has to be lab grown food, at an industrial scale.