A new report from medical and health experts is warning that climate change – driven by fossil fuel emissions – is raising heat levels to dangerous new heights, while also worsening drought and food security. About a third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are linked to food, mostly via agriculture and land use. FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Sparsha Saha, a lecturer at Harvard University's Department of Government.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome to Apropos.
00:04It's not only making temperatures deadlier,
00:06it's also making food more unreliable.
00:09A new report from medical and health experts
00:12is warning that climate change,
00:13driven by fossil fuel emissions,
00:16is raising heat levels to dangerous new heights
00:19while also worsening drought and food security.
00:22It's also increasing the diseases and pathologies
00:25associated with heat exposure.
00:28Eliza Herbert has more.
00:31Almost half of the world lived through extreme drought
00:34for at least one month last year.
00:37That's according to the new 2024 Lancet Countdown report
00:41that shows how, year on year,
00:43people are having to survive record temperatures.
00:46In particular, we've seen a 167% increase
00:50in heat-related deaths since the 90s.
00:53It's also limiting our capacity to work outdoors,
00:55which has an impact on our economies,
00:57on our income, and ultimately,
01:00our livelihoods, on which health depends.
01:02The annual report on health and climate change
01:04also found that hotter and drier temperatures
01:07increased the spread of diseases such as dengue and malaria.
01:11Increased sand and dust storms
01:13contributed to a 31% increase
01:15in exposure to dangerous particles.
01:18151 million people faced moderate or severe food insecurity
01:22with conditions exacerbating threats to agricultural systems.
01:26Sometimes devastating them completely.
01:30And the globe continued to experience
01:32record life-threatening events
01:33such as extreme heat waves, fires, and floods.
01:37But despite this, the authors say global emissions
01:40are increasing, not declining.
01:43As of March 2024, the 114 largest oil and gas companies
01:47were on track to exceed emissions,
01:49consistent with 1.5 degrees Celsius of heating
01:52by 189% in 2040.
01:56And forests were cut down at an alarming rate,
01:58reducing the world's natural capacity
02:00to capture atmospheric carbon.
02:03Each year, the report is released
02:04ahead of the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference,
02:08where nearly 200 countries gather to further action
02:11on climate change.
02:14Well, about a third of all human-caused
02:17greenhouse gas emissions is linked to food,
02:19mostly via agriculture and land use.
02:22To discuss this and the findings of the Landsat report,
02:25we're joined now by political scientist Sparsha Saha,
02:29lecturer at Harvard University's Department of Government.
02:32Thank you so much for being with us
02:34on the programme this evening.
02:36Your area of expertise, it's really centring
02:39on the politics of meat and animal rights.
02:43With each passing week,
02:44it seems that there's a new study, Sparsha,
02:47on telling us what we should be eating,
02:49various different health scares,
02:51even for the most health-conscious of us
02:54and environmentally aware consumer,
02:56it can be difficult to know exactly what we should be doing.
03:00What should we be doing?
03:02Hello, thank you so much for having me join.
03:06You're right, I think it can be overwhelming
03:09and there seems to be so much information out there
03:12and sometimes it can even seem contradictory.
03:15But the truth is that our food system,
03:17as it's currently designed,
03:20is quickly surpassing the bounds
03:22of what our planet can handle.
03:24And this is across a range of planetary boundaries,
03:27whether it's emissions that are heating up the planet,
03:30our use of land on the planet,
03:32biodiversity loss, chemical pollution.
03:35So all of these are being worsened by the food system
03:38and a big culprit within that are animal-sourced foods.
03:43So these are things like our meats and our dairy and our eggs
03:46and many of us love these things.
03:48They're important to our culture.
03:50They're important to nutrition.
03:53They have nutritional value.
03:54And so I think the key here is remembering
03:57that they're more precious.
03:59And I think when you have something that's more precious,
04:01you're more thoughtful about how you're using it.
04:05The reason why these foods are more precious
04:07is simply because they use more resources.
04:11So to grow a chicken or to grow a cow, for instance,
04:16you have to feed the animal.
04:18And feeding the animal because the animal is alive,
04:20the animal breathes, the animal moves,
04:23involves a great deal of energy conversion loss.
04:26So it's more efficient for the human to eat the soy
04:29being themselves rather than to feed the chicken
04:32or the cow with the soybean.
04:34And so for this reason, we use vast swaths of land
04:38on the planet to just grow food for animals.
04:41So there is an extreme approach
04:44and then there's something in the middle.
04:45And I think by increasing awareness
04:48that animal-based foods that we love are more precious,
04:52I think that's a more straightforward way
04:54that a person can think about the issue
04:57and see how they can be a part of change.
05:00Sparsha, how strong is the evidence
05:02that plant-rich diet shifts
05:05can meaningfully reduce carbon emissions
05:08and also protect human health?
05:11It's very strong.
05:13There is a scientific consensus
05:16that a shift toward more plant-based foods
05:20will drastically reduce emissions.
05:22And this is, in fact, most significant in countries
05:25that have high rates of animal foods consumption.
05:29So countries like the US, European countries, Australia,
05:34countries that are developed have levels
05:36of consuming animal-based foods that are very, very high.
05:41And so the emissions portion of food
05:44that is comprised by those specific emissions is highest.
05:47So reductions, switches in those countries in particular
05:52can be very influential.
05:54And earlier this year, there was a UN study
05:57that was facing calls to be retracted
05:59because it had allegedly misused research
06:02to underestimate the impact of cutting meat eating.
06:06So how powerful are the meat industry lobbyists
06:11in all of this?
06:14There's a big role, I think, in any industry
06:16where you have concentrated interests.
06:19There are going to be efforts
06:22to change what might be best for the public interest.
06:28At the same time, that said,
06:31there's also an issue of political willingness.
06:33Now, this is all of our interests
06:35in putting this issue on the political agenda.
06:39And I think that in a functioning democracy,
06:46there are going to be different interests at play,
06:48but if the public interest is not active
06:51and it's not playing a role shaping policy on this,
06:56then that is a part of the story as well.
06:59So I think there is an aspect of this
07:01where we all have to look at ourselves
07:03and have to educate ourselves and be aware of the impact
07:07and petition our policymakers to take this issue on.
07:11I think it can be easy sometimes
07:13to point the finger elsewhere.
07:16And this is not to say that those interests are significant
07:21and they play a role,
07:22certainly with the UN report that you mentioned.
07:26I believe what the issue was
07:28is that the underreporting stemmed from the measurement
07:32and the reporting only direct emissions
07:34and did not include indirect emissions.
07:36So these are the emissions that occur,
07:38for example, when you cut down forests
07:40and you release a great deal of CO2
07:42into the atmosphere that way.
07:44So that was not included,
07:45it was included in a different part of the analysis.
07:48So it suddenly looked like the livestock sector
07:51was not contributing as much as scholars
07:53know it is contributing,
07:55which is 11 to 20% of all total greenhouse gas emissions
07:59on the planet.
08:00So while interests play a role,
08:02there are other factors.
08:04And as citizens, we are able to do,
08:07I think, much more than we think.
08:09Food waste is also, you mentioned citizens,
08:11food waste is another huge issue, isn't it?
08:14More than a third of food produced in the US,
08:16for example, it's never eaten.
08:18Households are actually the largest producers of waste.
08:23That's correct.
08:24In developed countries,
08:25when it comes to food loss and waste,
08:27it's the food waste part that tends to be higher.
08:29And in developing countries, the food loss part,
08:32so this is the waste that occurs at the farm gate,
08:35tends to be highest.
08:36So in developed countries,
08:39tackling issues around expiration dates,
08:42around how much produce is showing up in grocery stores
08:46is certainly part of the solution.
08:49If you read the work of the Eat Lancet Commission,
08:52there are three pillars that we could be pulling right now
08:55to address food.
08:57These are addressing food loss and waste,
09:00shifting our diets and changing farming practices.
09:03I think part of food loss and waste
09:06is thinking about what is most precious
09:08that we are wasting.
09:09So certainly within that bucket,
09:12the meats we buy, the eggs we buy,
09:14those are the most precious things.
09:16So in your refrigerator,
09:17making sure you're using those items first
09:20as quickly as possible is a great strategy for folk at home.
09:24And also individuals can only do so much,
09:27but there are issues as well
09:28with the products that we're actually buying.
09:30Health scares when it comes to food,
09:33sometimes it feels like they're increasing.
09:34This week here in Europe,
09:35we've had concerns about tuna,
09:37about the mercury levels in tuna.
09:39We had the E. coli situation
09:41with the burgers at McDonald's in the US.
09:44Is it the case that these kinds of health scares
09:46are increasing and what can be done about this?
09:50Yes, and to add to that,
09:52bird flu in dairy herds in the US as well,
09:56which is particularly scary,
09:57hasn't reached the status of a pandemic yet,
10:00but I think a lot of people's eyes are on bird flu on H5N1.
10:05Yes, these are going to be exacerbated
10:09certainly as temperatures get warmer
10:11because bacteria can thrive more in warmer temperatures.
10:17And there's other vectors as well
10:18that explain why these sorts of scares are worse.
10:23That said, as far as the increasing rate,
10:28what do scholars know?
10:30From my understanding,
10:33the food system has a number of safety measures in place
10:37that have reduced the dangers,
10:41but the problem is that no system that humans create
10:45is going to be perfect.
10:47And so with that in mind,
10:50addressing the foundations of what is wrong
10:52in the food system is going to be the key for all of us,
10:58because at some point,
10:59something will get through the cracks.
11:01So we can have as many regulations as we want.
11:04We can make sure we're cleaning hen houses regularly,
11:09which is part of that salmonella scare
11:11that occurred in France,
11:12although we don't quite know what the exact
11:15cause was.
11:16But ultimately, even if we're perfect
11:19or as perfect as we can be,
11:22we're playing roulette.
11:27Mutations occur randomly.
11:28And because there are so many farm animals
11:30and most of them are kept in industrialized settings,
11:34the probability that something will emerge
11:37and make its way through the system is high ultimately.
11:41And it's not just the food system.
11:43The food system is high ultimately.
11:45And it gets worse as our demand for these foods increases.
11:50So because we are not able to have a perfect system,
11:54a One Health approach,
11:56meaning an approach where we understand
11:58that the welfare of animals is tied up to our welfare,
12:03tied up to the planet's welfare,
12:06is one that thinks about the foundations of the problem
12:10and really nips it in the bud,
12:13nips the problem in the bud.
12:14So I think hopefully we understand
12:17that that is a direction that we should be moving.
12:20And I see public institutions
12:22putting this on the agenda more.
12:24So I think it's gaining ground.
12:26Sparsha, thank you so much for that.
12:29It's a huge conversation, big topic.
12:31We do really appreciate your time
12:32on the program this evening.
12:34That's Sparsha Saha, Political Scientist
12:36at Harvard University's Department of Government.
12:40So that is it from us.