{"id":20077,"date":"2016-04-20T13:57:55","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T18:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=20077"},"modified":"2016-04-20T13:58:42","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T18:58:42","slug":"feeding-the-world-can-we-preserve-forests-go-organic-and-eat-meat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=20077","title":{"rendered":"Feeding the world: Can we preserve forests, go organic and eat meat?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

\u00a0Feeding the world: Can we preserve forests, go organic and eat meat?<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Agriculture<\/p>\n

Credit: Jane Boles\/Flickr<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
It is possible to produce enough food to feed a growing population without another tree being felled, according to new research. But there\u2019s a catch.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

The only way to guarantee enough food in 2050 is if the world turns vegan, says the\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0published today in Nature Communications. That way, even the most pessimistic projections for technological improvements and availability of farmland wouldn\u2019t see people going hungry.<\/p>\n

With a global transition to veganism unlikely, the study explores the options left on the table if we continue to eat meat, as well as how climate change might narrow those options further.<\/p>\n

The study is more of a thought experiment than a realistic set of projections. But the point it makes is simple: we, as humans, must work out how to make the most appropriate use of a finite amount of land. While there will inevitably be compromises, the paper concludes:<\/p>\n

\u201cDeforestation is not a precondition for supplying the world with sufficient food in terms of quantity and quality in 2050.\u201d<\/div>\n

\u201cZero-deforestation\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether for growing crops, grazing or building on, 75% of the Earth\u2019s ice-free surface is used in one way or another by humans, today\u2019s study begins. Put another way, only a quarter is left in something resembling its natural state.<\/p>\n

Land-based ecosystems house a large fraction of the world\u2019s biodiversity, as well as providing food, fuel, energy, air and water purification, and protection against the elements for humans.<\/p>\n

Forests, in particular, also play an important role in mitigating climate change. The paper notes:<\/p>\n

\u201cForests store more carbon than any other land-cover type per unit area.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Feeding the world: Can we preserve forests, go organic and eat meat? Credit: Jane Boles\/Flickr It is possible to produce enough food to feed a growing population without another tree being felled, according to new research. But there\u2019s a catch. The only way to guarantee enough food in 2050 is if the world turns vegan, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[10797,12977],"class_list":["post-20077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-carbon-brief","tag-roz-pidcock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20077"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20079,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20077\/revisions\/20079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}