Skip to main content

11.22.25 Section B

Page 1

Elite group’s plan for “planetary health diet” calls for transformation away from animal ag Imagine a group of a few dozen elite scientists from the Global North getting together to develop a framework of earth system thresholds, and this framework – despite its conceptual form and varied confidence levels – is then used by financial institutions and governments to guide policies, regulations and investments for human use of the Earth’s resources. The leader of this elite group then goes on to lead a second elite group of scientists, this time preparing a report calling for transformation of global food systems away from animal products to a predominantly plantbased diet – all in the name of “planetary health.” This new plan includes a prescriptive “planetary health diet” which the elite scientists would like humans of the world to adopt. One doesn’t need to imagine, since this is what happened. The release of the updated EAT-Lancet report in mid-October calls for a “great food transformation” with an anticipated global reduction of 43 percent in the livestock sector by 2050, amounting to a loss of $650 billion in production. More of the reduction would be for ruminant meat at 71 percent, than for nonruminants with a 46 percent reduction or dairy with a 20 percent reduction. The report imagines a 50 percent reduction in food loss as a key strategy, although how this is viable remains unclear. But this is not all – this transformed food system would result in the largest reduction in agricultural land in more than 2,000 years, since any conversion of land for agricultural use would also be halted under its prescription for the global good. The report also prescribes a 70 percent global reduction in pesticide application, completely halting prophylactic antimicrobial use and halving existing antimicrobial dosage rates from 50 to 25 milligrams per kilograms per animal. The report claims there is “no safe solution” to the climate and biodiversity crises without this global food sys-

tems transformation. Ruminant meat production worldwide would need to decline by 33 percent, while there would need to be a 63 percent increase in fruit, vegetable and nut production above 2020 production levels. Additionally, fish production would increase by 46 percent. How it started The concept of a defined framework of planetary boundaries – thresholds beyond which the risk to humanity could be catastrophic – was popularized by Swedish Scholar Dr. Johan Rockstrom and a group of about 30 fellow scientists back in 2009. At the time, the authors suggested three of the nine boundaries had already been transgressed – climate change, biodiversity loss and shifts in the nitrogen cycle. By 2015, this concept was updated by a smaller group of scientists who reported the addition of another boundary breach – land use change. This update noted the framework was a work in progress, but the framework was already under consideration by governmental bodies throughout the world, as well as global financial institutions, corporations, nongovernmental organizations and philanthropists. By 2023, yet another team of scientists determined six of the nine planetary boundaries had been transgressed. Meanwhile, Rockstrom and Walter Willett of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health co-chaired a team of about 35 co-authors to issue the first EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. This report declared food production is the largest pressure caused by humans on Earth, and transformation of the global food system was needed, with major reductions in the consumption of red meat and other animal products, while boosting plant-based eating. Willet’s role in the report is controversial because of his zealous support for a vegetarian diet and his reputation for bullying fellow scientists who may reach con-

clusions which do not support his position. October’s release of the updated EAT-Lancet report saw its list of co-authors double, but it’s still a group of about 70 scientists who seek to have all of global humanity follow their guidance. The anti-animal agriculture interests pushing this agenda are well organized and have numerous networks and connections. Pushing the movement is the EAT Advisory Board, which includes Rockstrom as its chairman; Lancet Editor-In-Chief Richard Horton; former People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Vice President Bruce Friedrich, who is also the founder and president of the Good Food Institute, an organization promoting alternatives to animal products and a variety of representatives from organizations as varied as the World Bank, Culinary Institute of America, World Business Council for Sustainable Develop-

AMDAHL ANGUS MDAHL ANGUS

- BREEDING EXCELLENCE -

BREEDING EXCELLENCE -

Buy with confidence. Buy with Our #1 goalconfidence. is customer satisfaction. wintering - Free delivery - 1 year guarantee ur #1Free goal is customer satisfaction.

wintering - JD Free delivery - 1 year guarantee Amdahl: 605-999-6487

Tim Amdahl: 605-929-3717 JD Amdahl: 605-999-6487 Tim Amdahl: 605-929-3717

AMDAHLANGUS. COM

AMDAHLANGUS. COM

ment, United Nations, Royal Phillips and National Geographic Society. The EAT-Lancet paper was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Wellcome Trust, IKEA Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. Criticism is discouraged This “urgent need for a great food transformation” will need $200 to $500 billion per year “to support the transformation to healthy, sustainable and just food systems.” The report outlines methods to achieve this great food transformation, including imposing meat taxes and providing subsidies to shift affordability to particular foods, combining advertising restrictions with mandatory warning labels on what it determines is unhealthy foods and combining regulatory measures with land-use zoning to halt

further ag conversion. The report goes into what it calls a “just” food system, but it doesn’t mention the preservation of heritage breeds nor the jeopardy the plan poses to the rich cultural heritage of communities around the globe. There is no recognition of the fundamental connectedness between humans, animals and landscapes developed over thousands of years or the mutual bonds that bind them. There is no recognition of the positive impact to health and well-being which comes from these interspecies relationships; the possible devasting consequences to the biological diversity of the world’s livestock populations should the scheme be adopted or its potentially devasting impacts on local livestock production, consumers, communities and, ultimately, food sovereignty. Critics who would question the report’s models and methodology, oversimplifi-

cation of complex systems, reliance on nutritional evidence which leans heavily on association rather than causation, potential impacts to public health or who probe the potential conflicts of interests of some of the report’s primary authors and funders are preemptively discredited. The report includes a warning about bad actors, noting these are primarily corporate interests acting against the public interest. It notes this includes corporations sponsoring scientific studies aligning with their interests “and the dissemination of misinformation aimed at discrediting independent scientific evidence – such as in cases involving scientists sponsored by the meat industry.” The publication of the EAT-Lancet report was accompanied by an editorial by Horton, who predicts, “criticism and a meatindustry led response” to Continued on next page

SAT., SAT.,DECEMBERi3hifili 3hifili

DECEMBERi

SELLING: 105 BULL 2-YEAR-OLDS AND YEARLINGS, 100 COMMERCIAL BRED HEIFERS, & 45 REGISTERED FEMALES

SIRES REPRESENTED

Baldridge War Cry, Huwa Steadfast, Baldridge WarWar Cry,Cry, Huwa Steadfast, Baldridge RRR Grit,Huwa RavenGrit, UniteRaven Unite and RRR Steadfast, Amdahl and Amdahl Flagstone ..., Unite RRR Grit, RavenFlagstone

AMDAHL WAR CRY 4212 REG: 20975821

and WATCHAmdahl &BID WATCH &Flagstone BID ONLINE ..., AT ONLINE AT

WATCH &BID DVAuctlon ONLINE AT

DVAuctlon

HE SELLS!


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
11.22.25 Section B by Wyoming Livestock Roundup - Issuu