By getting on board with today’s World Meat Free Day people can do something positive for the planet.
The event’s website outlines the environmental benefits individuals, families and businesses can make by ditching meat for a day. A small business of around 500 people going meat free – for example – is worth a ‘carbon saving equivalent to six return flights from London to Zurich’.
And with the global population predicted to hit nearly 10 billion by 2050, up from just over seven today, it is vital that alternatives to meat are found, to alleviate pressures on the food system and minimise its impact on climate change.
The good news for meat lovers is that food disruptors are developing appetising meat free products.
Impossible Foods is on a “mission to transform the global food system” with its meat and dairy foods made directly from plants. It recently opened a new production plant in California that will produce at least one million pounds of meat per month – made directly from plants. The company’s meat and dairy free products create 87% fewer greenhouse gasses than real meat.
The burgers are also passing the taste test.
Beyond Meat is another striving to make a “positive impact on climate change” with its burgers made from plant proteins. The burgers are being sold in supermarkets across California, to students at Yale. Even Hong Kong – a city which eats more meat per head than any other – is getting a taste for Beyond Meat burgers.
And it is all good news for the planet.