Doom-and-gloom climate change scenarios tend to dominate news headlines, but a new report out of Harvard suggests it’s not too late to reach our collective climate goals and avoid global warming catastrophe. Success, however, hinges on one critical caveat: We must act quickly to change the way we produce and consume food, by moving away from animal agriculture and toward plant-centered diets.
Findings from the report, co-authored by a team of academics and published by Harvard Law School’s Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program, are based on a survey of 210 climate scientists, researchers, and food system specialists from 48 countries. They agree that to meet Paris Agreement targets—including rolling back greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to pre-2019 levels by 2030—an accelerated shift away from animal agriculture and toward low-carbon, plant-based alternatives is…