The Physicians Committee has petitioned the White House to update its executive order titled “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad”. This 503(c)(3) non-profit public benefit corporation, headquartered in Washington DC and directed by Neal Barnard MD, has recommended policy changes that could help alleviate the climate crisis in curbing animal agriculture and promoting a plant-based diet.
“The current executive order fails to include steps to stop the detrimental impact of animal agriculture and promote the benefits of plant-based dietary patterns,” says the petition.
A major study recently published in The Lancet Medical Journal concluded that a dietary shift towards plant foods and away from animal products is vital for promoting human health and the health of our planet. The researchers found that food production is responsible for up to 30% of total greenhouse-gas emissions, with animal products accounting for the vast majority –about three quarters—of these effects. The report states that projections for the future show that “vegan and vegetarian diets were associated with the greatest reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions.”
The Physicians Committee‘s petition requests that the White House immediately update its executive order to include the following directives:
The Secretary of Agriculture shall propose a strategy to shift subsidies from meat and dairy products to fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans meant for human consumption.
The world’s five biggest meat and dairy producers emit more combined greenhouse gases than ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP, the top three oil production companies, according to a report by GRAIN and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). The researchers found that greenhouse-gas emissions from 35 of the largest producers of beef, pork, poultry, and dairy are reaching dangerous levels due to unregulated growth and governmental subsidies to ensure inexpensive production costs and supplies such as animal grain. Research shows that policies that encourage a diet that includes legumes, such as chickpeas, lentils, and peas, would benefit humans and environmental health.
The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall include the climate benefit of a plant-based diet in the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
In 2015, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recommended a shift away from animal products towards plant-based diets for sustainability. The Committee stated that “a dietary pattern that is higher in plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, and lower in animal-based foods is more health-promoting and is associated with lesser environmental impact (greenhouse gas emissions and energy, land and water use) than is the current average US diet.”
The Secretary of Agriculture shall propose a plan to include plant-based meals in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and monitor the climate impact on US Dept. of Agriculture commodity foods, including meat and dairy products, used in the NSLP and other federal food programs.
Serving fewer animal products saved Oakland Unified School District in California money and reduced its carbon footprint, according to a case study reported by Friends of the Earth. The school district replaced meat, poultry, and cheese with plant-based foods to reduce its environmental impact. The authors also analyzed purchasing records and greenhouse-gas emissions from schools. A 30% reduction in animal products served resulted in a 14% reduction in the district’s carbon footprint.
(This article was published in the Spring 2021 issue of the Good Medicine Journal of the Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine, Washington, DC)