Bill Gates Thinks We Must Stop Eating Beef To Save World From Climate Change
He spoke about emissions while breeding livestock and how synthetic or faux meat could help considerably reduce the impact on the environment.
In case you didn¡¯t know, raising cattle for beef and milk has serious repercussions on our planet¡¯s environment. Several organisations have urged people to shift from beef or consume fewer quantities of the same.
And in a recent statement, the world¡¯s third-richest man, Bill Gates recommends people in wealthy countries should stop eating beef entirely and shift to a synthetic alternative.
Reuters
Bill Gates revealed this in an interview published by MIT¡¯s Technology interview while talking about his new book ¡®How to Avoid a Climate Disaster¡¯. In this conversation, he spoke about topics from the book while also having a discussion surrounding climate change.
He spoke about emissions while breeding livestock and how synthetic or faux meat could help considerably reduce the impact on the environment. He also spoke about how cows normally release methane through their digestive system. In case you didn't know, methane is one of the many greenhouse gases that can harm our planet.
He shared how there are different kinds of food that are being provided to them to reduce this impact and it even causes a 20 percent reduction in emissions. However, he said that this won¡¯t create that big of a difference, ¡°sadly, those bacteria [in their digestive system that produce methane] are a necessary part of breaking down the grass. And so I don¡¯t know if there¡¯ll be some natural approach there. I¡¯m afraid the synthetic [protein alternatives like plant-based burgers] will be required for at least the beef thing¡±
Gates further stated that developed nations should consider switching to synthetic beef or plat-based beef that tastes just like real beef but are actually made from flavoured soybean. Some faux meat is also made by growing cell cultures in a lab.
¡°I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef. You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they¡¯re going to make it taste even better over time. Eventually, that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the [behaviour of] people or use regulation to totally shift the demand.¡±
Reuters
While developed nations have the resources to make this happen, same cannot be said for developing or underdeveloped countries, for this too Gates shared a different approach, ¡°for meat in the middle-income-and-above countries, I do think it¡¯s possible. But it¡¯s one of those ones where, wow, you have to track it every year and see, and the politics [are challenging]. There are all these bills that say it¡¯s got to be called, basically, lab garbage to be sold. They don¡¯t want us to use the beef label.¡±
