After its successful, noteworthy debut in the United Kingdom last 2015, World Meat Free Day comes to the Philippines this June 13, 2016—and it is meant to make people aware of the long but weighty connection between chicken breasts, bacon, and steak to this phenomenon called climate change.
James Plotnek of The Carbon Trust, an independent organization that strategizes and commercializes efficient low carbon technologies, speaks about how we can contribute and benefit from a more sustainable future, and effectively fight climate change, through carbon reduction.
(From L-R): Moncini Hinay, WWF Project Manager; Atty. Angela Ibay, WWF Head Of Climate Energy Programme; James Plotnek, Carbon Trust; Chit Juan, Owner of Echo Store and Member of Slow Food Philippines; Dr. Custer Deocaris, Founder of Luntiang Lunes; Gina Lopez, Owner of G Stuff and Head of Bantay Kalikasan Foundation; and Miguel Sison, WWF Corporate Partnerships Officer, pledged to join the first ever World Meat Free Day in the Philippines.
In the first ever World Meat Free Day celebration in the Philippines, guests enjoyed a meat-free, three-course meal, courtesy Chef Florabel Co-Yatco, of the Florabel chain of restaurants. Being an ambassador herself, Chef Florabel made use of Quorn, a deliciously healthy meat-alternative to prepare the dishes.
Unknown to many, livestock production is the second biggest contributor of non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions, second only to energy production. Meat production alone emits more greenhouse gases than all forms of global transportation or industrial processes. According to studies, about 18% of harmful greenhouse gases actually come from producing the beef, poultry, and pork that we all eat. In contrast, the emissions of transportation stand at 14% and fossil fuel retrieval at 12%.
Along with other Filipinos, health and environment advocate Rachel Alejandro expresses her support for the World Meat Free Day. The WMFD is a movement that started in the UK last year, which is gaining momentum as the world recently celebrated it for the second time this year.
If one person decides to forego meat in just one meal for one day, he/she will save the equivalent daily water usage of 9 people.
While farms certainly do not emit the infernal black smoke people see in factories and car exhausts, most farm emissions come in the form of methane and nitrous oxide—from cattle belching, fertilizer use, manure management, and sometimes, disposal of crop residues. As population continues to rise, the global demand for meat rises with it. This leads to more emissions that is the primary reason why meat production has become and will still be a major driver of climate change.
In 2015’s Paris Agreement on Climate Change, about 195 countries including the Philippines pledged to address global warming. One of the goals set was to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C. Remarkably, recent studies have shown that it is unlikely to achieve this without a shift in global meat consumption.
One small change, immense impact
Climate change conscious individuals may have gone as far as biking to work or permanently dismissing the use of plastics, and these are good. The great news is that if you find biking to work too hazardous in Metro Manila roads—and it really is—then substituting your sisig with a vegetable stir fry for a day can do just as much help, if not more.
In actuality, there’s no need to entirely give up meat. Just embrace a ‘less but better’ approach in your food choices and consumption. Imagine, each person who foregoes one meat-based meal can save the equivalent daily water usage of 9 people and have a carbon saving equivalent to boiling a kettle 388 times—now, do the same exercise and multiply that by 9-billion.
Anyone who wants to pitch in and save the planet can do so very simply, by foregoing meat for just one meal, every now and then. And you can start this habit by participating in the World Meat Free Day! To inspire you to make this change, check how your foregone meals actually translate to less greenhouse gas emissions by using the sustainability calculator in the World Meat Free Day website (http://www.worldmeatfreeday.com/sustainability-calculator/).
So, the next time you would have to choose between a 100-peso chicken fajita and a humble sautéed pechay with oyster sauce, dare and care to do the math.
Partners
Supporting World Meat Free Day in the Philippines are Bantay Kalikasan, Climate Reality Project Philippines, Luntiang Lunes, Slow Food Philippines, Nurturers of the Earth, and Miriam College. Learn more about the campaign through www.worldmeatfreeday.com.
