Global Superpower China Will Cut Meat Consumption by 50%!
Dear friends around the world,
I am a firm believer in vegetarianism, which gives us the option to live healthier and cruelty-free lives. We should do our best to not harm or slaughter any animals. There are people who still believe that it is necessary to consume meat in order to have a healthy diet, but this is false. We do not need to harm or slaughter animals for our sustenance at all, as many people from athletes to doctors have shown without a doubt. There is also a lot of scientific research which highlights the many benefits of adopting a plant-based diet, which includes improved health and a reduction in global warming.
One of my students recently shared this article below that highlights how China is planning to take a significant step towards the reduction of meat consumption within its borders. I was really excited to learn about this as China is one of the most populous countries in the world with a population of over 1.3 billion! When China successfully reduces its meat consumption by 50% as they have planned, it will have a tremendous effect on the Earth’s environment and save the lives of a huge number of animals. China is doing this as part of its long-term health policy and China’s Health Ministry has already drawn up dietary guidelines and outlined plans to achieve this ambitious goal. By doing this, the government hopes to improve public health especially problems with obesity and diabetes, and to significantly cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. No country in the world has taken such incredibly tangible steps to save our planet. China is really setting a powerful example as a global leader and superpower in every field. This news brings much joy to myself. Many activists for animals and the environment around the world deserves this type of news. It is their hard work for decades that brings a change starting with the most powerful nation on earth.
I rejoice that China’s forward-thinking leaders are really taking their responsibilities seriously and are devoting resources and throwing their support behind this beneficial initiative. I hope more countries around the world will soon follow suit in a similar direction.
Tsem Rinpoche
“We need another and wiser and perhaps a more mythical concept of animals…. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complex than ours they moved finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
~ Henry Beston, The Outermost House
China’s plan to cut meat consumption by 50% cheered by climate campaigners
Oliver Milman and Stuart Leavenworth in Beijing | Mon 20 Jun 2016 21.08 BST
New dietary guidelines could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1bn tonnes by 2030, and could lessen the country’s problems with obesity and diabetes.
China now consumes 28% of the world’s meat, including half of its pork. Photograph: Wong Campion/Reuters
The Chinese government has outlined a plan to reduce its citizens’ meat consumption by 50%, in a move that climate campaigners hope will provide major heft in the effort to avoid runaway global warming.
New dietary guidelines drawn up by China’s health ministry recommend that the nation’s 1.3 billion population should consume between 40g to 75g of meat per person each day. The measures, released once every 10 years, are designed to improve public health but could also provide a significant cut to greenhouse gas emissions.
The Chinese Communist party has found unusual allies among Hollywood celebrities, with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and director James Cameron involved in a series of new public information adverts encouraging Chinese people to consume less animal flesh to help the environment.
Should the new guidelines be followed, carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from China’s livestock industry would be reduced by 1bn tonnes by 2030, from a projected 1.8bn tonnes in that year.
Globally, 14.5% of planet-warming emissions emanate from the keeping and eating of cows, chickens, pigs and other animals – more than the emissions from the entire transport sector. Livestock emit methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, while land clearing and fertilizers release large quantities of carbon.
“Through this kind of lifestyle change, it is expected that the livestock industry will transform and carbon emissions will be reduced,” said Li Junfeng, director general of China’s National Center on Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation.
“Tackling climate change involves scientific judgement, political decisions, entrepreneurial support, but at last, it still relies on involvement of the general public to change the consumption behavior in China. Every single one of us has to believe in the low-carbon concept and slowly adapt to it.”
Meat has gone from rare treat to a regular staple for many Chinese people. In 1982, the average Chinese person ate just 13kg of meat a year and beef was nicknamed “millionaire’s meat” due to its scarcity.
The emergence of China as a global economic power has radically altered the diets of a newly wealthy population. The average Chinese person now eats 63kg of meat a year, with a further 30kg of meat per person expected to be added by 2030 if nothing is done to disrupt this trend. The new guidelines would reduce this to 14kg to 27kg a year.
China now consumes 28% of the world’s meat, including half of its pork. However, China still lags behind more than a dozen other countries in per capita meat consumption, with the average American or Australian consuming twice as much meat per person compared to China.
According to a new report by WildAid, the predicted increase in China’s meat consumption would add an extra 233m tonnes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere each year, as well as put increased strain on the country’s water supply, which is already blighted by polluted and denuded rivers and groundwater.
The report warns that unchecked Chinese meat consumption will also degrade its arable land and worsen the country’s problems with obesity and diabetes. An estimated 100 million Chinese people have diabetes, more than any other country.
Research released by the thinktank Chatham House in 2014 forecasts that China alone is expected to eat 20m tonnes more of meat and dairy a year by 2020 and warned that “dietary change is essential” if global warming is to not exceed the 2C limit eventually imposed at the climate accord in Paris last year.
“China’s move to cut meat consumption in half would not only have a huge impact on public health, it is a massive leadership step towards drastically reducing carbon emissions and reaching the goals set out in the Paris agreement,” said James Cameron.
“Animal agriculture emits more than all transportation combined. Reducing demand for animal-based foods is essential if we are to limit global warming to 2C as agreed at COP21.”
Despite the Chinese government’s new commitment to reducing meat consumption, it may be difficult to convince the country’s rising middle classes to cut down. There are also strong cultural traditions attached to the eating of many animals, especially pigs. The Chinese character for “home” depicts a pig underneath the roof of a house.
Recently, Chinese companies have been buying farms in the United States and Australia to provide feed for the country’s dairy and beef industries.
In late 2013 a Chinese company, Shenghui, purchased the largest US pork producer, Smithfield Foods, to help keep up with demand.
“China’s consumption of meat is skyrocketing,” said Jeremy Haft, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University in Washington, DC and author of a 2015 book, “Unmade in China: The Hidden Truth about China’s Economic Miracle.”
“China’s demand for meat will continue to grow and support hundreds of thousands of jobs in the US meat industry,” he added. “From a climate perspective, the methane will still be created, but will be shifted to the United States.”
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/20/chinas-meat-consumption-climate-change (click to enlarge)
For more interesting information:
- Huge reduction in meat-eating ‘essential’ to avoid climate breakdown
- California did the right thing!
- 7 Things That Happen When You Stop Eating Meat
- Vegetarian Foods with More Iron than Meat!
- US Health Experts Call on Hospitals to Serve Vegan Food
- Rabbis Urge Jews to Go Vegan in Global Campaign
- Vegan Blood is Eight Times More Protective Against Cancer
- 4 Myths of Being A Vegetarian – DEBUNKED!
- Earthlings
- Animals Help Us to be Better Humans…..
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I have just watched a video few days ago, the video content was how China stand up from nothing and today they have everything.
Since year 1900 when China was invaded by the Eight Nation Alliance, they have offered up everything they have to the 8 countries to beg for peace, since then, China has been a place that always bullied by other stronger countries, China has suffered extremely from poverty. Until the year of 1949 when Mao ZeDong announced that China people have to stand up, they have to rebuild their country, but during that time, it was never easy, because it was the time when they still don’t have anything, it was the time when their country has already broken apart, it was the time when their people still living in great poverty, the country was suppose to be in a ‘total loss’ condition, but due to the not giving up attitude, they unite, they work together, they always think a head of everyone, they always work double, triple hard to chase up the footsteps of other countries, and see what they have became today? China has became 1 of the leading country in the world, China has became so rich where they can invest their money in so many very well developed countries, China has stepped up to a position where every country also have to look up to.
From nothing to something and from something to everything, this explains China’s mentality is beyond everyone else, and today, China announced to cut down meat consumption and the other countries has never taken this step yet, we can see that how much China cared for their people, first built a rich country so everyone can have better and more comfortable live, secondly they built a strong country so that everyone can live in peace and be safe, lastly, they are now building a healthy country so that everyone can live healthily.
I really admire China for their determination towards making everything better, unlike Central Tibetan Administrative, when they have tons of donations flocking into their country and they didn’t use it to rebuilt their country, when they have the support and help from so many countries, they didn’t work to give a better lifestyle to their people, but yet, they spent lots of the money to defame Dorje Shugden, hire people to hurt their own citizen, taken all sorts of disciplinary actions towards their own people who is practicing Dorje Shugden, and now, they lose their country, they lose their people, they lose all the supports and they ended up losing everything. Hoping CTA will learn the lesson and learn from China how they can make their country stronger and better.
This is an amazing news. If China cuts its meat consumption 50%, a lot of animals will be saved! Going meatless is a diet of compassion where no sentient beings have to suffer to end up in our plates. It is not ethical to kill another being just for the reason that we are hungry while there are plenty of other food options around.
Why do we need to impose such suffering onto another sentient being? Animals have feelings too like us, humans. When they are being prepared to be slaughtered, they do have the fear of death and they suffer tremendously. Why would anyone want to do that to an innocent being who did nothing to us?
That is why vegetarian is the diet of compassion where no beings have to suffer. It is just not nice to have another being to suffer just for us to fill our stomach. Let’s hope this will be an inspiration for more people to switch to a diet with less meat.
China is becoming a leader in every sector. No country has planned to half the meat intake of their people in order to save our environment till this day. Only China is great enough to think so progressively. Just contemplate, about 20 years ago, China was poor and backwards and now it is the #1 super global power surpassing USA, Europe and Japan already.
Wow…..great news China been a big developed country is cutting meat consumption and taken the first approach. The Chinese population has the highest percentage of people with diabetes and other medical health problems. China’s health ministry has issued guidelines to help the people to adopt a more healthier vegetarian diet. They do believes it would be good for both health and the environment. Chinese consumers are now reducing their meat intake in favour of vegetables, tofu, and vegan meat substitutes. A good choice to do so in order to maintain a healthy weight and improve general health. Scientific researcher has proven that diets high in processed meat and dairy have been linked to increased risk of developing diabetes, hypertension, liver disease and cancer. They also says that vegan food can slow climate change, as plant-based foods require significantly fewer resources to produce than animal-based foods . China is encouraging its citizens to eat less meat, that wonderful. Do hope more countries will follow what China is doing. Research has shows that eating a vegetarian or vegan diet have a positive impact on climate change. For the better of our future generation , we should go meatless or vegetarian for the start.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
China is starting to introduce vegetarian product.
We can find some vegetarian food now compare to last time.
Eventhough currently, their consumption are majority beef and lamb, we still manage to see vegetables menu in restaurant and stalls but limited.
Hopefully we can see more vegetables in their menu.
China is now playing vital role in many key aspects in the world arena. Its influence is not to be ignored. From the past, we can clearly conclude that, if China decided to implement a new policy, the success rate is always high. Chinese people regardless of what, always show immediate and unanimous support to their government. I think this special culture is also one of the key elements that bring China success. Hopefully the same success will apply to the 50% cut down of meat consumption. It will make a huge difference to the environment and will save many precious animal lives.