---
title: "To Feed a Hungry Planet, We’re All Going to Need to Eat Less Meat"
description: "## Salad Days"
date: "2018-10-12"
modified: "2018-10-12"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/flexitarian-diet-climate-change"
categories:
  - "Climate Change"
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "climate change"
  - "diet"
  - "marco springmann"
  - "the digest"
  - "University of Oxford"
---

# To Feed a Hungry Planet, We’re All Going to Need to Eat Less Meat

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/hungry-planet-less-meat.png>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://pixabay.com/en/greenhouse-organic-farming-2139527/" target="\_blank"\>naidokdin\</a\>\</em\>*

## Salad Days

Earlier this week, a [United Nations report predicted](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/ipcc-report-climate-change>) that climate change will likely lead to international starvation, drought, and extreme weather events by the 2040s.

On Wednesday, a team of European researchers pushed the conversation forward with a [landmark report](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0594-0.epdf>) about the changes we'd need to make to the global food system to mitigate fallout from climate change and a growing population.

Their conclusion is that sidestepping the worst possible harm from climate change is possible, but it'll require sweeping dietary changes across the globe. The biggest shift: Everybody will have to lay off meat and adopt a "flexitarian" diet made up mostly of plants.

## Sweeping Change

Individuals can make dietary decisions that will offset their carbon footprints, the researchers said, but to avoid looming catastrophe, governments across the world will need to make sweeping policy changes to encourage flexitarian diets.

"I think we can do it, but we really need much more proactive governments to provide the right framework," said lead researcher Marco Springmann, from the University of Oxford, in [an interview](<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/10/huge-reduction-in-meat-eating-essential-to-avoid-climate-breakdown>) with the *Guardian*. "People can make a personal difference by changing their diet, but also by knocking on the doors of their politicians and saying we need better environmental regulations."

**READ MORE:** [Options for Keeping the Food System Within Environmental Limits](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0594-0.epdf>) \[*Nature*\]

***More on climate change: [Report: Unless We Make Dramatic Changes, We're Headed for Climate Catastrophe](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/ipcc-report-climate-change>)***

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)