Source: The Guardian
A governmental decision recently aimed to reduce the consumption of meat by 50% in China.
28 Juni 2016 16:58
Brilio.net/en - Since its rise as one of the worlds greatest powers, the quality of life in China increased. One of the indicator of the countrys evolution is the consumption of meat. Considered a rare commodity until the 80s, when the average meat consumption was roughly 13 kilos per year per inhabitant, the current amount has reached 63 kilos.
In terms of consumption per person, the figure is still behind the USA and Australia, which are double the amount. However, the popular republic of China, through its 1.3 billion citizens, is nowadays consuming about 30% of the quantity of meat available worldwide.
Industrial cattle farming produces almost a fifth of the greenhouse gas emission of the planet, or more than the gas emitted by all cars in the world together. This is mainly due to the emission of methane by farm animals (bovine especially) and the high quantity of fertilizer used for the massive production designated to the animals.
In a few words, the consumption of tremendous amount of meat is highly harmful to the atmosphere equilibrium, which has a become a big concern in China over the last years. Due to the pollution, some cities are simply shut down: people have to stay home to avoid breathing toxic air, companies have to close sometimes for several days, which in turn brings the huge economy to a standstill.
The Chinese government is now taking measures to try to fix the current several pollution problems and prevent catastrophes that could occur even sooner than expected. The consumption of meat is at the heart of the different recommendations.
The goal that has been set is to reach a decrease of 50% by 2030 but it seems already that a lot of efforts will have to be made. Culinary traditions are still very anchored in daily lives and it would be harder for any country to have to change its habits especially for such renowned gastronomy as China has.
