The Ministry for the Future is a sci-fi novel in which the climate crisis is an emergency so dire that it forces humankind to shift course. In the book, a catastrophic Indian heatwave in the near future causes the death of more than 20 million people. Climate activism turns to terrorism, and the author, Kim Stanley Robinson, writes about how panic induces behavioural change. To rid people of their addiction to beef – responsible for 8.5% of human-induced climate emissions in 2015 – mad cow disease is cultured by climate terrorists and injected by drones into millions of herds all over the world. Cows die off and beef, now too risky to eat, quickly comes off the menu.
Nothing so drastic has been advocated by the UK government’s food tsar, Henry Dimbleby. He sensibly favours public messaging based on persuasion rather than fear. The science is clear: animal-based foods account for 57% of agricultural greenhouse gases versus 29% for food from plants. By cooking meat, people are cooking themselves. That explains why Mr Dimbleby is in a hurry. Ministers, he told the Guardian, need to warn the public that they have to stop eating meat to save the planet.
