导读:从今天开始，少吃肉，也是为环境做贡献呢！

Huge reductions in meat-eating are essential to avoid dangerous climate change, according to the most comprehensive analysis yet of the food system’s impact on the environment. In western countries, beef consumption needs to fall by 90% and be replaced by five times more beans and pulses.

关于食品系统对环境影响的最全面分析显示，大幅减少吃肉对于避免危险的气候变化至关重要。在西方国家，牛肉消耗量需要下降90%，取而代之的是五倍数量的豆类。

The research also finds that enormous changes to farming are needed to avoid destroying the planet’s ability to feed the 10 billion people expected to be on the planet in a few decades.

研究还发现，需要对农业进行巨大变革，才能避免破坏地球在未来几十年里要养活100亿人口的能力。

Food production already causes great damage to the environment, via greenhouse gases from livestock, deforestation and water shortages from farming, and vast ocean dead zones from agricultural pollution. But without action, its impact will get far worse as the world population rises by 2.3 billion people by 2050 and global income triples, enabling more people to eat meat-rich western diets.

食品生产已经对环境造成巨大破坏，包括牲畜产生温室气体、耕作导致森林退化和用水短缺、农业污染导致大片海洋成为死亡地带。但如果不采取行动，其影响将变得愈发严重，因为到2050年，全世界人口将增加23亿，全球收入将增加两倍从而使更多的人能够采用富含肉类的西方饮食。

This trajectory would smash critical environmental limits beyond which humanity will struggle to live, the new research indicates. “It is pretty shocking,” said Marco Springmann at the University of Oxford, who led the research team. “We are really risking the sustainability of the whole system. If we are interested in people being able to farm and eat, then we better not do that.”

最新研究表明，这个轨迹将突破人类生存的环境极限。研究小组负责人、牛津大学的马尔科·施普林曼说：“这相当令人震惊，我们确实是在拿整个系统的可持续性冒险。如果我们有心让人们能够耕作和吃饱饭，那就最好别这样。”

“Feeding a world population of 10 billion is possible, but only if we change the way we eat and the way we produce food,” said Prof Johan Rockstr?m at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, who was part of the research team. “Greening the food sector or eating up our planet: this is what is on the menu today.”

“养活全世界100亿人是可以做到的，但前提是我们改变饮食结构和食品生产方式，”研究小组成员、德国波茨坦气候影响研究所的约翰·罗克斯特伦教授说，“要么让食品行业环保，要么吃光地球：这就是当今的抉择。”

The new study follows the publication of a landmark UN report on Monday in which the world’s leading scientists warned there are just a dozen years in which to keep global warming under 1.5C, beyond which even half a degree will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods and extreme heat. The report said eating less meat and dairy was important but said current trends were in the opposite direction.

在这项最新研究成果出台之前，联合国星期一发布了一份具有里程碑意义的报告。在这份报告中，世界顶尖科学家们告诫称，把全球变暖幅度控制在1.5摄氏度以下只有12年时间可利用，超过这个幅度以后，全球气温哪怕上升区区半摄氏度也会大大增加干旱、洪涝和极端高温的风险。报告说，少吃肉类和奶制品很重要，但目前的趋势正相反。

The new research, published in the journal Nature, is the most thorough to date and combined data from every country to assess the impact of food production on the global environment. It then looked at what could be done to stop the looming food crisis.

载于《自然》周刊的这项最新研究成果是迄今为止最彻底的，它综合了每个国家的数据来评估食品生产对全球环境的影响。随后，它探讨了我们要做些什么才能阻止迫在眉睫的食品危机。

“There is no magic bullet,” said Springmann. “But dietary and technological change [on farms] are the two essential things, and hopefully they can be complemented by reduction in food loss and waste.” About a third of food produced today never reaches the table.

“没有轻而易举的解决办法，”施普林曼说，“但日常饮食和（农场）技术变革是至关重要的两点，但愿与此同时食品损失和浪费能减少。”目前约三分之一的食品在生产出来以后根本未上餐桌。

The researchers found a global shift to a “flexitarian” diet was needed to keep climate change even under 2C, let alone 1.5C. This flexitarian diet means the average world citizen needs to eat 75% less beef, 90% less pork and half the number of eggs, while tripling consumption of beans and pulses and quadrupling nuts and seeds. This would halve emissions from livestock and better management of manure would enable further cuts.

研究人员发现，要使气候变暖幅度不超过2摄氏度（更不用说1.5摄氏度），就必须在全球范围内转向“弹性素食”日常饮食。这种饮食结构意味着普通世界公民需要少吃75%的牛肉、90%的猪肉和一半的鸡蛋而将豆类消耗量增加两倍、坚果和种子消耗量增加三倍。这将使牲畜的碳排放量减少一半，而改进对粪便的处理有助于进一步减排。

In rich nations, the dietary changes required are ever more stark. UK and US citizens need to cut beef by 90% and milk by 60% while increasing beans and pulses between four and six times. However, the millions of people in poor nations who are undernourished need to eat a little more meat and dairy.

富裕国家需要做出的饮食结构变化更大，英国和美国公民需要少摄入90%的牛肉和60%的牛奶，同时将豆类摄入量增加三至五倍。不过，贫穷国家数百万营养不良的人需要稍微多吃一点肉和奶制品。

Reducing meat consumption might be achieved by a mix of education, taxes, subsidies for plant-based foods and changes to school and workplace menus, the scientists said.

科学家们说，减少肉类消耗可以多管齐下，综合利用教育、税收、植物性食品补贴以及学校和工作场所菜单变化等手段来实现。

To halt deforestation, water shortages and pollution from overuse of fertiliser, profound changes in farming practices are needed. These include increasing crop yields in poorer nations, more universal water storage and far more careful use of fertilisers.

为制止过度使用化肥造成森林退化、用水短缺和污染，耕作方法须有深刻的变革，这其中包括提高较贫穷国家的作物产量、更具有整体性地储存水资源以及更谨慎地使用化肥。

（来源：爱语吧）