The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center's video: Keynote: Dr Ray Hilborn

Wednesday, June 13, 2018 A Comparison of the Environmental Costs of Food Dr. Ray Hilborn Production of all foods has environmental costs but there has been no systematic comparison of the costs across the range of food production systems. We conducted a review of 148 assessments of animal source foods (ASF) production for livestock, aquaculture and capture fisheries that measured four metrics of environmental impact (energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, release of nutrients and release of acidifying compounds into ecosystems) and standardized these per protein production. We also reviewed additional literature on freshwater demand, pesticide use and antibiotic use. There are up to 100 fold differences in impacts between specific products and in some cases for the same product; the lowest impact production technologies were capture fisheries for small pelagics and aquaculture for molluscs. The highest impact methods were industrial beef production and catfish aquaculture. Regulatory restrictions on ASF production methods, as well as consumer guidance, should consider their relative environmental impact, and currently there appears to be little relationship between regulatory restrictions and impact in most developed countries. We also discuss the biodiversity cost of different production systems. Visit www.sesync.org for more information