Just over a week ago –in spite of Samoa being in the so-called ‘dry season’- heavy downpours caused flash flooding in several parts of Savaii, especially involving road crossings with low-lying fords. It proves that Samoa is constantly on the receiving end –just like, increasingly, in other parts of the world- of the accelerating climate change that humanity is now experiencing. 

In the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report, there is a warning that the world has to slash carbon emissions by almost half in just the next seven years. This is simply to remain on track for staying below the 1.5C of global heating that the nations agreed on in 2015 that must happen in order to avoid the worst of climate impacts. 

The report is frank and at the same time devastating because what hope is there to avoid this climate catastrophe? Especially when carbon emissions –the cause of global warming- are still rising…  While alarming, the Report still feels that ‘we can do it’, provided the World looks at the ‘road map’ the Report has prepared for an escape from catastrophe. It assesses with extraordinary clarity the more than 40 options that the world’s best scientists have prepared that have the potential for cutting carbon emissions. 

The first two options that stand out as the most effective ones are: expanding as quickly as possible the use of solar and wind power to generate electricity. Most nations are accelerating this option, especially since it would not only cut carbon emissions drastically but it would make electricity cheaper.  In Samoa, at the moment, solar power generates 9 per cent of our electricity. But when hydro and biomass resources are added, 36 per cent of our electricity comes from renewable sources. 

The next option that the Report highlighted was the need to keep fossil fuels in the ground: a topic that has been debated for decades in world assemblies like the COP meetings and has been strongly resisted ever since by the giant oil business interests. We write this column from the angle of Public Health and obviously, the impact of accelerated climate change will touch and endanger every citizen’s life. The feeling one gets is that one is helpless as an individual to contribute to efforts to cut carbon emissions. 

And yet, if we look at the fourth most efficient option the Report identified that would cut carbon emissions it was ‘halting deforestation’. And to that end – surprisingly maybe to some – every world citizen could make a contribution to reach this goal. Indeed, the massive deforestation of centuries-old tropical rainforests, in Asia, Africa and South America is driven by the need to find land to plant animal feed needed to feed the billions and billions of cattle, sheep and chickens that are reared in cramped, unhygienic conditions: in the so-called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), then slaughtered and the meat exported around the world to satisfy the world’s population excessive appetite for meat. 

For years, international animal welfare organisations have decried the cruelty to these animals and campaigned for the elimination of the CAFOs. From our Public Health angle, we feel that here is the chance for any individual wishing so, to make their contribution to helping to slow climate change. And all the action that is needed is to stop eating animal products, especially those originating from these CAFOs, basically, most animal products are imported from overseas. In doing so, we would have a win-win situation: this would fit with METI’s call for persons suffering from non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease to stick to the whole food plant-based diet. 

At the same time, switching to a plant-based diet would lead to a substantial reduction in the demand for meat products, which in turn would halt the further destruction of the rainforests (and give a chance for a massive programme of tree planting).  That the world is ready for this ‘food revolution’ can be assessed from statistics from overseas and locally.  

A recent editorial entitled “Plant-Based Diets for Personal, Population, and Planetary Health,” co-authored by the chair of nutrition at Harvard University, supports our call and stresses that ‘healthy plant-based diets are not only more sustainable (and preventing more deforestation), but they have also been associated with lower risk of chronic diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers’. 

The IPCC Report also describes plant-based diets as a major opportunity for mitigating and adapting to climate change and includes a policy recommendation to reduce meat consumption. As we reported earlier in this Column, in a recent 6-village project, METI rallied the support of the Women’s Committees to identify persons suffering from NCD.  Of those identified, 30% of them were prepared to start the WFPB diet and were motivated enough to keep following the diet till they showed improvement or reversal of their conditions. At the same time: according to a survey of more than 30,000 U.S. residents, one in three was trying to cut down on their meat consumption. It is heartening to know that slowly –ever so slowly- people’s minds are moving towards eating more plant‐based foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes—meaning beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils—seeds, nuts, and, at the same time, lower their consumption of animal foods––particularly fatty and processed meats. 

The next 7 years will be critical to halting the further building up of carbon emissions: you can join the worldwide effort to slow down climate change by becoming a METI supporter and help us to promote a plant-based lifestyle! To help you with such a transition, we invite you to visit METI’s Healthy Living Clinic at House No. 51 at Motootua (across from the Kokobanana Restaurant) to become acquainted with METI’s whole food plant-based diet and Lifestyle Change programs. Or call us at 30550. Learning how to follow these Programs might be your ‘game changer’!