Taking on Food Emissions at Their Origin and Consumption

 

"A Food Connection to Climate Change

You might think it strange that the food system, which is responsible for a third of global emissions, is not brought up more as a focus of climate action. You don’t see it in protest slogans, you don’t hear politicians railing about it, and it’s not often a leading subject at climate change gatherings.

There are a few glaring reasons, according to Andy Jarvis, the director of future of food at the Bezos Earth Fund, the philanthropic climate change organization started by the billionaire Jeff Bezos. The fund has $10 billion to distribute by 2030 to foster ideas and action related to sustainability and emissions reduction, including $1 billion earmarked for “food system transformation.”

“One is, it’s not such a clear-cut source,” Dr. Jarvis said in a video interview before the Climate Forward event, referring to the disparate ways that food generates emissions, including methane emitted by grazing cows, trees cut down for cattle grazing and uneaten food sent to landfills.

The second reason is politics. It’s not easy taking on food interests, Dr. Jarvis said. “As much as it sounds like taking on the biggest corporations, oil companies, the most powerful lobbies in the world — that’s probably a lower-hanging fruit than taking on food.”

One other reason food isn’t highlighted above other emissions sources is that there is not one obvious solution. That’s why Mr. Jarvis said his organization funds differing approaches to reducing emissions from food, even when they appear to be in competition.

“We have this ‘Yes and’ approach recognizing that yes, we need livestock and we need livestock to be a lot more sustainable and we need to look for alternatives that will reduce meat consumption,” he said.

Alternative Proteins

As a vegan, Bruce Friedrich might be expected to say we shouldn’t eat meat. But that is no longer his position.

“Begging and cajoling people to eat less meat for 50 years has not decreased meat consumption,” Mr. Friedrich said. He pointed to figures showing meat eating up by 70 percent worldwide in the last quarter century and he expects it to increase by another 70 percent in the next.

“That’s certainly a lot of animal suffering, but it also makes climate goals completely impossible,” Mr. Friedrich added.

Mr. Friedrich is president of the Good Food Institute, a think tank dedicated to promoting alternative proteins, which include plant-based substitutes and meat grown from cultivated animal cells. The organization’s theory of change is that people will embrace such proteins if they can be made as delicious and affordable as conventional meat. “Nobody has yet created plant-based meat that tastes the same and costs the same or less,” Mr. Friedrich said.

For that to happen, Mr. Friedrich said the industry needs the same kind of support and funding received by another sector commonly associated with the climate crisis: electric vehicles.

“There would be no E.V. industry if not for the U.S. and China,” Mr. Friedrich said. “It will probably require government support to get us where we need to go on alternative proteins.”

As to why food isn’t given the same attention as other climate change issues, Mr. Friedrich said he thinks it is because world leaders didn’t believe the public would respond to futile appeals to eat less meat.

“They didn’t think there was another intervention that addresses the meat issue in the same way that renewable energy addresses electricity and electric vehicles address personal transportation,” he said.

For Mr. Friedrich, alternative proteins are that intervention.

A Better Way to Raise Cows

Will Harris has strong opinions about animals.

“The militant vegans and vegetarians have done a good job convincing the world that cattle are destroying the earth and destroying the environment, when I know better,” Mr. Harris said.

Mr. Harris is the owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Ga., which has raised cows and other animals “regeneratively” since the mid 1990s. That’s an approach to farming where cattle graze freely and where farmers use minimal pesticides and disturb the ground as little as possible. Before that, the farm raised cows in a more conventional manner, using antibiotics, feedlots and the resulting pollution that gets unleashed into the surrounding environment.

“Having raised cattle industrially and having raised cattle regeneratively, I can tell you that cattle raised industrially are destroying the planet,” Mr. Harris added.

Proponents of regenerative agriculture point to the soil’s ability to store more carbon that would otherwise be trapping heat in the atmosphere. White Oak Pastures claims the organic matter in its soil, a proxy for the carbon it holds, has gone from half a percent to 5.5 percent since they switched to regenerative practices three decades ago.

Despite some tough financial years after switching his practices, Mr. Harris said the business now earns $30 million a year and runs its own training program. However, he would prefer to be an “early innovator” rather than the “niche provider” he might be if he remains an outlier in the industry.

Despite the environmental benefits, regenerative practices are far from a silver bullet. They don’t address the heat-trapping methane that cows emit, although they can offset it in carbon sequestration. And they still require land that could otherwise be used to grow carbon-hungry trees.

Even Mr. Harris said the planet has a “carrying capacity” when it comes to how much meat eating the planet can support.

Changing Behavior Without Changing Minds

Katie Cantrell wants people to eat less meat without trying to change their minds about animal products. The organization she founded, Greener By Default, uses a concept from behavioral economics called choice architecture.

“Right now pretty much everywhere, meat is the default, and people have to specially opt into plant-based options, which usually only strict vegetarians bother to do,” Ms. Cantrell said. “We can encourage ‘flexitarianism’ by making plant-based the default and giving people the option to add meat and dairy.”

In a previous role, Ms. Cantrell spent 10 years running a nonprofit dedicated to food system education, where she said she saw firsthand how hard it is to change people’s behavior using “facts and figures.” By changing the defaults, people still get to make their own decision, but the easier choice is the one that’s better for the environment.

That might be in a set menu at an event, the prominence of food options at a workplace cafeteria or, in the example Ms. Cantrell highlighted, the food you get in a public hospital system. In 2022 NYC Health + Hospitals, the country’s largest municipal health system, made patient meals plant-based by default. Ms. Cantrell said today more than 50 percent of patients accept that choice. The result: a reduction in carbon emissions of the hospital food program by a third after a year.

The ultimate default food option may happen in one of the most emissions-heavy environments — air travel. If the Greener By Default approach takes off, some day instead of being offered the usual mealtime option of chicken or beef, the only way to get meat or dairy could be to go online ahead of time and request it, much like vegans and vegetarians do now. But to avoid a backlash, Ms. Cantrell suggested that airlines instead make available one meat and two plant-based options for now, which she predicted would likely see a “tremendous uptake.”" [1]

1. Taking on Food Emissions at Their Origin and Consumption. Colgan, Jim.  New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Sep 25, 2024.

 

China’s drone market dominance makes it harder for Taiwanese drone companies to grow big enough to remain robust during slack times for military orders. Lithuanians don't know this

 Lithuanian businessmen en masse, like lemmings jumping from a cliff into water, are turning into the abyss of the war industry.

 China’s drone market dominance makes it harder for Taiwanese drone companies to grow big enough to remain robust during slack times for military orders.

"Officials hope that Taiwan can become a bigger player in the supply chain for drones, a move that would also help blunt any threats posed to the island by China.

Spurred by worries about China’s strength in mass-producing drones, American and Taiwanese companies and government officials are working to join forces in making the air and sea vehicles that could be crucial to defending Taiwan.

Several days of discussions in Taiwan, set to finish on Wednesday and held largely away from public view, brought more than two dozen American companies that make drones and anti-drone technologies together with Taiwanese firms looking for American knowledge and customers.

The trade mission, organized by the U.S. International Trade Administration, was the latest indication of how Washington and Taipei have been jolted by China’s position as the world’s biggest maker of commercial drones. Military drones hold the potential to erode Taiwan’s defenses against possible incursions or an attack by China, which claims the island as its territory. Taiwan plans to expand its military drone numbers to blunt that risk.

Taiwanese officials hope that their island can become a bigger player in the supply chain for drones for the United States and allied countries, echoing Taiwan’s success in producing advanced semiconductors. U.S. officials hope to reduce American reliance on Chinese-made drones and components by tapping Taiwan’s manufacturing strengths. Both sides are drawing on lessons from the battlefields of Ukraine and other conflict zones, where drones have become important for mounting attacks and monitoring enemy forces.

“They have certain capabilities, and they’re coming to find out about our capabilities,” Taiwan’s minister of defense, Wellington Koo, told reporters in Taipei last week, referring to the U.S. drone delegation. “We can become part of the international supply chain.”

The U.S. delegation included representatives from Northrop Grumman, a big military equipment supplier, as well as companies offering undersea drones, drone detection equipment and other innovations in unmanned aerial vehicles, or U.A.V.s. U.S. defense officials accompanied the delegation, according to Taiwanese news reports.

“Industrial cooperation between the United States and Taiwan is critical to developing supply chain security for a whole range of technologies,” the press office of the American Institute in Taiwan — Washington’s de facto embassy in Taipei — said in a statement.

But hurdles could slow, even stymie, some of Taiwan’s ambitions for a bigger role in designing and manufacturing drones with the United States and its allies. The United States produces most of its military drones, through defense contractors.

Without more government support, Taiwan’s small manufacturers may find it difficult to draw enough funding to increase production, and they must navigate stringent security checks for supplying parts for U.S. military drones, said Chen Kuan-ting, a Taiwanese lawmaker from Chiayi, an area that is building production and testing sites for airborne technology.

U.S. policymakers may be leery of depending too much on Taiwan for drone parts. Some worry about industrial secrets leaking to China. If Taiwan were to come under a Chinese blockade or attack, American drone makers could lose flows of vital components.

“Security and intellectual property risks are real but manageable with the right safeguards,” said Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a research institute in Washington. “Cooperation with Taiwan is crucial, but it needs to be part of a broader strategy that includes shifting some production to more secure locations. This way, the U.S. can benefit from Taiwan’s capabilities without overexposing itself to geopolitical risks.”

Still, the shared worries about China’s military technology are likely to keep driving U.S. and Taiwanese companies toward more collaboration. “Deepening defense industry cooperation between us can send the right message to the Chinese Communist Party: don’t rashly launch a war against Taiwan,” Hsu Yen-pu, a Taiwanese vice minister for defense, told a U.S.-Taiwan defense industry conference in Philadelphia on Monday, according to a transcript shared by the Taiwanese defense ministry.

China’s military drones have become an increasingly common sight in the skies near Taiwan, and they have made flights circling Taiwan’s main island, according to Taiwan’s ministry of defense. China dominates commercial drone sales in the United States and across much of the world, led by DJI, which says it holds 70 percent of the global market. Despite Taiwan’s icy political relations with China, DJI drones are similarly popular with Taiwanese consumers.

“DJI drones — I think it’s best to think about them as Huawei with wings,” Mr. Singleton said in a recent presentation, likening DJI to China’s giant telecommunications company. “Through brute-force economics, the Chinese have established a Chinese champion that controls our current market.”

China’s market dominance makes it harder for Taiwanese drone companies to grow big enough to remain robust during slack times for military orders. 

Access to more American orders, both commercial and defense, could help overcome that.

“We understand the importance of supporting Taiwan’s own U.A.V. industry, and we believe partnerships can be structured in a way that benefits both sides,” René Carbone Bardorf, the vice president for marketing and communications at AeroVironment, a company on the trade mission, said in a statement. In June, the State Department gave the green light for AeroVironment to sell up to 720 Switchblade drones to Taiwan.

Taiwan’s ministry of defense said last year that it will acquire 7,700 drones in coming years. But turning to Taiwan for more and more parts could raise costs.

“To all of a sudden have these manufacturers move back to producing in Taiwan, we’ll have to see if there’s the determination to remove Chinese parts suppliers from the drone industry,” said Chen Kwan-ju, the chairman of Thunder Tiger, a Taiwanese firm that took part in the talks. “I think this really all comes down to the government’s attitude.”" [1]

1. Taiwan and U.S. Work to Counter China’s Drone Dominance. Buckley, Chris; Amy Chang Chien.  New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Sep 25, 2024.

Kinija, dominuojanti dronų rinką, apsunkina Taivano bepiločių orlaivių kompanijoms išaugti pakankamai didelėmis, kad išliktų tvirtos karinių užsakymų sustingimo metu. Lietuviai to nežino

 

 

 Lietuvos verslininkai masiškai, kaip lemingai nuo skardžio į vandenį, virsta į karo pramonės bedugnę.

 „Pareigūnai tikisi, kad Taivanas gali tapti didesniu žaidėju bepiločių orlaivių tiekimo grandinėje, o tai taip pat padėtų sušvelninti visas Kinijos keliamas grėsmes salai.

 

 Susirūpinę dėl Kinijos stiprybės masinės bepiločių orlaivių gamybos srityje, Amerikos ir Taivano įmonės ir vyriausybės pareigūnai stengiasi suvienyti jėgas, kurdami oro ir jūrų transporto priemones, kurios gali būti labai svarbios, ginant Taivaną.

 

 Kelias dienas trukusios diskusijos Taivane, kurios turėjo baigtis trečiadienį ir iš esmės nebuvo viešai matomos, subūrė daugiau, nei dvi dešimtis, Amerikos kompanijų, gaminančių dronus ir antidronų technologijas, su Taivano įmonėmis, ieškančiomis amerikietiškų žinių ir klientų.

 

 Prekybos misija, kurią organizavo JAV Tarptautinė prekybos administracija, buvo naujausias požymis, kaip Vašingtoną ir Taipėją sukrėtė Kinijos, kaip didžiausios pasaulyje komercinių dronų gamintojos, padėtis. Kariniai bepiločiai orlaiviai gali sugriauti Taivano gynybą nuo galimų įsiveržimų ar Kinijos, kuri salą laiko savo teritorija, išpuolio. Taivanas planuoja išplėsti jo karinių dronų skaičių, kad sumažintų šią riziką.

 

 Taivano pareigūnai tikisi, kad jų sala gali tapti didesniu žaidėju JAV ir sąjungininkų šalių bepiločių orlaivių tiekimo grandinėje, pakartodama Taivano sėkmę, gaminant pažangius puslaidininkius. JAV pareigūnai tikisi sumažinti Amerikos priklausomybę nuo Kinijoje pagamintų dronų ir komponentų, pasinaudodami Taivano gamybos pranašumais. Abi pusės mokosi iš Ukrainos mūšio laukų ir kitų konflikto zonų, kur dronai tapo svarbūs, rengiant atakas ir stebint priešo pajėgas.

 

 „Jie turi tam tikrų pajėgumų ir ateina sužinoti apie mūsų pajėgumus“, – praėjusią savaitę Taipėjuje žurnalistams sakė Taivano gynybos ministras Wellingtonas Koo, turėdamas omenyje JAV bepiločių orlaivių delegaciją. „Galime tapti tarptautinės tiekimo grandinės dalimi."

 

 JAV delegacijoje buvo atstovai iš didelio karinės įrangos tiekėjo Northrop Grumman, taip pat įmonių, siūlančių povandeninius dronus, dronų aptikimo įrangą ir kitas nepilotuojamų orlaivių naujoves. Remiantis Taivano naujienų pranešimais, delegaciją lydėjo JAV gynybos pareigūnai.

 

 „Pramoninis bendradarbiavimas tarp Jungtinių Valstijų ir Taivano yra labai svarbus, kuriant tiekimo grandinės saugumą įvairioms technologijoms“, – sakoma Amerikos instituto Taivane – Vašingtono de facto ambasados ​​Taipėjuje – spaudos biuro pranešime.

 

 Tačiau kliūtys gali sulėtinti, netgi sužlugdyti, kai kuriuos Taivano siekius imtis didesnio vaidmens, kuriant ir gaminant bepiločius lėktuvus kartu su JAV ir jų sąjungininkais. Jungtinės Valstijos didžiąją dalį karinių bepiločių orlaivių gamina per gynybos rangovus.

 

 Be didesnės vyriausybės paramos, smulkiesiems Taivano gamintojams gali būti sunku gauti pakankamai lėšų gamybai padidinti, ir jie privalo atlikti griežtas saugumo patikras, tiekdami JAV karinių bepiločių orlaivių dalis, sakė Chen Kuan-ting, Taivano įstatymų leidėjas iš Chiayi, regiono, kuriame Taivanas stato orlaivių technologijų gamybos ir bandymų vietas.

 

 JAV politikos formuotojai gali būti pernelyg priklausomi nuo Taivano dėl dronų dalių. Kai kurie nerimauja dėl pramoninių paslapčių nutekėjimo į Kiniją. Jei Taivanas patektų į Kinijos blokadą ar ataką, amerikiečių dronų gamintojai galėtų prarasti gyvybiškai svarbių komponentų srautus.

 

 „Saugumo ir intelektinės nuosavybės rizika yra reali, tačiau ją galima valdyti, naudojant tinkamas apsaugos priemones“, – sakė Vašingtone veikiančio tyrimų instituto Demokratijų gynybos fondo vyresnysis bendradarbis Craigas Singletonas. „Bendradarbiavimas su Taivanu yra labai svarbus, tačiau jis turi būti platesnės strategijos, apimančios dalies gamybos perkėlimą į saugesnes vietas, dalis. Tokiu būdu JAV gali pasinaudoti Taivano galimybėmis, pernelyg negaudamos geopolitinės rizikos."

 

 Vis dėlto bendras susirūpinimas dėl Kinijos karinių technologijų greičiausiai paskatins JAV ir Taivano įmones glaudžiau bendradarbiauti. „Gilesnis mūsų bendradarbiavimas gynybos pramonės srityje gali nusiųsti teisingą žinią Kinijos komunistų partijai: neskubėkite pradėti karo prieš Taivaną“, – per JAV ir Taivano gynybos pramonės konferenciją sakė Taivano gynybos viceministras Hsu Yen-pu Filadelfijoje pirmadienį, teigiama, Taivano gynybos ministerijos išplatintoje, stenogramoje.

 

 Pasak Taivano gynybos ministerijos, Kinijos kariniai bepiločiai orlaiviai tapo vis dažnesniu reginiu danguje netoli Taivano ir jie skrido aplink pagrindinę Taivano salą. Kinija dominuoja, parduodant komercinius bepiločius lėktuvus Jungtinėse Valstijose ir daugelyje pasaulio šalių, vadovaujama DJI, kuri teigia, kad jai priklauso 70 procentų pasaulinės rinkos. Nepaisant ledinių Taivano politinių santykių su Kinija, DJI dronai yra taip pat populiarūs tarp Taivano vartotojų.

 

„DJI dronai – manau, geriausia apie juos galvoti, kaip apie „Huawei“ su sparnais“, – neseniai pristatytame pranešime sakė D. Singletonas, palygindamas DJI su milžiniška Kinijos telekomunikacijų kompanija. „Per žiaurią ekonomiką kinai įkūrė Kinijos čempioną, kuris kontroliuoja mūsų dabartinę rinką."

 

 Kinijos dominavimas rinkoje apsunkina Taivano bepiločių orlaivių kompanijoms augti pakankamai didelėms, kad išliktų tvirtos karinių užsakymų stingimo metu.

 

 Prieiga prie daugiau Amerikos užsakymų, tiek komercinių, tiek gynybos, galėtų padėti tai įveikti.

 

 „Suprantame, kaip svarbu remti Taivano U.A.V. ir mes tikime, kad partnerystė gali būti struktūrizuota taip, kad būtų naudinga abiem pusėms“, – pranešime teigė René Carbone'as Bardorfas, prekybos misiją vykdančios bendrovės „AeroVironment“ rinkodaros ir komunikacijos viceprezidentas. Birželio mėnesį Valstybės departamentas davė žalią šviesą „AeroVironment“ parduoti Taivanui iki 720 „Switchblade“ dronų.

 

 Taivano gynybos ministerija pernai pranešė, kad ateinančiais metais ji įsigys 7700 dronų. Tačiau kreipiantis į Taivaną dėl vis daugiau dalių, gali padidėti išlaidos.

 

 „Jeigu šie gamintojai staiga grįžo prie gamybos Taivane, turėsime pažiūrėti, ar yra ryžto pašalinti Kinijos dalių tiekėjus iš dronų pramonės“, – sakė Chen Kwan-ju, „Thunder Tiger“ valdybos pirmininkas iš Taivano įmonės, kuri dalyvavo derybose. „Manau, kad visa tai iš tikrųjų priklauso nuo vyriausybės požiūrio.“" [1]

 

1. Taiwan and U.S. Work to Counter China’s Drone Dominance. Buckley, Chris; Amy Chang Chien.  New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Sep 25, 2024.