Gidon Eshel

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Gidon Eshel
Occupation Geophysicist

Gidon Eshel is an American geophysicist best known for his quantification of the "geophysical consequences of agriculture and diet". [1] As of 2017, he is research professor at Bard College in New York. He is known for his research on the environmental impacts of plant-based diets. [2]

Contents

Career

Eshel studied physics and earth sciences at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, before obtaining a Master of Arts (MA) degree, MPhil, and a PhD on mathematical physics at Columbia University. His Ph.D. thesis at Columbia was titled Coupling of deep water formation and the general circulation : a case study of the Red Sea. [3] Eshel was then a postdoctoral NOAA Climate & Global Change (C&GC) Fellow at the Harvard Department for Earth & Planetary Physics, a Staff Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and also a faculty member of department of geophysics at the University of Chicago. [4] Eshel also advises Bluefield Technologies on livestock methane emissions. [5]

Research

Gidon Eshel's early research found that the mean American diet that is rich in animal products such as red meat releases more carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere than a lacto-ovo vegetarian, poultry-based, pescatarian, or vegan diet. [6] Compared with a plant-based diet, the mean American diet results in 1,500 kilograms of CO2 per person annually. [6] He has campaigned against beef consumption as cattle grazing increases greenhouse gas production and negative environmental impacts such as wildlife displacement, soil erosion and damage to river systems. [6] [7] He has commented that "save going all-out vegan, the most impactful change that you can make is to ditch beef altogether and replace it with poultry—just beef to poultry". [6]

Recent examples of his work compare several livestock and land and water use, fertiliser-based water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions per factor unit of product. His highest cited paper is "Forecasting Zimbabwean maize yield using eastern equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature" at 445 times, according to Google Scholar. [8]

In 2019, it was reported in the Scientific American that Eshel and his colleagues published findings in the Nature journal which found that "if all Americans switched away from meat, it would eliminate the need for pastureland and reduce the amount of high-quality cropland under cultivation by as much as 25 percent." [9] His research has shown that by switching to a plant-based diet it would eliminate about 80 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions from agriculture in the United States. [10]

Personal life

Eshel supports plant-based diets and has described his own diet as "mostly vegan". [11]

Selected publications

Articles

Books

Films

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meat</span> Animal flesh eaten as food

Meat is animal tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals, including chickens, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, and cattle, starting around 11,000 years ago. Since then, selective breeding has enabled farmers to produce meat with the qualities desired by producers and consumers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beef</span> Meat from cattle

Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle. Beef can be prepared in various ways; cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often ground or minced, as found in most hamburgers. Beef contains protein, iron, and vitamin B12. Along with other kinds of red meat, high consumption is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer and coronary heart disease, especially when processed. Beef has a high environmental impact, being a primary driver of deforestation with the highest greenhouse gas emissions of any agricultural product.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meat alternative</span> Plant-based food made to resemble meat

A meat alternative or meat substitute, is a food product made from vegetarian or vegan ingredients, eaten as a replacement for meat. Meat alternatives typically approximate qualities of specific types of meat, such as mouthfeel, flavor, appearance, or chemical characteristics. Plant- and fungus-based substitutes are frequently made with soy, but may also be made from wheat gluten as in seitan, pea protein as in the Beyond Burger, or mycoprotein as in Quorn. Alternative protein foods can also be made by precision fermentation, where single cell organisms such as yeast produce specific proteins using a carbon source; as well as cultivated or laboratory grown, based on tissue engineering techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flexitarianism</span> Diet

A flexitarian diet, also called a semi-vegetarian diet, is one that is centered on plant foods with limited or occasional inclusion of meat. For example, a flexitarian might eat meat only some days each week. Flexitarian is a portmanteau of the words flexible and vegetarian, signifying its followers' less strict diet pattern when compared to vegetarian pattern diets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plant-based diet</span> Diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods

A plant-based diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. Plant-based diets encompass a wide range of dietary patterns that contain low amounts of animal products and high amounts of fiber-rich plant products such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. They do not need to be vegan or vegetarian, but are defined in terms of low frequency of animal food consumption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meat industry</span> People and companies engaged in industrialized livestock agriculture

The meat industry are the people and companies engaged in modern industrialized livestock agriculture for the production, packing, preservation and marketing of meat. In economics, the meat industry is a fusion of primary (agriculture) and secondary (industry) activity and hard to characterize strictly in terms of either one alone. The greater part of the meat industry is the meat packing industry – the segment that handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as poultry, cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethics of eating meat</span> Food ethics topic

Conversations regarding the ethics of eating meat are focused on whether or not it is moral to eat non-human animals. Ultimately, this is a debate that has been ongoing for millennia, and it remains one of the most prominent topics in food ethics. Individuals who promote meat consumption do so for a number of reasons, such as health, cultural traditions, religious beliefs, and scientific arguments that support the practice. Those who support meat consumption typically argue that making a meat-free diet mandatory would be wrong because it fails to consider the individual nutritional needs of humans at various stages of life, fails to account for biological differences between the sexes, ignores the reality of human evolution, ignores various cultural considerations, or because it would limit the adaptability of the human species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental vegetarianism</span> Type of practice of vegetarianism

Environmental vegetarianism is the practice of vegetarianism that is motivated by the desire to create a sustainable diet, which avoids the negative environmental impact of meat production. Livestock as a whole is estimated to be responsible for around 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, significant reduction in meat consumption has been advocated by, among others, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in their 2019 special report and as part of the 2017 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable food system</span> Balanced growth of nutritional substances and their distribution

A sustainable food system is a type of food system that provides healthy food to people and creates sustainable environmental, economic, and social systems that surround food. Sustainable food systems start with the development of sustainable agricultural practices, development of more sustainable food distribution systems, creation of sustainable diets, and reduction of food waste throughout the system. Sustainable food systems have been argued to be central to many or all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Low-carbon diet</span> Diet to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

A low-carbon diet is any diet that results in lower greenhouse gas emissions. Choosing a low carbon diet is one facet of developing sustainable diets which increase the long-term sustainability of humanity. Major tenets of a low-carbon diet include eating a plant-based diet, and in particular little or no beef and dairy. Low-carbon diets differ around the world in taste, style, and the frequency they are eaten. Asian countries like India and China feature vegetarian and vegan meals as staples in their diets. In contrast, Europe and North America rely on animal products for their Western diets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental impacts of animal agriculture</span> Impact of farming animals on the environment

The environmental impacts of animal agriculture vary because of the wide variety of agricultural practices employed around the world. Despite this, all agricultural practices have been found to have a variety of effects on the environment to some extent. Animal agriculture, in particular meat production, can cause pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, disease, and significant consumption of land, food, and water. Meat is obtained through a variety of methods, including organic farming, free-range farming, intensive livestock production, and subsistence agriculture. The livestock sector also includes wool, egg and dairy production, the livestock used for tillage, and fish farming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable diet</span> Diet that contributes to the broader environmental and social sustainability

Sustainable diets are "dietary patterns that promote all dimensions of individuals’ health and wellbeing; have low environmental pressure and impact; are accessible, affordable, safe and equitable; and are culturally acceptable". These diets are nutritious, eco-friendly, economically sustainable, and accessible to people of various socioeconomic backgrounds. Sustainable diets attempt to address nutrient deficiencies and excesses, while accounting for ecological phenomena such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and land degradation. These diets are comparable to the climatarian diet, with the added domains of economic sustainability and accessiblity.

Animal-free agriculture, also known as plant agriculture, plant-based agriculture, veganic agriculture, stockfree farming, plant farming or veganic farming, consists of farming methods that do not use animals or animal products.

The environmental impact of agriculture is the effect that different farming practices have on the ecosystems around them, and how those effects can be traced back to those practices. The environmental impact of agriculture varies widely based on practices employed by farmers and by the scale of practice. Farming communities that try to reduce environmental impacts through modifying their practices will adopt sustainable agriculture practices. The negative impact of agriculture is an old issue that remains a concern even as experts design innovative means to reduce destruction and enhance eco-efficiency. Though some pastoralism is environmentally positive, modern animal agriculture practices tend to be more environmentally destructive than agricultural practices focused on fruits, vegetables and other biomass. The emissions of ammonia from cattle waste continue to raise concerns over environmental pollution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pescetarianism</span> Dietary practice of incorporating seafood into an otherwise vegetarian diet

Pescetarianism is a dietary practice in which seafood is the only source of meat in an otherwise vegetarian diet. The inclusion of other animal products, such as eggs and dairy, is optional. According to research conducted from 2017 to 2018, approximately 3% of adults worldwide are pescetarian.

<i>Planeat</i> 2010 British film

Planeat is a 2010 British documentary film by Or Shlomi and Shelley Lee Davies. The film discusses the possible nutritional and environmental benefits of adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet based on the research of T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn and Gidon Eshel. The film also features the views of Peter Singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate-smart agriculture</span> System for agricultural productivity

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a set of farming methods that has three main objectives with regards to climate change. Firstly, they use adaptation methods to respond to the effects of climate change on agriculture. Secondly, they aim to increase agricultural productivity and to ensure food security for a growing world population. Thirdly, they try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture as much as possible. Climate-smart agriculture works as an integrated approach to managing land. This approach helps farmers to adapt their agricultural methods to the effects of climate change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture</span> Agricultures effects on climate change

The amount of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture is significant: The agriculture, forestry and land use sectors contribute between 13% and 21% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions come from direct greenhouse gas emissions. And from indirect emissions. With regards to direct emissions, nitrous oxide and methane makeup over half of total greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Indirect emissions on the other hand come from the conversion of non-agricultural land such as forests into agricultural land. Furthermore, there is also fossil fuel consumption for transport and fertilizer production. For example, the manufacture and use of nitrogen fertilizer contributes around 5% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. Livestock farming is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, livestock farming is affected by climate change.

Climatarian diet is a diet focused on reducing the climate footprint.

<i>The Game Changers</i> 2018 American documentary film

The Game Changers is a 2018 American documentary film about athletes who follow plant-based diets.

References

  1. "International Year of Fruits and Vegetables: Perspectives from an environmental physicist". Springer Nature. 2021. Archived from the original on June 5, 2023.
  2. "Replacing Meat with Plant-Based Alternatives in American Diets Would Minimize Cropland Use and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Says New Study Coauthored by Bard College Professor Gidon Eshel". Bard. 2019. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020.
  3. Thesis: Gidon Eshel. Online Computer Library Center. OCLC   37131387 . Retrieved 24 December 2017 via WorldCat.
  4. "Gidon Eshel, Research Professor". Bard Faculty. Bard College . Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  5. "Bluefield Technologies". bluefield.co. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Rethinking the American Diet". Radcliffe Magazine.
  7. "Grass-Fed Beef – bad for us and for the planet". Vegetarians of Washington.
  8. "Gidon Eshel" . Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  9. "These Plants Can Replace Meat—but Will Doing So Help the Environment?". Scientific American.
  10. "Eating for the Environment". Harvard Magazine.
  11. "The Satya Interview with Gidon Eshel". Satya.
  12. Author: Gidon Eshel. Online Computer Library Center. OCLC   778694025 . Retrieved 24 December 2017 via WorldCat.
  13. Carrington, Damian (16 May 2011). "Meat is murder? More like suicide, argues Planeat film". The Guardian . Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  14. "Gidon Eshel Ph.D". Before the Flood . National Geographic . Retrieved 24 December 2017.