The climate crisis is here: a primer and call to action for public health nutrition researchers and practitioners in high-income countries

Abstract

Dietary behaviors and the food systems in which they occur have a significant impact on climate change. The 2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports and other major climate reports have identified population-level dietary shifts toward balanced, sustainable healthy diets as an important mitigation (i.e., prevention) solution for climate change. Thus, public health nutrition researchers and practitioners have a crucial role to play in combatting the climate crisis. They have the content expertise, interdisciplinary training, and technical skills needed to facilitate wide-scale dietary behavior changes at multiple levels of influence and ultimately improve both human and planetary health. This commentary article (i) summarizes how dietary behaviors and food systems contribute to climate change, with a particular focus on high-income countries; (ii) reviews food-system-related climate change mitigation solutions most relevant to public health nutrition researchers and practitioners; and (iii) identifies key gaps in the literature and future research directions for the field.

Five U.S. Dietary Patterns and Their Relationship to Land Use, Water Use, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Implications for Future Food Security

“…Given the scale of influence of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans on food systems, incorporating sustainability into the development of the next set of Dietary Guidelines has the potential to have great benefit in terms of long-term food security [ 60 ]. Other countries have been able to do this successfully, such as Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Spain and Switzerland, and can serve as example to the U.S. [ 65 , 66 , 67 ]. Other policy strategies that may help reduce the overconsumption of red meat in the U.S. include economic policies (i.e., taxing red meat and decreasing cost of high omega-3 fish and fruits and vegetables) and agricultural policies and regulations (i.e., shifting subsidies from factory farms to smaller farms, voluntary and non-voluntary mitigation strategies for livestock farming) [ 68 ].…”

“…Strategies focused on the community level include social marketing campaigns or promoting these climate-friendly dietary shifts in schools, universities, government-subsidized programs, and via meal programs in larger corporations. Public health nutrition researchers and practitioners will be key instruments in accomplishing this societal change needed in order to achieve greater policy change [ 66 , 72 ].…”

Food System vs. Sustainability: An Incompatible Relationship in Mexico

“…Recent studies emphasize the relationship between food, the environment, and dietary patterns. However, changing current dietary patterns towards healthy and environmentally sustainable diets, which are aligned with the economy and culture of the population, is imperative for both human beings and the food system [112,113].…”