Would you eat less meat to save the environment? 6 Minute English

Neil: Hello. This is 6 Minute English

I'm Neil.

Catherine: And I'm Catherine.

Neil: Catherine, are you flexitarian?

Catherine: No, I'm not really religious, Neil.

Neil: It's not a religion! It's a diet.

It means mainly eating plant-based foods

and only occasionally eating meat.

Catherine: Oh, I see, sorry ... er, well,

I don't eat too much meat so I'm kind of

on the way to flexitarianism.

Neil: Some people don't eat meat for

ethical reasons. That means that

for them it's wrong to eat meat,

it's wrong that animals should be killed

for our food. But one of the reasons

for being flexitarian and only eating meat

once in a while is for the benefit of the

planet. According to a recent report, being

flexitarian is healthier for the individual

but can also help to fight climate change.

Before we look in more detail at this topic,

a question: Do you like

peppers, Catherine?

Catherine: Yes, I do. Is that correct?

Neil: Well, that's not the quiz question!

But this is. All peppers are in the same

food group. What group is it?

Are peppers: a) fruit, b) vegetables or

c) herbs? Any ideas?

Catherine: This one sounds like

a trick question - but I think it's

obviously vegetables. Yep?

Neil: Well, you'll have to wait a bit to find

out. I'll have the answer later

in the programme.

Now, Dr Marco Springmann is from

the University of Oxford and was

one of the lead authors of a major report

that looked at the global food system

and how it affects the climate.

On the BBC Today programme he

talked about what changes would

be needed. Does he mention

just one thing?

Dr Marco Springmann: We really found

that a combination of measures

would be needed to stay within

environmental limits and those include

changes towards healthier, more

plant-based diets, ambitious

technological improvements and changes

in farming management, and a reduction

of food loss and waste.

Neil: So did he mention just

one thing, Catherine?

Catherine: No, not at all. He said that

there would need to be

a combination of measures which means

'a variety of different actions' including

moving to a plant-based diet, developing

technology, changing the way

we farm and wasting less food.

Neil: He described the need for ambitious

technological improvements. Ambitious

here means the developments

will have to be 'impressive, above

the ordinary and not simple'.

Dr Springmann was asked if we had

to completely remove meat

from the food that we eat to be

healthy. What was his recommendation?

Dr Marco Springmann: Well, we looked ...

we surveyed the literature on what

a healthy diet is and according to that,

if you treat it as a luxury, it's probably

OK but you shouldn't have more than

one serving of red meat, which includes

beef and pork, per week. So the more

plant-based you go, the healthier and

lower environmental impact it will be.

BBC Today programme presenter: And

lamb is just the same...

Dr Marco Springmann: Yes.

Neil: So do we need to

cut out meat entirely?

Catherine: He says that while

a plant-based diet is certainly healthier,

you could still have some

red meat but only once a week.

Neil: Yes, he said think of it as a luxury.

A luxury food is one that we really enjoy

but don't eat very often - perhaps

because it's very expensive or rare.

Catherine: Or delicious but very bad

for us. We eat it as a treat but not

every day. Springmann says we should

think of red meat in the same way.

It shouldn't be a regular part of our diet.

Neil: How did he come to this opinion?

Did they just make it up

themselves because it

sounds like a good idea?

Catherine: Not at all, Neil. He said that

they surveyed the literature.

This means that as part of their

report they studied different scientific

research that had previously been

published. Their advice is based on

the evidence of those research papers.

Neil: OK. Now the answer to our quiz

question. I asked to what food group

do peppers belong.

Was it: a) fruit, b) vegetables, c) herbs?

Catherine, you said?

Catherine: I said b) vegetables.

Neil: Oh dear, good try but not right,

thanks for playing. The answer is a) fruit.

Catherine: Fruit? Really?

Neil: Yes. A fruit is the part of plant that

contains the seeds - so peppers,

like tomatoes, pumpkins, avocados and

olives are actually fruit. Well done if

you got that one right.

Now, our vocabulary.

Our first word is flexitarian.

This is the term for a diet

that is mainly plant-based but

can include meat occasionally.

Catherine: Our next word is ethical.

This is in the context of choosing

not to eat meat.

Some people are vegetarian because

they don't like meat, some because

they want a healthier diet and some

for ethical reasons. This means

that their choice is because they feel it

is the right thing to do.

Neil: The next phrase was a combination

of measures. This means 'taking

different actions to achieve

something', not just doing one thing.

Catherine: We then had ambitious.

If a person is ambitious it means

that they 'want to get

on in life and be successful', but

ambitious can also be used to describe

a plan or achievement which is

'impressive and above the ordinary'.

Neil: The next phrase was

to survey the literature. This means to

'study and analyse the different

scientific research on a particular subject'.

Catherine: And finally we had luxury.

When talking about food, a luxury

is something that we only eat

occasionally as a special treat because

it's expensive or unhealthy but delicious.

Neil: Well, I'm off for a plate of delicious

vegetables. Please join us next time and

why not check us out on your favourite

social media platform, on our app and

of course the website

bbclearningenglish.com? Goodbye.

Catherine: Bye!