Would you eat less meat to save the environment? Listen to 6 Minute English - YouTube
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!
