World War ‘V’ : Emissions change if Birmingham became vegetarian and contemporary attitudes towards vegetarianism.

Cross, Mollie and Lane, Timothy and Germond-Duret, Celine (2020) World War ‘V’ : Emissions change if Birmingham became vegetarian and contemporary attitudes towards vegetarianism. Routes: The Journal for Student Geographers, 1 (2). pp. 198-225. ISSN 2634-4815

Abstract

This study uses quantitative analysis to assess the current dietary habits of 27 vegetarian and 144 non-vegetarian Birmingham residents. Results suggest that environmental reasons are a more popular motivating factor for becoming vegetarian than in previous studies. Using published nutrition and emissions data, the impact of all residents of Birmingham eating only vegetarian meals, both at-home and when dining in Birmingham restaurants, was assessed. These data show that the average Birmingham resident can save approximately 906 kg of carbon dioxide a year by only eating vegetarian meals totalling 3,924,920,776 KgCO2e (equal to 0.85% of the UK’s emissions output). However, the results indicate that city-wide vegetarianism is not currently feasible for the Birmingham population as some residents do not deem any factors as sufficient motivation.