Flexitarianism: Traditional Diets as Social Innovation for Sustainability

Western diets are strongly encouraging ecologically unsustainable and unhealthy levels of meat consumptions and in so doing, are displacing traditional diets locally and globally. This trend is supported by social ignorance and naivety that facilitate the swelling power wielded by the livestock indu...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Raphaely, Talia, Marinova, Dora
Format: Journal Article
Published: Unoesc 2012
Online Access:http://editora.unoesc.edu.br/index.php/visaoglobal/article/view/3433/1532
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/35069
_version_ 1848754395271921664
author Raphaely, Talia
Marinova, Dora
author_facet Raphaely, Talia
Marinova, Dora
author_sort Raphaely, Talia
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Western diets are strongly encouraging ecologically unsustainable and unhealthy levels of meat consumptions and in so doing, are displacing traditional diets locally and globally. This trend is supported by social ignorance and naivety that facilitate the swelling power wielded by the livestock industry. This is supported by industry stakeholders and government structures whose mixed messages ensure individuals remain unwittingly complicit and complacent, and ultimately socially disempowered. This paper describes the human, ecological and animal welfare consequences of excessive meat production and consumption, such as contribution to climate change, water depletion and pollution, land misappropriation and degradation, rainforest destruction, biodiversity and rapid species loss as well as the significant threats and challenges presented to human health and wellbeing. It offers flexitarianism (part-time vegetarianism) as a return to more traditional plant-based diets and socially innovative way to immediately combat the spectrum of negative impacts and empower people locally, regionally and globally to participate in a global transformation towards a more sustainable future. A case study of introducing flexitarianism through sustainability humanistic education is presented. It shows how this method redemocratises education and empowers individuals to counteract mainstream unsustainable practices.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T08:39:44Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-35069
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T08:39:44Z
publishDate 2012
publisher Unoesc
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-350692017-01-30T13:47:29Z Flexitarianism: Traditional Diets as Social Innovation for Sustainability Raphaely, Talia Marinova, Dora Western diets are strongly encouraging ecologically unsustainable and unhealthy levels of meat consumptions and in so doing, are displacing traditional diets locally and globally. This trend is supported by social ignorance and naivety that facilitate the swelling power wielded by the livestock industry. This is supported by industry stakeholders and government structures whose mixed messages ensure individuals remain unwittingly complicit and complacent, and ultimately socially disempowered. This paper describes the human, ecological and animal welfare consequences of excessive meat production and consumption, such as contribution to climate change, water depletion and pollution, land misappropriation and degradation, rainforest destruction, biodiversity and rapid species loss as well as the significant threats and challenges presented to human health and wellbeing. It offers flexitarianism (part-time vegetarianism) as a return to more traditional plant-based diets and socially innovative way to immediately combat the spectrum of negative impacts and empower people locally, regionally and globally to participate in a global transformation towards a more sustainable future. A case study of introducing flexitarianism through sustainability humanistic education is presented. It shows how this method redemocratises education and empowers individuals to counteract mainstream unsustainable practices. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/35069 http://editora.unoesc.edu.br/index.php/visaoglobal/article/view/3433/1532 Unoesc fulltext
spellingShingle Raphaely, Talia
Marinova, Dora
Flexitarianism: Traditional Diets as Social Innovation for Sustainability
title Flexitarianism: Traditional Diets as Social Innovation for Sustainability
title_full Flexitarianism: Traditional Diets as Social Innovation for Sustainability
title_fullStr Flexitarianism: Traditional Diets as Social Innovation for Sustainability
title_full_unstemmed Flexitarianism: Traditional Diets as Social Innovation for Sustainability
title_short Flexitarianism: Traditional Diets as Social Innovation for Sustainability
title_sort flexitarianism: traditional diets as social innovation for sustainability
url http://editora.unoesc.edu.br/index.php/visaoglobal/article/view/3433/1532
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/35069