Bill Gates has urged the people in "rich countries" to ditch organic meat and start eating synthetic meat instead.
According to The New York Post, the 65-year-old billionaire spoke about the importance of people abandoning their carnivorous lifestyles and embracing synthetic meat or vegan alternatives in a recent interview with MIT’s Technology Review.
In the interview in question, the Microsoft founder expostulated the belief that eating meat en masse has had a profound impact on the environment, due to the mass manufacturing of the beef industry.
These issues include, but are not limited to, mass deforestation to accommodate space for commercial bovine herds, as well as the increased methane emissions created by the animals.
Commenting on the issue, Gates (who has recently published a book entitled How to Avoid a Climate Disaster on the subject of global warming) stated:
"I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef. You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time.
"Eventually, that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the [behavior of] people or use regulation to totally shift the demand."
Noting the recent surge in popularity for existing faux-meat brands (such as Impossible Foods, and Beyond Meat to name two such examples), Gates continued:
"There are all the things where they feed them different food. Like, there’s this one compound that gives you a 20% reduction [in methane emissions.]
"But sadly, those bacteria [in their digestive system that produce methane] are a necessary part of breaking down the grass. And so I don’t know if there’ll be some natural approach there.
"I’m afraid the synthetic [protein alternatives like plant-based burgers] will be required for at least the beef thing."
However, Gates also stated that switching from real meat to meat alternatives would be a far easier option for affluent Western countries.
Contrariwise, the philanthropist conceded that concessions and exceptions might have to be made for developing nations that lack stable economies or infrastructures, adding: "we’ll have to use animal genetics to dramatically raise the amount of beef per emissions for them."
