Pirate's Cove

Not sure about you, but, I’m walking away. It’s not safe to be around doomsday cultists

What Happens When Diners Are Shown Climate Warning Labels on Meat Dishes

The power of the graphic health warning images on cigarette packages that entered widespread usage in the early 2000s has been well studied. Research shows they were successful in deterring people from smoking. In an era of unchecked planetary warming, some researchers wonder whether such a tactic could boost more sustainable behavior. It’s been tried at the gas pump (with inconclusive results) and now researchers are targeting meat.

It seems like it could work. Including a climate warning label on meat dishes in a U.K. experiment reduced how often participants chose meat by 7.4%, according to a new study published in the journal Appetite. Not only that, but the research suggests people would be okay with a policy requiring these types of labels.

Heck of a difference between smoking and eating a tasty cowburger

Led by Jack Hughes, a postgraduate researcher at Durham University’s psychology department, the study surveyed 1,001 adults in the U.K. Four groups of participants were asked to imagine they were in a university cafeteria and had to choose among four dinner options: meat, fish, vegetarian, and vegan. In one group, the meat option came with a warning label that read “Eating meat contributes to poor health,” paired with an image of someone having a heart attack. This saw an 8.8% drop in meat meal choices, compared to the control group. Another group was shown the climate warning label with a picture of deforestation—leading to a 7.4% decrease, while the third got a pandemic warning label with an image of exotic meat. This cut meat choices by 10%.

So, 7.4% are morons falling for guilting people with doomy graphics and no science

As part of the U.K.’s strategy to cut emissions, the Committee on Climate Change, which advises the government on its net-zero plans, has called for meat consumption in the country to be cut by 20% by 2030. It was surprising, Hughes told TIME via email, “how large the effect of these labels was”—he thinks they could get the U.K. about halfway to its target.

Perhaps all those Britons should be asking if all the people pushing this are cutting down on their own meat consumption, or if it’s just for the peasants.