Understanding Attitudes towards Reducing Meat Consumption for Environmental Reasons. A Qualitative Synthesis Review
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Centro de Excelencia en Psicología Económica y del Consumo (CEPEC), Núcleo Científico y Tecnológico en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile
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Departamento de Psicología, Facultad de Educación, Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile
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School of Public Health. Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92350, USA
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2019, 11(22), 6295; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226295
Received: 8 October 2019
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Revised: 1 November 2019
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Accepted: 1 November 2019
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Published: 8 November 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Food Consumption Practices: Insights into Consumer Experience)
Meat-based diets are the norm in Western societies. This is a problem because meat production is a major contributor to global warming and environmental degradation. Despite the urgency to reduce meat consumption, quantitative studies have shown that there is only a small minority of consumers aware of the meat environmental impact, willing to halt or reduce meat intake for ecological reasons, or who have already stopped or reduced meat consumption because of environmental concerns. We conducted a qualitative synthesis reviewing studies that looked at attitudes towards changing meat consumption. Our focus was on the behavioral change process: Awareness, willingness, and change, aiming to enhance the current understanding of people’s attitudes towards reducing meat consumption due to environmental concerns. The studies reviewed show that consumer awareness is hindered by beliefs about food, meat, and personal behavior. Nutrition, health, and taste were found to be both enablers and barriers with regard to willingness. Vegetarians and vegans perceive the environment as simply another reason, among others, to maintain a meatless diet. Based on these results, we offer recommendations for future dietary public health interventions, and for future research endeavors on this topic. This review employed a meta-aggregative approach and partially followed the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for systematic reviews of qualitative evidence.
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Keywords:
consumer attitudes; meat consumption; environment; sustainability; meatless diets; meat avoidance; dietary behavior change; global warming; climate change
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MDPI and ACS Style
Sanchez-Sabate, R.; Badilla-Briones, Y.; Sabaté, J. Understanding Attitudes towards Reducing Meat Consumption for Environmental Reasons. A Qualitative Synthesis Review. Sustainability 2019, 11, 6295. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226295
AMA Style
Sanchez-Sabate R, Badilla-Briones Y, Sabaté J. Understanding Attitudes towards Reducing Meat Consumption for Environmental Reasons. A Qualitative Synthesis Review. Sustainability. 2019; 11(22):6295. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226295
Chicago/Turabian StyleSanchez-Sabate, Ruben, Yasna Badilla-Briones, and Joan Sabaté. 2019. "Understanding Attitudes towards Reducing Meat Consumption for Environmental Reasons. A Qualitative Synthesis Review" Sustainability 11, no. 22: 6295. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226295
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