Pathways to sustainable and healthy diets: Young people’s views about climate change and eating less meat

Previous research with adults shows many are reluctant to eat less meat, but little is known about the views of young people. Anecdotally, they are seen as the generation that will act through concern about climate change, but it is unknown if this is true for mainstream groups of young people. In 2014, we conducted 16 focus groups with young people (11-16yrs) discussing climate change, health, food choices and reducing meat consumption. In this project we re-analyse these data in the light of recent youth movements, e.g. Fridays for Future, and use the findings as the foundation for a grant to compare with views of young people today and then work with them to co-create pathways to achieve sustainable diets.

 The findings from this pilot study, bringing together nutrition, health, climate change and social sciences, will be used in a grant proposal to explore the current views and knowledge of young people about the link between climate change and diet, understand ways to engage with young people on this topic and co-create pathways to achieve sustainable diets.